It's finally Friday.

I started this week like all other weeks just chugging along with my sights set on Friday. This is a terrible way to start a Monday but somehow I managed to turn it around. I think it started Tuesday morning when I spent my break gathering and pressing flowers. Now I haven't made up my mind if it's wrong to pick flowers from garden boxes on the streets and because of that I act and feel like I'm smuggling heroin through customs; quickly picking bluebells and creeping phlox, shoving them into a canvas bag and shuffling off at the first sign of company. Don't think I'm picking over people's gardens, I only took a few and I think the boxes are planted by the city, maybe. However, I have devised a scheme to hijack a few dozen tulips and daffodils for a spring arrangement. Hey, flowers are super expensive and you gotta make do. Chris has absolutely forbid me to pillage the city planters. It's not like I would actually do it but it's fun to dream. I'll suck it up and pick up 3 dozen tulips from the florist... and pay for them of course. Anyway, after pressing the flowers in a phonebook, I just seemed more cheery even though it was 39 and raining. I think we need the warm sunny weather to stick! I am very anxious for spring and summer to start. I have several fun trips planned and tons of projects already in the works... in my mind of course. I can't wait to pick fresh berries, plant vegetables, head up to the family cottage in Wisconsin, go out garage sailing, shop the farmer's markets and more. I did well all winter and enjoyed each snow and every cold day but I have joined the rest of Chicago in dreams of 75 and sunny days spent outside. Tomorrow the high is 73 so I have to go hiking with the dogs and hunt for mushrooms and flowers. Sunday looks like rain and we'll just have to stay in and organize the pressed flowers and cook something amazing with the mushrooms (we'll see what I actually end up finding.) Hope you enjoy tomorrow as much as I will.

Did the Easter Bunny show?

Happy Easter my dear friends. I hope you are all having a wonderful day with your friends and family. We were lucky enough to celebrate our Easter with the whole family and the Greene fam (-Jono) last Saturday and it was a fantastic time. We had a semi-intoxicated egg hunt and a whole lot of fun. As we've gotten older, traditions have been revised but the most important thing is being together. I would like to take this time to thank all of you for your support with this little project of mine and look forward to the many things to come on Becoming Billy Stewart. I have lot's more crafts, projects and recipes to share with you so stay tuned in the following months for Mother's day gifts, Father's day gifts, summer recipes and more. Thank you all again and where ever you are and with whomever, Happy Easter.

I Have a Parasite and an Excuse

Ok, I don't really know for sure if I have a parasite or not but right now it's the only probable explanation for what's going on with me right now. I have been sick as a dog and unable to concentrate over the migraines and stomach pains I am currently experiencing. I know, "Boo Hoo Baby Billy." Ok, I'll stop whining and get to the point; I promised you funion with onions and here it is. No pictures, like I said I'm sick. I promise more to come but it's totally not Martha to promise something and not follow through. So here we go...

Onion eggs are a little more tricky than beets but still fairly simple. Peel off the dry, papery skin of the onion (you can ask your grocer if you can grab a bunch of the loose skins that are already peeling off. I normally search through the onions and pick up the stray, large pieces of skin. If you know your grocer or produce supplier well, they might even save these for you, just ask and see what they are willing to do. I typically save the skins from my onions throughout the year, leaving them on the kitchen counter overnight to dry out before putting in an airtight container for storage.) You will also need cheese cloth and twist ties. Cut the cheese cloth into squares that are large enough to wrap around the egg completely with an inch or so extra. Lay one of these squares flat in the palm of your hand and place a large piece of the onion skin in the center. Stand the raw or blown out egg inside of the peel and wrap tightly. If you're onion skin is not large enough you can piece together smaller bits or leave some of the shell exposed. Wrap the cheese cloth tightly around the egg and use a twist tie to secure the end. Now in a large enamel or glass sauce pan fill with 5-8 cups of water and 2-4 tablespoons white vinegar. It's better to place the eggs in the sauce pan before filling it with water. If you are using blown out eggs place a dishtowel below the eggs and one above. The bottom towel will ensure that the eggs won't break and the top one will saturate the eggs and keep them submerged for the most part. If you are going to be hard boiling your eggs just drop and go. Bring to a boil and let roll for 8-12 minutes. Let cool and unwrap. Red onion turns brilliant magenta's and yellow becomes varying shades of gold and mustard. This is a fun and easy way to naturally dye eggs. If you find yourself in a bind or just want a fun new way to dye eggs this is a great, natural way to create stunning eggs.

Ok instead of a picture that is relevant I will share the glorious and gigantic goose eggs I bought from John's Live Poultry in Chicago. These of course have not been cleaned yet but they are still magnificent. To clean any egg first start with warm soap and water. I fill my sink with suds and scrub each egg with a sponge or acrylic Brillo pad. For tougher stains I like to use baking soda but you can also use vinegar. Vinegar will soften the shell so use sparingly. I'll scrub any soiled egg with a new, cheap tooth brush (I never understand why people demote they're old tooth brushes for cleaning. The bristles are damaged and won't really scrub anything. Just go out and buy a $0.99 toothbrush.) Sprinkle the baking soda over the stain and using a wet brush, gently scrub. Rinse all your eggs well because any residue will cause uneven dying.

