Saturday, April 15, 2006
Easter eggs
I'm alone with Bug and Button today. Morgan's grandfather is in serious condition, so Morgan drove to Tulsa yesterday to be with him for a while. So this morning I took the girls to an Easter egg hunt at their school, and this afternoon we dyed eggs.
Every year this is a process of experimentation, but we've gradually gotten more scientific about it. Morgan, being the more organized one, makes notes on file cards about how the color dyes work, and what ways we've found to improve them.
We use Paas color kits, just like we have since I was no older than Button. In the last couple of years they've gone from a six-color kit to a nine-color kit, adding pink and a new green and blue. Dyes have improved a bit in recent years, and are nearly as good as I remember when I was a kid, before the FDA banned Red Dye #2 and everything red or purple from Paas to M&Ms went blah.
This year I pulled out Morgan's notes and the new Paas kits, and got a surprise: They renamed four of the nine colors! (Mr. Bill voice: Ohno!) I think I've properly identified which colors go with which names, so I now post our conclusions (mostly Morgan's, with some additions from me this year) as to the quality of each color, with additional comments on combining colors.
Dyeing tips
Buy two Paas kits. Use the regular instructions, dissolving the tablets in vinegar. But use 2 tablets of each color, and add only 1/3 cup of water. Mix the dyes in clear plastic 9-ounce cups; these are deep and narrow enough that the reduced amount of liquid will still cover an egg, and you can see the color through the side. (And when the dyeing is done, you can throw them away.)
The eggs should be near room temperature before you dye them. If you've just boiled them, let them cool at least half an hour. If you've had them in the refrigerator, let them warm up a similar amount of time, then wipe off any condensation.
Color notes for Paas kits
When combining two colors, it's usually best to let the first color dry before dipping in the second color. Giving an egg a wash of a color means to dip it briefly without letting it soak.
Yellow — usually nice.
Orange — usually even, but not very dark. A wash of red deepens the color slightly.
Red — Often a nice dark color, but can get spotty on some eggs.
Purple — Dreadful most of the time. Almost always blotchy and weird.
Blue (formerly Turquoise) — Very nice! Better than the original Blue.
Pink — Very nice and vivid, almost magenta.
Teal (the old Green) — Often nice, but more blue than green and gets spotty on some eggs.
Spring Green (formerly Chartreuse) — Very nice but quite pale. Teal with a wash of Spring Green makes a nice medium green.
Denim (the old Blue) — Depends on the egg, but usually not great. A dusty grayish blue at best.
Pink followed by Blue — A better purple than Purple. You can also try Red followed by Teal.
Don't try to combine Purple or Denim; these colors wash off too easily and get even streakier than usual.
I was going to post photos, but my camera just won't reproduce the colors correctly, especially shades of blue, green, or purple.
. . . And now for something completely different.
I've had the John Philip Sousa march "Liberty Bell" stuck in my head all evening. Just this week I learned that our local PBS station has started running Monty Python's Flying Circus again. I caught an episode just last night, and the theme music stuck, as it always does. I kept whistling "Liberty Bell" while we were dyeing eggs, and darned if Bug wasn't whistling along with me.
No question but that Bug and Button are getting exposed to a fairly catholic assortment of music in this house. Sousa, Joplin, classical from Mozart to Copland, salsa, Afropop, rock from Beatles to Phish, bluegrass, Celtic folk, pipe and drum bands, show tunes, movie musicals, Cats, blues, Irving Berlin, jazz, and even filk. Not to mention: "We have both kinds, country and western!"
Two good weekly podcast music programs I've found:
The Bluegrass Preservation Society Radio Show of the Bluegrass Preservation Society of Gassaway, West Virginia. Two hours of great bluegrass music, recorded at local West Virginia concerts (many of them at the local bowling alley). The show is hosted by Ewell Ferguson and his three-legged bluegrass kitty cat Buster, who "mans the sound board and pushes them buttons." Ewell is so corny sometimes that he makes Hee Haw sound like the BBC, but he is funny, and the music is often flat out terrific. The podcast feed is [http://www.bluegrasspreservation.org/index.xml].
