Matilda and Sebastian arrived yesterday afternoon so excited to dye eggs. We had not done this in a few years, so I was out of practice. First I realized that I bought brown eggs. I always buy brown eggs to eat but NOT to dye eggs. Oy vey. Then I didn't have regular vinegar. Didn't even think to check. I ALWAYS have vinegar. Not yesterday. I did have apple cider vinegar or some such thing. We used it. Holding our collective breaths to see if the dye would work or not. Luckily it did. What fun.
We had eighteen eggs to dye. It took quite a while. Matilda was soooo patient. Sebastian not so much as you can see that his chair is empty. I think he dyed a few eggs. The bulk was Matilda. In the above photo she is patiently waiting. At one point, since it was taking so long she doubled up and put two eggs in each color.
Usually the eggs come out pastel colors. Not this year. This year they are rich earthy colors. We might be on to a new technique. I wish I had had some waxed paper to shine the eggs but here they are as they are drying.
The Easter Bunny is getting ready to hide the eggs in the gardens along with some plastic ones just for the joy of hearing little squealing kids as they find the eggs.............and their Easter baskets.
More on that saga manana. Stay tuned.
14 comments:
Oh, this brings back so many memories of the Saturday night before Easter. Eggs had to be dyed, children put to bed, shoes polished, and new Easter Sunday clothes ready. Ham in the fridge, potato salad, deviled eggs and cakes made, ready for the house full of guests after Church on Sunday. Whew, they are good memories but I don't think I could pull it all together anymore.
I see egg salad sandwiches in your future...
Billie, indeed it was as intense, almost as Christmas. I used to make all three children new outfits. Poor John wore knee pants for years, ha, in the same fabric as whatever the girls dresses were made out of.
Easter is ham, potato salad, other fruit salads and cakes....strange not to have that this year.
Just doing the eggs, lunch yesterday and the hunt in a little bit is enough for me! GREAT memories though, indeed.
Peter - egg salad is a favorite of mine along with deviled eggs. I've never met a deviled egg that I didn't like! YUM.
Hmmm! I think those colors are as nice as I have ever seen.
Shine for the eggs? We always worked in a little butter on our eggs for shine. They were dyed with onion skins and they were a deep bronze, similar in depth to the shades of your eggs. Happy Easter. Perry
Thanks Christine - I was amazed and relieved to put it mildly.
AxixicSenorita - a NEW commenter. Thanks for the thought of butter. I'll see how that works....learn something new every day!
Of course the whole idea of the Easter bunny and Easter egg hunts are foreign to Mexico. Tomorrow I will be spending the day with my friend Alejandro's family. I brought with me a bag of hollow plastic eggs, and some wrapped chocolates to put in the eggs. Alejandro's three year old nephew is going to have a gringo Easter with his first Easter egg hunt!
Just remembered that we used a paper towel for shining/buffing. Hope it works well. Perry
In Germany we don't know egg salad, but make asparagus salad ( had to go to Puerto Escondido for the asparagus, actually I just happened to see it there and much cheaper than the 100 pesos a kilo in DF ) with hard boiled eggs and eggs in bechamel sauce. I made the asparagus egg salad today and baked a small Easter cake typical for the Black Forest ( where I am from ), made with a Brioche dough and filled with lots of butter, cinnamon, nuts and dried fruit, rolled up, cut in three long pieces and then braided. My contribution the keep at least some of my Easter traditions alive. The main meal was always leg of lamb, but that is next to impossible to get here and is a lot of meat for a one-person household. And btw: we used a bacon rind to make those Easter eggs shine
Retired Teacher - When I moved to SMA 14 years ago, I accepted that there were not Christmas trees or chocolate Easter bunnies. It was no big deal for me. However, NOW that I have two American grandchildren living in SMA, I would like for them to know the traditions that their father and family grew up with. Hence, the attempt to do the eggs, have the hunt and have the baskets. It did take a village to make this happen. I'll write about it tomorrow.....Enjoy your time as well.
AxixicSenorita - Thanks for the follow up!
Droelma I too am of German heritage but not one where we followed many German traditions, sadly. I do have some recipes that were passed down from my grandmother on my father's side (Schmidt).
What you cooked today sounds delicious. I use a Bechamel sauce as the start of many recipes! Asparagus is always something I look forward to each year. I haven't seen it in SMA as yet. LOVE it. Enjoy your holiday.
Droelma, PS. My favorite restaurant in Houston, out of over 12,000 restaurants is Charivari. The chef and his wife are from the Black Forest region. Amazing cuisine!
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