Ring Around The Yolk

I saw a recipe for hard boiled eggs recently.

On FoodTV.

Boiled eggs... I used to only love the white... Never, ever ate the yolks... Not on pain of death could my parents get me to eat an egg yolk. That was what Dad was for. On Easter morning he looked after those extra yolks for my brother and I.

Then I progressed to wanting to make Devil'd Eggs just like Mom did when I was having a party. Devil'd Eggs are just the perfect thing for a party... I'm not sure when you reach THAT age where the thing to have at your party is a plate of Devil'd Eggs but I am way beyond that age now. And those suckers go fast at parties too. I was at a house warming lately and the Mr at the house asked about whether there were any left and Mrs at the house informed him that they were long, long gone. MMMMMMM the thought of that got me thinking how good they'd be and that got me thinking about boiling eggs.

Then there was that FoodTV show. They never made any Devil'd Eggs on the show. Jellied eggs were the subject that day. Those I'm not so much interested in those guys.

But the thing about hard boiled eggs that always bugged me was that icky grey scum that has covered every egg yolk I have personally boiled.

I see perfect eggs in magazine pictures and on TV that have perfect golden orbs in their center with nothing nasty around them to spoil their lovliness.

Why can't I make pretty eggs that way?

Today it came to my attention that this recipe I had heard of was also a Martha Stewart recipe.

One of my coworker's daughters, C, was going to try it and her mom was doubtful.

But Martha wasn't who orignally gave me the recipe. Even though we're like this and if I'd asked her she would've told me her secret in a pinch. Frankly, I'm a little jealous that she just gave it to C and C never even had to ask for it.

The idea is to put the eggs in a pot and just cover it with cold water. Bring it to a boil and when it gets to a boil you take it off the heat and put on the lid for, now I've heard both 8 and 10 minutes. And at that point you are supposed to have the perfect hard boiled egg.

So I set out to make my boiled eggs. I was even concentrating.

I put 5 farm fresh extra large eggs in my stainless steel and just covered those babies with cold water. Onto the fire they went and then I sat down here and before I knew it I heard this odd sound....

I wondered what that sound was....

..And then I remembered my eggs. They wer boling! I have these V8 moments fairly often...

Get up take it off the fire, slap down the lid and wait 10 minutes. I even madea mental note of the time 9:21PM. I thought to myself I'll just watch a bit of CSI LA while I put in my time waiting for that perfect egg. Before I knew it, it was 9:32 and I wondered if they'd be ruined by waiting at least 2-4 extra minutes.

So I got them out of the water and peeled one.

And what do you know.

The white was firm and warm and there was no unsightly ring around the yolk. I had my first perfectly golden yolk to enjoy.

And there is just something about a warm boiled egg with that lucious solid but still creamy yolk in the center. Certainly the best part of any egg.

What did I know as a kid anyways????

Now if someone would just give me a perfect recipe for peeling hard boiled eggs. Mine are a little rough looking.

Lyme Disease part 2

I got a phone call today telling me that the blackberries were ready to be picked again. My fellow doctor C asked our receptionist to call and let me know. That way I could bring jeans, socks, runners and bug spray as well as berry picking baskets. In short, I would be better prepared this time.

I remembered the socks, shoes and my berry baskets.

I decided to tough it out as far as the jeans and bug spray went.

I could see where Dr C had walked out into the bush but for the life of me I couldn't tell she had picked ANY berries. They were big and literally falling off of the canes. I would pick a handful of berries and watch as more berries would fall onto the ground.

I picked over 4 quarts of berries again. Sweating in my scrub pants and, why oh why, my white top again.

Somehow I never got any blackberry stains on my nice white T-shirt. But there are some unsightly yellow areas on the shirt now. Under my bosom area... I need to look up how to get out sweat stains on you tube later.

I am scratching my mosquito bites. You can never tell if a tick nymph bites you though. Ixodes nymphs can be as small as a grain of pepper. You'd never see them, you'd never feel the bite, you'd never even know they'd been there. It's my job to know the life cycle and habits of the Ixodes tick. Why didn't I tuck my scrubs inside my ankle socks?

The first joint on the index finger of my left hand has been sore for the past few days. I have no known explanation for this. No injuries of any kind. But we do have Ixodes here.

I think I'll go get tested for lyme disease now.

Pool Girl

I realised today why the pool boys on TV soaps have such rock hard abs and incredible biceps and triceps...

That would be from cleaning the pool, specifically, working the vacuum in the pool.

I know this because I spent my morning playing pool girl. I vacuumed it and did all the basic pool type stuff. This is high resistance exercise you know.

So basically I am now sporting 6-pack abs and my arms are shapely and exquisite and there are no more triceps masquerading as bat wings on me anymore.

With my vertigo I always worry that I'll fall in the pool or backwards off of the edge of the pool. It is above ground and to clean it I have to walk around to top edge of it. But I was rocking it up there in my itsy bitsy teenie weenie... Well my shorts and T-shirt. At least I was working the ol' abs and flexing those guns and feeling quite proud of myself...

Until I fell in...

First time ever...

I had contemplated this situation many times in the past...

Usually at the half way around the pool point.

I would always wonder if I would drown because I had hit my head or broken an ankle and not been able to keep my head above water or be unable to get out of the pool because I had taken the ladder out so I wouldn't trip on it and fall in the pool. Surely someone would hear me calling for help and come and save me. Unless I had been knocked unconsious.

I yelled out "OOOOOOH" as I fell in. It was more out of suprise than fear. The water was cold after all. I briefly considered my eyes... I had just poured 2 jugs of bleach, added pucks and put chlorine stabilser in the pool. Then I considered my watch and remembered that it was water resisitant. I kept on cleaning, making a point to try and keep my left wrist out of the water.

At one point I heard a neighbour's 4-wheeler start up and pull out of their yard. Oh someone did hear me call out in fear and was coming to make sure I was OK.

No one showed up. Must've been heading somewhere else.

But that's OK.

I learned two things.

1. My watch is water resistant to 4 feet at the very least, and

2. My abs and arms are stronger than I thought - I was able to press myself up and out of the ladderless pool.

Guess all that yoga, erm pool cleaning, is paying off.