Da Kine Star-Bulletin staff and wire services

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Time to toss Easter eggs

If the Christmas Grinch had an Easter cousin, he'd be the one who tells you it's time to throw out all those leftover hard-boiled eggs.

No matter how lovely they are, or how much time you spent decorating them, they have a food-safety limit of about a week, the USDA says. If you started decorating early, that time is almost up.

Fresh, uncooked eggs can keep four to five weeks, but when you hard-boil, the egg's protective coating is removed and the porous shell can no longer keep out bacteria.

If you've already made deviled eggs or egg salad, those items should be kept only three days.

Book now to savor Kapalua festival

Mark the date for a trip to Maui: The Kapalua Wine & Food Festival takes place from June 26 to 29.

The 27th annual event, "Savor the Magic of Maui," will be hosted by master sommelier Fred Dame and include the usual wine seminars, tastings, cooking demonstrations and dining events.

This year's guest chef is Pano Karatassos, chef/owner of a group of Atlanta restaurants and an authority on Greek cuisine. He'll be featured in a cooking session for just 25 participants -- at $200 per person -- as well as at a charity dinner to showcase rare wines from the Guild of Sommeliers, hosted by Dame.

Other highlights: the Grand Tasting, featuring more than 100 wines presented by a team of six master sommeliers; and the Kapalua Seafood Festival, with dishes from Maui chefs.

A package including accommodations and admission to a selection of events costs $1,538. Tickets to individual events may be purchased a la carte. For a full schedule and prices visit www.kapalua.com. Call (888) 665-9160.

Tasting features 40 types of sake

Play the sake sweetness game at this month's Joy of Sake "Aftertaste" event, 6 to 8:30 p.m. April 3 at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii.

The event will feature a lesson on judging dry versus sweet qualities in sake, with 40 types presented for tasting.

Cost is $37, including appetizers. Call 222-5591 or visit www.joyofsake.com/aftertaste.

Menu is dazzling for school benefit

Be dazzled and well-fed at the April 11 benefit for Central Union Church Preschool & Kindergarten.

Just a few tickets remain for the dining event, called "DAZZLE," featuring dishes from Chai's Island Bistro, d.k Steak House, Hiroshi Eurasion Tapas, Roy's, 12th Avenue Grill, Phuket Thai and Sansei Seafood Restaurant & Sushi Bar. Master sommelier Chuck Furuya will select the wines.

Also included, a silent auction and entertainment.

Tickets are $150. Call 946-4025, ext. 103.

Party celebrates birth of 2 online sites

A launch party for two new Web sites will be held tomorrow at downtown's thirtyninehotel.

StatehoodHawaii.org and Fifdififdi.com address topics of Hawaii history and culture, with the first honing in on issues of statehood and the second built on a social-networking platform to spur dialogue and connect the generations.

The launch party, from 7 to 10 p.m., will include light refreshments, music by the Essential Resophonics and video excerpts from Coffman's "A Nation Within," Joan Landers and Puhipau's "Sovereignty Tribunal" and "We Are Who We Were." Call 218-4367.