All About Eggs
In keeping with the famous Blast from the Past deviled egg post:
DID YOU KNOW?
A fresh egg will sink in water, a stale one will float. An egg white is easiest to beat at room temperature. Take the egg out of the refrigerator about 1/2 hour before using. For light, fluffy scrambled eggs, add a little water while beating the eggs. Add vinegar to the water when boiling eggs.
The vinegar helps seal the egg.
original blog post here
Grandmother's Own Recipes
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All Grandmothers have their own special recipes, right Kaitlyn Mae?
Thus your Grandmother is no different save there are only two recipes of Grandmother's for which I could consider uniquely my own. One would be deviled eggs and the other is a recipe from my mother, your great-grandmother Kaitlyn Mae, that I have modified.
You read that right, sweet Granddaughter, your mother once removed makes the best deviled eggs in the world and by the simplicity of the preparation the whole hoopla baffles Grandmother. Since it is my job to pass down such knowledge to my descendants, which would be you, Kaitlyn, so I shall do so.
First thing about deviled eggs, Kaitlyn, you have to use stale eggs. Eggs being used to devil should have been purchased at least one week prior, preferably two. I wouldn't keep eggs much longer than two weeks at any rate, Kaitlyn, so Grandmother has a method that has her deviling any eggs in the fridge when they are two weeks old. Myself loves a snack of deviled eggs and it is a way of using up stale eggs to a delicious end.
If there is a planned event in the near future during which these fine deviled eggs will be served, yes, one should purchase the eggs long enough in advance to have them go stale by at least a week when they are being prepared. Yes, Kaitlyn, Grandmother has purchased eggs with the full intent of letting them go stale.
Here's the other, well I guess Grandmother should call it what it is, which is a confession. I do have a secret ingredient for my deviled eggs and now in a groundbreaking event, I will so reveal.
It's a McCormick spice, called "Bon Appetit". One of my husbands introduced me to this wonderful spice but Grandmother should caution, the spice should be used only on certain dishes. At least by Grandmother's experience, Kaitlyn, and the benchmark would be any dishes requiring mayonnaise.
Thus add Bon Appetit to potato salad, cucumbers cover with mayo, that sort of thing. The reason why Grandmother is a little ashamed of this admission, Kaitlyn, is that "real" cooks don't use specialty spices. "Real" cooks don't depend on the concoctions of others to plagiarize in their own homes. "Real" cooks don't want their recipes fettered with name brands.
It's not illegal to use Bon Appetit on other foods. In fact, I have no idea what McCormick's intention was in inventing the spice. But this spice has what Grandmother considers possibly the most perfect taste in the universe.
But that's just me.
For if we go sprinkling Bon Appetit over everything than all foods will taste like Bon Appetit. Then, hey, it's just stupid to stick to one taste for our life long, Kaitlyn, and don't forget Grandmother warned you. The spice seems to taste its freshest and most piquant when sprinkled over recipes using mayo.
It's my theory and I'm sticking to it.
Since this is my very own blog, Kaitlyn, I am free to use the name brand and, indeed, tell you all about it.
Here's how to make a dozen (24 for deviling) eggs
Boil the stale eggs to hard-boiled perfection
Peel them then cut in half
Scoop out the yolk into a shallow bowl
Smash the yolks down handily with a fork. Don't use a spoon to smash the yolk down, Kaitlyn, it makes the yolks mushy. You want the yolks to be separate and fluffy.
Add 1/2 cup mayonnaise. Don't be stupid and use Miracle Whip, Kaitlyn. Read the words: MAYONNAISE
Add 1/3 cup spicy mustard. Not the yellow stuff, Kaitlyn. The spicy stuff. There's plenty around. It's all the rage.
Add about 2 teaspoons of Bon Appetit.
Mix all with a fork, and work the lumps. You want a creamy consistency, Kaitlyn. You'll figure it out.
Use a teaspoon to fill each empty hard-boiled egg shell. There's lots of ways to do this, Kaitlyn. You could put all the yolk mixture into a plastic bag. Then snip the corner and squeeze the bag over the hard-boiled egg shell to fill it up.
Grandmother's tried all the ways and by me, it's just as simple to drop the yolk mixture into the waiting shell off of a teaspoon. Sometimes you gotta give the glob of yolk mixture a push with your finger, Kaitlyn, so make sure you wash your hands. If you do it right, there will be no need to adjust the yolk mixture as it is "seated" into the waiting shell.
You shouldn't end up eating half the yolk mixture off of your fingers, Kaitlyn, due to licking your fingers from all the pushing and pulling. And there should be enough yolk mixture to fill ALL of the shells, Kaitlyn, or else you ate too much during the preparation.
Now you can sprinkle something pretty on top of the filled eggs. Finely snipped parsley, paprika, anything to make it look good. With no topping at all they still look pretty.
