How to Scare an Egg



My husband is standing at the counter, trying to peel off a sticky shell.

"You didn't scare the eggs? I'm losing half of it," he says.


I could go into an irritated explanation of how, since he wasn't home early, I had to take Pippin with me on a hurried trip to the store before it closed at 5:30, which turned out not to close at 5:30 because it was koopavond (shopping evening) but the Web site hadn't noted that so I rushed for nothing, and, besides, he could have scared the eggs when he got home if it was so important to him in the first place....

Instead, I smile at yet another instance of literal translation between our languages. We both speak English and Dutch fluently, but we often say things in an unexpected way. However, smiles and shrugs help smooth over confused or irritated situations very nicely. Hugs help too. And food. 

In Dutch, laat een ei schrikken refers to plunging boiled eggs under cold water. I actually had to look up what the English term for this is, and found that it's referred to as "shocking" an egg.  It's a logical term, since the just-boiled egg has to cope with a sudden cold temperature, and this causes the shell to peel away more easily. 

A funny marital moment, new cooking term learned, and scared eggs to eat – what more could you ask for?

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