Omelets, Omelets, Omelets

Life had been well for the Tuxedo Cat family. Mason graded many test papers and was getting ready for another test. Natalie got used to the routes taken to buy food. Lily and Rose got to know their new friends better too. One day Lily, Rose, Olive and Ginni went to Teri’s Lakeside Lodge for a fun playdate. Mason’s stomach grumbles and he went down his electronic stairs to the kitchen to find a snack. All of the food Natalie had ordered 3 days ago had been eaten. Mason went upstairs amd found his wife reading the Calico Times. “Natalie, there’s nothing to eat and I’m hungry!” Mason said, somewhat unhappy that his wife forgot to buy food.

Natalie replied, “Oh! I must have forgotten to go out and buy some! How about I make you a vegan omelet? I just read a recipe from the newspaper.”

Mason nodded and the couple went down to the kitchen. Mason sat down at their modern bench and waited for his wife to finish cooking. The critters of Cloverleaf Corners and Sylvania did not eat real eggs. Most of them were vegan or pescatarian, which meant they ate seafood. Critters such as rabbits, ducks, deer and alpacas ate a vegan diet. Cats, bears and dogs mainly ate fish and vegetables. Recently plant based eggs were becoming a new trend and Natalie just had to try it for herself. She cracked one eggs and started cooking.

Natalie decided to go “off” the recipe and bake the omelet too. She was sure nothing would go wrong. When it was done baking the omelet seemed a little airy. It looked like a puffed up balloon. “Here you are, deary,” Natalie remarked, serving her husband the airy omelet and putting away the empty dishes.

Mason was so hungry, he almost fell out of his seat. He immediately gobbled down the omelet. In between chewing Mason yelled, “Natalie! This omelet has too much air inside! I barely ate anything at all!”

When Mason was yelling some of the air escaped his mouth, sort of the sound of a balloon with a small hole in it. Natalie bit her lower lip and replied, “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know I did it wrong. You stay there, I’ll go call for help.”

Mason went upstairs and lied on the bed while Natalie went over to her next door neighbors, the Hopscotch Rabbits. “Hi!” greeted Natalie, “Could I borrow your phone?”

Heidi was in the kitchen cooking and nodded. Natalie knew exactly who to call, one of her favorite critters. Ring, ring! Teri Choch picks up her phone. “Who is it?” she answers.

Natalie replies, “It’s me, Teri. Can you come over to my house? I need some help?”

Teri remarks, “It was a VERY TERI thing to do to ask me for help. Be there soon.”

Natalie thanks her idol and returns home. When Teri arrives, Natalie quickly explains the problem. “Could you help me?” she asks, “I’m not very good at this cooking thing.”

Teri herself wasn’t the best at cooking either, but she thought it was worth a shot. “This is a VERY TERI stove,” she claimed, trying to rack up any cooking experience she had.

Natalie hands Teri the newspaper and tells her this is the recipe. Teri read it several times and still can’t figure out how it even works! After about 20 minutes of evaluating, Teri plops an egg into the frying pan, not even bothering to beat it in a glass bowl first or separating the eggshells and yolk. Natalie just watches, not knowing how to respond about the white eggshells that are still in the pan. “Ta-da!” Teri announces about 3 minutes later.

Teri’s omelet was completely different from Natalie’s puffy omelet and different didn’t exactly mean good. Teri’s omelet was gooey, uncooked and it had fragments of white eggshells stuck in. Some parts of the gooey omelet were cooked, but clearly was undercooked. It wasn’t even yellow. It was a very pale, almost white yellow. “Here you are, deary,” Natalie remarked, serving her husband the gooey omelet.

