The Devil Is in the Details

Wow, where have I been? I wish I had some interesting reason for not blogging. Maybe that I had been recruited into the CIA for a top-secret, covert operation. Or perhaps that I hitch-hiked to Vegas to make my fortune on the slots. The real excuses are pretty boring: busy, lazy, apathetic, unmotivated. But that makes it MUCH more relatable, right?

For my reentry into the blogosphere, I thought I'd choose a topic that has not been addressed here before, and likely never will again: cooking.

I don't like to cook. People inevitably take that to mean that I am a bad cook. We should not, however, confuse distaste for a task with an inability to do it well. I might be a superior concert pianist. I just have no desire to find out. Same goes for cooking. I perform what I call "meal preparation." A stove is sometimes involved. So are fresh ingredients. But I had never followed a recipe in my life. The microwave is my friend.

At family gatherings, I am on cleaning patrol, because I don't cook. Works for me. I LOVE to clean. But for some reason, last week, I decided to volunteer to make something for Easter dinner: deviled eggs. Why deviled eggs? I dunno. Just popped into my brain and then came out of my mouth.

I found the most simple recipe I could for deviled eggs on the Food Network web site. I went to the store and bought the ingredients. Then the thought occurred to me: I am taking the eggs for a one-hour drive to West Virginia, and I don't have one of those handy-dandy deviled egg holder thingies. This was my first time to make food for a family gathering, so I knew my contribution was going to be under intense scrutiny. I was picturing my eggs strewn about a plastic container like the deck chairs on the Titanic.

But I didn't want to buy one of those handy-dandy deviled egg holder thingies. Lord knows if I would ever make them again, even IF they turned out well. So I began wracking my brain for ideas. How could I preserve the sanctity of my precious deviled eggs without buying some hunk of plastic I would probably never use again?

The solution I came up with: baking cups (or, as I like to call them, cupcake papers).

It worked quite well, for travelling and these were also nice to set on a dinner plate. The paper prevented the egg from sliding around. And, the deviled eggs were a hit! Or at least people said they liked them. And no one went to the hospital after eating them. So there's that.