Eggs

Each week a nutritionist from the University of Maryland Medical Center provides a guest post to The Baltimore Sun's health blog Picture of Health (baltimoresun.com/pictureofhealth), which is reprinted here. This week, Elaine Pelc weighs in on eggs. Are eggs really incredible? Yes! Eggs are affordable, a great source of lean protein, full of vitamins and minerals and low in calories, weighing in at about 70 calories each. Over the years eggs have received a bad rap for their cholesterol content.

A Cuban Revolution has come to East Baltimore. The city's Middle East neighborhood is just a few blocks away from Johns Hopkins Hospital, but there was seldom any reason for outsiders to wander in. That has changed. Amid protests from some longtime residents and others, most homeowners in the area were relocated and their houses — along with many that were abandoned and dilapidated — were torn down. Now Middle East is being developed as a mixed-use life science campus. The anchor tenant is the Science & Technology Park at Johns Hopkins, but the 80-acre area will include other research facilities along with new housing, parking and a six-acre central park.

Sue Muller carefully scraped the dry dirt from a spot along Columbia's Lake Elkhorn walking path, using a small garden trowel and a water-filled spray bottle to soften the earth until she saw the white of turtle eggs peeking through. The Howard County naturalist kept at it, slowly carving out the rectangular hole painstakingly dug two weeks before by a ridge-backed turtle of a species normally found along the Mississippi River. Muller stopped for a time to invite passers-by Lucas Julian, 6, and his mother, Irene, of Clary's Forest to watch and learn, but then returned to her main task.

Easter services •Lutheran Church of Our Redeemer, 7606 Quarterfield Road in Glen Burnie, will host the following services: Easter Sunday service of Holy Communion at 10:30 a.m. There will also be an Easter egg decorating event for children from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. Children can enjoy games, crafts and snacks. Information: 410-766-8778. •St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, 1110 St. Stephen's Church Road in Crownsville, will host the following services: Holy Eucharist, 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. Easter Sunday.

Moonstruck is a great food movie. Nicholas Cage on bread, the making of eggs, the great meeting scene in the restaurant with Olympia Dukakis and John Mahoney. Moonstruck opens the 13th Annual Little Italy Film Festival tonight. By the way, I'm looking for a good photograph of those eggs. There are lots of recipes online. My favorite thing in the whole movie is Loretta Castorini's take on the Marc Chagall: " It's kind of little gaudy, don't you think?"

I would like to know if anyone still darns socks. Please call and leave your name and number at 410-332-6166. It's for a study I've launched — how many Americans darn socks in the 21st Century. Please specify if you've always been a darner or if you've taken up the craft since the Great Recession. That's important to the study. Of course, if you're of a certain age, you don't even know what I'm talking about. In downloading the Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby," you might have heard reference to Father McKenzie "darning his socks in the night when there's nobody there.

At midnight, the house smells of vinegar. On the kitchen table dry eggs dyed red and green and lavender and a blue as bright as a sky in early spring. The cat licks a purple paw, and I puzzle how to mail eggs out to Ohio, and why.The head of the household has gone to bed, shaking his head. Cards and calls are his way of keeping in touch with college-age children, who come and go as they always have, but in longer and longer leaps. For months at a time, we live here and they live there. They sound plaintive when they call, wistful when they write.

Yes, the Baltimore Farmers' Market is done for the season. It won't be back until April 7. But you get fresh eggs from the Hen's Nest all winter long. The New Windsor farm will be bringing cartons and cases of its brown and white eggs down to Baltimore every other week Saturday beginning Jan. 5, making three stops around the city. The first stop, from 8 a.m.-9 a.m., will be at the parking lot of Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, 1400 W. Coldspring Lane. Then, the truck will head east, to 3700 Dillon St., near the Natty Boh sign, where it will park on the parking lot in front of the Push 511 crossfit gym from 9:30 a.m.-11 a.m. From noon-1 p.m., you can get Hen's Nest eggs at the Park & Ride off Rolling Road (Route 166)

Just a comment about Gov. Martin O'Malley's forecast of hard times for Maryland if sequestration comes to pass: Perhaps the governor should have been working harder all along to improve the industrial diversity in the state instead of working so hard to bring more and more government to Maryland. August J. Nicastro, Forest Hill Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

A New York company that makes vanilla rugelach sold in Maryland stores is recalling the product because it contains undeclared eggs, which may cause a life-threatening illness if consumed by anyone with an allergy or severe sensitivity to eggs. Bloch's Best Inc., doing business as Laromme of Monsey, N.Y., is pulling its Laromme brand vanilla rugelach because the 14-oz. round containers do not list eggs among the ingredients. The product was distributed in stores in Massachusetts, Maryland and New Jersey, according to the release posted on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration website.

