The Best Worst Omelet

Good morning to you all! I just wanted to share an experience that I had this morning that I thought could bring some encouragement to those going through rough times.

First we have to rewind several months back to when I decided that I was ready to take on my most difficult culinary challenge yet: the humble omelet. Despite watching all the videos, reading all the tips on reddit, and some good old fashioned practice, I always ended up with scrambled eggs. Eventually I started realizing some of my mistakes though, and figuring out ways that I liked to do it my own way.

I started flipping my omelet when it was about 80% done, for two reasons. 1) I don't like runny eggs at all. Something about the texture and/or thought of it grosses me out. And despite what all the chefs on TV and Youtube will tell you, the residual heat from the eggs does NOT "finish cooking" the eggs. They're all dirty liars and they'll have to answer for their propaganda one day. As anyone with food texture issues knows, if that slimy goo residue is still on the eggs when you fold the omelet over and take it out of the pan, IT'S STILL NASTY AND SLIMY WHEN YOU BITE INTO IT. 2) I freaking love freshly cracked black pepper. We've started buying the large bulk containers of peppercorns because I go through so much of it. Mixing the pepper into the liquid eggs doesn't always give it as much flavor as I want, so when the omelet is mostly done cooking, I cover it in pepper, then flip it to cook away the NASTY SLIME LAYER, then add another heavy dose of pepper to the other side along with my toppings.

It took many attempts before I learned how to do it without breaking the omelet, but it still happens sometimes, especially when I'm experimenting with different seasonings or add-ins. I don't know why, but making mistakes when cooking always gives me immediate stress. Other things I can handle quite well, but for whatever reason I can get instantly upset and overwhelmed when I ruin a dish I'm cooking. 

This morning happened to be one of those times. I added in extra milk to see how it changed the texture, and the omelet wasn't cooking the same. It was a bit less solid than I'm used to. When I flipped it in the pan, the whole thing broke apart. Instant anxiety. I scrambled (no pun intended) to pull apart the clumps and flatten them back before it became a big congealed mess. Then I thought,"Why do I get stressed out over stupid little things like this? It's still edible, there's no real damage. I'll just put the toppings over it and eat it like a weird, lumpy, open-faced omelet."

As part of my spiritual journey I've been trying to keep a healthy perspective when little things go wrong. "Is this really worth ruining my peace over?" I sometimes have to ask myself. 

Once the omelet was done, I tried to slide it onto a plate. Disaster strikes again! Because of all the little breaks and semi-separate pieces, as soon as the pan was tilted the eggs started crumpling in on themselves and flopping into a lumpy mass. A little disappointed, I just dumped the eggs onto the plate, letting them fall where they may, And then a surprise!

As I tried to gently shake the pan and pull it away from the plate to slide the eggs off, the weird lumps and breaks in the eggs actually caused them to start folding itself over in half and formed itself into an omelet! I was very surprised that in about 5 seconds it went from being a weird, misshapen, broken lump to being a perfectly formed omelet on the plate. Well, perfect-ish.

That may not have a meaning to anyone else, but it really resonated with many of the things I've been pondering lately. Something broken and unrepairable can still turn out perfect and good in the end, sometimes we just need to let things fall into place. I've had SO MANY little things happen to me over the past month where I thought, "Oh great, another little thing gone wrong", only to realize within the hour that everything has resolved itself, and that the "problem" had only been a smaller part of everything working out to a good and healthy resolution.

For anyone else like me who's struggling with the feeling that you're trying to build something whole from pieces that are broken, let's pretend for today that we're that little omelet in the pan. We don't know how things are going to turn out, so let's just wait and see, because we might just turn out alright in the end.

Just because something starts off broken doesn't mean it has to stay broken. Healing and encouragement can often come in the strangest and most unexpected places. So let's not crack a few eggs before we count our omelets. Or something like that.

Wishing you all success today in holding your peace and finding wisdom, may your eggs be delicious even when you accidentally scramble them! And as for me, I've sailed right past second breakfast and elevensies without even noticing, so now I'm off to lunch!