I don’t know how it happened, but my daughter Patti has taken a great interest in cooking. OK: I must admit she’s not exactly kicking out seven course meals.
She makes eggs.
Maybe she started because I’m late to get around to making breakfast in the morning. Or maybe it’s because it looked easy. But for whatever reason, Patti is suddenly a serious egg-maker in our house. First she makes scrambled for Suzi; then she makes fried for herself.
Patti likes eggs.
She is clearly impressed with all the different ways you can eat them. Her grandmother Toby showed her how to make a sandwich with a fried egg. I taught her to put ketchup on scrambled eggs. I also showed her the old-fashioned type of egg cups we used to use to serve up soft-boiled eggs when I was a kid. I impressed her with my egg knowledge, up until I attempted a poached egg, which sadly turned out more like egg-drop soup.
On our recent vacation on Lake Michigan (most of which I missed because I had to work), Patti apparently spent time each day practicing how to make her sunny side up eggs go over easy.
It’s still a work in progress. You’ve to break a few eggs to make an omelet, right?
For me, the fun part is watching her taking this one little thing so seriously. Granted, this whole endeavor may be more about her perfectionism than her interest in chicken eggs. But there’s no doubt that this girl’s brain is working hard trying to figure out the mystery of cooking the perfect egg. It’s a joy to watch.
This morning my husband, who has noticed little about Patti’s egg cooking obsession, served her a perfect over-easy egg. Patti smiled and admired it as if it was a birthday present.
"How did you do that?" she asked glowingly.
We can explain to her how to do it many times over, but it’s really something – like so many other things in life – that she’ll just have to practice until she gets it.
But just so she doesn’t burn out all her cooking fascination making those eggs, maybe I should convince her to take an interest in cooking something a little more challenging.
Like, say, weekday dinners?