A warm-up to seasonable early spring weather is in the forecast for this weekend, but rain could arrive for any egg hunts and picnics scheduled for Easter Sunday. Saturday is forecast to be a nice day to be outside, with highs around 60, calm winds and clear, sunny skies. Temperatures could stay as mild for Easter Sunday, as well, but any Easter egg hunts set for around midday or later could be wet. A 60 percent chance of showers is forecast from around noon into the evening, according to the National Weather Service.

Holy Week services •Lutheran Church of Our Redeemer, 7606 Quarterfield Road in Glen Burnie, will host the following services: Passion/Palm Sunday services at 10:30 a.m. March 24. Maundy Thursday service of Holy Communion at 7:30 p.m. March 28. Good Friday Tenebrae service at 7:30 p.m. March 29. Easter Sunday service of Holy Communion at 10:30 a.m. March 31. There will also be an Easter egg decorating event for children from...

The expansive lawn in front of the Sherwood Farm mansion at Cromwell Valley Park is usually deserted in March, although sometimes a cardinal or other winged visitors perch in shrubbery. That will change Saturday morning, March 30, when hundreds of children descend on the grounds for the 18th annual Easter egg hunt, seeking candy-filled plastic eggs or to show off paper-plate Easter bonnets they have made Youngsters and adults will also admire rabbits brought by 4-H Club members, dye hard-boiled eggs, greet the Easter Bunny and more.

Egg hunts are always popular with the little ones, and on the heels of its successful 'Breakfast With Santa' in December, the Lutherville-Timonium Recreation Council is sponsoring its first Easter egg hunt. The hunt is open to preschoolers through fifth-graders and will be held on the grounds of Ridgely Middle School Saturday, March 23, at 10:30 a.m. Should the weather not co-operate, the hunt will move into the gymnasium. Reservations are required and due March 15; consult the rec council's website at http://www.ltrc.org for registration forms and additional information.

Just a comment about Gov. Martin O'Malley's forecast of hard times for Maryland if sequestration comes to pass: Perhaps the governor should have been working harder all along to improve the industrial diversity in the state instead of working so hard to bring more and more government to Maryland. August J. Nicastro, Forest Hill Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

For 17 generations, members of Catherine Webb's family have worked or lived on Springfield Farm in northern Baltimore County, where chickens and turkeys roam the hilly ground and, three days a week, Webb sells eggs and chicken meat from a farmhouse garage-turned-store. In Webb's view, such direct-to-consumer sales will sustain the farm's operation for future generations, which include her two daughters and her sister's children. But neighbors have fought a 2006 proposal by her parents to build a farmer's roadside stand inside a three-level barn.

To many people, spring means Easter and that means eggs. Here are some safety tips for those planning to dye Easter eggs:* If you hard-cook eggs that are at least a week old, you will find them easier to peel after they are cooked.* Be sure to refrigerate eggs you plan to dye as much as possible between cooking, cooling, dyeing and hiding. Do not eat cracked eggs or ones that have been out of the refrigerator for more than two hours.* If you plan to use the decorated eggs as a decoration and they will be unrefrigerated for several days, cook extra eggs for eating and discard the display eggs.

A breakfast of eggs is a perfectly good way to start the day, scientists now say. Provided, of course, that you don't overdo a good thing.Eggs got a bad rap in the '60s and '70s when it was believed that cholesterol was the major cause of coronary heart disease. Now, the emphasis is on saturated fat and total dietary fat. And eggs, in moderation, are being rediscovered for their protein and vitamin content.The American Heart Association recommends that adults who don't have elevated cholesterol limit their egg intake to four a week.

On the night before most home games, Ravens players favor Sullivan's Steakhouse. And which Ravens roost at Sullivan's? The long list includes Haloti Ngata, Paul Kruger, Terrell Suggs, Ray Rice, Torrey Smith, Matt Birk, Justin Tucker, Bernard Pollard, Ma'ake Kemoeatu, Corey Graham and Michael Oher. Reps for the restaurant say that Ravens flip for chef Ben Erjavec's cheesesteak eggrolls.  The eggrolls are on the regular Sullivan's menu, but you can try making them yourself.

Which came first? The bird or the egg? The answer is both. The clever combination inspires these bird seed eggs from Gardener's Supply. Hang them in your favorite tree and watch the birds flock to them this winter. The colorful seed eggs come in an egg carton, a unique gift for the birder or for kids just learning to appreciate wildlife. Gardener's Supply also offers a pint of seed strawberries to tempt birds. Like the eggs, each is solid seed with a built-in jute hanger. The cost is $15.49 and $19.95, respectively, at gardeners.com.