Mason poked at the somewhat cooked omelet. He swore he could hear some bits of the eggshell crack. Teri and Natalie watched in anticipation. Mason poked some more and realized just how bad Teri was at cooking. Mason was still a kind critter and to make the ladies feel better he took a bite at the sort of cooked more omelet part. Crunch, crunch. Mason had a mouthful of tiny eggshells in his mouth. He quickly ran to the sink and spit it all out. “There’s so much eggshells! Teri didn’t even cook it properly! 75% of the omelet is still raw!!!!!” Mason yelled, using the last of his energy to make a fuss.

“Oh...well...omelets weren’t VERY TERI anyway,” Teri said, shrugging off Mason’s loud comment about her cooking skills.

Natalie sighed, “Then what will I feed you? Who else knows how to cook an omelet?”

Mason answers with a facepalm, “How about you ask the most experienced cook here? Heidi Choch of course!”

“Omelets aren’t VERY TERI and I don’t do anything that isn’t VERY TERI!” Teri claimed, “Ta-ta. Good luck, Natalie. I advise you to just go out and buy some food instead.”

Teri is out the door and Natalie rushes off to find Heidi. “I need your help, please,” Natalie told Heidi, who had been reading the Calico Times.

Heidi questioned curiously, “What for?”

Natalie ranted, “I DON’T KNOW HOW TO COOK AT ALL! I even tried asking your VERY TERI sister!”

Heidi started laughing. Natalie gave her a funny look. “Oh, I’m sorry. It’s just that you should know. My sister never cooked a thing in her life! Once she babysat my kids because I was pregnant and she fed them donuts from the Village Cake Shop! For dinner! She was so irresponsible!” Heidi laughed/screamed.

Natalie stood there for a moment. She was speechless for a moment. She could not believe Teri didn’t know how to cook. Heidi gave her friend a warm smile. “Don’t worry. Natalie, I’ll teach you the proper way, not the VERY TERI way,” reassured Heidi.

The ladies walked back home, but Mason was no longer waiting at the table. Natalie found out that he decided to go lie in bed and take a nap. “No more omelets,” he muttered, half asleep.

Natalie gave Mason a peck on the cheek, “Don’t worry. Only good omelets this time. No eggshells, raw yolks or balloons.”

Heidi took a while reading the recipe and seeing how Natalie’s modernized stove worked. “Let me get this straight. The knob on the left controls the stove and the right knob controls the oven’s temperature. For time, just take the food out when wanted. Correct?” Heidi asked.

Natalie smiled sheepishly and admitted that she had no idea and was still getting used to cooking. Heidi smiles and tells Natalie that she'll be a great cook one day. Heidi starts with cracking a vegan egg, separating the eggshells and beating the egg in a glass bowl with a fork.

Heidi explains to Natalie, “Natalie, in my family there’s always a song for every traditional dish. Omelets are a mix of country and city, so no song. Just watch how I cook and try to remember. A key thing is an omelet needs 7 minutes of cooking.”

Heidi’s omelet turns out perfect. Perfect golden omelets that look so good. “Never cook with ketchup on the omelet,” Heidi instructs.

Natalie answers, “Oh, oh! I always thought you put ketchup on the omelet when cooking!”

Heidi sighs and says, “You’ll get the hang of it. Now would you like to try?”

Natalie nods and decides she would use Teri’s raw omelet. She sorted through the eggshells and the end result was just like a just cracked egg ready to cook. She remembered what Heidi did and her omelet turned out just like Heidi’s. “Wow, I can’t believe I made that. Thank you so much,” Natalie exclaimed.

Heidi and Natalie enjoy one omelet and Natalie goes upstairs to tell her husband that she has made a good omelet for him. Mason groaned, “Natalie, just go out and buy some tempura. I don’t want any more omelets.”

“This one is a good one. Come on, it’s fine!” reasoned Natalie to her hungry husband.

Mason groaned even more, “Please, no more. No more omelets!”

“Fine,” huffed Natalie, “Just go to sleep. I’m just warning you. You’re going to regret that choice.”

That’s exactly what Harlin told me after I learned how to make carrot soup, Heidi told herself, overhearing Natalie and Mason’s conversation.