Roosevelt Island Easter Egg Hunt - Fun Times For Kids Of All Ages
Despite the chilly inclement weather on Sunday, Roosevelt Island residents of all ages came out for an Easter Egg Hunt at Blackwell Park
and were welcomed by two Roosevelt Island Easter Bunnies.
It was a fun time for children,
families
and the young at heart.
Kudos to the Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) for organizing the Easter Egg Hunt.
15 comments :
Although the weather was a bit dreary the Egg Hunt was indeed loads of fun. Our boys enjoyed searching for eggs as well as high fiving the Easter Bunnies. It was an event we will look forward to every year. However, I was a bit disappointed with the fact that a good majority of the colored eggs were undercooked. Some were actually not cooked at all. Uncooked Egg may contain Salmonella. If children are affected by this it may lead to serious illness, even death. The American Egg Board has recommendations on how to properly cook eggs for these type of events. It appeared as though not many parents were that concerned about this but I was. My one year old gotten a hold of a broken egg and had raw yolk everywhere which lead us to an early departure from the park. If I may make a suggestion, if cooking eggs properly is too much of an undertaking maybe plastic eggs could be used. Besides they'd be more fun...you can fill them up with goodies.
I agree with the eggs being severely undercooked but for different reasons: they broke too easily and made a huge big mess. It's not easy to clean a easter basket gooked up with almost raw egg. At some point some kids started to throw them around, too.
I am one of the not so concerned parents when it comes to salmonella. Yes, the risk is there but it is very, very small. Modern eggs are very safe nowadays. Plus, I am very sure we all love our mayonnaise and sauce holandais, no?
All in all, the egg hunt was enjoyed all around. I am still wondering, though, where the silver and golden eggs were hidden in the 5-12 area. Were there any?
In response to Anonymous...I'm interested to learn what "Modern Eggs" are. Modern or not, salmonella still exists and there should be precaution especially when small children are involved. Who doesn't love Mayo, Hollandaise, ice cream or Eggnog. However, if prepared properly the eggs that are used should be pasteurized. Anything with “raw egg” incorporated in the recipe specifically states the use pasteurized eggs. If you tell me that all of the eggs used at the egg hunt were pasteurized then great!
Besides the salmonella issue, who’s ever heard of an egg hunt where raw eggs are used?
To anonymous,
My Godson and his older brother attended the Easter Egg Hunt this year and had so much fun they didn’t want to leave. I am glad we agree that the event was an overall success and no one wants to critique or diminish all of the hard work that was put forth by the organizers. However, I need to agree with MammaBee’s post, undercooked or raw egg consumption is something that should not be taken lightly especially when those who are most vulnerable are young children and people with weakened immune systems (among others). I have attached a link from the FDA which states just that. I am sure the consensus from most parents would be that they do not want their child playing with and possibly ingesting raw eggs, especially parents with children that fall into the weak immune system category or parents that have young ones that seem to “taste” anything they get their hands on and do not have the vocabulary yet to express their discomfort if they do fall ill.
I added my post to agree with MammaBee’s suggestion so that a nice tradition will not be tainted with a sick child. We all parent our children differently, and that is fine. I am glad that someone voiced their concerns to a potential health hazard and hope that other parents that feel raw egg consumption is something that we should avoid in years to come will speak up as well. If boiling eggs thoroughly is an unattainable task maybe plastic eggs are a better alternative. I understand that when organizing a large event such as this not everyone’s wishes can be granted, however, I can’t stress enough what a shame it would be if a child became ill from an event that was organized with such good intentions.
http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/2006/ucm108815.htm
If the source of the eggs are known (i.e. I personally purchased them) salmonella is very low on my list of things to be afraid of. If you come to my house and taste my mayonnaise, for example, you'll be eating raw unpasteurized eggs.
I guess I have to disclose that I was born and raised in a Western European country and I think it is quite amazing to see all the paranoia around raw eggs (and eggs in general) in the USA. And the FDA plays a big role in this as well. 40 years of consumption of raw eggs and never been sick once from it. What are the probabilities to catch the bug? 1 in 30,000 or something like that? I take my chances.
