My mother always did all the cooking in my parents' home and my father's sole contribution was saying thank you.
She died, aged 89, in the year 2000, and the next day my 89-year old-father, who had refused to come and stay overnight with me, phoned me.
His quavering voice said, "I can't find the egg cups."
My Widowed Father's Need To Cook
I thought my father had woken up lonely and this was just a plea for attention, but I treated his problem seriously and asked, "Have you looked in all the cupboards?"
"Yes," he replied. "I can't find any egg cups anywhere. I don't know what to do. Can you help me?"
I sighed. I had to cope with my mother's death, telling friends and family, neighbours, organizing a funeral tea at my house. The last thing I needed was delivering meals on wheels and playing hunt the egg cups.
Fortunately I was only ten minutes' drive away.
I said, "I'll bring you some egg cups. While you are waiting, look again. And get out two small plates and two teaspoons. Tiny ones, if you have them. And a saucepan."
I said that to keep him busy. I thought he had only phoned me for company because he was alone and forlorn.
I was wrong. He really had no idea where to find an egg cup or how to boil and egg.
How Do You Boil An Egg?
"Thank you," he said. "And - can you show me how to boil an egg?"
"You just put it in water and boil until it's done."
"What size saucepan? How much water? Water to cover the egg, or to the top of the saucepan?
If I put it in boiling water I might splash myself. If I boil it then it might boil over and splash me.
How will I know when it is done? How do I get it out of the boiling water? Do I need to leave the water to cool? And the egg to cool. When your mother did it, I thought it was simple. Now it seems so complicated."
"I'll show you," I replied. I must admit I never really thought about how I cook an egg. I just get up and do it.
He asked, "How do I get the shell off? Can I cook six eggs for the week?"
"I'll be right over," I replied.
You could start every day with a sustaining egg, which contains rotein. You might get a bit bored. What about different eggs?
I used to hate cooking eggs any way except scarmbled. First there is the mess of the bits of broken egg shell. Then the risk of the broken yolk, messy. Finally, if you achieved a perfect yook, ideal for fried eggs you had to inspect the eggs. They sometimes had red blood spots. Or little white wiggly bits.
How Do You Scramble Eggs?
After I wrote the above, in 2020, I thought, what will I do if my husband goes into hospital? I went into the kitchen and asked my husband, who does all the cooking, "Where are our eggs? Where are the egg cups? How many do we have? Are they different sizes and does it matter. Do we have any small teaspoons for eggs?"
He answered, "The eggs are in the door of the fridge in the egg tray. The egg cups all fit any size egg. I have a small teaspoon I use for salt but usually just use the normal teaspoons for eggs."
My Husband's Scrambled Egg
Yesterday I asked my husband to show me how he cooks a scrambled egg. I do it differently.
He whisks it the eggs up with a hand whisk. He does not add water (which hotels do) nor milk nor cream. He adds just a pinch of salt and pepper to the mixture. 'Not too much!'
Have a nonstick pan and a wooden spoon or teflon spatula. Put a teaspoon puddle of oil. warm the pan before adding the eggs. If hot and fast cooking the butter turns brown fast. Keep stirring fast. As soon as it starts to solidify, take the pan off the heat. It will continue cooking.Remove onto a plate.
Add your pre-chopped salad and pre-washed and chopped tomatoes.
If you cook toast at the same time, lots to watch and co-ordinate. You may have to practice learning how long a partiuclar type of bread, particular thickness and particular toaster. Butter on hot toast, then eggs on toast.
Whipped up egg for scrambled egg. Photo by Angela Lansbury. copyright.
Omeletters have to be slow cooked. Because you need the to solidify so you can turn them over.
The moral of the story is, teach your parents and your partner and your children and your household help to cook. You never know when one of you will go into hospital, or be travelling for work, overseas on holiday, stuck on a cruise ship which can't get home, or worse case scenario you or your parent is widowed and have ing to cook for themselves every day, three meals a day, except for the once a week treat for a family meal out or in.
Quick And Easy Baked Potato
When I was at school, a girls' grammar school, we had Domestic Science lessons which included cookery. I learned to cook a baked potato in its jacket in the oven and grate cheese into the cooked potato. Baked potato is another another quick and easy meal.
About the Author
Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and phtographer, author and speaker,
wtih many posts on travel, food and drink, menu languages and languages.
