Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Cooking, eggs, and mostly rambling

On Saturday I did a lot of cooking-- which has become fairly rare in the recent months. The occasion was Mark and Nancy's birthdays. Mark and his younger sister share the same birth date. Mark is 5 years older than Nancy though. Anyway we were planning on Mark's sister Lois and her hubby Mark, Granddad (but probably not Lillian because there was a possibility that Nancy was coming) and possibly Nancy coming over for dinner and cake etc.
So I started cooking some of the stuff on Friday night because it was so dang hot and I didn’t want to heat up the kitchen. Mark's request for deviled eggs, potato salad, baked beans, barbeque, chocolate cake and strawberry ice cream.
My first issue was the deviled eggs-- Ok I cooked the eggs and waited on them to cool so I could handle them. While I was peeling the eggs I had some random questions pop into my mind--- ya know how sometimes you boil an egg and it just slips out of the shell as soon as you crack it? And sometimes you cant pay the egg to separate from the dang egg shell and membrane. I wonder what causes that?? Out of 12 eggs I had to fight to get 11 of them out of the shell~~ and when they were out they looked as if they had been nibbled on by a rat or something. I haven't had this problem too much in the past. But, in the recent past this seems to happen every time I hard boil an egg. Wonder what I have done differently?
OK then there was the cake. I have always been a good baker and have not had too many disasters when it comes to baking. I have some great recipes from my Betty Crocker cookbook for simple white, yellow and chocolate cakes and have never ever had a problem with them. This cake I made on Saturday was absolutely gross! I have never made a cake that tasted so bad-- no never. It was beautiful to look at--risen to the top of the pans, smelled good and even the batter tasted good . I must have left something out is the only thing I can figure out…..gosh did I remember the sugar? I thought I did, but that may be what I left out. I don’t think it would have risen as well as it did if I had left out the sugar though. I may have to bake another cake just to see what I left out and to see if I can make it work.
I am having some issues with my eyes that are really kinda worrying me-- they are so sore and painful. And red. I hate having problems. Come to find out Judy, my cousin the OD, had discussed the complexity of my case with my history of infection and dry eye, weird family history etc. with one of her Ophthalmology friends and he said I probably should never have had the LASIK procedure. Course she only found this out after I had my surgery so it is a case of 20/20 hindsight. Anyway she suggested I go to see someone who specializes in corneal problems. I had some corneal scratching and really dry spots. I asked her what the worst case scenario is and she said pain-- probably will not loose my sight unless something unexpected happens. Can we say scared to death here? Oh well if anyone is reading this and feels the urge -- please say a prayer for my eyes

3 comments:

Fuzzy White Dogs said...

Oh gosh Brenda, that is scary about your eyes! Glad it can't lead to blindness though. Did you know that there is a simple procedure where they insert a tiny "plug" into your tear duct so the tears stay in your eyes longer instead of running down the duct & into your sinus cavity? It has been around a lot longer than the drugs they now prescribe for "dry eyes" and, according to my eye guy, it has none of the side effects of the med. It is done in the office, takes about 2 seconds, and then if it leads to your eyes being TOO wet the plugs can be removed in just a few seconds too. So.. might want to ask about that as a possibility.

On the eggs, when you boil them do you remove them from the heat and then immediately dump out the hot water & put the pan under cold running water 'til the eggs cool? That helps the shells come off more easily. Also, very fresh eggs tend to be harder to shell than ones that are a bit older.

Your meal sounds delicious! I miss "home cooking" so much! DH and I have been vegetarians for a year now and I am totally tired of it! :-P

Ann Marie said...

Prayers said for your eyes. ((hugs))

I am *not* a baker at all, that is actually Thomas' department, b/c I burn/flop/ruin pretty much every baked good I touch, although I'm craving oatmeal raisin cookies so may try some later today (my last day off! eek!)

And every dang time I hardboil eggs, that happens--nibbled by a rat! LOL Love it! It's right on!
Ann

Brenda is SO Blessed said...

thanks Ann- I tried to post to you but apparently i dont know how--- but i am trying again.
I used to be able to cook -- well I used to cook. When our daughter was home I cooked much more. But i find it so difficult to cook for just two people. If I make a cake or something it is here for a long time. until DH finishes it up.
Did you get those cookies made?? that sounds awful good and i dont even like raisins.

well- dont you think the eggs look like that after you have fought to get the dumb shell off?