About The Country Wife Blog

Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Vacation Fun: Stanwood Wildlife Sanctuary

We do not often do the expensive tourist-y things on our vacations.  So far this vacation we have done more low level things...except for going up Cadillac Mountain.

Today we visited the Stanwood Wildlife Sanctuary on a wet cloudy day.  There is a boardwalk for people with walking issues.  There are many trails to hike.  At this time of year there are mosquitoes the size of a large crow.  Because of that, I abbreviated my "walk" and dove back into the car to avoid more  of the flying monsters.  Only about two of them entered the car's cabin with me...

In one of the habitats we passed we found this owl.  I thought he (or she) was very beautiful.


There is an owl called the "brown owl".  I think this might be one of those but I could not stay out and breathe in more mosquitoes long enough to find the documentation about this owl.

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Vacation Report: Eagle Lake, Mount Desert Island, Maine

While in Maine for a short vacation, we went to Eagle Lake where Dear One biked around the lake on a carriage road.  It is a 6.1 mile trip.  He enjoyed it.  I sat in the car knitting a new pattern with some Gina yarn that we purchased at Shirley's Yarns and Crafts Shop in Hancock, Maine.






Eagle Lake is so lovely.  It was a bracing 60 degrees with a nice little breeze.  I asked Dear One to park in the shade.  I was very comfy in the car without my Bartlettyarns sweater...

Monday, May 29, 2017

Munchie Monday: Quick and Easy Overnight Steel Cut Oats with Blueberries

At the Weight and Wellness Center the dietitian mentioned overnight steel cut oats. I decided to try it.  I think I already posted about it but could not find it so here we go again.

We are in Maine for the week.  We have a full kitchen in the unit so we brought a few supplies for cooking.

Quick and Easy Overnight Steel Cut Oats with Blueberries

In a quart glass canning jar (I like glass containers whenever possible)  place 2/3 cups steel cut oats.  Add 3 Tablespoons chia seeds.  Stir well.  Add 1 1/2 cups coconut almond milk and put on the cover.  Shake well. 

Remove cover and add 1-1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries.  Cover again and shake very well.  Store in refrigerator overnight.

In the morning enjoy a big dish of very healthy no-sugar-added-no-added-fat cereal.  It taste surprisingly yummy.

This should be 2-3 servings, depending on your appetite.

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Knitting Today: Baby Jane Booties and Hat

A friend is having a baby girl very shortly.  I started a top/sweater for her but found the yarn not to my liking when I was well on the way.  So I pulled it out to re-purpose.

This is what I actually made:  Baby Janes and an easy newborn baby hat with some lovely soft variegated yarn.

The hat pattern is here  which I found at Ravelry:

Small Preemie to Full Term Hat/Michelle's baby hat
(with fold up cuff)

Materials: Baby sport weight yarn
Size 5 double pointed needles (You could do this on regular needles also but then the even rows will be purled.)
Sizes: S, M, L, FT (9", 10 ¼", 11 ½", 13")
Gauge: 5 ½ st = 1"
Cast on 50, 56, 64, 70 stitches. Rib 2, (2 ½, 2 ½, 3) inches.
Continue in stockinette stitch for 1 ½, (2, 2 ½, 3) inches.
Begin decreases.
Row 1: Knit 2 tog, K 3, (5, 6, 5). Continue across.
Row 2: Knit.
Row 3: Knit 2 tog, K 2, (4, 5, 4). Continue across.
Row 4: Knit.
Continue to decrease in same manner until K2 tog around row- continue to K2 around until 5 or 6 st left. Cut yarn with tail. Run through stitches left. Tie off and weave in ends.

http://www.bevscountrycottage.com/michelle-booties.html





The Baby Janes are here,  a Red Heart yarn pattern.

For decently formatted pattern, please go to the website above.

Baby Jane Booties
Designed by Linda Cyr.
Baby size 6 – 12 months. Finished length: 31⁄2”.
Red Heart® With LoveTM: 1 skein 1805 Bluebell. 
Knitting Needles” 4mm [US 6]
Double Pointed Knitting Needles: 4mm [US 6]. 
Yarn needle, 23/8” diameter buttons.
GAUGE: 20 sts = 4”; 38 rows = 4” in Garter st. CHECK YOUR GAUGE. Use any size needle to obtain the gauge.
Special Abbreviations

Ssk = Slip next 2 sts knitwise, one at a time to right needle; insert point of left needle into the fronts of these 2 sts and knit them together from this position.
M1 (make one stitch) = Lift running thread before next stitch onto left needle and knit into the back loop.
BOOTIES

Right
 
With knitting needles, cast on 28 sts.

