Eggs

WHICH CAME first, the local, pasture-raised, free-roaming chicken, or the brown, heritage-breed organic egg? Most of us eat chicken and eggs regularly. The question is, what are we getting for our money? Where have those chicken and eggs been, and what are your options if you want to branch out from the mass-produced varieties that dominate most supermarket offerings? Whether you're a newly minted locavore, or a longtime proponent of the buy-fresh, buy-local movement, the notion of supporting smaller farms and producers is gaining popularity, driven by everything from creative chefs to the Food Network's nonstop foodie programming.

ONE OF MY breakfast bowls gets your day off to a hearty start without the extra fat and calories that come with similar restaurant dishes. If you order a serving of hash browns, a sausage patty, two scrambled eggs plus a serving of gravy from a fast-food place, you could walk away with more than 600 calories and 35 fat grams. Making my breakfast bowls instead saves money while eliminating about 48 percent of the calories and 69 percent of the fat. You can eat one of my sausage, egg and potato breakfast bowls for 319 calories and 11 grams of fat. KATHY'S SAUSAGE, EGG AND POTATO BREAKFAST BOWLS 2 cups diced raw potatoes 2 cups egg substitute (or 8 eggs)

The state of New Jersey has turned its attention to . . . eggs. Much to Bert Berry's dismay. She likes her eggs runny. And she will continue to eat them that way, despite a Jan. 1 edict from New Jersey health officials telling restaurants and diners to stop serving gooey eggs - as in sunny side up, or over easy. The regulation bans the serving of eggs raw or runny. No more soft-boiled eggs. No more steak tartare. No more real hollandaise sauce. And no more authentic Caesar salads.

Some foods are so ordinary that the notion of giving a recipe for them seems absurd. Does anyone really need a recipe for scrambled eggs? Maybe not, but then there is that rare specimen, that mound of saffron-colored curds, fluffed and creamy, glistening and plush, that lets you see what scrambled eggs can be. The process of scrambling eggs is simple, but that doesn't mean it's simplistic. Brown eggs or white? Milk or water? High heat or low? Nonstick skillet or copper saute pan?

Surely the business equivalent of a goose that lays golden eggs would be a hen that lays eggs capable of reducing the body's cholesterol level. Local businessmen Bob Fuhrman and Lucas Leone say they will soon be marketing just such an egg. Fuhrman describes the product this way: "These eggs look and taste like other eggs. They contain the same cholesterol content as other eggs. However, eating six of these eggs per week will actually lower your body's serum cholesterol level. " Fuhrman and Leone are co-owners of a new company in King of Prussia - C.R. Eggs - which holds the U.S. and Canadian patent rights from the egg's developer, the Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi International Corp.

Around this time of year, buying a carton of eggs can be as taboo as buying a pack of cigarettes or a case of beer, if you're under 21. Many store owners in Camden and the surrounding suburbs, anticipating the usual brand of Halloween and Mischief Night bedlam, are storing their eggs behind deli counters, in the orbit of their control. Some, including Pathmark stores in Camden and Philadelphia, have gone so far as to prohibit the sale of eggs to minors on Mischief Night. "We've taken eggs off the floor entirely.

Craig Marleton pulls on his waders and loads his cordless Black and Decker drill into a plastic bucket. On a nearby island, an alert Canada goose watches from her nest as he sloshes toward her, armed with a net on a pole in case she tries to attack. Marleton wades, fowl watches. Suddenly, wings flap as she flees the nest. Her mate rushes in from the water with an angry honk, honk, honk. Undeterred, Marleton takes out his Black and Decker and reaches into the down-lined nest.

First you could buy books on the Web. Then you could trade stocks. And now, you can bid on human eggs at a new site called Ronsangels.com, which offers the eggs of super-models to the highest bidder. These would-be parents hope to make an investment that will pay off in a beautiful child. That's like paying extra for something you're already guaranteed to get. If you invest more money in a house or a car, you'll get a more beautiful house or car. But any baby you have will be beautiful.

Not even being in a hospital bed with one leg strapped up could keep Bill Seidel from enjoying food from the Thunderbird Steak House. "Close to 30 years ago, I had cartilage removed from my knee. During those eight days in the hospital, I missed the 'bird. " He leaned over the table as if he was about to tell a secret and pointed at owner Bill Greco. "His father sent a baggie every day. I wouldn't eat the hospital food. " The day he was released, his wife came to take him home.

Easter season reminds us that eggs are a classic emblem of rebirth, ideal edible symbols of spring. Unfortunately, in these cholesterol-conscious days, it is the image of the poor egg itself that is in need of resurrection. If you listen long enough to popular nutritionists, you might come to think that only cyanide is more harmful than a couple of hen fruit over easy and a side of buttered toast. This, too, shall change, is my guess. Sugar, the former titleholder in the most-dangerous-universally-enjoyed-food category, has (except for being dentally destructive)