The Easter Egg And The Easter Hare...

Bunnies should use caution when
prepping their eggs.

      The Easter egg and that ubiquitous little Easter hare that defies all the natural laws governing mammals are well known to childish fancy. What child has not discovered on Easter morning a whole basket of beautiful pasque eggs and just missed the sight of the little Easter hare that laid them? He is almost as familiar a household personage as Santa Claus. Long hours have the children watched in the woods for him, only to go home and find they have just missed his visit there, and there are those beautiful eggs he left behind, in pink, pale blue, yellow and all the colors of the rainbow, some of them parti-colored, some painted with roses and some tied with ribbons. Of late years this enterprising little animal has gone far as to leave china eggs filled with bonbons, and that he leaves them there is no more doubt than that Santa Claus comes down the chimney on Christmas Eve, and who is so disloyal as to doubt that?

      There are various ways of preparing Easter eggs that give so much delight to little ones. The most elaborately decorated eggs should be emptied and washed of their contents before they are prepared. This is the most economical as well as the most satisfactory way to do: Pierce a small hole through each end, blow out the contents, wash the shells and leave them for several days to dry. Some eggs shells may be gilded, some silvered and some painted in oils. Simple gifts such as are suitable at Easter time may be conceded under these eggs.

      Plain boiled eggs, such as are served on the Easter breakfast table, may be easily dyed with vegetable dyes, which can be procured at caterers or dealers in confectioner’s supplies. It is not in good taste to make these eggs eaten at the breakfast table especially elaborate. The elaborate eggs are those which are supposed to be found incidentally after breakfast, on Easter morning, and are for the amusement of small children. A dish of pale green, white and yellow eggs at one end of the table or robin’s egg blue and pale yellow and white at the other end gives the breakfast table a festive appearance. It is easy enough to prepare a few eggs in each of these colors to obtain this effect. It is a little difficult to get a good green in eggs. Owning to the quantity of lime in the shells all eggs do not take this natural green color as some others will, and it is better to color eggs a simply as possible than to use any powerful dyes when eating them later.

      It is possible to decorate more ornamental eggs of which the contents have been blown out. Eggs may be prepared weeks before Easter and may be hidden away until the eventful morning. These simple eggshells when decorated in natural colors using roses or forget-me-nots and each strung on a fancy ribbon will last a long time, if taken care of.

      The eggs of nearly all ordinary birds, from the gigantic ostrich, whose shell is firm enough to be set in silver, to the smallest bantam, where at one time represented in many shops at Easter time. These were decorated, to hold various kinds of candies or for ornamental purposes. You will net to be diligent to find decorative eggs like these in antique shops or vintage resale in time for Easter if you live in the United States, for it is nearly impossible to find these mouth-blown, decorated eggs for sale. When my children were young, there was a chocolate shop down the street that sold these but that was highly unusual.

How to blow out an egg from Modernmom

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Planning Menus for An Easter Luncheon

An Easter Luncheon in 1916

      The decorative possibilities of Easter time are numerous as tradition makes hares, doves, chicks and butterflies, as well as lilies and spring flowers, appropriate attendants upon the festival. Of late years little kittens, squirrels and ducklings have been added to the list and are sometimes given for variety's sake as favors at Easter luncheons and dinners instead of rabbits and chickens. Butterflies, emblematic as they are of the awakening of spring, make particularly appropriate favors, says the New York Tribune.

Bunnies prefer cake eggs for Easter dining.

      large yellow butterflies as favors, with a centerpiece of spring ferns and catkins, make a delightful color scheme, for Easter time. The catkins are usually a mass of feathery yellow blossoms. As far as may be, a pale green should be the predominating color, the yellow in the favors and catkins being merely attractive high lights. The china may be white and gold or white, with delicate decorations on it in green.

      The menu should as far as possible be suggestive of spring or, in other words, seasonable and not in any pronounced color that will be out of harmony with the green and yellow tints. Lamb loaf, decorated with squares of mint jelly, makes an attractive piece de resistance at a simple luncheon, or slices of lamb may be masked with mint aspic allowed to harden into a nice mold and then served upon boiled "artichoke bottoms," seasoned with French dressing, and finally arranged around a mound of peas or asparagus dressed with mayonnaise. Tiny sprays of mint may decorate the dish or if preferred, the mint sprays may appear in a plate of mint sandwiches. 

      For a dinner a stuffed breast of veal with watercress is attractive or a crown roast of lamb with mint jelly. A salad of spinach, peas or asparagus may be served in paper cups. 

      A pistachio ice cream, tinted a delicate green and ornamented with snowy whipped cream, may be used. At this season some hostesses may not care for a dessert. In that case a delicate grapefruit sponge may be served. It is made by adding a beaten white of egg to a grapefruit jelly just before it congeal. The pale green of the jelly may be brightened by adding a little green coloring matter. Add a little extra sugar, so that it may be appropriately served with ornamentations of whipped cream, cream hardly being appropriate with a sour jelly.