Rows 1, 3, 5 (wrong side): Knit.

Row 2: [K1, m1, k12, m1, k1] 2 times–32 sts.

Row 4: * K2, m1, k12, m1, k2 * m1, repeat from * to * once more–37 sts.

Row 6: K3, m1, k12, m1, k2, m1, k3, m1, k2, m1, k12, m1, k3–43 sts.

Rows 7 - 14: Knit.

Row 15: K13, [ssk] 4 times, k1, [k2tog] 4 times, k13.

Row 16: Knit.
Row 17: K8, bind off 19, k8.
Strap
Slip each set of 8 sts onto a double pointed needles. Cut yarn. Rotate the needles so that the heel edges of the bootie meet. With right side facing, attach yarn to foot edge and work across the sts as follows:
Row 1: K7, k2tog (1 st from each needle to join heel), k7, cast on 13 sts for strap– 28 sts.

Row 2: Knit.
Row 3: K25, yo, ssk, k1.
Row 4: Knit. Bind off.
Left
Cast on and work same as for Right Bootie to Strap.
Strap
Rotate the needles so that the back edges of the bootie meet. With wrong side facing, attach yarn and complete same as for Right Bootie.
FINISHING
Sew bottom and heel seams. Weave in yarn ends. Sew button opposite buttonhole on strap.

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Michaels Free Class: Sunflower with Colored Pencils on Wood

Last week we had a free Michaels class using wood and colored pencils.  R and K arrived at the class at just the right time.  It was wonderful to have people come to the class.  Particularly it was nice that R and K came to class.  They are lovely people.  Our evening together was just great.

Here is R's sunflower:




She chose this wooden frame that appears to be made of balsa.  It was a fine surface for the pencil work.  If you could see the picture close up, you would be really really impressed.  She is a wonderful artist.

K drew and colored a "hobbit door".  It, too, was wonderful. So intricate and perfectly drawn so you felt you could just lift the latch and go on in to meet whatever hobbit was at home.  I am so sorry I did not take a picture of it to share.

This was the wooden plaque with pencil coloring on it.
R suggested laying down more color to improve it.

I think she was right about the extra color.  In fact, when reading over the instructions for the class again,  they did mention layering many layers of color.


Monday, May 22, 2017

Munchie Monday: Breakfast Burger, Surprisingly Good!

We have been cleaning out a lot of things from our home to make the house more live-able for two families for the next few months.  This morning Dear One cleared off the table that has been used as the "desk" for bills and other claptrap.  He kept bringing piles to me to look at/dispose of.  Nice.  Anyway, one was a recipe.  Which I made for breakfast.  Never mind that breakfast was at 11:30 AM.

The sheet of paper called the recipe  Bakin and Egg Breakfast Burger.  The person who posted this recipe somewhere online where I found it, had not remembered the URL.  No problem. I didn't include her URL either!  So I just went online to see if that recipe was available, and it was!

The recipe was at EverydayDish.tv.  I was thrilled to find it so I could attribute it to the creator of this burger.

Bakin and Egg Breakfast Burger  (the way I made it...)

1 16-ounce block extra firm tofu
1 Tablespoon granulated garlic
1 Tablespoon granulated onion
1 Tablespoon prepared mustard
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
1/4 cup fake bacon bits
1/2 cup flour
A little oil for the skillet

Remove the tofu from the container and drain the water.  Double-wrap the tofu block in a kitchen towel and place a weight on top of it to help extra water drain out.  I used a cast iron skillet but a plate with a heavy can of food would have worked.  Stay near by in case the weight falls off the tofu package! 

After the tofu has pressed for 10 or 15 minutes (or when you finish the other things you are doing,  remove the kitchen towel wrapping and place in a large bowl.  With your very clean hands (and fingernails!)  crumble up the tofu.  Add all the seasonings except the flour.  Stir with a wooden spoon to mix.  When they are well-combined,  add the flour and mix with your hands.  The mixture should cloy together into a ball. If it does not, add more flour a tablespoon at a time.

Form into 6 patties then sauté 3-5 minutes in a hot skillet with 1-2 Tablespoons of heated oil. 

