Saturday, March 6, 2010

E

is for egg.

I am tempted to fill this post with all sorts of bad egg puns, but I will resist.  Poor Todd had to hear a barrage of them this morning over his morning bowl of oatmeal.  We'd decided that since we finally had a beautiful day--50 whole sunshiny degrees fahrenheit--we needed to be outside and breathing in all that muddy, mossy, nearly blossoming air.  So what better way to enjoy the day than to visit a local organic egg farm?  Until we finally get to raise our own chickens, it's the next best thing. 

Not only did we hang out with the roosters and hens at Chip-In Farm (so named because the original owners "chipped in" back in 1944 to buy the farm) in Beford, Massachusetts, we also got to chill with a large russet pig named Lilac, a few bunnies, a sheep, and various and sundry goats.  I have a few pretty great photos of a particular part of Lilac's anatomy, but I think I shall save those for another day and another post.  They are too special; I wouldn't want them stealing the glory from the chickens.
After the farm we went for a long walk at Minuteman Park in Concord.  The first spring-like day of the year had families and couples out in droves.  


And speaking of glory, look at these beauties we brought home.  Tonight we made a basic but wonderful egg salad with a little mayo, mustard powder, paprika, salt & pepper, a dash of Tabasco, a finely chopped scallion, and a finely chopped bread-and butter pickle.  The salad on a bed of fresh lettuce with the best hothouse tomato we could find (gosh I miss summer tomatoes!) sandwiched between slices of multigrain quinoa bread made a perfect early evening supper after our "mudlucious" (apologies to e.e. cummings) day.  

Oh, and the E at the top of the post is a handmade vintage E from an old wooden sign.  It's about two feet tall and it hangs on our living room wall.  It has never had any particular significance other than that we like it.  Neither of us has any names beginning with E, but we thought it was pretty when we saw it at an antiques store in Waldoboro, Maine, so home it came with us.  Now I suppose it will forever stand for egg, which seems a perfectly lovely word to me.

24 comments:

  1. That last picture should be framed...maybe hang it next to the E?

    It was 50 degrees here today too...bliss. I did a little retail therapy:)

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  2. Good idea, Sue!

    I just realized that I typed Waldoboro, but I meant Hallowell. How tired am I?! ;D

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  3. What a perfectly lovely day you must have had....sounds wonderful!! I love all your photos - they are so fabulous! xxoo :)

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  4. Oh I always buy brown eggs too, I love how they look. You gave me an idea using the bread and butter pickle...and I love hot sauce...yum! ~Lili

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  5. Ooo how cute...I'm just been working my way through a couple of previous post...bit of a slow coach at the moment :) The chicken in the third shot, bit handsome huh!

    I love watching chickens (we often call them chooks here :) anyway I laugh at their ways. I saw a lovely little rooster and his wife the other day, he was finding food for her and bustling her over to eat it...he would'nt touch it. He was such a caring husband.
    xoxo

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  6. Now that's the kind of guy a girl could love! ;)

    Chooks is the cutest word. xo

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  7. Oh how I love eggs, the shape, the color, the texture! Such lovely photos. Our back yard hens gift us daily with these delights and I am always tempted to photograph them.
    Sounds as though you had a wonderful day on the farm.

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  8. Can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs... On that note - you have made me 'peckish' and it's time for me to bring my wee chicks inside and make them dinner... sunny side up?

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  9. we had a similar warm weekend. of course, with the odd teenager wearing shorts!!! i love it.

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  10. E is for this eggxellent alphabet you are creating here.

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  11. gigi, this is a lovely post... again...

    i adore your lovely organic brown eggs... and the farm pictures look "warm"... FABULOUS.

    your images are B E A U T I F U L....

    xxo, kim

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  12. oh, yum - farmfresh eggs? yes please. your egg salad sounds quite fancy compared to my simple little homely one. i just mash the yolks up with some mayo, salt and pepper and cube in the whites. there is something that is so comforting with that on fresh sliced bread.

    beautiful shots

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  13. How fun! I love chickens..they have great personalities. The people that live up the hill from us have two chickens and everytime I walk past them, they come right to me and start talking to me. One day, when I was coming home I heard this horrible sound coming from the area where the chickens are, but I couldn't see them. I asked the woman later if anything had happened to one of them and told her about the sounds I heard, and she said that is what one of them sounds like when she lays an egg! Apparently, she is quite the drama queen.

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  14. what a beautiful way to spend a day...and those fresh brown eggs.....swoon !

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  15. these photos are amazing. and your dinner sounds fab!
    xo

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  16. Oooo , I love eggs Gigi. I think that I eat far too many....and there is nothing better than a freshly laid one.I have finally found a good egg from the supermarket. They are from a special breed of hens and are blue shelled. When you crack them open the yolks are orange and the whites don't spread out all over the place (the sign of an old egg). They are delicious, if you can't get them freshly laid. XXXX

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  17. Our neighbor has eggs, and recently we were given a gift of a half dozen. It reallly is amazing how different they taste from store eggs.

    MMM, and I always chop bread and butter pickle into my egg salad, too.

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  18. Those eggs in the bowl...those are exquisite photos, Gigi! I just love eggs--any way, I'll take them. Your egg salad is much like one I make, except I often use very finely chopped red onion...Oh, I feel so hungry now--LOL! Happy Week, my friend :o) ((HUGS))

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  19. ...just had a beautiful farm fresh fried egg on an english muffin for lunch as I am sitting here catching up with your alphabet...

    Love your egg photos...soft in color and light...

    xo

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  20. Oh how I'd love some hens! The idea of them busily scratching around in the garden for little morsels ... beautiful eggs to collect - how heavenly this sounds but Mr B will not budge on this matter. Perhaps when he's away on his next overseas trip I'll just do it! After all, what's a farm without chooks. Leigh

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  21. Gigi,
    Eggs, WONDERFUL eggs! Oh how I love them! Seriously, we go through at least 2-3 dozen a week! And the veterinarian I used to work for, he has 30+ chickens. The weather is starting to warm here, so they are laying their incredible edible eggs again. These are considered GOLD around our home. Precious gems! We cherish every single bite! Even the little crumb knows the difference between his divine orange yolked eggs versus the fresh ones we get at the Farmer's Market. Spoiled! And I even give our little pug a mashed up boiled egg for breakfast every morning. LOVE the last image of your eggs so comfy in a bowl!
    Bisous,
    Melissa

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  22. I don't know how you do it but you've even made chickens seem romantic:)) lol
    xxx....Carole
    love the photos.

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