Eggs

Every year around this time millions of eggs are hard-boiled, artistically decorated and then thrown into the garbage. Frankly, that's probably just as well. Because most hard-boiled eggs are pretty terrible. The whites are rubbery, the yolks are pale and mealy and, even worse, surrounded by that sulfur-green ring of shame. Cooking hard-boiled eggs is easy; cooking them right is not. Unless you know what you're doing. Then it's as close to a foolproof no-brainer as you can get in the kitchen.

Pam King's San Marino home has solar panels, a drought-resistant yard and an urban farm. Now she'd like some chickens to go with it. The city known as the wealthiest, quietest suburban enclave in the San Gabriel Valley doesn't allow residents to keep farm animals, but that may soon change. This month King asked the San Marino City Council to allow chickens on residential properties, and council members ordered a staff report. If San Marino goes to the birds, it would join Pasadena, South Pasadena and La Cañada Flintridge, which allow residents to keep fowl under strict guidelines.

The alarm over potential bank runs in Greece and Spain this week has highlighted an often-overlooked fact: Europe's debt crisis is also, in many ways, a major banking crisis. In capitals such as Athens, Madrid and Rome, large portions of the sovereign debt racked up by spendthrift governments are owed to the countries' own banks, locking governments and the banks in an embrace so tight that disaster for one would almost certainly spell doom for the other. International bailouts for Greece, Ireland and Portugal have helped to keep not just their governments but also their banks afloat, as well as financial institutions in other parts of Europe with large exposure to those nations' debts.

The signs of penguins in love were unmistakable at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach on Monday: puffing their chests, standing on tiptoes while clicking their beaks together, belting out donkey-like brays. The colony of 13 Magellanic penguins, which recently moved from holding pens to a new $1.5-million exhibit that opens to the public Thursday, has seethed with courting rituals since the arrival of breeding season. One pair is already tending to a newly hatched chick.

It's technically called an egg "donation. " But if you're a young Asian woman, donating your eggs to an infertile couple can fetch enough cash to buy a used car or perhaps a semester at college. The same market forces that drive the price of cotton, copper and other commodities - supply and demand - have allowed Asian women to command about $10,000 to $20,000 for their eggs, also known as gametes or ova. Women of other ethnic groups typically get about $6,000 when they can sell their eggs, but they often can't for lack of demand, according to donation agencies and fertility clinics.

So how many omega-3 fatty acids are enough — and how should you get them? That likely depends on your age and your specific health concerns. The United States does not yet have guidelines for DHA or EPA, and consensus among nutrition experts is elusive. But specialty groups, some governmental agencies and individual experts have started to take a stand. For healthy adults without major medical issues, the European Food Safety Agency recommends a daily dose of 250 milligrams of combined EPA and DHA, while the National Heart Foundation of Australia suggests 500 milligrams.

Birds do it, bees do it, even wildebeests and zebus do it. And during the "Valentine's Day Sex Tour" at Santa Ana Zoo today, visitors will learn exactly how animals court and mate in a captive setting. Wild stuff? Well, the event is for adults only, but zoo curator Connie Sweet said she wouldn't go so far as to slap an R-rating on the tour. Call it PG-13.

I gave up eating eggs years ago due to high cholesterol. I have only been eating egg substitutes. I recently heard that eating eggs doesn't really raise cholesterol. If this is true, I would love to go back to eating real eggs again. For decades, dietary dogma has kept many people from eating eggs. Because egg yolks are rich in cholesterol, some scientists assumed that eating whole eggs would raise blood cholesterol and increase the risk for heart disease. This assumption was accepted without evidence.

Despite the recent massive recalls of eggs due to salmonella contamination, frittatas are thought to be safe because the eggs are thoroughly cooked. To be even safer, avoid eggs that were packed by the involved farms; they may be sold under a range of labels including: Lucerne, Albertson's, Mountain Dairy, Ralph's, Boomsma's, Sunshine, Hillandale, Trafficanda, Farm Fresh, Shoreland, Lund, Dutch Farms and Kemps. Keep eggs refrigerated. Don't use any eggs coming from cracked shells. And of course, keep all work surfaces clean and wash your hands thoroughly after using raw eggs.

Egg recall? Again? Yes, again. The latest is from egg distributor Cal-Maine Foods, which issued an egg recall of 288,000 eggs from eight states because of concerns over potential salmonella enteritidis contamination, a Los Angeles Times story reports. Cal-Maine’s website lists brand names and expiration dates of potentially contaminated eggs that were sold in Arkansas, California, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas. The company acted Friday after the Food and Drug Administration found salmonella in a routine sample test at a small Ohio farm that provided eggs to Cal-Maine.

News flash: Eggs are really good for you. This message was brought to you by the American Egg Board. That's right - the folks who sell eggs paid for a study that comes to the shocking conclusion that eggs are an ideal breakfast food. They could have just asked people if they liked eating eggs for breakfast. Instead, they recruited 20 volunteers who were overweight or obese and assigned them to a week of either egg breakfasts or ready-to-eat cereal breakfasts. After a two-week gap, the groups were switched.