Radio Macondo, an hour of salsa music. I'm no expert on salsa, but this is great stuff to listen to. Thankfully, the program is hosted in English. The podcast feed is [http://rmacondo.libsyn.com/rss].
Every year this is a process of experimentation, but we've gradually gotten more scientific about it. Morgan, being the more organized one, makes notes on file cards about how the color dyes work, and what ways we've found to improve them.
We use Paas color kits, just like we have since I was no older than Button. In the last couple of years they've gone from a six-color kit to a nine-color kit, adding pink and a new green and blue. Dyes have improved a bit in recent years, and are nearly as good as I remember when I was a kid, before the FDA banned Red Dye #2 and everything red or purple from Paas to M&Ms went blah.
This year I pulled out Morgan's notes and the new Paas kits, and got a surprise: They renamed four of the nine colors! (Mr. Bill voice: Ohno!) I think I've properly identified which colors go with which names, so I now post our conclusions (mostly Morgan's, with some additions from me this year) as to the quality of each color, with additional comments on combining colors.
Dyeing tips
Buy two Paas kits. Use the regular instructions, dissolving the tablets in vinegar. But use 2 tablets of each color, and add only 1/3 cup of water. Mix the dyes in clear plastic 9-ounce cups; these are deep and narrow enough that the reduced amount of liquid will still cover an egg, and you can see the color through the side. (And when the dyeing is done, you can throw them away.)
The eggs should be near room temperature before you dye them. If you've just boiled them, let them cool at least half an hour. If you've had them in the refrigerator, let them warm up a similar amount of time, then wipe off any condensation.
Color notes for Paas kits
When combining two colors, it's usually best to let the first color dry before dipping in the second color. Giving an egg a wash of a color means to dip it briefly without letting it soak.
Yellow — usually nice.
Orange — usually even, but not very dark. A wash of red deepens the color slightly.
Red — Often a nice dark color, but can get spotty on some eggs.
Purple — Dreadful most of the time. Almost always blotchy and weird.
Blue (formerly Turquoise) — Very nice! Better than the original Blue.
Pink — Very nice and vivid, almost magenta.
Teal (the old Green) — Often nice, but more blue than green and gets spotty on some eggs.
Spring Green (formerly Chartreuse) — Very nice but quite pale. Teal with a wash of Spring Green makes a nice medium green.
Denim (the old Blue) — Depends on the egg, but usually not great. A dusty grayish blue at best.
Pink followed by Blue — A better purple than Purple. You can also try Red followed by Teal.
Don't try to combine Purple or Denim; these colors wash off too easily and get even streakier than usual.
I was going to post photos, but my camera just won't reproduce the colors correctly, especially shades of blue, green, or purple.
. . . And now for something completely different.
I've had the John Philip Sousa march "Liberty Bell" stuck in my head all evening. Just this week I learned that our local PBS station has started running Monty Python's Flying Circus again. I caught an episode just last night, and the theme music stuck, as it always does. I kept whistling "Liberty Bell" while we were dyeing eggs, and darned if Bug wasn't whistling along with me.
No question but that Bug and Button are getting exposed to a fairly catholic assortment of music in this house. Sousa, Joplin, classical from Mozart to Copland, salsa, Afropop, rock from Beatles to Phish, bluegrass, Celtic folk, pipe and drum bands, show tunes, movie musicals, Cats, blues, Irving Berlin, jazz, and even filk. Not to mention: "We have both kinds, country and western!"
Two good weekly podcast music programs I've found:
The Bluegrass Preservation Society Radio Show of the Bluegrass Preservation Society of Gassaway, West Virginia. Two hours of great bluegrass music, recorded at local West Virginia concerts (many of them at the local bowling alley). The show is hosted by Ewell Ferguson and his three-legged bluegrass kitty cat Buster, who "mans the sound board and pushes them buttons." Ewell is so corny sometimes that he makes Hee Haw sound like the BBC, but he is funny, and the music is often flat out terrific. The podcast feed is [http://www.bluegrasspreservation.org/index.xml].
Radio Macondo, an hour of salsa music. I'm no expert on salsa, but this is great stuff to listen to. Thankfully, the program is hosted in English. The podcast feed is [http://rmacondo.libsyn.com/rss].
# posted by Dru @ 21:31 
