the incredible edible egg

Question: can you fry an egg on the sidewalk in summer?

Answer: yeah, well.... sorta

Yesterday was a warmish 110 degrees. So it hit me .. that childlike curiosity of whether or not we could fry an egg on the sidewalk just like the movie Father of the Bride.

First we gathered our egg.. a "nice medium brown" (segue, read Lulu Atlantis and the Quest for True Blue Love for more thoughts on eggs and how they fit just right in the palm of your hand and could be full of surprises .. even a fairy crown).

Then Maggie took a rock to crack the egg and gently deposited it on the sidewalk.

After that, we waited.... and waited

.... and waited

It seems Hollywood Magic is deemed so for a reason... there was no immediate sizzle and frying of the egg as seen in the movies. Actually it sat for a mo until the fluid albumen dissapated and left only the thick albumen (egg white) and vitelline (or yolk). Say, who said you couldn't learn something new every day! Isn't this a dandy little diagram of the chicken egg? :o)



So Maggie decided to poke at it a bit and try to break up the thick albumen from the vitteline to see what happens. Chris pointed out that the dried leaf she used resembles a fried piece of bacon. Hey.. bacon and eggs on the hoof, what could be better?



Scrambling the egg seems to have done the trick a bit because the yolk actually did appear cooked..... NOT that any of us were willilng to try it out... well, Chris doesn't hold with the likes of eggs and well, being the paragon of the ultimate mine-shaft canary when it comes to food poisoning I would not dare press my luck, let's not even mention the 5 second rule applies about 1,000-fold.

What a fun little science experiment to give a little wilted joy in the confines of the blazing hot sun.