Falling Ginkgo: Easter

I love getting together with family. I love cooking for family. Well, I just love cooking period. When I finally move into a bigger apartment, I probably will try to have all family gatherings at my apartment. I will let everyone know that they should bring tupperware so they can bring leftovers home and I will cook massive meals.

We celebrated Easter on Saturday the 14th. We were nine of us this time. Linda's table accommodated everyone which was wonderful.

I made a dish of asparagus, brussel sprouts, leeks, garlic and shallots. I still have a bit of it in my fridge which I will cook up tomorrow. Linda indicated that they tended to eat more of a simple vegetable fare. Mashed potatoes, grated carrots, steamed asparagus. But I insisted on bringing this dish. I figured someone would love it. I managed to get a small container of leftovers. I bought over five pounds of vegetables. They ate it and loved it!!!!

Linda cooked ham with, I think it was a maple, brown sugar glaze with pineapples. Ohhhh. I just loved it. Of course, I love ham and never eat it. I don't know why. It's like turkey. How come we don't eat turkey all year round? It is a fabulous meat. It has a magnificent taste. It is good for you. You throw it in a cooking bag, a little flour, put it in the oven, and in a short time, you have this incredible meat that is so satisfying .....I...I don't know. Now I want to go and buy a turkey. Tomorrow. I will see if I can find a turkey tomorrow. You know how I love turkey? After I cook it, I freeze it in portions in zip lock bags. Then when I am in the mood, I'll defrost a bag and eat it cold dipped in ketchup. I can hear you all going YEWWWW~~~ But I love it. Minimal calories, and better for me than cake, chips, pretzels, ice cream, and shopping the internet for new shoes.

Linda makes great mashed potatoes. We grew up with mashed potatoes. Not the wimpy kind you find in restaurants, with special seasonings, whipped, not mashed, a tiny bit of butter instead of a ton of butter..... We know mashed potatoes~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My Mother and I made the grated carrots with mayonnaise, a bit of salt and a dash of sugar. It should have had parsley in it but I forgot to bring some. Merde.

I would have normally made bread. I used to always make bread. But this oven here and not dependable and I have not been successful with my bread baking. I keep trying though. I may have lost my bread kharma. I don't know. If I lost it, I will find it again. Promise.

Mom saw this picture of an Easter cake and tore it out of the magazine to see if I would make it. The description called for boxed cake mix, canned frosting, chocolate chips and of course, Peeps.

I made it from scratch. You can barely see it, but in the center of the cake, I piped a chocolate ganache in the shape of chocolate chips. It took over an hour just to do that. The cake itself was a white cake. I think Linda was afraid that everyone was going to be disappointed that it was a white cake so she bought a chocolate cream pie for those who wanted more chocolate. So, as it turned out, everyone had a piece of both. Can you believe it? Nine people. My cake was huge. Ten inches in the round by the time it was frosted. And then a chocolate pie!! GONE!!!