A Dying Dream Revived

Rarely does one's attempt to change my life or go out and do something work. I can think of one other occasion, other than today, where that happened. The last occasion where something persuaded me to get off the couch and go and do something occurred a few years ago. I was bored, so I started thumbing through some advertisements whence I came upon an ad for some cute and colorful socks. I thought to myself, "I want those." So, I actually went to that store and bought those very socks. Really, that never happens.

Well, once again that happened when something just looked so great, I had to try it out for myself.

Last week I found myself on the couch with various ailments and my apothecary wasn't doing the trick of healing me. So, I just let the ailment run it's course. In the meantime, I found ways to entertain myself (mostly through netflix).

I found myself watching the movie "Julie and Julia." Well, anyways, it's about some girl who decides to cook everything in the Julia Child's French cookbook in a year, and she blogs about it, becomes a pseudo-celebrity blah blah blah (sorry about the plot spoiler). And, as she was cooking all these recipes, my mouth watered. But, what made my mouth water most was artichoke with hollandaise sauce.

Now, I've never actually cooked an artichoke but it's not that hard. You just put in a double broiler and press "start." Even a pack of monkeys could accomplish that task.

The hollaindaise sauce is a bit tricky. In fact, several years ago I attempted to make the wretched sauce and it turned out in a proper catastrophe. The eggs scrambled and I had to throw the whole attempt away and go and grieve my sad lot.

I love hollandaise sauce and it's a bruise to my character the fact that I can't even make it. Just think, I've lived my whole life in utter shame because I can't make this sauce and every time I try, I fail miserably. My self-confidence? Shot.

But that movie really inspired me and dipping artichoke in hollandaise sauce seemed like something that just might amuse me.

So, yesterday I talked to my an old co-worker who went to cooking school about hollandaise sauce and she gave me some tips. You have to whip the egg yolks until they have lots of air in them and have the pan at an angle and the heat can't be too high. Be patient with it, don't rush it.

With my new information, I waited until just the right moment...NOW!

I mixed my eggs in the double broiler...and they didn't scramble! Triumph number one...

Then I added lemon juice, cayenne pepper, salt and a frightening amount of butter. And the mixture obeyed my commands and mixed smoothly. Triumph number two...

There is a science to this sauce, you have to keep the mixture at exactly the proper temperature. So, then continued to add various amounts of chilled and melted butter and the sauce continued to look like smooth sauce. Triumph number three!

I couldn't quite believe my luck. It looked like hollandaise sauce! I literally gave a jump of pleasure and screeched "I made hollandaise sauce!"

They said "if at first you don't succeed, try again." They (whoever they are) are right!

After being frightened of hollandaise sauce for the past five years, I now can go about my life, with confidence, knowing that I (an unassuming quiet student by day and fervent hollandaise sauce maker by night) can be successful the second time around.

Never never give up on your dreams.