Eating for Two

So a post on cooking from a woman might not seem like “breaking roles”, but it is in our relationship. It was decided very early on that Mark owns the kitchen, probably about the same time that I tried to help him cook something and he ended up hugging me while laughing maniacally.

While you’re supposedly “eating for two” when pregnant, I don’t feel that my eating habits changed that much until after Emily was born and I was nursing. Mark claims that all I was doing at the end was pointing to my mouth and grunting, but I’m pretty sure that’s an exaggeration. Being home on maternity leave, I’ve actually had time to eat decent breakfasts, but I’ve found Mark doesn’t really appreciate it when I wake him up just to ask him to make me food. Thus began the great experiment involving forays into the kitchen for things other than beverages. This is actually a big deal- I’ve been known to melt butter lids and silicone oven mitts (bet you didn’t know that was possible), which resulted in Mark forbidding me from touching his Calphalon.

Armed with my trusty pots from Mark’s college days and frying pans from IKEA, I’ve actually been doing pretty well with breakfast foods (my favorite meal of the day). Once upon a time in Home Ec, I learned to make waffles and pancakes, but that’s just way too many dishes, so I’ve been eating a lot of eggs and toast. Eggs also have the advantage of being a protein, which means I last longer before pestering Mark to feed me lunch. I’ve made hard boiled eggs before, which are about as easy as it gets, but for some reason I end up wanting to eat more of them due to the tiny portion size. Alton Brown’s Unscrambled Eggs are pretty fool-proof, so that’s the method I use for scrambling, but when I want to go for quick and easy, fried eggs are where it’s at. I’ve been eating a LOT of fried eggs with my toast. I like my eggs a bit more done than over easy, which is still hit or miss. When Mark told me to branch out, I decided to be adventurous and learn to poach them… I think he meant to make something other than eggs, but oh well.

Being that Alton Brown is my culinary hero, I decided to follow his recipe, which calls for poaching one egg at a time. My very first attempt was flawless, and I went on to round two. I discovered that first one was beginner’s luck, and, half a dozen attempts later, have yet to duplicate it. Mark even went so far as to buying me a poaching pod, which only helps slightly. The egg maintains a nice shape, but it seems near impossible to have the white cooked properly without overcooking the yoke. My experiment with cooking is drawing to a close, though- I expect that once I go back to work on Tuesday, I’ll be back to donuts and bagels.

Beginner's Luck (left) and Attempt 2 (right)

Beginner’s Luck (left) and Attempt 2 (right)