Serve on toast with catsup.  Or anything else you like.  Next time I will serve on a large Romaine lettuce leaf. 

When asked how the burgers went down,  Dear One said, "Hmmm.  They did not fall apart."  High praise indeed!

These were surprisingly good.  Maybe a bit more spice.



Friday, May 19, 2017

Food Friday: Spiralized Oven Potato Fries!

Recently I loaned our Westmark Spiralizer to Debbie.  She used it for zucchini noodles with spaghetti sauce PLUS she spiralized potatoes, added a little olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder,  baked them in the oven and pronounced them delicious.  So I did the same thing.

Taking one large and one medium potato, I spiralized them onto a cookie pan then added almost 1 Tablespoon olive oil, a sprinkle of salt, pepper, and granulated garlic.  Baked them at 450 degrees F. for 10 minutes.  Removed from oven and flipped the "poodles" over then baked another 10 minutes.

Dear One loved them.  He did say they could have been more crisp so I baked them an extra 10 minutes.  They were lovely.

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Knitting: Primitive Lizard for Grandchild


The other day we were all sitting on the front porch enjoying the lovely spring sunshine.  Young B brought me a skein of very fat colorful yarn and said,  “Grammie, can you make me a lizard?”  Then he began describing how the lizard should look.  It sounded a bit complicated to me but I thought I could possibly make a simple lizard.

So, I set to work.  I believe I cast on about 10 stitches using US size 7 needles with this super bulky yarn.  After knitting about five inches for the body I did some increases to make a head, then made decreases almost immediately.

The interesting thing about the lizard is that B then wanted to actually do the knitting himself.  He did get a few stitches on the needle, which was impressive since he is just five years old.  Then the rest of the children had something going on out on the lawn and B asked me to take over…which is when I did the five inch rectangle with increases and decreases.

The next day he asked me again about his lizard.  Another day passed without the lizard showing up after yet another query.  Sometimes this Grammie gets into too many things and has to stop one job to go to another.


Yesterday I picked up the flat lizard, made some I-cord legs then used the “magic knot” to add more yarn onto the yarn tail to make the lizard tale.  After binding that off I stitched down the belly and set the lizard up near the trail mix bowl.  Often when B returns from school he goes directly to the trail mix bowl to dip in for a moment.  I knew he would see the lizard there.

Grandpa and I were upstairs working on another sorting project when B came upstairs to show us what he had brought home from school:  a pot with several tiny green plants growing in it and a lovely water-colored Mother’s Day card.  Grandpa asked what he had in his other hand.



He brought out the lizard from behind his back with a big smile on his face and said, “Thank you for my lizard, Grammie!”  That made me happy.  Then he pointed to the protrusion near one end and asked, “Is that his chin, Grammie?”  Yep.  Chin.  The orange eyes were not so easily seen.

Monday, May 15, 2017

Munchie Monday: Spring Treat--Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

One of the earliest garden sights is the rhubarb pushing up through the mulch.  This year grandchildren asked what those leaves were.  When I told them their immediate reaction was "strawberry rhubarb pie is so delicious"!  Okay.  Well, Grammie's pie crust is not that great but you cannot go wrong with rhubarb crisp.

Yesterday I found some good-looking strawberries on sale (1 pound for $1.49), so I bought a box.  Today I put off a much-wanted trip for a while to go out and pick seven stems of rhubarb then made the crisp which is now cooking for the family to eat tonight while I am at another class...fiber work-making a small woven wall-hanging.

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Peel then wash 7 stems of rhubarb.  Cut down through the stems from end to end once.  Slice in 1/4 to 1/2 inch slices to measure 4 cups sliced rhubarb.

Wash 1 pound ripe strawberries.  Remove hulls then quarter the berries and measure 3 cups strawberry slices.  Place in a large bowl.



Add 1 cup granulated sugar and 1/4 cup whole wheat flour to the bowl of fruit and toss well.  Place in a 9 by 13 glass baking dish.

In the same large bowl where you had the fruit (no need to wash between processes) place 1 cup whole wheat flour,  1 1/2 cups rolled oats, 1 cup brown sugar,  1 teaspoons cinnamon, and 1/2 cup softened butter.  (Always use butter, NEVER use margarine.  Just don't use butter very often.  A treat occasionally is just fine for your health.  Otherwise, bad news bears for the body. )  Mix well with your fingers then spread evenly on top of the fruit.

