Me on Saturday night before heading out to a party.
Now that I am back to thinking about food again, I decided to improve the kitchen skills I already have and look at alternative techniques.
When someone has an interview for a chef position in a restaurant, many times they are asked to make eggs.
Eggs are harder than you would think and to get them absolutely perfect is even harder.
I’ve been making soft and hard-boiled eggs the way I watched my parents make them.
I’ve perfected hard boil and 6-minute eggs, but I didn’t even think about soft-boiled eggs.
I loved soft-boiled eggs when I was little, I liked any kind of dippy eggs. The only time I got soft-boiled eggs was when I was sick.
Why? Was it because they are easy to overcook? It could have been.
Was it a pain in the ass to cut the egg in half and scoop the insides into a bowl? Served with buttered toast.
Mmmmm, a good childhood memory. Again, about food. It’s always been about food for me.
I felt like having grits with soft-boiled eggs on Sunday morning and wanted to try a different technique.
I followed a recipe and was shocked at how many different ways people prepare soft-boiled eggs.
I decided on the foolproof 6-minute egg technique that people swear by.
The difference between the way I made soft boiled eggs and the recipe was mine started in cold water, and the new way used boiling water.
My way, when the water came to a rolling boil, the heat was turned off and the pot was covered for two minutes.
The new technique had you add the egg to a smaller amount of simmering water.
You set a 6-minute timer and let the egg cook in the simmering water uncovered.
When the timer goes off, you lift out the egg and put it into an ice bath immediately.
When the egg was cool enough to handle, instead of cutting it in half and scooping out the insides I peeled the egg: easily.
I was skeptical as I placed the egg on top of the creamy grits. I took my knife and opened the egg.
It was perfect and professional looking. I was tickled pink!
There were no shell bits like when you scoop out the insides. Amazing!
The title of this blog post, Fresh Ideas, also refers to hunting for recipes each week.
Let’s face it, thinking of things to make for dinner is the hardest part of cooking. It’s no different for me.
Every week I would search for ideas and inspiration for dinner ideas. I would usually find a recipe from one of my favorite food blogs.
That’s when the lightbulb went off Sunday afternoon. I thought, “Hey dumbass, why don’t you subscribe to your favorite food blogs and have ideas and inspiration in your inbox.”
I subscribed to blogs that cover different cuisines such as vegetarian, ethnic, classic, gluten-free, Italian, and comfort food.
I’m looking forward to challenging myself in the kitchen and using more hard-to-find fresh ingredients used in ethnic cooking, especially in Asian and Indian dishes.
My quest for fresh ideas started with one egg. One perfect egg yesterday morning.
A shelf in our kitchen with one of my Christmas gifts from Noah & Aja. They found this couple for me when they were in Mexico!
I cooked and baked a lot of food between December 18-30. I haven’t cooked since.
Besides heating up leftovers from the freezer or frozen chicken nuggets and tater tots, I haven’t cooked.
We were invited to dinners at friend’s homes which was well appreciated.
I guess I cooked myself out. I didn’t want to think about food, look at food on my Instagram page, or go food shopping.
So, I didn’t. I was exhausted and listened to my body and rested.
Today, I had an inkling to make Thai food. I made Thai red curry with shrimp and jasmine rice.
Thai shrimp red curry.
Then I tried something new. I make pretty good Thai food for a white girl and understand what a Thai dish needs to be in balance.
I made warm silken tofu with a sauce I never saw or tried before. I never ate silken tofu as an appetizer either.
I loved it. Marty loved the sauce. He had a hard time getting used to the texture but ate it. I think he liked it.
The texture of the silken tofu was like a panna cotta and the sauce was sour, sweet, salty, and an umami flavor bomb.
The time I’ve spent not cooking was divided by reorganizing everything and cleaning.
The house looked like someone took random shit and threw it in every corner of the house.
I had laundry up the ass which I am almost caught up with. Lots of dirty cloth napkins, several tablecloths, kitchen and bath towels, and our regular laundry. Ugh!
My pantry looked like a bomb went off with platters, bowls, and other shit piled up on the floor in front of the shelves.
I’m about 80% done. You have to understand I am a total maniac when it comes to having a clean and organized home.
At one point during the holiday week, I said fuck it and stopped being stressed by the chaos and didn’t care.
I knew everything would be cleaned up eventually. I don’t run around like an energizer bunny anymore and kill myself to get done in one or two days.
Nope, I am not doing that anymore.
I felt free doing things when I felt like it and didn’t dread the chores like I used to.
I rested when I needed to. I realized there are no awards for killing yourself and overdoing it.
We picked up Klaus’ ashes on Tuesday. Marty and I were still shell shocked and happy he was home again.
Neither of us had it in us to open the bag containing Klaus’ memorial package. The bag sat on the window seat until today.
I decided to take things out of the bag and put him where he belonged, next to Otto.
I chose to do it today while Marty was at the farmers market, he and Klaus were very close from the day Marty brought him home in the cup holder of his car.
I moved the shelves around in the living room making a proper space for my boys. I can’t lie I cried my head off while I did it.
Nelly was sitting at my feet and at the bottom of the chair I was standing on. As I took Klaus and his bag of hair out of the bag ahead of me, she got up on her hind legs.
When I was done I sat on the floor with her still crying. Then, the most beautiful thing that ever happened to me happened.
Nelly began to smell my right hand, the one I used to touch Klaus’s hair. She put her paw on my hand and began to rub her forehead on my hand.
She did this for a few minutes. It was so touching to watch and I realized that love really does know no bounds.
My favorite photo of my happy boys with my Aunt Dee. They never both looked so happy at the same time.
Klaus was her big brother who taught her the ropes and they showed each other unconditional love, the way Otto did to Klaus when he was a puppy.
I have a million things to do but I played with Nelly until she was tuckered out, just like Klaus would have done.
She crawled on my lap and eventually settled down with her chin on my hand. I knew she missed her big brother and she now knew he was still here with us.
Are you crying yet? This is my last and final sad post about my boys. Thanks for your love and support. ♥️ ~julz
***No real editing I’ve gotta get back to cleaning and holiday prep and baking.
Well I did have to edit two photos after all. 🤦🏻♀️
