The Egg A Day Experiment, Part 15 and 16

While Claire and I were out on a walk, I saw a pink Easter Bunny patting kiddos on the heads while they hunted for Easter eggs. Cute, huh?

Well, here was the problem: The lawn at the church where the Bunny had done a pretty lousy job of "hiding" eggs was covered in plastic. Who invented these foul things anyway? Probably somebody who was a victim of a wayward Easter egg that went all stinky.

It's been years since I colored eggs. Claire's hunting days are long passed. (The photo above was taken when she was 3.) And, back then, I didn't really know what to do with a bunch of hard-boiled eggs. I wasn't into deviled eggs or egg salad. The first time I remember the hard-boiled egg light going on was at a restaurant in Spokane I loved dearly. Paprika's genius chef, Karla Graves, made an enchilada with chopped hard-boiled eggs, topped with a pumpkin seed sauce. I recently found that recipe and I'm going to try to recreate that dish that was so damn exotic, yet familiar somehow.

Anyway, no Easter eggs at our house this year. Not even chocolate ones.

Part 15: Last night, I made carbonara. Sauteed pancetta, beat eggs and poured them into hot pasta. Shaved Parm, salt and pepper, some local spring asparagus on the side. So satisfying. And simple, too. I don't add cream to carbonara, relying on the eggs for the richness. It probably isn't, but it seems lighter than a heavy cream version.

You know another noodle dish that uses egg for depth and character? Pad Thai.