Let me be the first to point out that I am no harbinger of awesome internet (or real world) finds. I am no curator of cool. Occasionally I stumble across something, but usually, I’m how do you say… clueless on the latest and greatest. In fact, I was just talking to Dan about this the other day and he suggested I do what they do on one of his regular reads, Uniwatch, and do a Catch of the Day, wherein you click on it and it’s whatever cool thing the site’s owner wants to share that day. I told him that would be a great idea, but I never find anything on my own. The finds usually come to me, as is the case for today’s items I’ll be sharing as part of my new web series, “A Few Things That I Bought.”
I am anticipating that this series will be lucky to hit 12 posts annually. Why? I’m not really a shopper. I don’t spend much on clothing. I don’t buy chachki’s and trinkets. Most of my money goes to groceries, technology and more recently, college tuition. I know. I bet you’d love to be on my Christmas list, right? So when I find stuff that I think is pretty amazing (courtesy of other people online) I’m going to compile my purchases and share them here. The only rule? They have to be partially to fully life changing or they’ll never see the light of a backlit screen. Ready? Let’s go.
First up, the Chef’s Choice 810 Gourmet Egg Cooker.
I first read about the idea of an egg cooker on Jennifer McGuire’s blog, then just a week later on Lisa Russo’s blog. I am a fan of eggs. They make a great, protein-packed midday snack to tide me over until dinner. Plus, egg salad? Exactly. For the past several months, I’ve been buying pre-peeled hard-boiled eggs from my local grocery store deli. I realize that’s living pretty high on the hog, but I really do have issues with peeling. (If you need any further proof of this fact, I submit this evidence.) But Lisa swore this egg cooker made not only the cooking of the eggs a breeze, but the peeling of them as well. I was curious and I had a credit card. One Amazon Prime order later, and it was on its way to mama.
The process is simple. Add a bit of water to the base, load in up to 7 eggs, cover, set the timer and walk away. You’ll hear a can’t miss beeping when it’s all done. I plunged the carrier into cold water and when the eggs were cool I started to peel. After getting a bit of shell off the top, most of the lower shells literally popped right off. You younger readers might think, “Hmm. I guess that’s cool,” but this is the kind of shit that makes middle aged women swoon.
Hello, perfectly cooked eggs. Oh, yeah… that part. When I sliced into one egg, it looked like this.
I’m no food stylist, but… damn.
Fluffy, lovely yolks. No weird gray edges. This, people, is egg perfection.
And the slicer? It’s this bad boy.
I’ve had this for a few months and it cuts eggs like butter. It reminds me of the egg slicer my Mom had when I was growing up, but fancier.
And the other thing I bought last week? Two white beaded mugs from Target. I was at my friend Margie’s for coffee and she had these mugs. I love how big and bumpy they are. Perfect for morning coffee or afternoon tea.
So that’s my consumer spending report of the past week. I now have hard boiled eggs coming out of my… well, my egg cooker.
Have any great finds you’ve come across recently? By all means, do tell.
MichelleGB says
Enabler! Off to check out the dang egg cooker. 🙂
Ruth says
If only I liked eggs ….
Jen says
I wish I had copious amounts of money so I could pay you what you are worth for all the entertainment you give me. 🙂
Cathy Zielske says
Ha! That made me laugh. If you ever win the lottery…
mary says
jen – you crack me up! I TOTALLY agree on the entertainment front! and cathy, i’m the quintessential minimalist, but dang, that egg thingy is going to be in my house by friday thanks to amazon prime. good thing the hubby is traveling and won’t see it make it’s way into the house.
RitaQ says
Maybe this would solve the exploding eggs all the ceiling and cupboards and fan and counter and… you get the idea! I had a menopausal moment whereby I started boiling eggs, walked away, got involved in some scrap project, heard a Big Bang, wondered WTF?! and then remembered – oh crap- I left those eggs … It was so ugly that I had the throw the pot away. Man oh man, the stink of rotten eggs. Now I take a timer with me. :).
