Eggs Aboard

John and I left Samoa with 6 dozen eggs. But we eat a lot. Most mornings for
breakfast. Baking. Pancakes. Etc. We also had a HUGE stalk of bananas on
board...so lots of eggs were used for banana bread. The good news is that
they last a long time. But, you must remember to flip the cartons
regularly...so the yolks don't stick to the shell.

Shortly after arriving at Canton, Eric's eggs were on the verge of
sulphurizing. Yuck. So we quickly devised a plan to make quiche for the
Sunday village feast. No problem. He made the pastry. I mixed up his eggs
with some canned cream. I threw in some canned spinach and canned crab.
Presto. Yum.

The locals loved it and asked for more. Oh no. Renova's supply of eggs was
getting low, and we couldn't really fathom losing a dozen or so eggs in one
dish. So...we did what Tom Neale* would have done. We collected Tern eggs.
Here is the trick, learned from Neale. If you put the egg into a cup of
water (salt water is fine), the good eggs will sink to the bottom and lie on
their side. Yeah. The fertilized eggs will sit on the bottom, in an upright
position. Put it back. And the rotten ones will float. Run away.

Tern Eggs

Eric made Tern egg quiche again the following Sunday. John refused to eat
it.

*Tom Neale wrote the cruising classic, "An Island to Oneself", about his
time living along on Suwarrow in the Cook Islands.