Eggspansion

Last night, I attended a Foodbuzz event spotlighting Eggland’s Best eggs at Beacon Restaurant. Interestingly enough (or not), the PR agency that spearheaded the egg event last night, Weber Shandwick, was the same one that organized the Electrolux ICON event (remember the chocolate lava cakes? mmm, I do!) a couple weeks back.

Anyway, here’s the table I chose, complete with EB table decor (and my bellini, of which I drank half):

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Joining me at the table were Kerry of French Revolution (her egg recipe won the recipe contest last night!), Missy of Missy Maintains (the most competent product reviewer around), Megan of Runner’s Kitchen (she had JUST run the Boston Marathon the day before!!), Maya of My Feasts (and her husband), Jennifer of The Mama Chronicles (she is a Twitter whiz), and Bart of EB’s quality control team.

The theme of the event was breakfast for dinner (and eggs, obv), so there was a very well-stocked omelet station:

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With a number of possible toppings:

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I ordered my omelet with tomato, spinach, mushrooms, onions, asparagus, chicken, parmesan, and gruyere:

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There was also quite an array of breakfast extras:

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Here’s my plate:

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Omelet and bacon slice:

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Smoked salmon salad with capers and lemon juice:

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Chocolate croissant and almond-roll:

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Fruit!

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Scrambled eggs (I thought it was going to be polenta when I scooped it up — why would there be more eggs at the buffet station if the main course was already an omelet?!):

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I ate it all and then went back for more (obviously). Seconds on salmon salad:

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As well as a strawberry jam croissant and seconds on fruit:

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Probably didn’t need that third pastry but it was deliciously flaky and jammy:

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I ate all of the second plate. It left me teetering on the edge of uncomfortably full … but not quite there yet. I liked the feeling and was satisfied enough to stop nibbling with no qualms 🙂

Charlie (since we go way back and are on a first-name basis and all) gave a presentation about how EB chickens are fed food that is healthy for them and free of animal by-products:

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He asked for volunteers. I raised my hand (I thought there might be extra food in it for me!). He told me to crack an egg on my plate and then use my hands to lift the yoke out of it to show how strong and healthy the EB eggs are:

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Mission accomplished.

I also learned that the smaller the egg, the higher the quality. Actually, I learned more about eggs than I ever thought possible, but that’s the one fact that stood out.

At the end, I asked if I could take home the eggcelent centerpieces and got approval. Twenty-two eggs later, I was contemplating renaming my blog Tales of Eggspansion.

What came home with me: 22 fresh eggs, 2 bags (1 dozen) of hard-boiled eggs, coupons for 2 dozen free EB eggs, a cup of salmon salad, a cup of fruit salad, a tote bag, an umbrella, a stuffed “animal” egg, a spatula, a folder full of egg facts, a 2 GB external drive (!!!!!), and a coupon for a complimentary cocktail next time I am at Beacon.

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To fuel me through that labor intensive photo shoot, I had a couple pieces (maybe what’s pictured times 3) of chocolate-caramel-nut Easter candy and then called it a night.

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Tell me your favorite thing to do with eggs. Please?

39 thoughts on “Eggspansion”

  6. MaryBe says:
    Reply

    This was an eggselent post!
    I had no idea that the smaller the better (that’s what she didn’t say!)
    I bought EB eggs until a month ago, when they mysteriously doubled in price at my store *ouch*
    Way to score on bringing home the goods!

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  13. Ashley says:
    Reply

    I love eggs! What a fantastic event!!

    My favourite thing to do with eggs… I love a good hardboiled egg. Simple, but tasty. I also like making meringues… but that’s just the egg white… Eggs are just good, ok?

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  16. Lyss says:
    Reply

    I live in a college dorm, so my favorite thing to do with eggs is microwave them into little “patties” and put them on english muffins or in wraps! (With ketchup, hot sauce, or both!) I also love eggs paired with Laughing Cow cheese wedges – so creamy!

    Hard boiled egg-whites are delicious too… 🙂

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  17. ellie says:
    Reply

    my favourite thing to do with eggs: heat up a can of vegetarian baked beans, scramble in the egg and a handful of cheese and serve over toast. Looks horrendous, tastes amazing!

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  22. Erin says:
    Reply

    Wow, that’s a LOT of eggs.

    I’m pretty anti Egglands Best tho. I don’t trust any of the big egg farmers/distributors esp since so many of them liberally use the words humane and cage free.

    In any case, I just love fried eggs and this great veggie/egg/bisquick bake that I make.

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  27. Amy says:
    Reply

    Woah, I had no idea there were seminars about EGGS! Lucky girl. Your photos always make the food look SO amazing…I don’t even really like bacon, but oh man, that looks soo good.

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  28. cocoeatsandcritiques says:
    Reply

    Haha my cousin is the lady in all the eggland’s best commercials!!!!
    My fav thing is poached eggs, but I don’t know how to make those.
    So I love scrambled eggs on toast or in a wrap. I just started microing eggwhites as a quick sammie or snack and that’s great too!!!

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  30. Andrea (Off Her Cork) says:
    Reply

    Oh goodness how awesome! I love Eggland’s eggs but I do always wonder if they are free to roam around (and I mean outside, not roam around a barn.)? Did they address that?

    What a fun night and look how stocked you are now! Woot!

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    • Sarah says:

      Andrea, they actually DID address your question! If I remember correctly, they explained that “cage-free” alone does not necessarily mean the chickens get to roam outside; to have a “cage-free organic” label (which EB eggs do), however, does require that the chickens have space to go outside. To me, this explanation seemed somewhat indirect, so I’m still skeptical. I found this article with more information on the meanings of these different terms, so you can take a look for more info if you’re interested:
      http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1594/is_3_14/ai_101763358/

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  33. alexa says:
    Reply

    Score!
    Favorite things….scrambled with onion, frittatas, make into thin pancakes (like a crepe) and roll savory things in them, fried rice, birds nests with the whites and creme brulee with the yolks! Also, eggs can be frozen. (Warning – they usually don’t whip up super well) I like to do one per ice cube tray, and usually do whites and yolks separately.
    Um, why are my comments always so long?

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  34. Professional Vegan says:
    Reply

    Sarah, I’m glad you mention that smaller eggs are higher quality. I’m not sure what explanation was given, but smaller eggs are better for the chicken laying the egg too. The larger the egg, the more stressful and painful it is for the chicken to lay; because it is so stressful and painful, a single chicken is able to lay less large eggs over its productive lifespan and the productive lifespan is decreased. Chickens live over 10 yrs on average; no matter what size egg they are required to lay, that average lifespan is decreased to 3, 4, perhaps 5 years and then the chickens are destroyed (egg-laying chickens predominately aren’t useful for human food — they might become part of food for other farm animals, or they might simply be killed). Perhaps that is why smaller eggs are “higher quality.” Regardless, if you have to have eggs in your diet, I recommend purchasing smaller eggs if only for the marginally better well-being of the animals that are giving you those eggs. I would comment on the “cage-free” vs. “cage-free organic,” but that might be overkill. 😉

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  35. Lara (Thinspired) says:
    Reply

    WOW, how fun! Good to know about the small eggs being the best 🙂 I’m kind of boring with my eggs. I love a good egg salad, recently I tried it with just the whites to lighten it up. Since you have an abundance of eggs I wouldn’t feel too bad about wasting the yolk (as I sometimes do!). Can’t wait to see what you come up with 🙂

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