Revolutionary Eggs

Each Easter as long as I can remember we had a family get-together and decorated eggs. In more recent years our "egg-stravaganza" has been very elaborate and flamboyantly competitive. The prize eggs are always blown out before decorating so they can be saved for future display. For those of you who have never done this you can't appreciate how tired your cheeks get trying to blow the guts out of eggs without breaking them. BUT - there is a better way!Introducing the booger-sucker (bulb syringe). This might seem like a "duh" thing but it never entered my head to try it until I read it on a blog (blessed technology). With all the little noses in this house I didn't have to look far to find one.
First you need a hole in both ends - I usually make them slightly larger than a pin-hole.
See? About that big. Also - make sure that you completely pierce the membrane and the egg yolk. I usually wiggle the pin around quite a bit and do a little shaking of the egg in between.
Then start sucking. With a little practice and 5 broken eggs I realized you can't break them sucking, but you can build up terrific egg-breaking pressure by blowing.
First the egg white comes out. I wondered if this was leftovers from Brig's last sniffle but trust me - that's all egg.
Then the yolk - a lovely shade and don't mind my dirty dishes!
This is a perfectly blown-out egg (or maybe it's boiled or raw - you certainly can't tell from this silly picture!). Make sure you get all the gunk out because all leftovers will stink. With the syringe you can even fill it full of hot water and then suck it back out . . . but I didn't :)
For my decorating this year I chose a new tie-dying method. I gathered some 100% silk ties and cut them up so all I had was a pile of silk strips.
Wrap the egg right side in (so the printed side is against the egg) as tightly as yu can. I used Ksenya's rubber hair elastics to secure them tightly and it was slick!!! You could also use twist ties. If you do use elastics they need to be rubber as the plastic ones will melt.
There - they look like random party favors. All these ugly ties came from the thrift store and look very similar right now.
Then wrap them all in plain light cotton fabric (this was an off-white pillowcase I cut up).
I got them in the pot and realized all that fabric was taking up a lot of space so I trimmed their tails a little better.
Cover with water and 3 Tbsp of white vinegar.
Now - the instructions I used were for hard-boiling eggs. My blown-out ones floated and I needed them submerged so I rigged this bowl of water to hold them under.
After 25 minutes I took them out (I think that was way too long, but I got distracted).
I unwrapped them and then blew out the boiling water that they filled with.
They are beautiful! I decided that the smaller the print the better and the more boring colors make for brighter eggs.
This tie was navy - almost black with dark red octagon pattern on it! It was the brightest one!
This one was my favorite. The paisley pattern was precise and you could even see the grain lines from the fabric. Oh and I love the word paisley. My cousin is naming her little girl Paisley Rae . . . . I LOVE it!

Now - go forth and recycle ugly ties. Or don't. After all, Easter is knocking on the door and that means deviled eggs tomorrow!