The secret to hard-boiled eggs

I boiled some eggs for the bf to make thit kho and this is what they looked like after I peeled the shell off:

Hey, I'm rusty ok??

 Today, I boiled a dozen eggs for my mom to make banh bao. I don't have the recipe for perfect banh bao but here is the secret recipe to perfectly hard-boiled eggs instead:

1. Place a dozen eggs into a medium-sized pot of cold water (water should be cold so eggs don't crack because you'll likely have pulled them straight from the fridge. I learned this the hard way once when I tried to save time by setting the water on the stove before I went to pull out the eggs along with the other ingredients. Being efficient me, I decided to do as much prep work as I could in the time it would take the water to boil because I hear it boils faster when you don't watch it. When the water was at a nice bubbly boil, I dropped the cold eggs in and the cracking ensued. I got poached eggs layered in shell instead of hard boiled eggs. It wasn't a complete failure but I didn't cook the eggs as the recipe called for.)

2. You can put the cover on the pot if you're in a hurry for the eggs to boil. However, if you have a garden, you can water the plants while you wait for the eggs to cook. I watered half our yard before I returned to the eggs.

3. Once you return from the garden, the eggs should be cooked. Turn the heat off and let eggs sit on the stove in the hot water for a bit. The pot needs to cool down a little before you handle it (about 5 mins).

4. Carefully pour the hot water in the sink and refill the pot (with eggs still in it) with cold water. Now let the eggs sit in the cold bath and go prepare the next part of your recipe. For me, it was washing and chopping scallions for the banh bao stuffing. I was told to cut the onions in small pieces so I took my time and chopped them finely. During onion chopping, mom walked in and asked why I was chopping them so finely. Answer: the easier to hide it in the meat so TT doesn't realize how much onion she's eating in each bite.

5. Once onions are chopped, return to the eggs and dip your finger in the water. If it's still warm, empty that water and refill with cold water. Let sit while you unload the dishwasher or cut white printer paper (wax cookie sheets are preferred but we never bake so we never have that in the house) into squares onto which the uncooked banh bao can be placed.

6. By now, the eggs should be cool enough to handle. Break the egg shell by tapping the egg on the counter and rotating so the cracks are distributed evenly around the equator of the egg. Peel over a trash can so you don't have to clean up the shell afterward. If you happen to drop your egg into the trash can, don't pick it up. Just continue peeling the rest of the eggs over a clean plastic bag that you can toss later. If you drop it in the plastic bag, you can rinse the shell pieces off under running water and place the clean egg with the rest of the batch:

Voila, perfectly boiled and peeled eggs

I heard from Paula Dean (and later, mom) that the shell comes off better after the eggs have cooled in a cold water bath. The image above is proof that they are right.

The rest of these images depict the scene in the kitchen during banh bao prepping and cooking:

Quartered eggs waiting to be placed in the meat cushion and wrapped up in a stretchy piece of rolled out dough

Clockwise from top: I think it's ground pork meat stuffing with peas and carrots, quartered eggs, whole eggs, dough, mom's hand is a blur. Center: loose flour

Uncooked banh bao

They were delicious! Total prep time: probably 1 hour. Total cook time: 20 mins per batch of 10. Total eat time: 2 mins

And Then There Was One



6/25: Two baby avocados, hanging on the tree



O look, a pine cone!

 

While chasing a rabbit around the yard, I discovered dark purple irises hidden behind a leafy bush:

Serious beansness

We have lots of dirty berries

 

Helloooo carrots!

Mong Toi:turns slimy when cooked but it's super yummy

A giant zucchini, no big deal

7/12: And then there was one (left)

Cold Turkey

I am going on day 5 of being chapstick-free. I lost my chapstick somewhere on the streets of SD Friday night so I was without chapstick for an entire day on Saturday. It was painful. Sunday didn't prove to be much better but I was determined to wean myself off of this Burt's Bees addiction (I've gone through at least 5 in the last year). I've heard that doing something for 21 days in a row will make it a habit. I wonder if it works the same for when I don't do something. Will report back in 16 days...

