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If you didn’t eat more eggs than usual this Saturday or Sunday then the Easter Bunny did not come to see you. I know the Easter Bunny was around because I was over at Hope School and the Bunny had been there and covered the front lawn with eggs and small prizes. I was with the 3-4 year old bunch because Maddie and Katie Hacker invited Nanny Mary and me, Granny, to come and see them have their class pictures made and to see them hunt eggs. When they turned the little ones out to begin to fill their baskets it looked like a swarm of grasshoppers descending and going this way and that. These eggs were hidden in plain sight but even so, some of the kids had a bit of help.

I thought it was very wise for Miss Ria, the teacher of this group, to say that each child could only have one piece of chocolate and no bubble gum until after lunch, which was next on the agenda. Don’t you know nap time was fun for the teachers after all this excitement?

There is no telling how much candy was dispensed or how much was eaten; I’ll bet Easter rivals Halloween in consumption of candy.

I have done a little research on eggs and how long they may be safely kept and what one may do with the excess of eggs on hand. First of all I read, and you may know, that if you hide real boiled eggs that as soon as they are harvested or within an hour or so, they should be refrigerated if they are to be used at a later time, not to exceed 4 days, and they should be refrigerated within two hours after being cooked... Boiling eggs does destroy the natural ‘stuff’ that is on the shell and protects the inner egg. So you should hide them, find them, and refrigerate them within two hours to be safe, otherwise you may fall victim of a nasty bacteria that invaded your eggs. Any eggs that cracked while boiling should be used in your recipe or refrigerated quickly.

I bet a lot of you ate deviled or stuffed eggs. We did and we didn’t hide and find eggs, we just got hungry for deviled eggs. I have tried adding different things to my deviled eggs but I like them best when I just add mayonnaise and a bit of mustard and salt and pepper, but I have added green olives to them and sometime sweet or dill relish, but I really think the less you mess with one of God’s greatest food creations the better the finished product is.

Speaking of deviled eggs and mayonnaise, the other day our son was here for lunch and he saw me take the mayonnaise out of the pantry and his comment to me was, "I see Mom that you still don’t keep the mayo in the fridge!" My answer was, "You are correct and I still don’t keep the butter in the fridge either and you and your two sisters were raised with no ill effects from what one of your wives told you was a bad kitchen habit I had!"

In my very nicest voice I explained to Brad that in the old days, meaning before air conditioning, people could not keep butter and mayonnaise or things that needed to be cool so that they wouldn’t spoil out. But in an air conditioned home there is no danger. Also I read that it is a myth that you shouldn’t take anything with mayo in it on a picnic but since mayonnaise is now made commercially with pasteurized eggs, a fairly new process, and because it also has preservatives in it, unless you are picnicking in the Sahara dessert, and plan to be out for hours and hours you will be safe. But don’t let me change your mind about these things, especially if your mom told you otherwise.

About mayonnaise: I read that homemade mayo would safely last for a week. For me that is not a danger, as I am perfectly happy not being a purist about mayonnaise.

My favorite story about boiling eggs happened maybe 54 years ago. I was working, and Pat was home and offered to boil the eggs so they’d be ready when I got home to make the potato salad. He called me a half dozen times... "how much water, how long do I cook them, what if they crack, there is white stuff oozing out of a few of them, etc. Finally they were cooked and I told him to let them cool and then peel them for me. Well I didn’t’ say how long he should cool them and I think in the mean time he cut the grass and then changed the oil in the car. I got another phone call and this one went like this, "How do you skin an egg?" Not peel, but skin an egg. Well, when I quit laughing, I told him but I didn’t know yet that it had been hours since they were cooked. He showed me the ugliest shelled eggs you ever saw. They looked like they had been pecked at with a fork. Of course for the potato salad they were ok, but thank goodness I didn’t need them for deviled eggs.

My favorite things made with hard boiled eggs are a wonderful remoulade sauce for use on boiled shrimp, egg salad, ham salad, chicken salad, potato salad and of course a tasty deviled egg. Last but not least, just a plain hard boiled egg with a bit of salt and pepper.

I don’t know if it’s the economy or if people just like raising chickens to have fresh eggs for themselves or to sell, but at least two families on my county road have chickens roaming their yards and another couple of friends in the county do as well. It might be fun for kids to take raising chickens on as a project. Hmm, I can hardly wait till breakfast for a good big egg and a slice of ham; maybe a biscuit or two would be nice.

Egg xactly. Cluck, Cluck.