Whats in a yolk?

My "vacation" is coming to an end. Tomorrow morning i head back to Vancouver--hopefully not to rain, because i packed quite optimistically with skirts and not enough pairs of socks. It has been a full and wonderful week of visits; lots of hugs and a restocking of Gray Monk wine. I really did manage to see most all of my favorite people in all of my favorite places: grandma date to Mosaic Books; milk and meyer lemons (my last non-local purchase--more later) from Helen; the afformentioned wine from lovely Jen; Willy and Rene always so happy pre-season; conquering Knox with Jessy; my first farmers market in way to long (see above about non-localness...) and my family of vendors; tea and chaos with Cheffrey and Michelle and their kiddos and now pooch; Monika and her NEW WOOD OVEN bread--thanks lady!; missed Jon at the fish shop, but left a love note; and finally Tom and the farm and my home and how good and real and safe and sure it all feels. All that, plus two dozen farm fresh eggs. Make that one dozen. Getting organized to leave (read: realizing i am hauling a silly amount of stuff back to Van, only to likely bring it all back and more in two weeks), i came to the shocking realization that in just four days i have eaten ten eggs. Ten. That is more than two a day, which according to my uncle is just fine (two a day fried in butter with buttered toast and bacon is routine); not so to most health gurus. Now i love eggs. Love. If i were a guest columnist in Donna Hays magazine filling in that little questionaire (if you dont know what i am talking about, go buy an issue, be inspired by its lovely simplicity) eggs would be one of my "always in your supermarket trolley" ingredients. One of my five foods to bring to a desert Island. Most of my go to dinners use them. I would go so far as to say that poached eggs are my ultimate comfort food. Poached egg. Usually jsut one is enough, so really i dont know how ten disappeared. Hmmmm: I made a double pasta recipe (theres 2); rhubarb curd (two more, plus two yolks--hey the whites are still in the fridge, so it is really like nine eggs gone...); carbonara with peas for dinner (one); poached at breakfast (one more); poached at breakfast again (that makes ten)...so there you go. Should i be worried about cholesterol. Probably not. In fact, i am not. I am jsut kind of sad that they are gone. These eggs are truly amazing: the yolks are so deep yellow they are orange. They are what a recipe is referring to when it calls for "large eggs." They are rich tasting, with pudding'y texture. And only three bucks a dozen. Thank goodness i bought two. Or maybe for my heart, not so much... Its hard not to disguise that i am feeling a bit guilty about my recent oueff consumption. Why? Is it because i know about cholesterol (thank you very much health gurus) and how if i really want to "enjoy" eggs, i should use the whites as they are protein rich and it is the yolk that is the HDL threat (but it is the yolk that is so tasty, so "enjoy" becomes really oxymoronic). Besides, there are so many worse things i could be eating. Besides, again, didnt eggs used ot be the "complete protein" that nutritionists compared all other proteins to when developing their silly diet rules and tables? Used to...i know that much too. Anyways, thats not it. I am feeling guilty because just a week ago, at breakfast with my aunt i revealed that i had had poached eggs every day the previous week, to which she responded: "that cant be too good for you, can it." It stuck. You know when someone says something casually and off handedly, with no bad intentions, i am sure? For example, my ma once said told me red really washes me out. She didnt mean i looked bad, just that my fair skin was all that more fair against a red sweater. I think about that everytime i put on my red cardigan, but i put it on all the same. Then i look in the mirror and think, I dont look washed out, silly ma. So i am going to go poach an egg now, just so i can say, this is the best thing for me, silly aunt. Make that eleven eggs in four days. And another thing to look forward to having again when i am home for good.