Avgolemono -- Lunch!

Yesterday, Heidi made an ice-cream cake [recipe only] that called for a good amount of egg whites -- a cup.

And so naturally, she had a good number of egg yolks left over -- 7 of them.

Today, when I got home from teaching my summer literature course, I thought I would browse the internet and find some recipes that called for egg yolks as an ingredient. I had made eggs benedict before, but we didn’t have any other ingredients necessary for that except for the egg yolks. I could have made some ice cream, but that wouldn’t have used all the eggs, and besides, that would mean we would have to wait for the core of the ice cream maker to freeze.

What to do? Google!

And so I did, and I came across a site that provided numerous recipes, both savory and sweet, that called for egg yolks. The very last recipe called for 8 egg yolks, and it was for something I had never heard of, something called Avgolemono. Apparently, this greek soup is quite simple: egg yolks, lemon juice, broth, and rice.

Here is the basic recipe I followed taken from epicurious.com:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Avgolemono-15607

Ingredients:

4 cups basic chicken stock [for a vegetarian soup, use Garlic Broth ]
6 tablespoons (90 g) Carolina or other long-grain white rice
8 egg yolks
1/4 cup (65 ml) fresh lemon juice
coarse salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste


Preparation:

In a medium saucepan, bring the stock to a boil. Stir in the rice and cook until tender, about 8 to 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, beat the egg yolks and lemon juice together in a large bowl.
When the rice is tender, slowly ladle half of the hot broth into the yolks to temper them, whisking constantly. Whisk the egg yolk mixture into the broth and place over low heat. Cook, stirring constantly, just long enough to thicken the soup. Do not boil. Season to taste with salt and pepper.


This was so easy to make. The most difficult part was tempering the eggs, but even that was not that difficult.

I did make some modifications.

        ✓        I used some leftover quinoa from the day before (Inca Red variety) and used it in place of the rice. And so, when I “finished” the dish, I poured the broth over the quinoa in bowl and let the broth heat it up.
        ✓        I didn’t add salt because I was using chicken broth that already had plenty of salt. Plus, the quinoa from the day before had been cooked in the same broth and would add that flavor/salt as well.
        ✓        I only had 7 egg yolks, and the soup didn’t come out as thick as I thought. I have read, however, that the thickness varies from recipe to recipe. I may have wanted it a bit thicker; maybe next time I’ll add some corn starch or beat the egg whites separately to thicken it.
        ✓        I added other fresh herbs from our garden beyond the dill called for in the recipe: purple basil, sweet basil, and oregano, all of which were added in the cooking process and later garnished the bowl.
        ✓        In addition to the herbs, I added some fresh snow peas and a few pieces of fresh pole beans (again, from our garden!) and about 1/4 of cup of diced yellow bell pepper and leftover grilled chicken.
        

The girls didn’t like it, but Heidi and I thought it was quite tasty. It did have a tang to it because of the lemon, but the fresh herbs helped to balance that out: the oregano added a slight spiciness and the basil and dill helped pull back on the tanginess. From what I gleaned online, this base stock has many uses.

Oh, and I can’t forget this picture of the final product!

How do they do it?

This is going to be quick and to the point.

How the heck do single parents juggle everything?

I’ve been watching our three kids (all under age 5) while Heidi is out of town. It’s not that it’s hard to watch/care for them. What is difficult is keeping up with everything: laundry, dishes, meals, and work!

I have total respect for single parents.......total.

Stepping Stones and little helpers

This morning after the kids and I ate a filling breakfast (eggs, biscuits, and gravy) and while Calixto was taking his nap, the girls and I spent a few hours piddling around outside.

The first thing we did was make stepping stones, which I bought for them for Christmas and had been promising to make every month since then. It was a messy enterprise and definitely takes a great deal of patience (on the part of the kids). I don’t have any finished pictures to post here because, well, the stepping stones are drying (undisturbed!).

We then went around back and planted a purple basil plant that we bought at SKY market, and upset a large ant hill -- ooops! -- the kids went scurrying.

Shortly thereafter, I decided to complete a deal that Heidi and I made about a month ago. The deal was that I would be able to get rid of the Henry’s Garnet, which in opinion is nothing short of showy weed, if I gave her $200.00 of spending money. The plant is invasive, so if you don’t mean to keep it everywhere, don’t plant it! I dug up more shoots from the front area and dragged the potted plants from the back to the front for the time being (I had to move them to dig out the shoots growing in the back!).

And now we are waiting on lunch: green beans and carrots that Anastacia helped arrange in the pan. I think she did a good job.

Next? Lunch and then some grading.

A Saturday without Heidi

With Heidi out of town (in Cincinnati grading AP Music), I took the girls to SKY Market where we were torched by the heat and humidity. Luckily we were able to buy a few things that I wanted -- some asparagus, some green beans, and a purple basil plant -- and unluckily (?) the girls were able to find a couple of things as well -- a bunch of carrots (they looked neat to them) and a $2.00 tube of lip balm that tasted like chocolate.










We met up with the Hondorps there and proceeded to the first (I think) 2nd Saturday Downtown Fair. With this being the first, there wasn’t much to do -- there was an inflatable jumpy-thing, a bean bag toss, and a “He-Man/Child-whack-the-lever-with-a-large-mallet-and ring-the-bell thing” -- all provided by Party One Superstore. We spent the majority of the time there trying to stay cool under a large tree.



Eventually we made our way across the road and quickly and sweatily strolled down the sidewalk. And I said, there wasn’t much to it this time; I would guess a total of seven vendors where there and most of them were the businesses’ own “sidewalk sales.” The hit of the stroll, though, was a lemonade and cookie stand. We all gulped down $1.00 per glass orange-lemonade and munched on $1.00 coconut cookies. Were they worth it? Nah... at least not the cookies. The heat, being almost unbearable downtown, might have cooked my brain to pay that for the cookies. I think the drinks were good to refresh us a for a bit as we sat on a park bench and listened to the fountain splish-splash and entertain the kids.



Now, we are home. Calixto is napping and the girls are finishing up grilled cheese sandwiches.

I ate leftovers.

Later, after Calixto wakes up and the sun begins to set a bit, I will let the kids run around outside in the sprinklers. I may join them.

For the time being, I’m going to have a Mike’s Hard Lemonade and serve up some ice cream for the girls.