Bake for 45 minutes at 375 degrees F.

Serve with whipped cream on top if you like.

Friday, May 12, 2017

Food Friday: More Kale Salad

Earlier I think I shared a kale salad recipe.  Probably more than once, but here is another iteration.  I really do love kale salad. I also feel so virtuous when I eat it.  AND the scales thank me.

One bunch lacinato/tuscan/dinosaur kale
One large head fresh broccoli
One bunch celery
One/half large sweet onion, sliced thin
Pitted Greek olives, cut in half
Hummus
Tajin Classico

Wash the kale.  Dry it.  Strip the leaves off the stems.  Chop them into bite-sized pieces and put into a LARGE bowl

Wash the broccoli.  Shake off the water.  Cut the florets off the stem and chop into your favorite bite-sized pieces and toss onto the kale in the bowl.

Remove the ribs from the celery bunch.  Wash well then cut off any stem pieces that offend you.  Slice fine and add to the bowl.

Remove the outer paper from the sweet onion.    Cut the onion in have from pole to pole, then lay it flat side down on your cutting surface and thinly slice.  Cut the slices in half or thirds and toss on top of your other vegetables.

Toss the vegetables until they are well interspersed with one another.  Take out a large handful and place in an individual serving bowl.  The remaining salad should be tightly covered and put into the refrigerator for the next meal.  I eat this 2-3 times a day.

On the top of the individual serving of salad toss in a few cut Greek olives, a couple of Tablespoons of your favorite hummus and a sprinkle of Tajin Classico.  Stir well and enjoy.

Sometimes I add a little steamed flaked fish.  Sometimes some chopped tomato or carrots or cabbage.

Yummy.

Thursday, May 11, 2017

Fiber Work: Handles and Zippers Installed on Felted Bag

Years ago I was very interested in felting projects.  I just loved knitting things and then felting them.  They are and were so useful.  Not all my projects were finished.  Some were never even started.  (A dear friend who had lived in China noticed one of my felted bags and commented that some people in China wore felted vests or jackets. I always wanted to make him one.  It never happened.)

Here is a bag that, I think, started out with a knitted oval.  Stitches were then picked up and knitted up, increasing along the way.  At the top a couple of inches of the red stocking stitch were knitted then folded over.  A sort of three-needle bind-off happened, though I picked up stitches to bind off at the bottom of the red band of stitches.  This is my memory of how it happened. If I make another one sometime...probably lots smaller...I will report on it.




This morning I found a long-enough heavy zipper and installed it along with some rather garish too-long handles...but I can use this with the handles across body like a messenger bag with those long handles.

Another project:  DONE!!!

That is what is making me happy these days:  finishing projects.  How many more are there?  Don't know but as I find them, I will see what I can do to move them along towards finished...

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Michaels Free Class: Quick Easy Stretchy Beaded Bracelet

Michaels' free classes are pretty interesting Tonight was a quick make-a-bracelet class.  We used two different kinds of glass beads...round and faceted.  Other supplies were 12 mm split rings,  Stretch Magic .7 mm cording, and various charms, though I only used one kind as the "mixed stars" called for were not visible to me anywhere in the store!

To make the bracelet you make a lark's head knot over the split ring with the stretch cord doubled.  It was very tricky to keep the stretch cording ON the split ring.  One thing I learned while checking out YouTube about Stretch Magic and Stretch Bracelets is that you are supposed to stretch the elastic BEFORE you do anything else.  Apparently some brands of stretch elastic forget where they are supposed to be and do not snap back to their original length.




After tying on the lark's head knot, you string on your beads.  You do not need a beading needle to do this, just thread the two strands of the elastic through the beads.  When you like your design (you should measure around your wrist before cutting your elastic so you have a sort of estimate of length...remember: doubled!...and add an extra 1.5 to 2.0 inches for tying off at the end.) you can then use a "surgeon's knot", well, two surgeon's knots to tie off the other end of the beads to the split ring.  If you do it right, you can give a little tug on the elastic and pull the knot into the beads to hide it.  I cannot tell you what that way is because it was a fluke that my effort worked.

At this point you can use jump rings on whatever bangles you want to add. I only added the one but they look pretty cute with multiple bangles.  The jump rings give them a little  room to "jingle jingle jangle"

Tuesday, May 9, 2017

Michaels Class: Paper Flower in a Pot for Mother's Day

We had a class on making a flower for Mom at Michaels.  It was another easy craft.

