April Fools’ Day Celebration

By Danette Turner

The custom of playing practical jokes on the first day of April has been around for several centuries. During the Middle Ages, kings and lords sometimes freed slaves or held a “Feast of Fools” for their subjects on this day. You can have a “Feast of Fools” on April Fools’ Day by serving this “breakfast” at lunchtime to your family or friends!

“Sunny-Side-Up Eggs”

1 3-ounce (85-g) package orange gelatin

1 cup whipping cream, whipped with 1/4 cup powdered sugar

3 empty frozen orange juice cans (leftover from Hot Drink recipe below)

Make the gelatin according to the package directions, then pour it into the empty juice cans, and refrigerate until set.
To unmold the set gelatin, carefully place a can in a bowl filled with 3″ (7.6 cm) of hot water. Remove the can when the gelatin is loose enough to slide out of it onto a plate (about 10 seconds). Repeat the process with the remaining cans.
Slice the gelatin into 1/2″ (1.27 cm) thick circles.
To serve, put two egg-size dollops of whipped cream on each plate, and top them with two gelatin circles for silly Sunny-Side-Up Eggs!

“Bacon”

4 slices bread, toasted

1 tablespoon milk

1 8-ounce (227-g) container strawberry cream cheese

Trim the crusts off the toast, then cut the toast into strips.
Blend the milk into the cream cheese.
Spread the cream cheese mixture onto the pieces of toast to look like the marbling of real bacon.
Serve the “bacon” on the plates next to the “eggs.”

Hot Drink

3 6-ounce (177-ml) cans frozen orange juice concentrate

cinnamon sticks

Make the orange juice according to the can directions, then heat it in a pan until hot.
Serve the juice in mugs with a cinnamon stick.

When guests ask where’s the toast, raise your mug of juice and give them a traditional medieval “toast” by wishing each one a happy day and long life! Or offer them a modern-day toast:

Through the teeth
And over the gums—
Look out, stomach,
Here it comes!

Illustrated by Taia Morley

Photos by Greg Frei