The Incredible Edible Egg

Apparently this is a secret because I can tell you that I have never heard this information from any of the following people :my mother, grandmother, aunt, mother-in-law.... nope not a one of them have ever told me this secret!!

GASP!

Have you ever had a flat cake? A favorless cake? Not quite perfect cake? .... I think cookies even qualify for that matter.....

Guess what? You are supposed to let your eggs come to room temperature!! Who Knew? When I found this out today I thought of keeping this little rotten secret to myself, but - alas - I have decided to share this news with everyone. All 10 of you that are still reading this blog!! Yep, that is right - I'm such a sharing soul.

Here is the data on your room temperature eggs, If you'd like to learn more, I took this information from www.baking911.com :

WHAT ARE ROOM TEMPERATURE EGGS?: Some recipes call for adding eggs. Most of us use eggs right from the refrigerator. But, did you know they should be warmer than room temperature before being combined in a recipe? For these recipes, remove eggs from the refrigerator about 20 to 30 minutes before you use them or put them in a bowl of warm water while you assemble other ingredients. Dry them with a towel before cracking. (More).
WHY ARE ROOM TEMPERATURE EGGS SO IMPORTANT? A typical step in a buttercake recipe is to cream with fat and sugar and then add in the eggs, one at a time. This creates an emulsion. Fat and liquid by nature are unmixable, and the goal when mixing a recipe is to form a water-in-fat emulsion. A well emulsified cake batter, for example, should not be curdled or weeping liquid, which happens if cold eggs are introduced to a room temperature butter/sugar mixture. If the emulsion breaks, the batter will loose air cells. This results in a baked cake that is grainy or flat in texture, dry and flavorless, look uneven and may even sink.

So - Did you already know this? I have a feeling I am the only one who wasn't in on this little secret. Please don't be a rotten egg, share this information with everyone you know!

Muskrat Susie, Muskrat Sam

We get to hear all of the neighborhood happenings, now that Dave is El Presidente of HOA. (That is the Home Owner's Association for our neighborhood.)

I noticed as I was leaving for work today that we had a new message on our answering machine. It went something like this, "Hi Dave! This is Mr. Rogers I live over on Fruit Loop Cir. - I'm not sure if this is something the HOA would be concerned with, but we have a Muskrat that is building a condominium for him and some of his buddies on the pond behind our house. If you could give me a call back and let me know if this is something the HOA would be in charge of handling, that'd be great. Thanks!"

Since Dave didn't get this message before he headed to work, I wanted to be prompt and make sure that he knew about the neighborhood situation. So - I sent him an e-mail with the subject line, "Muskrat Love." Dave was enamored with my clever subject line..... but unfortunately I had to tell him that I didn't come up with it on my own -- it is actually a song title.

My first thoughts over this entire incident is that winter is coming!! I don't want them to tear down Muskrat Sam's condo! Where will he and Susie keep warm this winter?? I saw his condo, and it is coming along quite nicely....he has obviously put a lot of hard work into his condo. I will see if I can get a picture of the condo before (if) it gets condemned.

Without further adieu, you should really hear the "Muskrat Love" song: (I think the only reason I know this song is because Jesse & The Rippers sang it once on "Full House". Which is also why I know the completely made up and random "Dad" song. Do you know the dad song? [♫♫Dad, Dad, Dad, he's our Dad...♫♫] This is Captain & Tenille... isn't Tenille beautiful? Who knew?!? :

Once Upon a Time in Wonderland.....

So, before I tell you about this picture - first you need to know a little bit of background information.

When I met Dave.... on a beautiful, magical evening in July.... he was living with two guys: Dary & Brenton. Brenton is on the right in this picture. They had a wonderful time living together in the glorious days of bachelorhood. (♫♫Glory days, Well they'll pass you by, Glory Days in the wink of a young girl's eyes♫♫)

Dave was the first of the three of them to get married. When Dary and Brenton found out that they'd be Ushers in our wedding, their very first question was, "Can we wear "Dumb & Dumber" Tuxedos?" Ummm... no.

Brenton was next to be married -- this past summer in Des Moines. And last, but not least, Dary was married the second weekend in September. When he pulled out the Tuxedos at the rehearsal....which everyone assumed would be standard black tuxedos...well, you can see what they actually got! Dary thought this was fabulous fun, especially since he is the last in the group to get married... he knows nobody will be able to seek revenge for this joke!

This is a picture of Dary & Brenton entering the reception and "re-enacting" a scene from "Dumb & Dumber". It was very funny - and take a close look at Daves expression, he is really really getting into the part. Brenton appears scared.

Real or Not Real?

Real, or Not Real? I think it is real.... entertaining, nonetheless.