It’s Fresh Forkin’ Friday and it’s on. Every year we color 90 eggs for Easter and today is the day. This year my nephew will help out, and the neighbor kids will surely stop by, perhaps even the 17 y.o. will sit for a minute to cast one with his signature Groove Armada logo. We are all-welcoming at the egg table, we use Paas and that other Dudley kit, we use natural dyes like onion skins and beets, and the holy trinity of markers, crayons, and stickers are well within reach. There will be an epic hunt on Sunday with a giant choco-bunny as prize, and many of the eggs will be given away as parting gifts. But then will follow the week of deviled eggs and those sneaky cookies. But no need to dwell on that right now, I have cups to find and copper hoops to bend.

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NEW

Well, it seems that chef Brian Crouch is the new top dog at Jack’s. Crouch has been a cook-about-town but spent time in a lot of top kitchens, mostly at La Belle Vie. I kinda don’t want to count the chickens, so we’ll just say . . . stay tuned.

It’s important to know that Pizzeria Lola is open for lunch 7 days a week now (if you want to battle all the new-found fans from the DDD episode).

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You are probably too late to special order, but Sun Street Breads has a whole host of specialty Easter goodies available for pick-up on Saturday. I’m already in for the Vort Limpa Rye, a Swedish rye with fennel, bitter orange, and anise. And I couldn’t pass up Solveig Tofte’s version of the Norwegian royal cake, Fyrstekake. It’s somewhat of a hybrid of pie/cake/bar and has a ground pecan and bourbon filling. Dig. Many other treats are available, but it is first some first serve, open at 6:30 a.m.

And here are some more Easter/Passover tips from DMG: hint . . . mangalitsa prosciutto!

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If you’re not doing the Nordeast Pub Crawl this weekend, maybe you’re looking for something more refined. Trip it down to Cannon River Winery for a little meet the winemaker event on Saturday from 12 to 4 p.m. Tour the facilities, sip a little wine, eat a little nosh, and chat with Vincent Negret about how he mixes traditions from his homeland of Columbia with new techniques to make local wine.

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What is it about spring that makes me crave Greek food? I might have to get on the ball and sign up for Jeremy Iggers and the Twin Cities Daily Planet’s Greek feast at Gardens of Salonica. On April 11, four courses of Anna Christofiordes cuisine will be served family style, and a little oven-braised lamb sounds like it would just hit the spot.