Tuesday, October 21, 2008

I don't know how to break an egg open with one hand.

It's one of many enchanting scenes in the classic film Sabrina: Audrey Hepburn in cooking class, breaking egg after egg into a metal bowl with one hand only.

Every time I crack an egg I think of that, but I no longer try it myself; I've learned my lesson. I get the cracking part right, but when I try to open the egg with one hand, I either put my thumb through it or just crush the shell in my hand. I've always told myself it's because my hands are too small -- Audrey Hepburn had disproportionately large hands and feet, she was always self-conscious about them -- but I'm pretty sure people with hands smaller than mine can do this.

What is the trick? Can any of you do this, and if so, can you teach me? Or is it something I'll have to resign myself that I can never do, like whistling through my fingers?

13 comments:

Jen Jordan said...

I can do it and I've always been able to with rarely a shell in the pan/bowl. I can't roll my tongue, however.

Judy Bobalik said...

I can do it also. And I can roll my tongue, but that's genetic nothing you can learn.

Ellen Clair Lamb said...

Jen, you need to come out and visit me for a weekend; you can teach me how to do the egg thing and I can teach you how to raise one eyebrow.

Judy, I once read that the ability to roll one's tongue is genetically linked to having detached earlobes. Can you confirm that you have detached earlobes? And can anyone who doesn't have detached earlobes please report whether you can roll your tongue? Jen, are your earlobes detached?

Anonymous said...

I can break an egg with one hand. but I usually get some egg on the outside of the pan. I understand from my egg farmer friends that older chickens lay eggs with thinner shells, which explains why sometimes the eggs come out perfect and sometimes it looks
like I just dropped the whole egg into the pan.

I don't have any problem with Bacon, though.

RBo

Judy Bobalik said...

Well, my earlobes are attached to my ears. But not to the side of my head. I also want to learn to whistle through my fingers. I bought a book that supposedly teaches you but have not had time to try. The other thing I can do, which Jen absolutely loves, is touch my tongue to the tip of my nose.

Ellen Clair Lamb said...

Judy, if you learn how to whistle through your fingers before next year's Bouchercon, hold a karaoke bar session to teach the rest of us. I would absolutely be there.

The tongue-to-nose thing is genetic too, I think...

Kevin Wignall said...

Okay, I can dispel one rumour. I don't have detached earlobes but I can roll my tongue.

I suspect Audrey Hepburn could have asked the eggs to break themselves and they'd have obliged.

Anonymous said...

I have wee little hands to go with my wee little stature, so no, I can't crack eggs with one hand.

I do have detached earlobes and I can roll my tongue. I can also touch my nose by rolling back my upper lip which not all of my friends can do.

I also suspect Kevin is right about Audrey Hepburn and the eggs, but then I think that pretty much anyone or anything would do whatever Audrey asked of them.

Anonymous said...

Great blog and fun comments today. Whatever you people sprinkled on your breakfast cereal this morning, I want some!

Anonymous said...

My earlobes are attached and I can roll my tounge, touch my nose with my tounge and wiggle my ears. I have never tried to crack an egg with one hand. In my case it might be too dangerous.

Kathy

JIM LAMB said...

You certainly hit a vein with this one. You could start another blog site with this topic.

I spent some time at the Applebutter Festival seeing which of the kids could roll their tounges or touch the nose. The kids thought Iwas being silly. I didn't know it was such a hot topic. They had fun though.

My mother and sisters could touch their noses with their tongues but not roll their tongues. The men in my family can roll their tongues but not touch their noses. I thought it was not possible for someone to do both but now Kathy says she can. I didn't know that.

Maybe you cn get a government grant to do reseach on that. You could spend the next few years just doing nothing except getting your friends to stick their tongues at you on the governments' nickle. A few million would never be missed. I don't know if you ever have to deliver anything useful for one of those grants.

As for whistling through your fingers, my Father could be heard all over the neighborhood in the Bronx. In the summer, when my Father came home from work he would go out on the porch and whistle. That was the signal for all of us to come home for supper. If you didn't hear the whistle, you had to be somewhere you weren't supposed to be and you were in trouble.

My Father spent a lot of time trying to teach me the trick, but I never got it. I think he may have tried to teach you.

Neither of us ever mastered the one hand egg trick.

Karen Olson said...

I can't open an egg with one hand. But I do have a friend who can make a water drippy sound in her cheek.

shweetikle said...

i can roll my tongue! =D
can a non roller learn how to do it? i mean, is it possible?
and i have attached ear lobes ^.^

and join the club girl! i cant break an egg with one hand either =\