See later post:
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2020/04/plan-for-teaching-your-family-to-cook.html
Please share links to your favourite posts.
She died, aged 89, in the year 2000, and the next day my 89-year old-father, who had refused to come and stay overnight with me, phoned me.
His quavering voice said, "I can't find the egg cups."
My Widowed Father's Need To Cook
I thought my father had woken up lonely and this was just a plea for attention, but I treated his problem seriously and asked, "Have you looked in all the cupboards?"
"Yes," he replied. "I can't find any egg cups anywhere. I don't know what to do. Can you help me?"
I sighed. I had to cope with my mother's death, telling friends and family, neighbours, organizing a funeral tea at my house. The last thing I needed was delivering meals on wheels and playing hunt the egg cups.
Fortunately I was only ten minutes' drive away.
I said, "I'll bring you some egg cups. While you are waiting, look again. And get out two small plates and two teaspoons. Tiny ones, if you have them. And a saucepan."
I said that to keep him busy. I thought he had only phoned me for company because he was alone and forlorn.
I was wrong. He really had no idea where to find an egg cup or how to boil and egg.
How Do You Boil An Egg?
"Thank you," he said. "And - can you show me how to boil an egg?"
"You just put it in water and boil until it's done."
"What size saucepan? How much water? Water to cover the egg, or to the top of the saucepan?
If I put it in boiling water I might splash myself. If I boil it then it might boil over and splash me.
How will I know when it is done? How do I get it out of the boiling water? Do I need to leave the water to cool? And the egg to cool. When your mother did it, I thought it was simple. Now it seems so complicated."
"I'll show you," I replied. I must admit I never really thought about how I cook an egg. I just get up and do it.
He asked, "How do I get the shell off? Can I cook six eggs for the week?"
"I'll be right over," I replied.
You could start every day with a sustaining egg, which contains rotein. You might get a bit bored. What about different eggs?
I used to hate cooking eggs any way except scarmbled. First there is the mess of the bits of broken egg shell. Then the risk of the broken yolk, messy. Finally, if you achieved a perfect yook, ideal for fried eggs you had to inspect the eggs. They sometimes had red blood spots. Or little white wiggly bits.
How Do You Scramble Eggs?
After I wrote the above, in 2020, I thought, what will I do if my husband goes into hospital? I went into the kitchen and asked my husband, who does all the cooking, "Where are our eggs? Where are the egg cups? How many do we have? Are they different sizes and does it matter. Do we have any small teaspoons for eggs?"
He answered, "The eggs are in the door of the fridge in the egg tray. The egg cups all fit any size egg. I have a small teaspoon I use for salt but usually just use the normal teaspoons for eggs."
My Husband's Scrambled Egg
Yesterday I asked my husband to show me how he cooks a scrambled egg. I do it differently.
He whisks it the eggs up with a hand whisk. He does not add water (which hotels do) nor milk nor cream. He adds just a pinch of salt and pepper to the mixture. 'Not too much!'
Have a nonstick pan and a wooden spoon or teflon spatula. Put a teaspoon puddle of oil. warm the pan before adding the eggs. If hot and fast cooking the butter turns brown fast. Keep stirring fast. As soon as it starts to solidify, take the pan off the heat. It will continue cooking.Remove onto a plate.
Add your pre-chopped salad and pre-washed and chopped tomatoes.
If you cook toast at the same time, lots to watch and co-ordinate. You may have to practice learning how long a partiuclar type of bread, particular thickness and particular toaster. Butter on hot toast, then eggs on toast.
Omeletters have to be slow cooked. Because you need the to solidify so you can turn them over.
The moral of the story is, teach your parents and your partner and your children and your household help to cook. You never know when one of you will go into hospital, or be travelling for work, overseas on holiday, stuck on a cruise ship which can't get home, or worse case scenario you or your parent is widowed and have ing to cook for themselves every day, three meals a day, except for the once a week treat for a family meal out or in.
Quick And Easy Baked Potato
When I was at school, a girls' grammar school, we had Domestic Science lessons which included cookery. I learned to cook a baked potato in its jacket in the oven and grate cheese into the cooked potato. Baked potato is another another quick and easy meal.
About the Author
Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and phtographer, author and speaker,
wtih many posts on travel, food and drink, menu languages and languages.
See later post:
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2020/04/plan-for-teaching-your-family-to-cook.html
Please share links to your favourite posts.
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