Happy Easter!
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| appetizers |
It was nice not having to clean my house this year for
Easter meal. I don’t mind the cooking or
table setting, but I dislike that our house is usually such a wreck that I need
to spend time cleaning and picking things up.
Granted my friends who share our holiday table are a forgiving group,
but the condition of our home is usually a wreck! Just look what the kids did to their Easter
basket in 20-minutes, maybe it was even less than 20-minutes!
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| this is what the Easter basket looks like, small view into how our whole house looks. yikes! |
Since I didn’t have to cook or clean for Easter, my son and
I went out for waffels at a new waffle place, called The Wafel Shop. Yes, there is an “f” missing. They were open until 2pm on Easter
Sunday. Perfect for us. I tried their Liege waffle, which is petit
but indulgent. The woman at the counter
asked if I wanted any toppings. I thought
she was crazy because it’s already sweet.
Even though I don’t count calories and I probably should, it seemed
calorie-ladden. My son got the Belgium
wafel with fresh strawberries, whipped cream, chocolate syrup and two strips of
bacon. I also got a soy streamer. Luckily I had more than a $20 with me.
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| Boy and his wafel |
We made it back home in time for me to make a platter of
curry deviled eggs and Brussles Spouts sautéed in bacon fat & topped with
bacon. Super yummy. The hostess asked that I bring that as my
contribution. Nice that I make a dish
that people look forward to eating. The
other guest, Molly, makes the most amazing cheesy mashed potato dish that is
mandatory that she bring.
Years ago when I hosted my first Thanksgiving with my Ann
Arbor friends, I asked Molly to bring a mashed potato dish, it was something
that takes several steps and if I could ask someone to deal with it, it would be
helpful to me. Little did I know, she
would bring the most awesome mashed potato dish ever!
There is some history to our gatherings. My husband and I (with our children) do not
have any family close by. We later
discovered that our friends, Kelly and Molly, were in the same situation. Making a big family dinner just for our
immediate family wasn’t worth doing (mostly because our kids weren’t going to
eat much of the meal), but what if we got together? Hence, we have spent our Thanksgiving,
Christmas and Easter holiday meals together.
People ask, what about your parents, what do you do when they come? We bring them to whomever is hosting. It’s as if we are all family.
I feel like these ladies are my family. I always say, I’m eternally indebted to
Molly. I was a new mother with a 10-day
son when I met her at Le Leche League (Ann Arbor 3) meeting in St. Joe’s Senior
Center back in 1994. I was a mess! My baby boy was nursing constantly and not
gaining weight, I was tired, sleep-deprived and unsure of nearly
everything. There was this group of
moms with 8-month-old babies who had it all together, sitting on the floor,
bouncing their smiling babies and telling me – it gets better. Many of them have been where I was! They talked about being at the mall all
sitting around nursing and they didn’t care if anyone saw. I knew I was in love with these moms. During the meeting, Molly told me – “you need
a mom’s group.” I thought, “yes, I do,
but where do I find one??” I don’t know
if I said that out loud or she read my mind, but she told me they had a yahoo
group and what was my email address. I
couldn’t even remember my email address!
She wittingly said, “oh they didn’t tell you when you gave birth to your
placenta, your brain went with it?” followed by what I consider her trademark
laugh. That was my introduction to a
fabulous group of moms.
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| table setting with lovely baskets with candies |
As in our household, ham was served, with Kelly’s summer
squash & zucchini casserole, Molly’s cheesy mashed potatoes and my Brussel
sprouts, with salad and biscuits. Many
bottles of wine were opened and drank. Hoping your Easter was as warm and delightful!
Bacon on the waffle? That blew my mind.
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