      A genuine diplomatic pudding is also an attractive dessert. It is like the ordinary diplomatic pudding except that a white Bavarian cream is masked by a green jelly, each flavored appropriately. The dessert should be prettily decorated with pistachio nuts and angelica and whipped cream.

 Stephanie Rose presents Balducci's

 Easter Lunch Demo for WUSA-9 TV.

Easter Menu from Balducci's, 2007

Creamy asparagus soup 

Crab cakes

Slow Roasted Chicken in Wine and Herbs

Fingerling Potatoes Tossed with Garlic and Rosemary

Three Pea Salad

Beet Salad

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13 Names - Rebus

      All of the thirteen pictured objects may be described by words of equal length. 

When these thirteen names have been rightly guessed, the central letters will spell

 certain objects that are very numerous today.

When Planning the Easter Basket

Left, the bow at it's best. Center, a prize winner. Right, tiny rose buds on a round form.

      Which shall it be the gaudy tinsel-decked form filled with candy or rather questionable value, or the Easter basket that combines present beauty with future worth? When planning the basket for the gift, it is undeniable that there should be something more than a combination of much money and little taste; indeed, it is better to have a little less of the former, and by emphasizing the latter, make the Easter basket a gift worthy of the thought.

      A stroll through any basketry department will unfold hundreds of shapes to your eyes--forms so lovely in color and variety that the specially "seasonable" baskets of greens and pinks will be rejected to the past, when beauty was not so much insisted upon.

      From the dull shades that have the advantage of affording a harmonious background for any color, a receptacle for the gift (it may be a plant, flowers, or candy) can be evolved that will stand for the best in this line.

      With green leaves from the flower counter, and pale yellow satin ribbon, a spray of tiny rosebuds it is possible for any woman who has the knack of tying to decorate a superior basket. The basket form (left) pictured above is decorated with three or four loops of ribbon for the making of each bud. Notice the attractive line that trails around the shapes in graceful abandon.

      On the bucket-shaped wicker basket, center, a larger rose and bud are used. The petals are made separately of two pieces of silk, and stamens make up the attractive center. Large leaves are placed between the silken forms. The result is particularly pleasing.

      The high standing basket (right) above shows the effective use of a bow--not the stiff large form that spells yards of expensive ribbon, but the soft French bow, secured by twisting the ribbon before tying. From this, a few satin roses and green leaves follow the weave up to the top.

      For those who prefer the undecorated form, a round basket filled with fresh eggs contains no headaches for the fortunate recipient. It is a gift for an invalid that will bring the thought of the giver in tangible form. If for the little boy or girl, a morning spent in decorating the eggs with  faces, or colors, will fully compensate for the lack of the sweets that usually result in vain regrets. 

      It is hardly necessary to suggest that each of these baskets will fit into a niche when the Easter season is no more. For the porch, the sewing table or the library shelf they will supply just the tangible reminder that we are improving in the appreciation of the beautiful. A basket selected and decorated in this fashion will be received with as much joy as the coming of the springtime.

Creating an Eco-Friendly Easter Basket by Sunday with Sarah

Weave a Miniature Yarn Easter Basket or Egg

      This miniature basket is woven using a braided rag rug method. To make a basket the size of the one pictured here you would need:

• A braided length of yarn measuring approximately one yard; use three colors of any yarn or embroidery floss that you may have on hand.
• You will also need thread and a needle. 
• masking tape
• You will also need some kind of a spool like form; I used a toothbrush container.

      Above is a pictured sequence for making the basket. If you click on the photo it will look larger in a new window. As you can see in the second frame, you will need to work the braid in a spiral pattern until it is roughly the size of a small coin. Whip stitch the shape as you go with the needle and thread. The color of your thread will be exposed so choose that shade wisely. I chose a shade of pale grey because I liked the way that it looked. Some of you, however, may choose to conceal your stitches by matching them to the yarn colors. 

      Loop the two ends of a piece of masking tape together and press it firmly to the end of your basket's temporary form and then mount the coin sized bottom of your miniature basket onto the the form. Now, as you spin and sew together the sides of the braided yarn to itself, the shape of the basket walls will begin to form. Soon, you will have a tiny basket fit for an egg. After you have crafted the basket to the size that you desire remove it from the temporary form. Add a handle by looping the remainder of the braided yarn from one side of the basket to the other, sewing these in place. You can always add more braid into the basket design with a threaded needle should the basket appear longer on one side. 

 

Far left, cut egg shapes from cardboard. Center, notch around it's edges. Right, weave yarn back and forth to make a design all your own.

        A simpler weaving exercise may be accomplished by younger students by weaving yarn around the perimeter of a cardboard egg. In this way teachers or parents can also involve children of multiple ages, both young and older, in participating in decorating an Easter egg tree or display.