I just whipped up a couple of cakes and we all (including the kids) had great fun licking the whisks.
We did throw out the eggs from the egg hunt, though. They were utterly disgusting (cold and runny eggs are far from tasty).
I agree with you completely.
I am sad that our children will not be able to enjoy licking the cake batter from the bowl when making a cake as my husband and I were able to do as kids. Our children are allowed to be normal messy kids but there has to be a line drawn where we will and will not allow our 2 yr old and our 1 yr old (as opposed to older children that hopefully only get sickened by exposure) to be exposed what may possibly kill them if care has not been taken by a massive dairy or poultry farm where the animals may be subject to conditions we most assuredly wouldn't condone. I think my concern really stems from the big US Agriculture and Farming techniques more from a fear of the egg itself. Time and again people put their trust in big manufacturers to make sure food is healthy and safe and time again there are outbreaks from that lack of integrity and concern or simple unregulated conditions in which money and profit trumps all. Days of family farms with pride for their product are gone. Today we all have to be vigilant, within reason. My husband works in the food industry and is sad that his innocence about our food safety regulations has been shattered and as a result we do things to make sure certain foods are handled correctly so as to not get any of us sick.
So basically, I agree with you that one need not be too concerned but I also think always being safe puts us in a position to not be sorry the day we trusted an unscrupulous big company with our children's safety.
By the way- many raw egg recipes also have ingredients that act as cures such as lemon in a Caesar salad, a special cooking technique used to make pasta carbonara and of course cookie dough ice cream cannot be sold with unpasteurized egg in it because the many human beings handling the product on the food chain cannot be trusted to keep us safe. People do commit errors and mistakes. Someday I hope to try your mayonaise!
You guys are all going way over the top to stress your points. Argue about raw eggs someplace else. Exchange e-mails or something.
The main issue here is that the coordinators of this nice event went out of their way (on their own time) to do something nice for the ungrateful residents of the island. Instead of a few bloggers just saying "Thank you", all you do is criticise. But, that's the Roosevelt Island way.
I agree. Our kids had a great time. The bunnies were awesome.
THANK YOU to all involved!
Happy Easter!
So much for trying to be a Roosevelt Island resident that CARES! I didn't realize that looking out for the well being of EVERYONE's children would become such a heinous crime. I guess the true "Roosevelt Island" way is to just be a parent that doesn’t care about anyone but their own children.
I will end by saying…thank you to the coordinators of this event. It was indeed appreciated and was well put together. However, to those responsible for preparing the eggs whose time I’m sure was not jeopardized seeing as it was a restaurant, maybe they can do it properly next year!
My kids and husband absolutely loved the event. The Bunnies were fun and the kids had plently to do. We will be looking forward to this event again next year.
MammaBee- Please continue to care about everyone's children and others - that is the true Roosevelt Island way. Your comments about the possible egg hazzard problems were relevant and passed on to those involved.
Thank you.
To anonymous at 10:44am: Did you read the same comments as we did? We all agreed that it was a fun event despite the weather. The only concern we had was the eggs which were the main point of an easter egg hunt and, unfortunately, almost raw and therefore a hassle for everybody involved. Too many eggs broke at the tables where they were supposed to be decorated, for example. Kids figured out that it added an extra thrill when throwing them around. Etc. etc.
I think it was a valid criticism and suggestions were made to fix this for next year's hunt.
To the above poster and mamma bee, why don't you guys volunteer to help with next year's event instead of the - as you call it - "valid criticism". I'm sure the organizers can use a hand.
My original posting was not so much for criticism but more for the concern of the well being of everyone's children. It would be an honor for me to be able to help in any way I can with any future events pertaining to our children and/or community. Just tell me who to contact and count me in!
That's a great attitde Mamabee! Maybe you should start by contacting the organizers.
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