Lisa says
my grandma did that same exploding egg/stick to the ceiling trick when I was a kid. By far the worst smell ever
Holly Corbett says
I really want this! I eat a lot of eggs, too, but haven’t been able to justify the cost. Maybe it can be a Mother’s Day gift for me?!?!
Tink says
Oh what a wonderful egg cooker! I have one but not nearly as fancy as this one. Egg slicers, best invention ever. As a child I pretended it was a ukulele . 🙂 you know what I use it for next to slicing eggs if course? Slicing mushrooms! I never buy them sliced in the store because it gives me a reason to bring out the slicer and use as much as I want to.:-) I have another one that looks exactly like the egg slicer but is in fact a tomato slicer. Makes perfect sliced tomato every time. I’m a kitchen gadget nerd, oh who am I kidding I’m a gadget nerd. Period. 🙂
Morti says
Just had a doh! moment – why didn’t I think of the mushroom thing before…..?
bdaiss says
And strawberries! I used mine for that too.
Jenny B. says
Oh, man! I want one! I was just asking my husband the other day if he would boil some eggs so I could have them for a snack. He wouldn’t do it. And I honestly would have to look up the recipe for how to do it. I actually do own a cookbook where the first recipe is how to boil an egg. Anywho… I think he would be mad at me for buying another kitchen uni-tasker, but it would be nice to have perfectly hard-boiled eggs any time I want! Maybe I’ll put it on my birthday list…
Kimberly says
One egg cooker now winging its way to me from Amazon. Darn you, CZ!
Emma says
I totally bought this thing when you posted on FB last week. The blizzard delayed its arrival by a day but I’ve used it every day since. LOVE it for hard cooked eggs. Still trying to find the sweet spot for soft boiled. This morning I tried the poacher. Two of them cooked perfectly and one was weirdly both raw and over cooked with a solid yolk and barely-turned-white-white. I’ll persevere though. It was a great buy.
Mary Moisan says
My husband would say that I need the egg maker, since he claims I overcook hard boiled eggs. Honestly I don’t consider myself a master chef, but I really didn’t know that hard boiled egg could be over cooked. But I guess boiling them for 20 minutes is NOT a good thing 🙂
Amanda B says
Ok. That’s cool. Can it do just one or two at a time or do you need to do all 7?
I do the eggs in the oven trick and like it (cooks the eggs perfect without the weird greenish/gray ring AND allows for easy peeling) BUT…I feel like I need to cook at least 18 eggs to make the heating up of the oven justifiable. Which is fine if it’s Easter but when we just want some eggs to get us through a craving? We usually don’t get through all the eggs before I feel like we shouldn’t be eating them any more.
And, yes, easy peeling eggs is important. It’s the little things.
Jules says
Amanda please share the oven trick? I have never heard of it …
Athena says
I read about that egg cooker and tried a steaming eggs with a good old-fashioned pot and steamer basket. 12 minutes with the same perfect, easily peel eggs. 6 minutes for perfect soft-boiled eggs. Steaming is the key.
Angela says
Oh my gosh, I laughed out loud when I read the sentence about swooning middle aged women because few things make me as happy as when you roll the egg to crack it and the shell peels off in a curl. Love that variety of musings I read here; thanks for putting egg salad on my grocery list this week!
Marilyn T says
OMG have you ever had pickled eggs? I actually craved them during my first pregnancy and surprisingly still like them. They are absolutely the bomb-diggity and if I bought this I could make them at home. Yum-O!
AmyMpls says
Damn. I am pretty sure I am middle aged. I got way too excited about this egg cooker.
Cathy Zielske says
haha! YES!
Debbie Weiss says
I had to get one also…kind of like those Ikea carts everyone was buying for a while. I recently had to throw my old egg cooker away. When I say old I mean OLD. It had belonged to my mother…purchased probably in the 40’s or 50’s. It had the old wrapped cord..you know the one with the yellow strip and the spring on it to keep it from getting kinked. It finally died. My whole family loved that thing and we were sad to say goodbye to it. Now its place in my cabinet has been replace by this shiney new model. I wonder if it will last as long?
