easter sunday

I had the strangest Easter in that I totally forgot that Sunday was the Resurrection holiday because no family invited me or the hubs to a celebration meal. Also I had prom to chaperone which I kind of forgot as I was doing my weekend things. I skipped swimming too (mistake) and started off my Saturday with a Filipino breakfast of Spamsilog.                          

 

There was no Saturday clay because of an Easter egg hunt at Central Park, and so I accompanied Patrick to the garden and foraged for flowers to embellish a dish. It started with this borage I saw in Ebbie's plot and picked a dozen of these fuzzy little blooms, and then I saw the oxalis and remember seeing chefs tweezer its leaves onto their plating and so thought I'd add yellow flowers to the mix.

And I knew nasturtiums could add a lovely peppery note to a plating and plucked a few along a fence. And of course, I've seen chefs add pansies to salads.

I also spied these lavender blooms and plucked those along with more Johnny Jump-ups with little orange faces.

Lastly I saw chive blossoms and added to my ceramic dish. Patrick asked what was I gonna do with all these little blooms, and I said maybe add them to a salad. 

And so the weekend harvest included flowers along with all the spring onions.

But I was too rushed and lazy to make a salad and instead cooked ravioli to eat with the vodka Italian sausage marinara I made the previous Friday evening.                                

And prior to dinner I drove to one of my favorite bakeries to pick up Easter desserts.                               

At Copenhagen, I was asked which cake was I picking up. They laughed when I answered what text was supposed to be on it. And I kept glancing at this chocolate concoction in the pastry case and finally asked what is it? I was told it was a chocolate coffee cake.

And omg, I realized it's my favorite of Kringle because of the almond paste inside. I've been eating it with my coffee for the past few mornings.

Of course, I was not up to swimming because of prom the previous night. And so I let Sadie slept in and got up in time to make the mushroom crostini I brought to Kat's house for lunch. I sautéed cremini mushrooms in butter, chopped leeks (gotta remember to cook creamed kale and leeks and top with salmon for dinner this week), green onion, garlic and wine. I had bought an artisanal rustic baguette too after the bakery, which I buttered and toasted in the oven until golden brown. And brought out the truffle goat cheese and truffle oil

 

I had some leftover bread, cheese and mushroom mixture for appetizer this week. At Kat's house I topped the crostini with the fresh flowers and parsley.

My appetizer was lovely, and Kat cooked a Portuguese version of paella. Her neighbor, Martha made margaritas, but really I liked the Portuguese bottles of vinho bianco and vinho roja that Meral brought.

Too much food and too much booze that I am so glad to get back into the routine of work and exercise and salads. Here's my Easter humor for the season.

I'm trying to use more respectful language and behave more appropriately in public and am posting here on my personal blog. And here's my almost done mandala. 

I don't like the design, and of course am re-doing it. It's all learning. I can make mistakes and therefore can make it all over again.