Things needed for an Easter feast
1. A beautiful and professional table setting. Or, failing that, a white bed sheet, makeshift candlesticks, and plastic Easter grass. It's best if one can spill sparkling red grape juice on said Egyptian cotton bed sheet and then have a very special Easter meltdown. That's my crystal from Prague, though, and I love excuses to bring it out. Spitfire bought me those beautiful cherry blossom plates, earning her favorite sister status.
2. Fabulous company in the form of Spitfire. I invited my roommates but they had other, lesser Easter plans.
3. Terracotta pots with Cadbury mini eggs. I gave these to my roommates and Spitfire & was very impressed by my own cuteness. Then I called up Martha Stewart to brag and totally made her cry.
4. Deviled eggs. Lots and lots of deviled eggs. I garnished half with nutmeg & sea salt and the other half w/dried thyme. Fresh thyme would have been better but I'm poor. I've decided that deviled eggs don't count as real food, because I never get full and can always eat more. They're like popcorn that way. And pumpkin pie.
5. Chicken breast and roasted veggies with a Dijon-garlic vinaigrette. My potatoes never quite got crispy and no I don't want to talk about it. Everything else was great.
6. Bread pudding with Ghirardelli chocolate chips. The chocolate chips were for Spitfire, who thinks everything is better with chocolate chips--including vegetables and Cheerios. I got the recipe out of an old Martha Stewart magazine and will be happy to put it up here if people want it. Also, it makes an excellent and healthy breakfast. Just think of all the healthy things that are in there: Milk, eggs, bread, heavy cream . . . it's like French toast that wants only to love you and hold you and whisper sweet forbidden things in your ear.
I served the pudding with strawberries, vanilla bean ice cream, and obscene sounds of pleasure.
I'm Steph, a librarian and mom of 3 (not sure how that happened). Let's chat books, food, Sumptuous Literary Adaptations, poop, knitting and maybe some crazy Mormon Feminism.
23 comments:
Nice meal. I love how you give props to the sister who bought you plates and not the sister who helped you come up with table ideas and food ideas. You suck.
Hey Nem, when is book club? I think it is at my house. Lovely Easter Feast. I'm the worst mommy ever; the Easter Bunny didn't even come to our house! For some reason the Santa Clause thing gives me no qualms, but I have a very difficult time inventing the Easter Bunny myth for my little men. ManCub starts kindy this fall, however, and I may not be able to avoid the Easter Bunny next year.
Jenny...don't you know "Talk is Cheap" Presents on the other hand...
My Easter dinner consisted of salmon (coated in sugar and broiled) and mango salsa (since there were only two of us, we could eat as much as we wanted), asparagus, wild rice, and cookie dough for dessert. I even thought of you as I considered taking pictures of everything, but I didn't think that it would look good what with the fact that El Senor ate Easter dinner on the couch in front of the TV and all...
Good job!
Do you even have to ask if you should put up the recipe for the bread pudding? Especially with that picture?
Yum! We had the traditional spiral cut ham, funeral potatoes, roasted asparagus and Rhodes rolls. And Mallory made this Oreo cheescake thing that was to die for. I figure most holidays are all about the food, really. Also, I finally read Twilight and New Moon. In two days! So, so good....
Deviled eggs are totally like popcorn. And pumpkin pie. I had never thought of it like that before, but it's true.
I don't want the bread pudding recipe—I need it. I MUST HAVE IT. <Ahem.> Please.
I haven't had deviled eggs in about 12 years! ANd I had a craving for them last week- unfortunately I don't know what is in them!
lol @ jenny
I love deviled eggs. So delish. Hey, come to think of it, I only ate one at Easter!! What the heck was I thinking? Now I'm mad at myself.
One day I'm going to use the words, 'this is my crystal from Prague'. :)
I'd like the recipe for the bread and butter pudding. I'm unlikely to add the choc chips, but it just looks so golden and perfect that I want to try making it RIGHT NOW!
Were the obscene sounds of pleasure anything like me eating an artichoke? I'm just trying to get the correct mental image here.
Looks nice except for the trailer trash style fake green grass on the table.
It seems that fake green grass people are the same ones who use colored lights on their christmas trees!
Jen, you did not even give me table ideas so I don't know what you're talking about. And, as we discussed before, you did not invent roast potatoes. And you chose to be in church instead of at home when I needed to ask you how to make my potatoes turn crispy, so you lose points there.
STM, I'm not sure when book club is. Am very excited for you to tell me. :-)
Dad, thank you. You get it. Plus I practically cried when I opened those plates. Everyone, I lusted after them in the store but decided to be strong. I mentioned them to Spitfire and she went back that night and bought them for me. Who even does that??
Whatever Cicada, you still should have taken pictures. It's family history! Your meal sounds fabulous, though.
Edgy, as soon as get home from work I'll put the recipe up. I couldn't find it on the MS website.
Amyjane, most holidays are about the food, indeed. I feel sorry for people who don't live their lives that way. My mom will be pleased that you had a spiral cut ham . . .
Jer, it will be with you soon, I promise. And thanks for backing me up on deviled eggs being like air and other foods that don't count!
Tusk, you must not live without the deviled eggs any longer. I don't follow a strict recipe, it's pretty much according to taste. You mash up the egg yolks and add:
enough mayo to hold it together but not enough to make it super goopy
a dash of goodDijon mustard
dill relish (or capers if you want to be all posh)
a dash of white wine vinegar
Then you can jazz it up with whatever else you like.
Seriously, April! The nice thing is that you can always make more, right?
Chosha, you totally should. I love saying it, even though I probably deserve to be smacked every time.
Daltongirl, that's really close. Add swaying and you're there.
You would know, Ed. You would know . . .
Well, I'm not taking my eyes off this blog until I see that pudding recipe. My sweet tooth just cried out.
I think I have to stop reading all the comments in here. The infighting doth cause me to crack some ribs.
And if we figure out how to crisp the potatoes, we'll share back
You're probably going to hell for lying. Go ask your favorite sister how to make roast potatoes, sucker.
Bite me.
Now that I've taken a deep breath, I think we should have this argument on the phone rather than on the Internet. We're not being very grown-up, and any second Mom is going to get on here and pull the "Y'all are making me very sad" card.
Ooo, it all looks fabulous! And reminds me I didn't eat nearly enough deviled eggs this Easter.
I love the plates! Where are they from?
Hi Kelly! I got them from TJ Maxx, but they're part of the Pink Blossom set by Royal Stafford. There are 4 plates for sale on Ebay right now--you can see a better picture there.
Nem,
I have some of the exact same plates, only they are a pale blue instead of pink. I got them in Korea town in LA.
Your table looks quite nice. So sorry about the juice spill.
Lady Steed, I got the blue rice bowls (the ones the strawberries are in) in Japantown in SF after your wedding!
Those are nice bowls. I'm glad you were able to get some neat stuff during that trip.
Just so you know, my plates are not Royal Stafford china. We bought them in a Korean grocery store for like two bucks each. Though I do think they were actually made Korea. From the picture however, they look like a really great knock off of your china...or perhaps those brit china makers stole the pattern from the Koreans. Anyways, great plates, bowls, etc.
It's beginning to look like you are becoming a collector of cool plates and such like me. A note of warning however, that stuff takes up A LOT of room and is a pain to move with. I've got like five shelves in the garage dedicated to dishes and china--it's ridiculous.
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