The Incredible, Italian, Egg

Having an apartment in Venice meant getting to cook 'at home,' as well as shopping for the ingredients.  Having not yet mastered the open-area markets or the speciality shops, we picked up basics on the first day from the local grocery.  Sure that we would want eggs for something, I choose the jumbo pack - 6. They were comparable in price to free-range, organic eggs in California.

And the label said (in Italian, of course), "specially for pasta!" Although I did not plan to hand-make any pasta, that still sounded promising.

Breaking the first egg was a revelation. The last time I saw a yolk that rich was from a friend's farm-raised duck. To make sure I didn't overwhelm the natural flavor, I made a very simple omelet with few added ingredients. Marvelous!
Not a mere binder or filler like its factory-farmed cousin, the Italian Egg is a food unto itself, worthy of full enjoyment.

Green Egg Salad (No Ham)

Easter was especially fun this year - it was all about the eggs!

Although free-range eggs recently hit $3.00 a dozen here, we bought a lot. After waffles, everyone was ready to dye a few. They came out beautifully; so naturally we hid them up in the vegetable garden, where a real bunny would forage.

The only child among us searched diligently among the swiss chard, cabbages, rhubarb and nasturtiums, finding most of them. Only one went to the dog, who amazed us all by rolling it with her nose to break up the shell before eating the hard-boiled egg.

But last night I was faced with packing lunch, and making use of the colorful bounty. So naturally I shucked a few and whipped up a batch of egg salad. The green bits looked very festive; and since they matched my fingerprints it didn't seem odd to see them in my sandwich.