In the kitchen

Today I will talk about a couple of experiences I had while I was in the kitchen.

When we got married nearing 29 years ago we were given a crockpot for a gift. I have used it in the kitchen pretty regularly over the years. I especially like using it for a nice Sunday roast. But on Sunday I found another use for it. I baked potatoes in it. The recipe booklet that came with the crockpot said it was possible but I had never tried it. So I washed, pricked, and foiled several potatoes and put them in the crockpot and left them for about 10 hours. When I retrieved the potatoes and put them on the table I could tell they were cooked to perfection.

I was pleasantly surprised that I to realize I could get soft baked potatoes without heating the oven in the kitchen. Just a small crockpot did the job. And as we sat down to eat, we unwrapped the foil from the potatoes and cut them open - we discovered one unpleasant surprise. The insides of the baked potatoes weren't white and fluffy. They were instead a dark carmel color. YUCK! But after getting used to the appearance we dug in and ate them. They did have a slightly different taste - I already mentioned the color - but they were enjoyed regardless. Just thought I'd better give you all fair warning just in case you decide to bake your potatoes in a crockpot.

Another experience I had in the kitchen last night. It had nothing to do with cooking or eating. And the experience was slightly out of the kitchen - in the dining area of the kitchen. Anyway, on to the story. Remember yesterday I mentioned playing tennis in the heat? Well it was a hot day - hot and muggy and sunny. There was no indication of any rain on the way. But as our strange monsoon activity would have it, in the evening the clouds began to gather on the outskirts of the valley and they turned from the pretty fluffy clouds into dark gray ones and then the wind really started to blow. Yikes - a mighty storm was brewing. And soon enough I could hear a little rain and peeked out the window to see the rain wetting the sidewalk. But just seconds after the gentle start, the storm hit our house in its fury. The rain just started to come at a steep angle from the south in sheets. It was hitting all our south facing windows full force. It looked like we were driving our house through a carwash. All we could see through the windows was the water hitting it and draining down it. It sounded like a car wash too.

I was trying to get a good view of the rain so I raised some of the shades and blinds on the windows. That is when I got my next experience in the kitchen. The window in the dining room wasn't really keeping out the rain. I had a very wet window sill and a puddle was developing on the floor too. I guess the rain was coming so fast that it couldn't drain fast enough so the window "gutters" were letting the water drain in. Yikes! So I immediatlely shot into action and quickly sopped up the water. Then I had a little panic about the other south facing windows - were they all leaking? I had Isaac help me go around and check all the windows. And luckily none of the other windows had let any water in. So at least now I know which window is going to be my problem window and can keep an eye on it. Just so you know, right after taking care of the water leakage - our power went out. It was out for about an hour. Things were just getting dark enough to worry about finding flashlights when the lights flickered back on. Yay! Also, as luck would have it, my visiting teachers were here during the outage. The lights came on just as they were getting ready to leave.

This is the last and most pleasing experience I have had in the kitchen. I was making breakfast for dinner on Monday. We had left-over baked potatoes (refer to the crock pot story above), sausage, and bacon. So we were going to have breakfast. But wait, I discovered that I only had 2 eggs left in the fridge. I failed in my "food I always have on hand in the kitchen" rule: bread, cheese, milk, and eggs. I always have this stuff on hand. But no, not today. So I called Isaac. He had just started classes again at GCC. He left first thing in the morning and it was about 5 in the evening and he still wasn't home. We think he is at school studying hard - but I guess we'll find out when he has his first tests. So I asked him if he was coming home soon and he said he was. I asked him to pick up eggs on the way home. He did.

When he came into the kitchen with the eggs I asked how much I owed him. He said about $2. What? A dozen eggs - $2!! Doesn't compute. But then he smiled and told me how he had bought the Jumbo eggs. OK. I wondered to myself what would make him buy Jumbos - we always buy Large. But I guess he doesn't know that. So I started cracking eggs into a measuring cup. And on the third egg I got a nice surprise. A double yolk. Wow! A double yolk. I expressed my pleasant surprise to the guys. (They did not seem to enjoy it as much as I did.) I got the camera and took a shot. You just don't see a double yolk that often. So here is a picture of it.

After documenting the double yolk I continued cracking eggs. And on the fifth egg - guess what? Another double yolk. No lie. You can see it below. Well this news stirred a little more excitement from the guys. I took another picture. Then we were so excited that Isaac said to crack some more. But I restrained myself and will just cross my fingers for another double or two from this dozen. So far 2 out of 5 aren't bad odds.

So my very limited research shows that if you buy Jumbo eggs you are much more likely to get double yolks than you are with Large eggs. And I was just thinking it might be truly cool to get a double yolk boiled egg. Maybe I'll try it with these. But first I need to get another dozen eggs to keep my supplies in the kitchen.

P.S. I just realized that if I had arranged the yolks a little bit (push single yolk up and have the doubles together) I could have fashioned a smilie face. That would have been really cool!