Let's egg on grocers to get cracking on freshness

Andre Burgener has been immersed in all things food since she took over the making of the family's lunch box sandwiches aged eight (her mom could make a mean creme brulee and a staggering souffle, but could never butter the bread all the way to the edges.

EGGS UNWRAPPED

I'M JUST sick of buying old eggs. We urbanites don't even know what a fresh egg is like any more, and that's why the supermarkets get away with shoving those ancient orbs at us.

When even the eggs that I buy from the supermarket chain going as swankiest and best in the land are regularly long past their best, I feel very cross. Especially when I use them a week before the "sell by" date. How can you tell the difference between a fresh egg and an old one? (and I mean fresh by modern city standards, which are pretty low anyway).

Fresh: yolk stands firm and well proud of the white when you break the egg into pan or plate, and stays intact under some manhandling. Stale: yolk is flatter and spreads out (it may even start leaking into the white if you stare at it too hard). Fresh: the white is almost gelatinous, and most of it forms a thick higher ring around the yolk when on plate. Stale: white is runnier and spreads, with no thicker mound around the yolk.

Making a perfect fried egg, or separating eggs into yolk and white for baking, is enormously irritating with these old-timers.

If anyone knows a source of super-fresh, free-range or organic eggs, I'd be ecstatic to hear about it. In the meantime, please support me in complaining loudly about the matter.

SABABA

This is a small secret spot at the top of Bree Street in Cape Town's city bowl. Not much could be nicer than sitting at a tiny wobbly table on the pavement eating its wonderful Middle Eastern breakfast spread: brilliant roasted mushrooms, a herby frittata type thing, leafy salad, roasted brinjals and more. Heavenly pastries too.

The coffee is not the best in town, but the city seems to be going through a coffee crisis in general - I had three wan cappuccinos and five lacklustre (okay, crap) espressos in three days.

But Sababa I forgive; all else is so good. Check its pretty website: www.sababa.co.za. Visit it at 231 Bree Street or 395 Main Road, Sea Point.

SWEET TALKING

At their summer best, it's a crime not to leave peaches raw and naked, but when they start to wane at season's end, or you have a glut, turn to the classic Italianate trick, peaches amaretti.

Mix up 50g melted butter, 12 crushed amaretti biscuits, 2tb honey, 1tb brown sugar and dash of dessert wine.

Halve and stone 4 peaches and fill with the biscuit crumble. Bake at 180C for 15 to 30 minutes, until peaches are soft and crumble is brown. Eat hot, with ice cream.