12/15/08
What Not to do with Egg Nog
Christmas is always a time for yummy things. Cookies sprinkled with green sugar, hot chocolate by the fireside, little icky sandwiches that sit and rot in your gut...
... and, of course, the inevitable egg nog. Sweet and thick and spiced and cold. Always cold. Have you ever noticed that? No one serves warm egg nog, do they? If so, I sure haven't run across any.
One year, I decided that I would try my egg nog warm. To my credit, for those of you already sniggering, I was fifteen. Young enough to still be stupid, old enough to make my way around the kitchen. We were either out of hot chocolate or bored with it, I cannot remember. In a fit of misdirected creativity, I poured myself a nice big mugful of the yellow liquid, shook a little extra nutmeg on top, and popped it in the microwave.
Now, any of you with a brain will know that egg does something with heat- namely, it cooks. Two minutes in the microwave produced a steaming, fragrant mug, and I thought I was just awesome.
Then I stirred it. My spoon hit some resistance going in, and I could feel the drag of something solid inside the cup. I could hear my youngest sister giggling behind me, and all at once, with a rush of embarassment and disgust, I realized what I had done. I lifted my spoon partway out of my cup and gagged at the sight of long stringy chunks of scrambled egg slithering in a bath of hot yellowish milk.
The mug was rather difficult to wash out, and from that point on I've always served my egg nog ice cold. Every Christmas season, my youngest sister reminds me of my creative stupidity. I don't think I'll ever live that one down.
Here's wishing you all a Merry Christmas, devoid of disgusting chunks of sweet, milky scrambled egg.
Sorry for the lack of updates recently. Hopefully the New Year will bring about more inspiration and relevance for us.
... and, of course, the inevitable egg nog. Sweet and thick and spiced and cold. Always cold. Have you ever noticed that? No one serves warm egg nog, do they? If so, I sure haven't run across any.
One year, I decided that I would try my egg nog warm. To my credit, for those of you already sniggering, I was fifteen. Young enough to still be stupid, old enough to make my way around the kitchen. We were either out of hot chocolate or bored with it, I cannot remember. In a fit of misdirected creativity, I poured myself a nice big mugful of the yellow liquid, shook a little extra nutmeg on top, and popped it in the microwave.
Now, any of you with a brain will know that egg does something with heat- namely, it cooks. Two minutes in the microwave produced a steaming, fragrant mug, and I thought I was just awesome.
Then I stirred it. My spoon hit some resistance going in, and I could feel the drag of something solid inside the cup. I could hear my youngest sister giggling behind me, and all at once, with a rush of embarassment and disgust, I realized what I had done. I lifted my spoon partway out of my cup and gagged at the sight of long stringy chunks of scrambled egg slithering in a bath of hot yellowish milk.
The mug was rather difficult to wash out, and from that point on I've always served my egg nog ice cold. Every Christmas season, my youngest sister reminds me of my creative stupidity. I don't think I'll ever live that one down.
Here's wishing you all a Merry Christmas, devoid of disgusting chunks of sweet, milky scrambled egg.
Sorry for the lack of updates recently. Hopefully the New Year will bring about more inspiration and relevance for us.
