You all know my fashion sense: I think that a white button down blouse goes with dark pants. There, that’s the sum total of my fashion sense. Today I was walking through the large community center building during a fashion show where they had racks and racks of swim suits, stylish pants, matching blouses, cute tops and so forth. I was avoiding the area as other women were scurrying in and out choosing, matching and trying on the clothes. Then, in the bathroom, as I was washing my hands I got trapped. A woman held up 4 swim suits and asked which one I thought was the best for her: the fuchsia and orange flowered one, the black one, the purple and teal splashed one or the red, yellow and tangerine one? Ummm. I was quickly able to eliminate the black one. Oops, now what.
There I am in my white t-shirt and blue Adidas nylon pants (my typical) and she wants to know which color looks best on her? Ah, I stumbled but ‘we’ managed to decided that the fuchsia/orange one would go best with her coloring. There, wasn’t that simple?
Today my goal is to make my deviled eggs for our Thanksgiving dinner buffet tomorrow. The first day we were here we signed up for the Thanksgiving dinner. That is one of the things we miss most about traveling during the fall and winter: Thanksgiving and Christmas and the family gathering at each. However, most resorts and campgrounds try to provide a large dinner and this resort is no exception. There were sign-up sheets for which group we wished to be in and what we wanted to bring. Gary and I knew no one here so we just signed for the next group available and I signed up for deviled eggs, my specialty. In the end, there were 6 groups with 4 tables of 8 in each group.
Originally I had thought that we needed to bring enough for all 32 in our group and I envisioned making 64 deviled eggs. 64? I don’t have room in my refrigerator for that many. Then we reviewed the plans and learned that we only needed to bring enough for 16. That I can do.
And, today, I made my eggs. Now, I know that there are techniques to getting the eggs to peel easily and be great ‘show’ egg:
refrigerate the eggs for a week before cooking them
put the eggs into a pan of water that is as cold as the eggs to prevent them from cracking before they are cooked and put enough water into the pan to cover the eggs by at least an inch
bring the eggs to a boil, remove them from the stove, cover them for a tight-fitting lid for 14 minutes (for large eggs) to finish cooking them
cool the water and eggs completely - I use ice for this. This step will help the paper-thin membrane stick to the peel and not the egg.
tap the big end first then the small end.
There you go - perfectly peeled eggs - and I wish I could get these every time.
My mother always took deviled eggs to buffets: everyone likes them and you won’t have to take any leftovers home. She also taught me the rules I’ve listed above. Sometimes I cut corners, like not waiting long enough for the eggs to get completely cold after cooking and I then pay the price: hard to peel eggs. In fact, once or twice in my life (probably more times that I want to count) I’ve had an egg that is so hard to peel that I lose patience and have only the yolk left after I’m done peeling. I may not have a ‘show’ egg but I feel much better about difficult peeling and am ready to begin anew.
Yesterday, I didn’t wait long enough for the eggs to cook completely and I paid the price. Patience, Nancy, patience. So, I turned up the volume on the music and took my time. There - 30 mostly good eggs. I’m ready for tomorrow.
At one point, I chanced to look out side our front windshield and noticed a young man in tight black t-shirt, tight black jeans, black baseball cap on sideways racing by on a skateboard. Sure enough, the families have arrived at the grandparents’ home in the desert.
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