Needed items:  flower-colored card stock paper (I used Recollections Brights colorway), 2-inch clay flower pot, acrylic craft paint, hot glue gun and glue sticks, pencils with eraser ends, scissors.

The first thing you do is cut a strip of the paper 2 inches wide and start wrapping and overlapping it around a pencil to make a tube.  At the end of the tube insert a little hot glue on the inside of the flap and hold it down until it dries.  BE CAREFUL.  It really is hot, thus the "hot glue" in the title.  Remove the tube from the pencil and let dry completely.  You are going to glue the petals around this tube.  My tube was around 5 inches long.  For this size plant pot, you don't want it much longer, and maybe want it an inch or more shorter.  Give it a try. If you make one, let me know what worked best for you.

Cut out 3 long-ish, thin petals and fold them in half.  Using the hot glue on one end of each petal, insert them alternately into one end of the tube.

First try at making this flower.  I may try again to make it more full.  You can barely see the decorated pot rim.


Cut out 16-20 larger flower petals  Run the petals  through your thumb and index finger or around a pencil to make them curve.  With hot glue on the non-curved end of each petal, attach them, staggered, around the tube.  You will do a better job than I did.  The more petals, the fuller the blossom will be.

Final step is to cut 3 leaves from green paper.  These are similar to the large flower petals, but cut them a bit larger and have one end be blunt...maybe half an inch wide.  Curl these three leaves as well and glue to the bottom of the flower "stem".

Put some acrylic craft paint into a small palette or on a plate.  Using the eraser end of your pencil dab a little paint onto the eraser then daub it onto the rim of the plant pot in whatever pattern you like. I chose three colors and put them on in order around the rim, one color at a time, leaving room for the other two colors.  It would probably be smart to let the paint dry between colors....

Friday, May 5, 2017

Food Friday: Quick Easy Refreshing Low Cal Beverage

Years ago I was visiting my sister.  She made me a very refreshing beverage.  It was quick.  It was easy.  It tasted delicious.  If you are used to heavy duty fruit drinks it might take a little getting used to, but it is a guilt-free drink.

Fill a glass three-quarters full (or up to 1 inch down from the rim) of good clean water.  Using your favorite 100% fruit juice, fill the glass the rest of the way to the top.  Well, not the TOP but you know what I mean.

Water and grape juice


Drink it down.  Light.  Sweet. Refreshing.

My favorite is purple grape juice but orange juice is good, too.  I don't like apple juice this way.  At least not yet.  I don't drink this all the time.  I mostly just drink water.  No need to pick up a lot of calories in beverages, but once in a while in the summer, this is delicious.


Thursday, May 4, 2017

Michaels Class--Floral Shadow Box

Another not so great photo, but you get the idea. (The background is actually just the book paper you see...)
Tonight's class at Michaels was making a floral shadow box.  It was easy.  It was pretty quick.  It was definitely fun.  It was also something I had never done before...so even a rank novice can do it.

Supplies needed were a 6 by 6 shadow box frame, some scrapbook paper for a background, some floral foam, some bright green moss, some small flower stems, and a wooden sentiment.

Scissors, hot glue, clear liquid glue, and a foam knife.

One thing I discovered is that hot glue does not hold on glass.  Something I did not know at all. I thought hot glue was the cat's meow, but no.  I used some clear strong craft glue.

Since this is a Michaels class I cannot give you the step by step directions, but it is pretty obvious.  I will say that after removing the back from the shadow box and covering it with the same size scrapbook paper, in this case it was book paper, it is an easy matter to cut the floral foam to fit then place the various parts along the glass and top of the floral foam.  The hot glue works really well to glue the moss to cover the floral foam.

Using hot glue to attach the inspirational sentiment to the glass at the front of the box seemed to work, but when the glue dried the sentiment fell off.  Out with the liquid craft glue!!  That worked really well. 

Tuesday, May 2, 2017

Papercrafting: Easy Mini Treats Box, Step By Step

The easy mini treat box, step by step.

Start with a 6 inch by 6 inch piece of double-sided card stock, a We R Memory Keepers envelope punch board, scissors, adhesive, a small circle, oval, or diamond paper punch, and ribbon.

