For uninitiated, Filene's Basement is one of most famous bargain basements in United States. Lurking beneath Filene's Department store in Downtown Boston, "The Basement" is a place where merchandise is continually marked down and competition for best buys is fierce. There's even a day each Spring when wedding dresses sell so cheaply that scuffles break out in aisles.

I prefer my shopping nonviolent. But still, prospect of a great big store full of unexplored "stuff" is more exciting to me than a giant Easter Egg hunt is to average five year old. I know I'm going to find Easter Eggs (i.e., "hidden treasures"). I just have to uncover their secret little hiding places. That's part of fun!

I have one small problem, though...

Shopping is only fun if I'm not looking for anything in particular. As soon as there's a "list" involved, it starts to feel like work! Add in idea that I'm looking for some very special (yet unspecified) item for someone else, and pressure's really on. If someone says to me, "You must go forth and find something for less than $100 that will make your mother-in-law ecstatically happy", it stops me cold. I become as helpless as a man (Sorry guys!).

Gift Shopping. Arrrghh!

"What", I ask myself, "is my Mother-in-Law's version of an Easter Egg ?" Where are all those clever gift ideas when I need them? Where are they ever?

Panic sets in. Procrastination comes next. Pretty soon I've buried whole thing in my subconscious, hoping it will "just go away". It doesn't, of course. Like school exams and work deadlines, gift-giving occasions keep on coming -- inevitably and way too often. And those great gift ideas remain as elusive as ever.

So what's a person to do?

My answer was always to get a big pot of coffee and pull an all-nighter.

Umm, I mean, I'd wait until last minute and then shop until stores closed. Sure, I'd manage to come up with a few decent gift ideas and some passable gifts. But it's no way to live. And I always knew I could have done better.

I knew things had to change. I knew I had to uncover secrets possessed by expert gift-givers...

I have been delighted with results of colors I have tried and my friends have been thrilled to receive them as springtime gifts. The colors are very unusual -- gentle, earthy, soft, and very vibrant, without being harsh like artificial dyes -- and when I tell people colors come from plant dyes, they always want to know origin of each color.

To color these eggs, you boil eggs with dyestuff, rather than boiling eggs separately and they dying them.

Here are general directions:

1. Put raw, white-shelled, organically-raised eggs in a single layer in a pan. Cover with cold water. 2. Add a little more than a teaspoon of white vinegar. 3. Add natural dyestuff for color you want your eggs to be. (The more eggs you are dying at a time, more dye you will need to use, and more dye you use, darker color will be.) 4. Bring water to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. 5. Quickly check eggs for color by removing them from dye liquid with a slotted spoon.

If color is as desired, pour off hot dye liquid and rinse eggs immediately in cold water to stop eggs from cooking. Continue to change water until it stays cool in pot because eggs are no longer releasing heat. Drain and allow eggs to cool in refrigerator.