Emilie Ahern says
Way to go, Cathy. Suddenly I need a $35 contraption to do the same job as a small pot and free tap water. This is all very trend-setter-ish of you. You have your finger on the pulse of middle-aged eggofiles.
Cathy Zielske says
LOL! I totally do. I blame my friend Lisa Russo!
Deb @ PaperTurtle says
Entertaining and educational post. I love it. And now I totally want an egg cooker and slicer. You should get a commission!
Maureen says
Your eggs peel nicely because I suspect they steam in that cooker. I steam my eggs in a regular pot steamer and that works the same way. EZ peel. I do like that egg slicer a lot. The ‘olden days’ ones tended to rust so I haven’t had one for a long time.
Marilyn says
Tempting. I had to remind myself that appliances (even little ones) take up kitchen real estate. My go-to boiled egg method is one I heard from Martha Stewart years ago: Place eggs in pan, cover with cold water, bring to boil, then turn off heat and cover. Set a LOUD timer (RitaQ!) for 7 minutes. Cool and peel…always perfect.
On the peeling issue, I’ve heard that the fresher they are, the harder they are to peel. Is this true people?
Cathy Zielske says
I’ve heard the same thing… the older the easier they peel. ???
Joanna says
Yep! Older eggs are better for boiling because they dehydrate slightly in the shell as they age and that gives you more of an air gap between the shell and the egg (or at least I think that’s the reason – thanks America’s Test Kitchen for teaching me random things about cooking).
Marilyn T says
Evidently they are easier to peel if you bring them to room temperature before putting in the pot with cool tap water, too.
Kelly says
Interesting Martha says to start with cold water. …was always taught to bring water to the boil, then place eggs in. 6 minutes for soft, 7 for hard.
Joanna says
I think they are more likely to break from thermal shock that way – especially since Americans store eggs in the fridge. Going straight into boiling water often cracks the eggs.
Marilyn T says
Always start with room temperature eggs in cool water to make them easier to peel and less likely to crack.
JennieB says
I had one of the first egg cookers about 30 years ago; loved it and used it a lot.
I don’t have any need for something like that now, but you’re really going to enjoy your
egg cooker.
Tara says
This is the greatest post.
Preeeetttyyyyy eggs!
Signed, almost middle aged but I get it
Julie says
Definitely going to check out the egg cooker. I eat two every morning – whites only and I buy the pre hard boiled eggs as well. Highway robbery I tell you, but worth every penny to me since when I try to boil, and then peel them myself there is virtually no white left for me to eat as it is all stuck to the d%#n shell!!!! #girlseriouslycantcook
Shawna Zervos says
Although I am currently trying to purge for lack of storage which equates to we need a bigger house, I am ordering one just so my girls can have perfect Easter eggs. Who needs a bigger house anyway?
Erika @ ScrapbookObsession says
Okay, here’s the plan: I’m going to buy that fancy egg cooker for my husband’s birthday coming up. He makes wicked deviled eggs for potlucks. “Yeah, yeah, honey. Totally for you. Enjoy that puppy!” Then I’ll just happen to use it to make hard-boiled eggs for my daily protein snack. Eh, what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him 😉 Thanks for the tips, Cathy! You’re better at this than you think . . .
Joanna says
I’m going to try the steaming idea that some people mentioned. I have a rice cooker with a steaming function that should (in theory) work perfectly.
Thanks for the reminder that a hard boiled egg is a perfect mid-afternoon snack!
RitaQ says
Hey Joanna. I might be in the market for a rice cooker (since I tend to forget about rice cooking on stove too!). What kind/brand do u have? And do you like it?
A shout out to Marilyn. Thanks. My new timer is loud.:)
Thanks for any info.
