My travel plans squelched for the foreseeable future, I was elated when my traveling buddies from California posted a memory on Facebook. We’d traveled to White Horse Station in the Yukon Territory to view the colorful night sky at the Northern Lights Resort. There, in addition to the aurora borealis, we were introduced at breakfast to the Eierschalensollbruchstellenverursacher, a clever German device for removing just the shell cap of a cooked egg.
It may not seem like much, but in my entire adult life, I had never cooked, nor eaten, a hard-boiled egg. With that memory in mind, I promptly ordered an Eierschalen gizmo of my own from Amazon. Thus began my return (more like an introduction) to cooking. Because fixing grilled bologna sandwiches and blue-box mac & cheese — endlessly — for your kids — does not count as cooking.
I also ordered a great little gadget that can slice, dice, and make a flower out of any hard-boiled egg fit for a queen.
Quarantined and alone, I became quite proficient at cooking eggs. With abundant time and easy access to Amazon, I ordered a small wok, assorted oils, a bright orange tagine, a bread machine, and a yogurt maker. I cleaned up my little crockpot, my old waffle maker, and my mother’s flour sifter. I still remembered how to boil water; and that was just the start I needed.
In a flurry of experimental cooking and baking, I offered samples of banana nut bread, Greek pasticcio, Italian lasagna, German pot roast, and other labors of love from my kitchen with my neighbors. Last year we were sharing socially-distanced meals together by pulling the picnic tables in our yards within shouting distance of one another. Breaking bread together in a safe, socially distanced manner is still my idea of a good time.
This is Sharon Nicola, and that is my Perspective.
