I don’t even eat meringues. But as I was furiously whipping up a batch of meringues during one of my weekend bakes, a sudden realisation came upon me. I was adamant about hand-whipping them because:
a) I stubbornly wanted to prove that I could do it without a mixer
and b) I didn’t want to have to clean the mixer after.
Here are 4 things I learnt from whipping up a batch of meringue from scratch.
1. Good things take time.
Remember how there’s an age-old advice to never take kids on road-trips. Every couple of hours, they would almost always utter the words, “Are we there yet?”
Similarly, that was what I had in mind when I was trying to turn the liquid eggs into a beautiful cloud. After 10 minutes of continuous whipping, my arm felt stiffer than the meringue peaks, and that was when I learnt that like anything good and worthwhile in life, they take time.
2. Sometimes, it’s not the results.
We are always reminded by our results-oriented society that this is what mattered. But as I was trying to turn the mixing bowl’s contents into the Lumpy Space Princess from Adventure Time, I learnt more about myself than I thought I would.
I learnt that yes, this too shall end.
I learnt that this is a better arm workout than weights.
I learnt that it takes precisely 35 minutes to whip an egg into shape.
I learnt that sometimes in life, it’s not the results—it’s the process.
3. Challenges only make you stronger.
When Kelly Clarkson belted out the lyrics, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”, I’m pretty sure she was singing about meringues. There were moments in whipping when I figured I should have pulled out the hand mixer in the first place but the egg whites proved me wrong when they solidified after some time.
Challenges are there in life for a reason, they are there to make us stronger. It’s funny though that it took meringue to teach me that.
4. The right tools are essential.
After Googling meringues upon completing my desserts, I learnt that there was a way to actually dummy-proof it. I could have actually made meringues in under 3 minutes, all without any utensils, save for a microwave.
Had I researched that earlier, I probably would have gotten my meringues with less labour (but perhaps with less life lessons too). Point is, the right tools for the right project are essential, much like how the right people for the right tasks is also important.