Singapore Arts, Beauty and Inspirations Male Blogger

As I wrote this post, tons of childhood memories with my family flashed across my mind. It was the brand that everyone should be familiar with, 'Swensens' that triggered these nostalgic memories. I loved it back then when I enjoyed almost every food without a thought or a single complain. But not now as comments would naturally start generating and criticisms would be blurted out of my mouth. How I hoped to go back in time again and re-experience the pure innocence of food enjoyment.

Have you stayed at any hotel which serve breakfast buffets before? Be it complimentary or not?

If yes, there would be a high chance that the hotel would have a station where you could 'order' your eggs anyway you like. Of course I meant the standard ones and not the sous vide to whatever degrees celsius kind or eggs benedict. Those half boiled, soft boiled and hard boiled eggs can be requested and were done in the kitchen of course.

Anyway, I got the chance to mend the egg station for breakfast before and it was my virgin experience preparing those eggs ala minute for people. At first, it was really nerve wrecking for a newbie like me. But then, practice makes perfect and I focused on whipping up perfect omelettes and fried eggs for costumers instead of rushing through the cooking process. Speed of course was another issue depending on the crowd. 

There are many ways to cook an egg but I shall just list down the common types of specification in which people would want their eggs to be cooked.

'Fried' — eggs are fried on both sides with the yolks broken until set or hard. 

'Over well', also called 'over hard' or 'hard' — cooked on both sides until the yolk has solidified. 

'Over medium' — cooked on both sides; the yolk is of medium consistency and the egg white is thoroughly cooked. 

'Over easy', also called 'runny' — cooked on both sides; the yolk is a thin liquid, while the egg white is partially cooked.

'Sunny side up' — cooked only on one side; yolk is liquid. The egg white is often still rather runny as well. 

Omelet — very lightly scrambled in the fry pan, but cooked flat and rolled up.

Not to forget, Chinese people would normally say 荷包蛋 (he bao dan) which means 'pocket eggs' in translation. It is just fried eggs that are folded and fried to a desired consistency. 

  

There are strange people with unique requests, even when 'ordering' eggs.

I came across a person who requested an omelet with 5 big spoonful of diced onions, capsicums and tomatoes each. He mentioned that he loved vegetables and he requested the same serving for the following 3 days. I felt like I was making a vegetable roll instead of an omelet for him.

There are also health conscious people who requested no oil on the pan. The moment I heard the word no oil, I was like 'O shit'....high chance the egg (especially the omelet) would stick to the pan!

Some would request only egg white omelet. An evil though just came in mind - I should request that in future to bring inconvenience to the cook who prepares it for me! (Nah!)


Since I am still a newbie, I have experienced a few embarrassing moments before. Care to know what?

Firstly, I busted yolks while flipping the egg over. People may wonder why this chef can't flip an egg properly.

A couple of times, annoying people would just request their orders and walk away. This really can confuse the order especially when a few people does that at once. People! Please queue up... because some people
actually took others' order and left the explanation part to me.

Once, the kitchen serviette tissue that was used to wrap around the handle of my pan caught fire from the stove's flames. (The kitchen serviette tissue is to prevent the heat that transmitted upwards from burning my hand.) I quickly removed it and put out the flames by hand within a few seconds and threw it into the bin beneath me.    


Beside that, I really love it when people gave me compliments about my nicely done omelet or fried eggs!
No harm praising the chef who did your eggs in future right? It will make his day happier too!