Egg Salad {an exercise in love}

Egg Salad.  Made with love.

Really, is there any other way to make it?  Finely chopped hard-boiled eggs tossed with celery and scallion that’s been given equal attention, blended with mayonnaise, salt & pepper.  Simply love.

I’ve made egg salad a bazillion times in my life but never with more care or attention than the day of my father’s burial.  He was diagnosed with cancer on a Friday after not feeling quite himself for a week or two.  He passed away the following Friday with Mom at his bedside.  Everything happened so quickly.  I was 5 months pregnant with Shelby, no doubt my hormones slightly off kilter, but suddenly the world slipped into slow motion.

Mom was a planner, an organizer, an expert list maker.  When she was awake (and likely in her sleep as well) she was recounting her to-do list.  At a time when she had every excuse to curl up in tears and sorrow, she coped by staying busy.  My sister and I might have slid into piles of uselessness ourselves but Mom gave us each tasks.  Mine was to make the egg salad that would be served to friends and family that came back to the house after the cemetery service.

After boiling and peeling two dozen eggs I began chopping them (I’m pretty sure I used the very chopper shown in the bowl above).  I chopped them as fine as I thought they should be but Mom encouraged me to go a little finer.  After a couple of rounds of ‘encouragement’ I realized that to her, making Egg Salad wasn’t an exercise in perfection, instead it was an exercise in love.  We were all wrestling with our emotions but on that January morning preparing egg salad and tuna salad, folding napkins and cleaning house were all exercises in love.

There were plenty of tears shed that day, but there were also many rounds of laughter as Dad’s friends and golfing buddies shared stories that were likely not meant to be shared.  Dad was an avid golfer.  That’s such an understatement.  He could still shoot his age just weeks before his passing at age 75.

Dad used to joke that he was certain Heaven was a series of the most glorious golf courses, yet so was Hell.  The only difference…there were no golf balls in Hell.  We put a couple in his coat pocket that day, just in case ;)

Egg Salad

Libby with Lemony Thyme

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Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Total Time 15 minutes mins

Servings 4

Ingredients

  

• 6 eggs
• 2 celery ribs strings removed, finely diced
• 2 scallions thinly sliced
• 1/2 – 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

 

• Place eggs in a medium saucepan covered with cold water. Cover with lid and bring to a boil. Once boiling remove from the heat, leave covered for 15 minutes. Rinse under cold water until cool enough to handle. Peel and place in large bowl.
• Finely chop eggs. When you think they’re fine enough, chop them some more. Then add celery, scallions, mayonnaise, salt and pepper. Mix until well combined. Adjust seasoning as needed. Chill until ready to serve.

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