Egg Specialities!

Today I was boiling eggs and potatoes to make potato salad. As I drained the eggs, I asked Jessica if she wanted some "Eggs in a Cup". She was excited to have me fix that for her. Warm hard boiled eggs all mashed up with butter, salt and pepper. This was considered a Comfort Food at our house when kids were young. Something easy to fix, tasted good and was warm!

I used to also fix "Eggs in a Basket". A slice of bread, with a cutout center. Buttered on both sides and the center circle, and put in the frying pan. As pan was heating up and toasting the bread, we added an egg. Flip the egg/toast over and usually your egg ends up with a soft yolk that you dip your toasted circle in and eat it all. I remember that the kids loved it.

Then there is the "Sandy Scrambled Eggs"! That was Jessica's specialty that
she made for 4-H one year. She was about 9 years old, and she had practiced making scrambled eggs for us at home. We had to take pictures of her plate of eggs after she would make them because after a day at the fair some foods would have to be thrown away, and then fair goers could at least see the picture that would be on the shelf with the ribbon that was awarded. This was before digital cameras, so she had to practice making scrambled eggs several weeks ahead of the fair entry day. It would take at least a week for the pictures to get developed. As usual, getting all projects ready for entry day is nerve wracking and can test everyones nerves. That year I was unable to take off work on 4-H entry day, and our friend and neighbor Barb hauled her 3 boys; Jason, Justin, Adam and Jessica over to the County Fair with all of their non animal projects - and she had a car full! This was when her boys and our kids would have anywhere from 10 to 18 projects each!!!!! They needed to get there, unload and get lined up to talk to the judges to explain to the judge about their project. How they made it, what they learned from making it, and if they enjoyed the project, etc.

Our County Fair is about 36 miles from where we live, so once everyone is in their assigned seat and all projects accounted for, off Barb drives! Jessica is sitting in the front seat next to Barb and holding her plate with scrambled eggs. The plate has plastic wrap over it, taped to the bottom. Barb had to brake for some reason, and off the plate the scrambed eggs slid! Onto the floor! The dirty, sandy floor of a farm family van! I can imagine what happened next - Barb trying to keep kids in control and the van too. Stopping to scrape up the scrambled eggs back onto the plate, and to make it presentable! We laugh at this now, but it was devestating for Jessica. She was so nervous because she knew that when the judge was going to judge her project, that the judge was going to taste her scrambled eggs. Jessica remembers that she kept looking at Barb, because she was afraid the judge would bite into the gritty sand and then she'd have to fess up what had happened to the eggs. Well, the Judge didn't pause at all; chewed her bite of eggs and swallowed it. Jessica didn't have to make the choice of fessing up to what happened to the eggs, or to tell her that she had used a lot of pepper on her eggs, (not sand)! Much to Jessica's surprise, her project was awarded a Blue ribbon.