Absolutely everyone in the surround will gobble up these eggs, Kaitlyn, and while Grandmother also likes the taste, it's always puzzled me, the world wide love for these things. A pleasant puzzlement, but still a puzzlement.
Of course you will not serve Grandmother, not ever, deviled eggs prepared any other way, Kaitlyn, during any visit. Do not serve them at all if you're going to go monkeying around with the recipe.
You have been warned.
Now about the so-called Beanie Salade. So-called because that is what my mother called it. She was married to a man born in Germany and my mother learned this concoction from his family.
It too is a simple thing and it too requires some Bon Appetit.
Use two cans of green beans. Any brand, 10 ounce cans, but a higher quality bean produces a higher quality result. Do not use french cut green beans for this recipe Kaitlyn.
Mix 8 ounces of sour cream, 1/3 cup of white cider vinegar, three tablespoons of water, one teaspoon of sugar and a generous dose of Bon Appetit in a shallow bowl. Mix it all together well.
Chop up a white onion finely but leave the chunks of onion in, the onion chunks should be no bigger than the size of a pea. The onion should not be shredded.
Add the onion and the beans to the bowl and mix well. Tastes better after standing overnight in the fridge.
Neither of these recipes call for salt, Kaitlyn, as the Bon Appetit has a bit of salt in it already. Add any salt to taste.
The Genius of the Kitchen Flower Vase
Okay, I did not make the handsome vase in the picture below. I didn’t even get it on sale. It was in one of my ubiquitous sales catalogues and I knew it when I saw it.
For I love a vase of flowers on my kitchen windowsill, filled with the flower currently in bloom.
I hate dealing with a vase of flowers on my kitchen windowsill because the ledge is somewhat small limited my choice of vases to only those with a small footprint. I also curse when I try to boost open the window without moving the vase, thinking that I can but the vase tips over then I realize I can’t.
The vase in the picture came in a pair. The other vase is on the other side of my kitchen ledge wall just as this one.
The vases come with a hole in the back so they can be hung on a nail. I didn’t want to put a nail on the side of that window casement not only for aesthetic reasons but I couldn’t imagine constantly wrestling to put a full vase of water and flowers on the window sill while trying to align the hole in the vase with the nail.
Velcro.
God Bless America.
I affixed two strips of Velcro to each vase, one at the top and one at the bottom. Then two strips in the matching place on the side of the kitchen casement window.
Boom.
Now all required is to fill the vases with water, arrange the flowers (it’s azaleas in the picture) and “press” each vase against the side of the kitchen window casement.
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Cell Phone Warning
The following message came into my email box recently. I quickly scanned it then moved on.
The next day, hand to God, on my cell phone is a message. I enter my password. It’s a telemarketer! And they left a message on my cell phone!
The message is right-cell phone users DO have to pay for these calls. For they use up your allotted minutes or if you are already over the limit then the ka-ching thing kicks in.
In 31 days, cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing companies and you will start to receive sales calls. You will be
charged for these calls.
Call this number from your cell phone 888-382-1222 or register on-line at https://www.donotcall.gov/default.aspx
It is the national DO NOT CALL list. It only takes a minute of your time. It blocks your number for 5 years. Please pass this on to everyone you know who may be interested.
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Throwing Money Away?
For at least five years I’ve wanted those ceiling fan things that look like palm fronds and affix to overhead fan blades.
They are purely decorative things.
And they’re not cheap.
That’s always been the rub.
The ones I’ve seen cost over a hundred bucks. Price might vary by ten bucks from catalogue to catalogue but I’ve never seen them for under a hundred bucks.
Well it WAS Mother’s Day. And gifts are for those things we won’t buy ourselves, right?
Husband got one and he smiled about it. Though he did remark that they were oddly expensive.
I love it and the plastic “palm fronds” do spread the air over a much wider area and keep the entire room pleasantly cool without drafty spots.
Eve
After three weeks in the Garden of Eden, God came to visit Eve.
"So, how is everything going?" inquired God.
"It is all so beautiful, everything is wonderful, but I have just one problem God." she replied. "It's these breasts you have given me. The middle one pushes the other two out and I am constantly knocking them with my arms and snagging them on bushes. They are a real pain," reported Eve.
"That is a fair point," replied God, I gave the animals six breasts, so I figured that you needed only half of those, but I see that you are right. I will fix it up right away." And God reached down, removed the middle breast and tossed it into the bushes.
Three weeks passed and God once again visited Eve in the Garden of Eden.
"Well, Eve, how is my favorite creation?"
"Just fantastic," she replied, "But for one oversight on your part. All the animals have a mate except me. I feel so alone."
God thought for a moment and said, "You know, Eve, you are right. You do need a mate and I will immediately create a man from a part of you. Now let's see .. where did I put the useless boob?"
Now doesn't THAT make more sense than that crap about the rib?
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