Gina says
I know I’m middle aged because I not only got excited about the egg cooker but nearly peed my pants watching you trying to blow an egg out of its shell. No more funny videos without warning for middle aged mothers…
Diane says
…this is the kind of shit that makes middle aged women swoon.
That right there and a million other awesome comments over the years are why I dearly wish you lived next door. Damn, my life would be so much more fun if we were neighbors!
ps. ‘my less than youthful bladder’ may have been tested while reacting to this post. 🙂
Cathy Zielske says
I am to please the middle… the middle aged that is.
Krysta says
“I’m no curator of cool.” BWAHAHAHAH! Oh man I miss your face. Also, this egg thing … priming that shit in my direction as we speak.
Quinna says
This is dangerous for I seem to purchase all the items you feature… And fall in love with them! Please consider featuring ecloths again….they are life changing. Today I cleaned my shower with scrubbing bubbles for the second time in 2 years … Really to spiff up the chrome… I wipe down the shower with the shower cloth and it keeps it very clean! They now sell them at a local grocery store!
Abby P says
Commenters: thanks for the entertainment — loved each and every comment, as well as the original post!
Mindy says
About spit out my drink when I read the part about middle aged women swooning over an egg cooker. My hand is raised – guilty! Jennifer got me on the rice cooker (LOVE it – my college age son made sushi for us every day during break using the rice cooker for the sushi rice – yum!) and I have been dreaming about the egg cooker ever since. Read this post and pushed that order button so fast it made my head spin. Should be here in 2 days – gotta love Prime. Thanks for the enabling. 🙂 Now I think I need a glass of wine in your honor to celebrate the purchase.
Shirley says
I totally bought that mug the other day!!!!!!
Musings, Rants & Scribbles says
I’m not a big shopper but once in a while I have splurges that involve items like egg cookers and white mugs. Not sure where it comes from but I enjoy it while it lasts. Then I go back to being Scrooge.
marie says
Hate to pop your bubble or your egg shell but did you know if you eat more than say 2 eggs a week they hinder weight loss. Proved to be true.
Melanie A. says
LOL Great post! BTW I still have and use that egg slicer that your mom had when you were growing up!
kayla says
you are such a hoot! keep these posts coming.
“You younger readers might think, “Hmm. I guess that’s cool,” but this is the kind of shit that makes middle aged women swoon.” haha love it!
Deborah says
I bought one……..
Amy says
Bought it. I have a egg peeling disability. My first batch is in! Hoping to swoon very soon!
Terrie S says
My most recent exciting discovery came in the area of footwear. I wear a ladies’ size 10.5M. For most of my life, I’ve had to squeeze my poor toes into socks that were not long enough to accomodate my feet. I recently discovered that ASICS makes a ladies’ quarter-cut athletic sock that comes in different sizes!! M is the standard 5.5-9.5 ladies’ shoe size, but they come in L and XL, too! My toes finally feel free!! Woot!
Ginger says
Bought the egg cooker as a Valentine’s gift for my husband after reading your post. It really is for him, because he eats boiled eggs daily…and I can’t stand them! Thanks for the gift idea :).
Cathy Zielske says
Hope he LOVES it. 🙂
Jules says
I am no cook but an egg cooker is up there with a rice cooker on the list of things I will never have in my house. Even I can boil water … which is essentially all those two things require! However, those mugs – totally swooning over them! And the egg slicer reminded me of the one Auntie Lorna had when I was a child. Gonna hunt down one of them. To each their own, huh? I recently scored huge, glass jars with good seals for the dry goods in my pantry. They make my pantry look like something off Pinterest and we all know that is the standard to which we are held 😉
Carol Anne says
Milk glass is making a comeback via Target? I have a collection of stuff like this that my grandma purchased — luncheon dishes, she called them.
Laura says
Love those mugs! I’m not a coffee drinker, so I don’t need them, but I totally picked one up and held it for a minute in the store the other day because it was the perfect size and level of “bumpiness”! And then I made my daughter hold it…is that weird? Never mind–don’t answer!