Eggs

An initial effort to breed a rare Atlantic sturgeon caught in the Chesapeake Bay has fallen short, but scientists leading the effort promise not to give up. Researchers at the Horn Point laboratory of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science have been holding a 7 1/2 -foot-long, 170-pound female sturgeon in a tank since the giant was caught by a waterman April 29 near Tilghman Island. The catch marked the first time that a sturgeon with eggs was found in the bay in more than three decades.

Scientists have found Chinese mitten crabs mating and producing eggs in the Chesapeake and Delaware bays - evidence that the alien species is likely breeding and established on the East Coast. Two hairy-clawed invaders were caught recently by watermen, one south of Kent Island and one in the upper Delaware Bay, raising to 10 the number confirmed in the region over the past three years. More significantly, the two were the first females found on the East Coast. Both showed evidence of recent mating, and the Delaware crab was carrying eggs, said Greg Ruiz, senior scientist at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater.

Seriously Simple Holidays By Diane Rossen Worthington The Healthy Hedonist Holidays By Myra Kornfeld Simon & Schuster / 2007 / $19.95 This paperback offers fodder for a year of "multicultural, vegetarian-friendly holiday feasts," including recipes for Ramadan, Kwanzaa, Chinese New Year and Cinco de Mayo. There's plenty for poultry and seafood eaters, too, such as a variation on gefilte fish for Passover and an Ethiopian chicken stew for Kwanzaa. I did wish for some at-a-glance graphics to let me know which recipes were vegan.

A springtime search for amphibian amour Ah, spring. Birds twitter. Blossoms sway in the breeze. And toads burst out of the muck, croak around the clock and lay mounds of gelatinous eggs. Like many species, toads spend the spring looking for love. "They have no cares in the world right now, except each other," says Courtney Peed, a naturalist who will lead a hike through the Oregon Ridge Nature Center in Cockeysville tonight. She says this as she points to a pair of toads floating near the muddy bank of a pond.

MARYDEL -- When the Rev. Chris LaBarge arrived at the ramshackle trailer in rural Caroline County on Monday afternoon, he found the body of a newborn boy wrapped in a plastic grocery bag on the bathroom floor and Erminia Escalante Berdugo curled in a bed nearby."

If you're looking for a low-key place to dine outdoors this summer, check out the Pickled Parrot in Canton. Owner Peggie Oliver bought the bar last year, installed a green awning outside and painted the concrete block and brick walls with a tropical scene. With upscale plastic furniture, a big-screen TV and a Corona-clutching parrot perched overhead, this Baltimore beer garden is not fancy, but it's comfortable.Oliver, who managed bars in Canton and Fells Point before going to work for herself, said she wanted to create an alternative to the bar scene in Canton, a quieter place where an older crowd would feel at home.

If the Shakespearean love feast that appeared in A La Carte on April 21 wasn't quite as sweet as you expected, it wasn't your imagination. The sugar was inadvertently omitted in the Almond Custard With Violets dessert that was given to The Sun.We're reprinting the recipe to include the 1/4 cup of required sugar. We apologize for any inconvenience.Almond Custard With VioletsServes 21 cup milk1 cup heavy cream1/4 cup sugar1/4 teaspoon cinnamondash nutmeg1 teaspoon almond extract3 beaten eggs1/2 tablespoon butter for custard cups6 or more fresh violetsIn a saucepan, scald milk and cream over low heat.

To make the greatest omelet in the world, make sure that the eggs are at room temperature by leaving them out of the refrigerator for 30 minutes before using them. Cold eggs are too stiff for an omelet. Also, if you always add a little milk to your omelet, try adding a small amount of water instead. The water will increase the volume at least three times more than the milk. The water molecules surround the eggs' protein, forcing you to use more heat to cook the protein and make it coagulate.

BELFAST, Maine -- To usher in the new year, Mike Hurley thought about a log cabin on a remote island in Penobscot Bay. An evening by the fire with the wife, a bit of the bubbly, "see the stars and all that.""Be away from civilization before the electricity went out," says Hurley, a one-time hippie who runs the local movie theater in this old factory town.Hurley, 49, could afford to go anywhere -- if not that remote island then, say, a glitzy hotel suite overlooking Times Square or a $1,000 seat in Las Vegas to see Barbra Streisand.

Nearly 100 children gathered yesterday in Manchester for the local park foundation's annual Easter egg and scavenger hunt, turning Pine Valley Nature Center into a playground for youths eager to take part in the springtime tradition.Some youngsters got to the center long before the eggs were hidden in mulch piles and under trees. The early arrivals waited eagerly while the eggs were hidden by members of a local Boy Scout troop.The event was so popular that organizers ran out of eggs for the little ones to find in less than 20 minutes.