1.  Place the card stock in the envelope punch board with the edge at 1 3/8 inch mark where the arrow is pointing.  Punch and score.  I used the scoring tool twice on each score line.
2.  Slide the edge of the paper to the 4 inch mark.  Punch and score.
3.  Rotate the paper 90 degrees and line up with the first scored line, which is barely visible in this picture but is where the arrow points.  You never use the measurement numbers again, just the previously scored lines.
4.  Slide the paper down to the next scored line.  Punch and score. You still can barely see score line, but it is there.

5.  Continue rotating 90 degrees, punching and scoring on the first line, sliding the paper over and punching and scoring until all four sides have been punched and scored.
6.  You will notice that there are two "thinner" corners and two "thicker" corners.  Insert both of the thicker corners into the corner-rounding cutter in the envelope punch board and punch.
7.  This is what the nicely rounded corners look like.  If you choose to round all four corners, go for it. I did not want to with my boxes.
8.  Cut along the scored lines on the thicker sides of the paper.  These will be the outside supports to the box.

9.  Fold on all the scored lines.
10.  Punch a hole for the ribbon in the ends of the thicker two corners.  If you have a really heavy-duty paper punch you can line the two corners up and punch at the same time.  My little diamond punch was a $3.99 special, so I could only punch one at a time.  It is a little tricky to get them to match, but...there will be ribbon so, maybe it will be okay!
11. This picture is to show that you need to punch both sides of the thicker corners.  They will slide together just fine.
12.  Fold back the thinner corner/fold it to the outside so the inside of the box sort of decorates the outside. 
13.  Using an adhesive tape runner, apply adhesive then hold until the glue is set.
14.  Fold up the box. Apply adhesive to the outside of the striped "flap" and the inside of the dotted "flap".  At that point press them together.  You do NOT want the adhesive on the part of the box that has the punched diamond in it. 
15. Hold the flaps together until the adhesive is adhering then insert a piece of ribbon...or in this case, yarn which is all I had in the hotel room...and tie a nice bow.  Insert 2 or 3 Lindt Chocolate truffles or other treat of your choice.  The recipient with love it.  At least, I think so.




Note to Self:  when compressing photographs for the web,  make sure the score lines, and other details show....Sorry these are not more apparent.






Monday, May 1, 2017

Munchie Monday: Instant Pot Hard Boiled Eggs!

Several times I have tried recipes/instructions on the internet for various food items.  Hard boiled eggs is one of those food items.  The last time I tried a "quick and easy hard boiled egg method, easy to peel" was a massive failure.

The instructions had you put the eggs in the microwave for a certain amount of time.  In this case, it was 5 minutes. I don't remember the other directions, but I followed them exactly.  Except that I set the timer to 3 minutes instead of 5 minutes.  At 2 minutes 55 seconds there was a loud "pop" and a crash.  The eggs had blown up.  So had the microwave.  Dear One was not AT ALL impressed with my egg-making abilities.  Buying a new appliance was not what he had budgeted at that time...

Well, fast forward six or seven years to the present day.  Today I decided to try "perfect hard boiled eggs in the Instant Pot."

The directions for these eggs say to put one cup of water in the liner bowl.  Put the raw eggs (still in the shell) in a basket inside the liner bowl.  If you don't have a basket,  use the little trivet that comes with the Instant Pot.  I put one dozen eggs in the bottom of our basket then put on the lid.

The next instruction says to press the Manual button (this gives you high pressure) and change the timer to 5 minutes.  I did this.  When the timer goes off you are supposed to let the Pot cool down naturally then put the eggs in cool water, peel them, and enjoy them.



This worked really well....EXCEPT that I was doing something else....moving stuff from one floor of the house to the other floor of the house...and did not notice the timer until the Pot had been cooling down for 25 minutes!  Oh well. 

At one point when I was still near the Pot I had heard a popping sound.  I figured right then that this was going to be another "fail", but that was not the case.  When I pulled the basket out there was one broken egg shell.  I filled the pot with cold water.  Two eggs floated to the top...never a good sign, so I pulled them out for the compost pile.   By cracking the large ends of the shells, I peeled them quickly and cleanly.  That was really nice.  The only fail here is that there is the green/blue ring around the yolk and the whites are listing towards orange. This is entirely due to the length of time I was away from the pot.  I am convinced that if I had only let the pot cool down for 10 minutes all would have been perfect.

To try these eggs out, I mushed up an egg and poured on a little bit of leftover Orchid's Cool Tangy Noodle sauce.  Pretty good.

Slightly beige eggs, but still very edible.