Easter Sunday Brunch

My friend, Barb and I spend most holidays together. I spent Sunday with her to celebrate Easter. The first thing you should know is she is my best friend. I've known her for forty years. Holy Cow! That sounds like forever.

The other thing you should know is she isn't just a great cook (which she is), she an inspired gourmand. From planning the menu to shopping to preparation to presentation, this girl can jetté and pirouette around the kitchen like nobody's business. Everything she touches turns to culinary gold.

If you were lucky enough to dine at Barb and Rico's lakeside cottage, the first thing you would notice is that the kitchen is the center of their home. And, posted on the front of the refrigerator is the menu for the evening. I mean, really, how cool is that!





This is what we had on Sunday ~

Easter 2012

Appetizers

Triple Crème cheese with honey and crackers

Sushi with horseradish

Green olive tapenade, cream cheese and French bread 

Assorted marinated olives, mushrooms

Salad  Course

 Mixed lettuces, baby heirloom tomatoes,

Crumbled blue cheese ~ Jicama and egg

Homemade Salad Dressings

Honey Mustard Dressing ~ House Balsamic Dressing

 Entrée

 

Teriyaki salmon fillet    Standing Pork Rack

Mashed potatoes and cauliflower ~  Roasted asparagus

Yams whipped with maple syrup and shallots

Artichokes, grilled with aioli and pesto

Applesauce     Pork Gravy

Dessert

Pound cake deluxe with sliced strawberries,

whipped cream and custard in chilled glasses

Drizzled with semi-sweet chocolate

 

Drinks

Gin and tonic with limes

Gin and juice with oranges

Screwdriver ~ Bloody Mary ~ Whiskey Sour

Sparkling ciders

The entrées were wonderful. I don't eat meat but the standing pork rack looked wonderful. The salmon fillet was fantastic. And, oh so beautifully presented. I know, I know ~ there are no photos of the entrée. We were too busy eating, laughing and talking to stop for pictures.

Look at Barb's use of the darling orphan tea cup saucers for the butter. This is a fun and fanciful way to include a lonely saucer missing its cup in the festivities.

If you look closely at the brie, you will notice what looks like honey has been drizzled over it. Don't get scared! Barb and I learned about drizzling honey on brie from The Bear. Barb is Logan and The Bear's godmother. The Bear had just returned from spending the year in Florence when Barb and I traveled to Boston to see the boys. Before dinner, we had DOC Prosecco, brie and a baguette. After The Bear set the cheese board down on the coffee table, he drizzled raw honey over the brie. I have to say ~ my eyebrow nearly flew off the top of my head. And, then we tasted it. Heaven! Try it ~ it's so simple and delicious you may never eat brie plain again.

 

Also, the other thing I do want to mention is Barb is famous for her "tiny triples." Don't even think of signing anything after she hands you a drink.

When we come over to eat at Barb's, we know we will be bringing our appetites and our sense of adventure. Every meal she prepares is brilliant! And, when it is over, we will have spent an evening we will talk about for years.

Day 5 Everyday Grateful ~ dinner with those that I love.

Spring in Seattle

What a lovely morning. I'm getting ready to go my friend, Barb's house for Easter brunch, but I just had to take a walk in the garden again this morning.

Last fall, when I bought forty pounds (or, was it eighty? I forget. Anyway, it was a lot!) of King Alfred daffodils, I imagined how wonderful the pots would look in the spring. As I've said before, planting bulbs shows faith in the future.

Now, we are seeing the results of that crazy idea. It's a daffodil riot outside. And, best of all they are just starting to open their heads. I love the way they respond to the sigh of the wind as it moves through the garden. 

Atmospheric. Transcendent. Hopeful. Beautiful.

My friend, Karen's husband Ron came by yesterday. He's the pressure washing king. He got all the Seattle winter moss and slime off the back deck. We are now ready for breakfast and dinner over looking the back yard.












I love this time of year. Each day, we are gathering light. The ground is warming. The energy of returning life is everywhere.

This next week, let's chat about garden art.

Happy Easter

Day 4 Everyday Grateful ~ a long, laugh-filled phone call

from The Bear.

Everyday Grateful ~ Friends

My dear friend Audrey's birthday is tomorrow. In honour of her birthday, I'm taking a page out of her Everyday Grateful blog to talk about the profound happiness found in great friendships.

Thirty years! How is that possible?

There are so many things I love about her. She is beautiful inside and out. She is full of sunny optimism. Her voice on the other end of the phone is bright and full of happiness. She wants to know about the world in all its complexities: its sorrows, its joys and its irony. She cares about complex issues deeply and thoughtfully. She reads widely and selects authors writing on challenging subjects. She is a seeker of common ground and compassionate understanding. She has the courage of her convictions. She is fearless. She is funny. She works every day to make the world a better place.  She loves art and works to have it in her life every day. She is a faithful, engaged friend and a lovely, devoted mother.

As she says about herself, she is "exploring, investigating, trying new things, trying to figure out how things work. Exploring why artists do what they do. And what my path of creativity will be."

She is wonderful!

I'm so very grateful to have her in my life.

And, in honour of Audrey's Everyday Grateful blog, it's sunny in Seattle. The air is still. The leaves are bright with the rain of the last few days. The garden completely sparkles ~ dazzling in a thousand shades of green.

As I was at the sink in my kitchen this morning, a small bird with a very neat black cap stopped by the birdhouses on the wall outside my kitchen window. Maybe Mr. and Mrs. Neat-Black-Cap are planning to set up housekeeping. I'd love to have baby birds being born just outside my kitchen window.

Sweet!

Spring must be here.

http://ahwatson.blogspot.com/

Day 1 Everyday Grateful ~ for my friend, Audrey