It's technically called an egg "donation. " But if you're a young Asian woman, donating your eggs to an infertile couple can fetch enough cash to buy a used car or perhaps a semester at college. The same market forces that drive the price of cotton, copper and other commodities - supply and demand - have allowed Asian women to command about $10,000 to $20,000 for their eggs, also known as gametes or ova. Women of other ethnic groups typically get about $6,000 when they can sell their eggs, but they often can't for lack of demand, according to donation agencies and fertility clinics.

As a little girl in Ohio in the mid-1800s, Genevieve "Gennie" Jones would accompany her country doctor father in his buggy as he visited patients. Along the way they'd discuss the natural world, which turned into a lifelong passion. Then in 1876, consumed with heartache from a broken engagement, Jones traveled to the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. Here she viewed John James Audubon's masterpiece, "Birds of America. " Inspired by the beautiful watercolor drawings, she returned home with a new sense of purpose, determined to create a companion book illustrating birds' nests and eggs.

Burger King Corp.promised Wednesday to switch to only cage-free eggs and pork -- a day after the reemergence of mad-cow disease focused national scrutiny even more on Americans' food sources. The fast food giant, one of the largest in the world, said it would phase out cages for its chickens and gestation crates for breeding pigs by 2017 - making its pledge among the most sweeping of many such vows made recently by competitors such as McDonald's and Wendy's. Changes in animal welfare practices have swept the food service and supply industries in recent months, as undercover investigations by animal rights activists and concessions from major companies created a domino effect.

A Pennsylvania egg farm is under fire from the Humane Society of the United States after the animal rights group conducted an undercover investigation that it says netted secret footage of hens living in filthy, cramped conditions that put public health at risk. Kreider Farms did not respond to repeated requests from The Times for comment. But Ron Kreider, the company president, told the Associated Press that the society's report, posted on its website Thursday, was “a gross distortion of Kreider Farms, our employees and the way we care for our birds.” He said Kreider has “state-of-the-art facilities” and “more than 80% of our chickens are housed in larger, modern cages.” For six weeks in February and March, the Humane Society had someone on the inside at Kreider Farms who used a hidden camera to document conditions there, society president Wayne Pacelle told The Times.

A day after Americans said “Let's eat,” First Lady Michelle Obama promoted the theme of “Let's Go, Let's Play, Let's Move” today during the annual White House Easter Egg Roll. More than 30,000 people were expected in two-hour shifts during the 11-hour eggstravaganza.  The entire first family attended: President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, daughters Malia, 13, and Sasha, 10, grandmother Marian Robinson and the family dog, Bo, immortalized in one of this year's commemorative wooden eggs.

  Asparagus with bread crumb-fried eggs Total time: 25 minutes Servings: 2 Note: This is based on a recipe from Judy Rodgers' "The Zuni Café Cookbook. " Our recipes, your kitchen: If you try this or any other recipe from the L.A. Times Test Kitchen, we would like to know about it so we can showcase it on our food blog and occasionally in print. Upload pictures of the finished dish here. 1/2 to 3/4 pound asparagus Olive oil Salt 1/4 cup fresh bread crumbs A few leaves fresh thyme 2 eggs Freshly ground black pepper 1 tablespoon red wine or sherry vinegar 1. Prepare the asparagus: If it is thin, simply cut off the bases.

  Creamy scrambled eggs with fines herbes Total time: 25 minutes Servings: 2 Our recipes, your kitchen: If you try this or any other recipe from the L.A. Times Test Kitchen, we would like to know about it so we can showcase it on our food blog and occasionally in print. Upload pictures of the finished dish here. 4 eggs 3/4 teaspoon minced herbs, from a mixture of fresh tarragon, parsley, chives and chervil, divided 1/4 teaspoon salt 3 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small cubes, divided 4 slices hot toasted and buttered baguette Freshly ground black pepper 1. Crack the eggs into a small bowl and beat briskly with a fork to break them up and homogenize them.

For me, the egg hunt didn't stop when I became an adult. Some people hunt eggs, but I prefer to eat them. As a kid, I thrilled more to the feast than the hunt - as in the feast of hard-boiled eggs and leftover egg dishes that remained in the wake of annual visits from the bunny. Today, modern chefs are pushing any envelope they can get their hands on to honor the egg. Eggs aren't just for breakfast anymore as evidenced by the dishes I've gathered here, many of which have become some of my favorites.

The reason this hard-boiling technique works so well is really pretty simple, but it helps to know a little bit about how eggs work. Eggs consist largely of protein — mixed with mostly water in the white, or albumen, and mixed with fat and water in the yolk. When the eggs are raw, the proteins are like strands of yarn curled up in little balls. As the eggs are heated, these strands relax and unfold. As they unfold, they bump into each other and link up. (Fun fact: This is why egg "whites," which are clear when raw, are white when cooked — the unfurled, linked-up proteins block light from passing through.)