“Those look like rocks,” said my friend Lisa after I had taken out my Eggie-made hardboiled egg from my lunch pail. “Yep, it does.” She was right. Lisa is one of the more astute observers I have ever known.
My hard boiled Eggie wasn’t egg white, it was gray and pitted, like a weathered conical stone sitting on a flat bottom.
The reason my hard boiled Eggie looked like a pitted conical stone with a flat bottom was because rather than merely crack and pour the egg into the Eggie mold I had scrambled the eggs, mixed them with some spices, and then poured the concoction into the Eggie molds.
I had seen the Eggie commercials for some time, and I finally bought a set of six Eggies a few months ago. After some failures, I learned how to cook the perfect hard boiled Eggies, and I refuse to hard boil my eggs any other way.
The trouble I was having with the Eggie molds in the beginning is that my eggs were sticking to the inside of the mold and when I took each egg from the mold, it ripped.
Yes, I followed the enclosed instructions by coating the inside of the Eggie mold, but my finished Eggies looked nothing like the perfect Eggies on TV.
So, I decided to do it my way, and I’ve made perfect Eggies ever since. The same thing was happening as I worked on NEVЯLAND. Something about the structure of the story just wasn’t right, despite the fact that I was following the “enclosed instructions” for writing a YA post-apocalyptic tale.
To get myself out of the funk, I returned to my beginnings--as a journalist. I started writing news and sports stories when I was 15-and-one-half-years-old and by the time I was sixteen I was the sports editor of the Wyoming State Tribune, a state-wide newspaper.
I also took up photography under Pulitzer Prize nominee Pat Hall, and my photojournalism career was launched as well.
So, I begin to write NEVЯLAND as though I were reporting the news. “Junebug Journal” was born. I had not intended for Junebug Journal to be any more than a writing exercise, but after I had shared it with a couple of friends, they suggested I post the fictional newspaper and published more editions. It’s these same friends that suggested I publish some of my recipes along with my journal about writing.
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Larry Mike’s Rock of Eggies
This makes for a spicy hard boiled egg that does look more like a rock sitting on flat bottom, but it sure is good!
Six Eggie molds
Six eggs
⅛ cup Bailey’s Creamer (non-alcoholic)
1 tsp soy sauce
¼ tsp cumin
¼ tsp curry
¼ tsp thyme
¼ tsp sage ¼ parsley
¼ tsp black pepper
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
½ tsp horseradish
2 tsp capers, chopped
2 tsp jalapeno peppers, chopped
Mix all the ingredients in a bowl
Put all six eggs into a blender cup and then pour the spicy mixture into blender cup with the eggs.
Blend until well mixed.
Coat Eggie molds with 100% virgin olive oil. (I always use virgin olive oil to coat my Eggie molds)
Pour egg mixture into Eggie molds. If you have any mixture left, just cook as a scrambled egg.
Boil for 20 minutes
Remove egges from Eggie mold while hot and let set out until cool.
Tastes great with a beer or Irish Breakfast Tea
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Producing a weekly newspaper about the horrific events and terrified Children of NEVЯLAND has had its benefits. Writing the news articles is helping me with both plot and characters.
I’m looking at the story from different characters’ points-of-view instead of only my protagonist’s point-of-view.
I’m giving voice to other characters, developing the setting, getting insights into the type of world that would exist if everyone over eighteen disappeared and some 2,000 children were left alone and trapped in their small town.
Not everything that appears in Junebug Journal will find space in NEVЯLAND, but the newspaper is helping to keep my story fresh for me, which juices me to continue writing the tale as characters and ideas pop up.
The point is--do whatever you have to do to keep writing your story. Yes, the prescribed enclosed directions you’ve gotten in creative writing classes and writing conferences and workshops are good, but somewhere in your writing, you’ve got to step out on your own and just do it your way.
A writer must be brave. A writer is like every other person except that the writer has the courage to run fifty yards up the beach, plant his flag, turn around, and shout to the others standing on the shoreline, “Now: Follow me!”
To read the various editions of Junebug Journal, visit the NEVЯLAND website.
Bon apeptit
Good Writing
Larry Mike
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