Write 31 Days: No bad eggs (Day 1)

I was in my late 40s before I knew that “bad egg” was not just what you might call an unsavory character. There really is such a thing as a bad egg, an egg that’s gone bad, that you shouldn’t use, and if one makes its way into a recipe, there’s no going back. You should start over with all the good eggs.

I’ve been cooking and baking since late adolescence when, on some subconscious level, I fully incorporated an understanding that the ability to turn out a satisfying meal was my ticket to doing something not just acceptable, but valuable.

But until I did an online whole foods freezer cooking class with Heather Bruggeman in 2016, I never met an egg I didn’t like.

Heather cracked eggs into a separate cup before adding them to the main mix. I knew this was a thing, but to me it was just something some people did for their own personal reasons. I was just not that fussy. Everyone has their own moves in the kitchen. Did it really matter how the egg got in the bowl?

As it turns out, yes, it did. Heather explained that the yolk of a bad egg breaks when you crack the shell. That’s why you do it in a separate bowl. So if the yolk is broken, you can toss it out. Only the best eggs make the batter.

I never knew.

How many bad eggs have I baked into cookies and cakes over the years and served to unwitting family and friends? No one ever said they got sick from my pastries. At least, not that I know of.

I thought if the yolk broke when I cracked the shell it meant maybe the shell poked it on the way out.

My idea of a bad egg is a rotten one. One that smells awful and is therefore obviously no-brainer bad.

I made scrambled eggs for breakfast this morning and one of the yolks broke as it settled in the pan. I scramble hot rather than in advance because I like the somewhat separate streaks of white and yellow in my finished product.

I noted that the egg might be a bad one. I ate it anyway and survived.

I ate it anyway because if my two grandmothers never cracked eggs into a separate bowl before adding them to whatever they were cooking, why should I?

Maybe for us there are no bad eggs. Or maybe we just know a bad egg when we see – or smell – one.

I am sure nobody wasted any eggs in either of my grandmothers’ homes. I like to think that if a rotten smelly egg found its way into a mixing bowl, they would throw it out and start over. I would.

Short of that, there are no bad eggs.

Write 31 Days

A lot’s been swirling around inside of me for the five-and-a-half months since I last wrote publicly. It’s not that I had nothing to say. I had plenty. But words that seemed so solid in my mind transformed to smoke when I tried to set them on the page. I gave up all but my most private writing practice and settled into a fallow time.

Lately, I’ve been trying to find a way back to writing in the world. I’ve been forgetting and remembering how to do this my entire writing life, always certain I’ve finally lost my way for good.

Fortunately, it has a way of finding me.

Yesterday the blogger of A Moveable Garden shared one of her Write 31 Days posts on Facebook. She is simply writing about what she learns each day.

I thought, oh hey, I can do that. I can pick one thing and explore it. My swirling unsettledness is mostly around ideas/beliefs/longings/musings and experiences of home. That will be my thing for the next month.

Yes, obviously, I am very late to this blog party. But as F. Scott Fitzgerald said,

“For what it’s worth… it’s never too late, or in my case too early, to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit. Start whenever you want. You can change or stay the same. There are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you’ve never felt before. I hope you meet people who have a different point of view. I hope you live a life you’re proud of, and if you’re not, I hope you have the courage to start over again.”