In other news, while digging under the bed in the guest room for blank paper to draw on, I discovered some long lost pieces. It's unfortunate I didn't think to put a date behind these paintings because now I don't know which year these were made in. See if you can guess who I meant to paint:

The first one is a giveaway because I imitated this artist's painting style. I don't know why he turned out looking so sad though...

Hint: Lost

I'm not quite sure who this is supposed to be. If you figure it out, let me know. (Not sure what's going on with his right nostril either)

This last one is probably the reason why I stopped drawing people. I really hope this is not the same order that I produced these paintings because they get progressively worse.

Snap Yo Beans

Today I picked snap beans from the garden outside my little house on the prairie. The little suckers are really hard to pull off the vine. Next time I'll bring scissors; scissors and a face net because flies buzzing around your face while you tug beans off their vines are REALLY annoying. These are the beans right after they were picked:

This is what the beans look like when they're opened up. I'm not sure how snap beans are supposed to be consumed (shelled or de-shelled) but I went ahead and opened them all up in case the shell is not edible.

Twenty minutes later this is what I get:

Let's just say I'm thankful I don't have to rely on my de-shelling skills to make a living

The Great Indoors

I salvaged a few branches of Salix Tortuosa (corkscrew willow) from the arrangements displayed at a party two weeks ago because I noticed they started sprouting roots after sitting in the water for just one night. The branches are now gathered in a vase in my room. I plan to take care of them until they grow enough roots to be planted down. One day, when I open my own flower shop, I'll have corkscrew willow branches at my disposal.

A view of the roots through the blue glass vase:

Leaves sprouting out from the branches (these were not there when I purchased them).

6/22/11: The start of my corkscrew willow trees.

Treasures from the yard

I am sad to announce that the lone blueberry I've been waiting on to ripen has disappeared. I am not sure who/what the culprit is but the next time that little plant bears fruit (hopefully more than one), I'll make sure to set up barbed wire around it.

In the mini orchard on the side of the house, we have some avocado plants (trying to fit in with the rest of the neighborhood). This one has 3 fruits that are still hanging on (down from about 219). Baby avocados are so fragile! This image was taken on 6/15 and I haven't journeyed to the mini orchard since then so I'm not even sure if these are still there:

One day while exploring the mini orchard, TT exclaimed excitedly "Wow giant lemons!"
I had to crush her excitement and tell her these are actually grapefruit:

On yet another day while digging around in the yard, I saw something white in one of the planters under the patio. Initially I thought it was a mushroom that had sprouted overnight (some mushrooms are unstoppable). I bent down to take a closer look and found it was an egg. The nest from which (I'm assuming) the egg fell was hanging loosely in the wisteria vines above, tattered and abandoned. The egg felt light and hollow so I knew there was no longer the potential for a baby bird. I felt a little sad for the short-lived glory of the now-dried chick but I was also very excited about my find. Naturally, I showed everyone I could find around the house that day. Check out my egg!

 I placed the egg on a mini orchid plant for safe keeping. A few days later, I found my egg, crushed and hidden in a vase near the orchid plant. Mom had crushed it when she picked up the orchid to move it (for the first time since it was brought into the house). And she conveniently forgot to tell me she was the one who broke it. :( times indeed. At least I got some pictures and a few cool videos of the mini egg spinning while it was still whole.

6/15/11 Edible goods

We have so many zucchinis, we don't know what to do with them:

Strawberries have managed to escape the scavenging rodents roaming our yard but they're far from being ripe enough to eat: 

Beans from my aunt in Vietnam (they look so yummy!):

Bean blossoms:

Mong Toi next to the beans:

Mints galore!

Fuzzy squash climbing up its custom-made trellis: 

This is how I climb:

Will you be my friend? 

Snap bean seeds from The Home Depot looking good enough to eat!:

Onion flower:

Tomato forest (can't find the tomatoes anymore):