My Newest Favourite Thing: Fabergé Eggs

I love the little Google designs, don't you? They point out all sorts of fascinatingly irrelevant information. For example, I would never have known that today was the 166th birthday (do you still get birthdays when you're dead?) of Peter Carl Fabergé.

Those eggs used to fascinate me - they still do. I love eggs, as I believe I have mentioned previously, because the shape is just perfect. I used to collect marble, laquered and wood versions, but couldn't quite stretch to those beautifully jewelled varieties.

Tsar Alexander III commissioned the House of Fabergé to make an Easter egg for his wife the Empress Maria. The tradition continued and from 1887 Carl Fabergé was given complete freedom with regard to design, which then become more and more elaborate. The only stipulation was that each one should contain a surprise. I would guess that a plastic crocodile wouldn't cut it - take that, Kinder!

After the death of Alexander III, Nicholas II had one made each Easter for both his wife and mother. The tradition continued until the October Revolution, and 50 eggs were made, of which 42 have survived. The House of Fabergé made other eggs too, but these ones are known as the Imperial Eggs and I'm sure are worth a very pretty penny.

Huevos Rancheros



One of life's pleasures is a lazy Sunday breakfast with cups of coffee and a peruse of the papers - that's one of the many bonuses of not having children. Often we go out for breakfast and the experience takes all morning. Otherwise we have it at home, on the patio in summer or by the fire in winter.

Eating at home narrows the options somewhat, however, as, much though I enjoy cooking, I can't be bothered to faff about in the kitchen first thing in the morning. So breakfast has to be a compromise of maximum effect for minimum effort and this version of Mexican ranch-style eggs sits perfectly on the menu:

4 x rashers bacon, finely chopped
1 x onion, pleeled and finely chopped
2 x Tbsp oil
1 x 400g can tomatoes (spiced or add your own)
2 x Tbsp finely chopped coriander or parsley
4 x eggs
tortillas or toast

Cook the bacon and onion in the oil in a frying pan over a moderately hot heat for 5-7 minutes until the bacon and onion are golden and very fragrant. Add tomatoes and coriander or parsley and simmer for 2 minutes.

Make four wells in the centre of the sauce and break an egg into each well. Cover and simmer for about four minutes until the eggs are cooked.

Serve an egg with a little sauce on top of a warm tortilla or slice of buttered toast.

You've got to be yolking!

This morning as I cracked my egg into the boiling water, I saw that there were two yolks inside the shell. I've never seen that before so I was mometarily diverted (yep, that's the kind of life I lead) until I looked it up on the interwebisation device and discovered that apparently one in a thousand eggs has a double yolk so it 'isn't all that rare' - well thanks for crushing my excitement.

So then I wondered whether this would produce chicken twins, but apparently not because there is not enough egg white to feed two yolks, so they/it wouldn't hatch at all. That makes me feel less guilty for eating it poached on toast with baked beans.

And then I wondered whether there is lore or legend surrounding the double-yolked egg and whether superstition decrees it is lucky or unlucky. As I said, it's a fine life... According to one site I looked at, "Throughout history and in different cultures, finding a double yolk has been considered to mean anything from an impending wedding to a financial windfall to a death in the family." Do I get to choose? If so, let's hope it's a financial windfall. I may let you know, or I may disappear to South America for a while!