Bedbugs are blood-consuming insects that were nearly wiped out in the United States in the mid-20th century. But they've made a dramatic comeback in the past decade. Size:: Practically microscopic at first, they can grow to the size of ladybugs, or about half the diameter of a dime. Lifespan:: Up to a year, with females laying up to 500 eggs. Gross factor:: About once a week, they seek a blood meal, preferably from humans. They gorge on blood for three to five minutes and then defecate most of the blood and shed their skins.

Twice a year, Liz Reitzig drives 2 1/2 hours to a Pennsylvania farm, then heads back home to Bowie with half a cow in the minivan. Closer to home, she regularly meets a farmer in a parking lot to buy whole chickens. Fish comes straight from a Baltimore County guy who casts nets in Alaska and brings the catch back frozen. She picks up eggs at somebody's driveway and produce at the farmers' market. She hasn't been to a conventional supermarket for years. "I would say about 80 to 90 percent of our food is coming direct from farmers," said Reitzig, 29, a stay-at-home mother of four.

Some preservationists fight bulldozers and wrecking balls. Marty and Tony Azola had to outwit a black vulture. The female vulture laid eggs in the attic of Ruscombe, a vacant 1860s-era mansion near Cylburn Arboretum that the Azolas proposed to restore for commercial tenants. Because the black vulture is a migratory species protected by law, the father-and-son development team had to wait until her eggs hatched and she and her offspring flew away before they could begin work. She came back the next year and laid eggs again, delaying the project even more.

Rosalind Mann of Baltimore was looking for a recipe for a ricotta cake. She did not give any detail as to what type of cake she was looking for, and I received several variations of what our readers knew as ricotta cakes. I was most intrigued with a recipe sent in by Frances Bedini of Florida, Mass. Her recipe, called Italian Ricotta Cake, came from her mother-in-law, who Bedini says made it for the family every Christmas. It is much like a cheesecake, with a buttery bottom crust topped with a rich creamy filling.

Granny's is the love project of Valari and Aaron Dorsey - she's the head chef, and it's her grandmother, a professional chef in her own right, to whom Granny's pays tribute. From its early spring opening, the allure of all-day breakfast and Southern-influenced home cooking has drawn diners to its corporate strip location, former home of a hamburger chain, in Owings Mills. Granny's serves a separate lunch and dinner menu, too. Think country fried steak, a turkey dinner and beef brisket.

With the Summer Olympics almost upon us, it seems appropriate to take special note of an ultra-marathon champion that seldom gets the attention it deserves. The event is seemingly impossible: a journey from Tierra del Fuego to the Canadian Arctic and back, 9,300 miles each way, in nonstop stages that last days without food or water. And like some nightmare of Roman gladiators, if you fail, you die. But there's a catch: The participants can fly. These ultra-marathoners are migratory red knots, shorebirds not much more than half the weight of a pigeon.

Taramasalata ranks up there with hummus as a popular puree from afar. This smooth, light pink, slightly salty dip from Greece is made with preserved fish roe, olive oil and lemon. Served lightly chilled with triangles of warm pita bread, it is delectable summer fare. Judging by results of my recent outing, this area is blessed with cooks who can do good things with fish eggs. Best Bite Samos Address: 600 Oldham St. Phone: 410-675-5292 Hours: 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Saturday A tangy mound of foamy pink taramasalata, perched on carrot sticks and dotted with briny olives, had a pleasing texture and a faintly saline finish.

Fresh herb season is under way in gardens and pots throughout the area. So how about using them in a fast, easy and nutritious omelet? We're naming it Herbie and it's enough to feed two. And because it's quick to make, Herbie the Second won't add much time to making supper for four. Kids will like Herbie, too, especially if you use olive slices to fashion a face on the omelet. Sauvignon blanc will pair well with the herbs in the dish. For kids, a glass of milk is a fine partner. Renee Enna writes for the Chicago Tribune, which provided the recipe analysis.

Researchers are reporting preliminary success with a vaccine against a possible "bird flu" pandemic, using a process they say could deliver the product in half the time required by older technology. The milestone, experts said, also offers hope for speedier production of a vaccine against seasonal flu, potentially eliminating contamination problems and shortages that have cropped up in recent years. Reporting today in a leading medical journal, scientists with Baxter International Inc. said their avian flu vaccine - which dispenses with the cumbersome process of growing vaccine in chicken eggs - was safe and triggered an immune response.

Let's say there's a potential shortage of eggs in the future and you are a federal agency in charge of making sure there are enough to go around. You can't order farmers to buy more laying hens, but you can write rules that result in people paying more for eggs so farmers will have money to expand. But what if you end up with the same number of hens? What if all you accomplish is to pad the wallets of farmers? That's essentially the question raised last week by Maryland's Public Service Commission and a broad coalition of state regulators and consumer advocates with regard to electricity costs.