T is for Tradition and U is for Uh-oh and Upgrades

Technically this is supposed to be the "u" post, but I didn't have internet service until yesterday because we were upgrading our cable and dsl boxes. Uh-oh. I would have felt paralyzed without my email, but when we were in Toulouse we were able to find a store able to unblock my US iphone (a gift from my sister, who purchased a new one) and now I finally have a cell phone, or une portable as they call it here. So yay! Now I won't feel so disconnected when I leave the house. (What did we do before???) And now the kids can get in touch with me if I'm in Toulouse with my "gang."

Which brings me to another uh-oh and "T" is for Tradition.

This past Wednesday the gang –- less one member––came over to my house--where I hosted an egg decorating party and lunch. We all wanted a little piece of home, some tradition. Which brings us to the uh-oh.

While PAAS egg kits could be replaced by getting creative with food coloring, we didn't realize we wouldn't be able to find white eggs. Yep, all we could find were BROWN eggs. (They do sell white eggs at the market here on Saturdays, and at bigger grocery stores, but none of us had access to a car, nor was it Saturday).

Uh-oh.

So the night before I googled "how to decorate brown eggs" and found out yes, indeed, it was possible. The trick? 1 part white vinegar to 1 part water. My "test" came out pretty crappy, but I remained optimistic (and told the girls we'd have to get creative).

Lunch was awesome and the day was beautiful. I made my version of a Greek salad and we had Blinis with Salmon (and two bottles of wine...)

Chopped salad with radishes, feta cheese, avocado, tomato, beets, cucumber, red pepper, green pepper, onion, hearts of palm, chick peas, a pinch of salt, and freshly squeezed lemon. If desired, serve on top of lettuce.

And then we got busy. After a couple of tests we realized we really needed to saturate the dye mix.


After some trial and more errors, and scrubbing eggs down, the final results were amazing, better than expected! We managed to create every color of the rainbow! And the eggs came out awesome-- more jewel toned than pastels! (So did our fingers...)

Just goes to show you: sometimes you have to get creative and improvise.

So here's to brown eggs and wine – a new tradition in TOULOUSE. And here's to the gang: Myself, Trupty, Melissa and Oksana. (We missed you, Monique!) Now we just have to figure out where we can find a big ol' Turkey for Thanksgiving, considering they're not available until Christmas. Any ideas?

Gros bisous. I hope everybody had a wonderful w/end.

sam

SOUND OFF: Have you ever had to create a new tradition? Why?