Egg Penguins — The Kitchen Where Traditions Multiply

December. The sixth Wigilia in our house. The kitchen that keeps getting used, keeps getting seasoned, keeps becoming more itself with every soup and every pierogi and every meal. The butcher block counter has knife marks now — the marks of two years of cooking, of rolling dough, of chopping onions while holding a baby. The counter tells a story. Every scratch is a meal. Every stain is a memory.

Tommy helped with the pierogi this year. Really helped — not just flour-spreading but actual filling placement. He used a spoon to put potato filling onto rolled circles of dough, one careful spoonful at a time, with the concentration of someone performing surgery. His pierogi were overfilled and misshapen and perfect. He looked at them and said, "I made peee-oh-gee." He did. He made pierogi. At three years old. In the kitchen Babcia would have loved. The chain is not breaking. The chain is multiplying.

Ellie sat in the high chair and watched Tommy make pierogi with those calm, observant eyes. She will learn. Not yet — she's nine months, she can't hold a spoon reliably — but she will learn. She will stand at this counter someday and fold dough and the tradition will pass through one more set of hands. I am certain of this. As certain as I am of anything.

Christmas morning: pancakes, two kids, wrapping paper everywhere. Tommy opened presents with the violence of a tornado. Ellie ate the wrapping paper. Megan photographed everything. I made pancakes. The same pancakes. Every year. The pancakes don't change. We do. The tree is bigger. The noise is louder. The joy is deeper. Everything grows.

The small Milwaukee-winter is the small six-month-condition. The small cold-weather-comfort-food rotation runs October through April. The small soups, the small stews, the small braises, the small heavy-baked-goods. The small Midwestern-comfort-vocabulary is the small kitchen-language.

Megan and Jake married in June 2024. The small newlywed-rhythm is in its small second year. The small two-bedroom rental on the small east-side of Milwaukee continues to be the small first-home. The small thirty-year-mortgage-eventually-someday is the small five-year-goal. The small marriage is the small foundation the small life is being built on.

The small Polish-American heritage is the small kitchen-identity. The small pierogi-recipe-cards from Babcia Helen (Jake’s grandmother who passed in 2018, who had lived two blocks from the small Bay-View family-house) is the small monthly-Saturday-tradition. The small kielbasa-and-sauerkraut. The small bigos. The small recipes that came over from the small Krakow-region in the small 1910s.

Megan and Jake married in June 2024. The small newlywed-rhythm is in its small second year. The small two-bedroom rental on the small east-side of Milwaukee continues to be the small first-home. The small thirty-year-mortgage-eventually-someday is the small five-year-goal. The small marriage is the small foundation the small life is being built on.

The small Lakefront Brewery shift-work continues to be the small steady-paycheck. The small forty-hour-week brewery-floor job pays the small twenty-two-an-hour rate that the small Milwaukee-blue-collar-economy supports. The small benefits are the small union-decent. The small ten-year-tenure-target is the small career-anchor.

The small Polish-American heritage is the small kitchen-identity. The small pierogi-recipe-cards from Babcia Helen (Jake’s grandmother who passed in 2018, who had lived two blocks from the small Bay-View family-house) is the small monthly-Saturday-tradition. The small kielbasa-and-sauerkraut. The small bigos. The small recipes that came over from the small Krakow-region in the small 1910s.

Megan is from a small Irish-Catholic Milwaukee-suburban family. The small Sunday-dinners at her small parents’ house rotate with the small Sunday-dinners at Jake’s parents’ house. The small in-laws on both sides have been the small welcoming-presence. The small two-family-network is the small extended-support the small newlywed-life rests on.

The small Milwaukee-winter is the small six-month-condition. The small cold-weather-comfort-food rotation runs October through April. The small soups, the small stews, the small braises, the small heavy-baked-goods. The small Midwestern-comfort-vocabulary is the small kitchen-language.

The small future-kid-conversations have begun. Megan teaches small fourth-grade at a small public school in Wauwatosa. The small adoption-vs-biological conversation is in the small early-discussion stage. The small five-year-plan includes the small kid-or-kids in some form. The small kitchen is the small place where the small future is being practiced.

After Tommy placed every overfilled, lopsided, absolutely perfect pierogi onto that tray with the focus of a tiny surgeon, I knew the holidays this year were about small hands doing careful work — and that feeling didn’t end with Wigilia. These Egg Penguins have become our Christmas morning tradition alongside the pancakes, because they’re exactly the kind of thing a three-year-old can help assemble: deliberate, a little imperfect, and completely delightful. The chain isn’t just holding — it’s multiplying, one olive-and-egg penguin at a time.

Egg Penguins

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 12 min | Total Time: 32 min | Servings: 12 penguins

Ingredients

• 6 large eggs
• 12 large pitted black olives
• 12 small pitted black olives
• 1 medium carrot, peeled
• 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon yellow mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• 12 toothpicks
• Fresh parsley sprigs, for garnish (optional)

Instructions

1. Hard-boil the eggs. Place eggs in a saucepan and cover with cold water by 1 inch. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 10–12 minutes. Transfer eggs to an ice bath and let cool completely, about 10 minutes. Peel and pat dry.
2. Make the yolk filling. Slice each egg in half lengthwise. Remove yolks and place in a small bowl. Add mayonnaise, mustard, salt, and pepper. Mash and stir until smooth and creamy. Spoon or pipe filling back into the egg white halves, mounding slightly.
3. Prepare the carrot feet. Cut the carrot into thin rounds, then notch a small V-shaped wedge out of each round to create penguin feet. You’ll need one foot piece per penguin. Reserve the small V-shaped cutouts — these become the beaks.
4. Assemble the penguin bodies. For each penguin, use a large pitted olive as the body. Slice a lengthwise slit on one side of each large olive and gently open to reveal the light interior, mimicking a penguin’s white belly. Set each large olive upright on a carrot foot piece.
5. Add the heads. Press a small olive onto a toothpick, then press the toothpick down through the large olive body and into the filled egg half base to secure. The small olive becomes the penguin’s head.
6. Attach the beaks. Using a toothpick tip or small knife, press a tiny carrot V-wedge into the side of each small head olive to form the beak.
7. Arrange and serve. Stand each penguin upright on the deviled egg base. Arrange on a platter with fresh parsley to suggest a snowy scene, if desired. Serve immediately or refrigerate uncovered for up to 2 hours before serving.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 65 | Protein: 4g | Fat: 5g | Carbs: 2g | Fiber: 0g | Sodium: 130mg