#5: Food, glorious food
Yesterday was a high point for me cooking-wise. We ate like kings and queens. I think I significantly went over my allotted calories for the day but I really could not care less. Jim and Joe like to playfully kid that they are victims of too much good food, but I think they were just content to sit back and enjoy it yesterday.
The morning started with vanilla french toast, which we are healthfully obsessed with these days. Texas toast, a whole tablespoon of vanilla, and lots of whipped cream…oof. It’s a crispy, syrupy, sticky mess and it’s my new favorite thing.
Honestly, I was never huge on the idea of french toast growing up, but when I had a strange and sudden urge to whip some up the other day, I could not have been more pleased with the result.
I bought an entire loaf of challah bread and plan on making a lot more this week until I’ve exhausted the recipes.
My husband, Jim, used to serve in an organization called STLF. It’s a group of college kids that drives around the country performing volunteer work for places in need. He often regales stories from these trips, and as he was doing so recently, he brought up that they had hot turkey sandwiches. Oh, those got me thinking.
And thus it became our Saturday lunch. Gosh, they were good. And those orange-y looking chips? Those are Dutch Crunch Bistro Blend and they are actually my #6 favorite thing.
We buttered and toasted the buns, slathered them with Düsseldorf mustard, and just inhaled these. I’ll post the recipe for them soon, but rest assured it’s extremely easy.
Dinner was also very special. I picked up a few CHOICE filet mignon steaks at Trader Joe’s and grilled them on my cast iron skillet with butter and McCormick’s Montreal steak seasoning. It seems so fancy, with the French name and the snobby air of lean, coveted red meat, but nothing could be easier than making filet mignon. I’ll post how I made it later this week and you’ll laugh at how easy it is.
Of course, what day is complete without dessert? My husband Jim loves all things Oreo-peanut butter-chocolate-whipped cream. So I thought I’d whip something up to that tune. After all, the day was a no-hitter game and I had to close with my last good pitcher.
I went back to my chocolate cream pie recipe that I picked up from the New York Times, but then I changed a few things to make it more Reeses cup-like.
This ended our evening and sent us into peaceful food comas while we watched the new Disney+ Mighty Ducks season (which we highly recommend).
#4: Books! Books! Books!
I had a rather silly spell of book depression for a month or two. I was getting worried I’d never find a great book ever again after reading Little Bee. Every book I picked up, I’d put down after a few pages in, annoyed with the plot or writing style.
But then! Jane lent me The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer. A week after starting it, I found myself sobbing at 11:30 p.m., eagerly turning the pages for more tear jerking. Jane seriously reads the best books. They’re they kind that rip your heart out of your chest and leave you with a terrible case of ennui afterwards, but wow, they’re good.
To get over the heartbreak, I started another book right after The Things We Cannot Say at the recommendation of my lovely friend, Morgan, who is extremely cool and owns a guacamole T-shirt. Clearly, the girl has good taste. It was a Jodi Picoult novel called Plain Truth, and it’s a murder mystery that takes place on an Amish farm.
I started Plain Truth on Tuesday this week and finished it Friday night. Holy bananas. The book wouldn’t allow itself to be put it down. It is seriously impressive how much research Jodi Picoult puts in for her books. There was so much information about Amish life she wove in there that is absolutely fascinating.
So yesterday, Jim and I headed to the library for more. I went with Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. Had to switch to non-fiction or my blog would start to suffer. There is no better distraction than a delicious fiction novel.
#3: Pedicures and Cocktails
My mom has a phrase that makes its annual debut around this time of year. “Open toe shoe season.” It’s a classic Rita line. My mom is a revered shoe huntress, like an Amazon warrior of Marshall Fields and DSW. She taught me every thing I know, of course, including how to dress and groom myself.
Open toe shoe season is just that. It’s the warmer season where you get to wear shoes that show off your toes! You know–wedges, heels, peep toes, sandals, and flip flops! All the things you stuffed away like precious acorns when fall arrived.
So with the weather turning and schedules happening to align just so, my girlfriend Maddie and I headed out over the weekend to have some girl time! We got our toes done up and then headed to our favorite local kitchen for crafty libations and fun girl talk.
She got a Q’s for Cucumber (cucumber juice, cucumber vodka, ginger ale, and candied orange) and I got a classic G&T. Not only did we have a blast, we also gathered lots of inspiration for how to make cocktails look very cute and Instagram-able. I’ve got lots of ideas for Easter Bruch stewing in my head!
#2: Easter Eggs!!
When I was a little girl, my mom would buy me a beautiful dress every year for Easter. We would go to Sunday Mass together, all dolled up. After, we would drive to the city to visit my grandparents who would put on an Easter egg hunt just for me!
My grandpa would dye the eggs a beautiful hot pink and roll them in glitter. Then he would hide them all over their small garden in the back of the house, ready for me to hunt. I can still picture those lovely pink, sparkly eggs sliding from my hands into a little basket.
I love to dye Easter eggs every year, and they always make me think of my grandparents. In fact, hard boiled eggs are one of the foods my family lightheartedly associates with my grandmother because she notoriously snuck them on flights to the Philippines as snacks. Grandmas are always pulling snacks out of their bags.
By contrast, Jim and his family are not huge on them–too “cold and slimy” is the phrase I always hear. But I just love them. Maybe it’s my grandma coming out in me, but they are the perfect little snack or appetizer in deviled eggs.
#1: Easter Candy!
The other great thing about Easter? Candy. Without a doubt, Easter candy is ten times better than Halloween candy. Whoppers, Starburst-flavored jelly beans, chocolate eggs filled with caramel and truffles! Peeps! Cadbury eggs?!
We have a fantastic little chocolate shop near our house that makes chocolate bars into molds of the Last Supper, lambs, crosses, and bunnies. (I’m still confused what rabbits have to do with Easter, but Godiva chocolate bunnies are reason enough for me to not question things.)
Despite being older now, my mom still makes me an Easter basket every year using the same basket she used when I was little. Whether it’s FedEx-ed to the front door or hidden in the dryer of my childhood home, the Easter bunny treats me without fail.
Though my tastes have shifted from jelly beans to hair products–and believe me, the Easter bunny has taken notice–my mom’s Easter basket makes me feel like a giddy little kid all over again.
What a lovely write up you have here and well themed!!!
What do bunnies have to do with Easter? Rabbits usually give birth t a litter of kittens, so they e be one a symbol of new life. Decorating and hiding eggs are also a symbol of new life.
The Easter egg represents Jesus’ resurrection.