Natural Dyes

Despite my advice, my pleas and warnings, you have waited till the last minute to get your egg dying supplies and now it's 8:15 PM, the friday before Easter, Jewel/Osco is out of food coloring and you're kids are crying because the Easter bunny procrastinated and said "they'll never run out of dye, it's impossible." Hey, IT'S POSSIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!! BUT never fear Billy Stewart is here to save you!!! So you haven't any food coloring, so the ef what? You can still dye eggs this year. Head out to your grocery store's produce section grab some beets and some onions (red or yellow work best.) You can certainly find other fruits and vegetables but in the interest of time we will just stick with these. If you have a juicer, great and if not, fine we'll work with what you have. First juice the beets in an electric juicer. If you don't have a juicer, puree and press through a fine meshed sieve. Use 1/2 cup of the juice and add 1 tablespoon of vinegar. Now dye like you would with any regular food coloring based dye bath.

Tomorrow I will go over dying with onion skins. If you want to do this go get the dry skin of yellow or red onions. Ask your grocer if you can pick through the bin and grab all the loose skins or buy in bulk. Mince and dehydrate the onions you won't need over the next 2 weeks and save for a soup or stir fry. Also grab some twist ties and cheese cloth, I know I have to. So I'll see you all in the cheese cloth section and then back here tomorrow for onion funion... I'm sick so I can say lame things like that.

Are you clumsy like me?

If so then you have broken a few of your eggs by now. I hope you haven't thrown them away yet because you can still use them. Of course the broken eggs are you're favorites and the ones you spent the most time on... MINE ARE! Bah, oh well, like I said they can still be used and they will still look amazing and no one will be the wiser. It's this simple: Take the broken egg, fill it with grass or colored cotton (I like to use a contrasting color to make it stand out) and stick a little pom pom chick in it. That's it. If you have large pieces, set them around the egg to give the impression of a hatching chick. Scatter them throughout your baskets or fill a nest with them for a unique and creative centerpiece. Disasters can be treasures if you look hard enough.

Madly Plaid

Creating a plaid pattern on an egg shell may seem difficult and time consuming but working in batches and with an easy color combination, one can make beautiful plaid eggs in no time at all. I work by the dozen and make 6 different dye baths. To start make the 3 primary and 3 secondary colors (red, blue, yellow, green, orange and purple.) Once you experiment with these try other combinations, I just find the 6 basic colors easiest and most effective.

Tape off a dozen eggs using 1/4" artist's tape. Eye ball the center of the egg (be careful because the hole you drilled can be misleading) and run 2 strands completely around the length of the egg, dividing it into quarters. Then run another piece completely around the circumference. Using a popsicle stick, bone folder or your finger name press down the tape to ensure there are no wrinkles or bubbles the dye can creep into. Using an exacto knife make a slit in the tape at each hole. Run the egg through a bamboo skewer like we did in the basics of dying only this time there should be no need for the sticky tack. If you were close to the points of the egg when "drilling" your holes to blow the contents out, the tape will be a sufficient support to hold the egg steady. Roll the eggs through their dye baths until you are satisfied with the tint (roll 4 eggs in each of the primary colors. Reserve the secondary colors for now.) After the eggs have dried remove from the skewer and remove all of the artist's tape.


Next tape of all the eggs with a 1/8" artist's tape. Using two pieces dived the colored 1/4 section of egg, now dividing the egg into eights. Next run two more pieces around the circumference, above and below the center white stripe. Leaving at least a 1/4" between the white stripe and the tape on either side.

Run the egg through a skewer the same way as you did for the first dye. Now spin these eggs through their second dye bath. If using the 6 basic colors suggested above this is how you should go about this step: Blue Eggs - 1 in Red, 1 in Yellow, 1 in Green and 1 in Purple. Red Eggs- 1 in Yellow, 1 in Blue, 1 in Orange and 1 Purple. Yellow Eggs- 1 in Blue, 1 in Red, 1 in Orange and 1 in Green. This will give you 12 gorgeous yet uniform eggs. After the eggs are completely dry pull off the tape. If you go too heavy on the first dye, some of the color might pull off with the tape. It's no big deal, the egg will look great anyway. If you go for too long in the second dye bath, the colors may bleed and the lines you've already created may blur slightly. Wear your favorite tacky golf shorts for inspiration and get mad for plaid this spring.

Marbled Eggs

This technique produces some of the most interesting and elegant eggs and is one of the easiest to do. You can keep it simple and just marble plain white eggs or you can layer complimentary or contrasting dyes to create a stunning product. Pour a standard dye bath in a shallow receptacle ( a pie dish, casserole dish or high lipped dinner plate. Remember some metals react with vinegar so try to use glass or glazed dishes.) You'll want about 1/2" of the dye bathe so adjust the amount of water accordingly, as I have told you before, following the dye bath recipe exactly is completely unnecessary. As long as you have hot water, vinegar and dye, you'll be fine. Add in 1tsp- 2TBS of oil (canola, olive, vegetable, baby, whatever you have on hand is fine.) The more oil you add the more of the original color you will see (below is an example of plain white eggs that were run through the marble bath. The white spots occur because of the oil.)

It is possible to be too heavy handed with the oil and if you find that you in fact have too much oil in the dish, don't worry. Just take a paper towel and dip it into the oil spots. Repeat until you have removed enough oil. You can run a fork or whisk through the oil to break it up, making the negative (white) spaces smaller. After that, roll the egg around a few times until you are satisfied with the color and coverage. Then remove from the bath, blot with a paper towel and set aside to dry. So simple, right? These eggs will impress your friends and family. For my good friend Regina, I paired just a few marbeled eggs in a pine needle basket. The eggs started off green and orange and I ran them through contrasting dyes to get the various depths of color. They look incredible, not to toot my own horn but really... they do. Alright well get messy and get going.