Easter 2011: Dining At Old Ranch ; Eggs To Follow

Did You Know? - Egg decorating is the art or craft of decorating eggs. It is quite a popular art/craft form because of the attractive, smooth, oval shape of the egg. Any bird egg can be facilitated in this process, but most often the larger and stronger the eggshell is, the more favoured it will be by decorators.

Goose, duck and hens' eggs are usually "blown" - a hole is made in either end and the contents are blown out. The egg is then either carved, dyed, painted, appliqued or otherwise decorated (using a number of different techniques). Egg decoration is particularly popular in Eastern European countries.

Some eggs, like emu or ostrich eggs, are so large and strong that the shells may be carved without breaking. Decorations on emu eggs take advantage of the contrast in colours between the dark green mottled outside of the shell and the shell-underlay. Ostrich eggshell with engraved hatched patterns have been found as early as 60,000 years ago at Diepkloof Rock Shelter in South Africa.

Did You Know? - The original PAAS Easter egg dye was invented by an American named William Townley.

Mr. Townley owned a drug store in Newark, New Jersey, where he concocted recipes for home products. In the late 1800s, he came up with a recipe for Easter egg dye tablets that tinted eggs five cheerful colors.

Neighborhood families started buying Townley’s Easter Egg Dye packets in 1880 for only five cents and mixed them with water and white vinegar to create the perfect egg dye!

Soon, Mr. Townley realized that he had a wonderful product that other families would like to use to brighten their Easter tradition. He renamed his business the PAAS Dye Company. The name PAAS comes from “Passen,” the word that his Pennsylvania Dutch neighbors used for Easter.

Today, Americans purchase more than 10 million PAAS Easter Egg Color Kits during the Easter season, and use them to decorate as many as 180 million eggs!

Now—more than 125 years later—we believe Mr. Townley would be proud of PAAS’ perfect colors. The original is still the best!
What

Did You Know? - Easter eggs are special eggs that are often given to celebrate Easter or springtime.

The egg is a symbol of the rebirth of the Earth in celebrations of spring and was adopted by early Christians as a symbol of the resurrection of Jesus.

The oldest tradition is to use dyed or painted chicken eggs, but a modern custom is to substitute chocolate eggs, or plastic eggs filled with confectionery such as jelly beans. These eggs are often hidden, allegedly by the Easter Bunny, for children to find on Easter morning. Otherwise, they are generally put in a basket filled with real or artificial straw to resemble a bird's nest.

Tips for preparing hard cooked eggs:

• Hard-cooked, not hard-boiled. Although the cooking water must come to a full boil in this method, the pan is immediately removed from the heat so that the eggs cook gently in the hot water. This produces tender, not rubbery, eggs and minimizes cracking.
  
  
• Banish the greenish ring. This harmless but unsightly discoloration that sometimes forms around hard-cooked yolks results from a reaction between sulfur in the egg white and iron in the yolk. It occurs when eggs have been cooked for too long or at too high a temperature. Our method – cooking eggs in hot, not boiling, water, then cooling immediately – minimizes this.
  
  
• Very fresh eggs can be difficult to peel. To ensure easily peeled eggs, buy and refrigerate them a week to 10 days in advance of cooking. This brief "breather" allows the eggs time to take in air, which helps separate the membranes from the shell.
  
  
• Hard-cooked eggs are easiest to peel right after cooling. Cooling causes the egg to contract slightly in the shell.
  
  
  
• To peel a hard-cooked egg: Gently tap egg on countertop until shell is finely crackled all over. Roll egg between hands to loosen shell. Starting peeling at large end, holding egg under cold running water to help ease the shell off.

Storage time: In the shell, hard-cooked eggs can be refrigerated safely up to one week. Refrigerate in their original carton to prevent odor absorption. Once peeled, eggs should be eaten that day.

Food safety precaution: Piercing shells before cooking is not recommended. If not sterile, the piercer or needle can introduce bacteria into the egg. Also, piercing creates hairline cracks in the shell, through which bacteria can enter after cooking.

Never microwave eggs in shells. Steam builds up too quickly inside and eggs are likely to explode.

Did You Know? - The word "yellow" comes from the Old English geolu, or geolwe which derived from the Proto-Germanic word gelwaz. The oldest known use of this word in English is from The Epinal Glossary in the year 700.

In the English language, yellow has traditionally been associated with jaundice and cowardice. Yellow is associated with the word "caution" and is the second light on stop lights; in American slang, a coward can be said to be "yellowbellied" or "yellow". The color is associated with aging as well, for both people and objects (e.g. "yellowed" paper). Ethnographically, the term "yellow" has been used as a slang term for both Asians ("yellow peril") and, in the early 20th century, light-skinned African-Americans (High yellow).

Did You Know? - The pun, or paronomasia, is a form of word play which suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple meanings of words, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect.