Easter dinner

I've gotten lazy, friends.  First there was a Christmas meal, now Easter.  And there am I, getting a Honeybaked Ham ham for dinner.  It's easy, I just make the sides.  Special occasion meal, Bob's your uncle.

Sigh.

Ah well, I did make sides.  A potato gratin from a new recipe, and not one I'll make again.  Some roasted carrots, some steamed green beans.  Buttermilk biscuits.  It was all fine.  Erik and Avery came over from next door, and the five of us enjoyed the meal.

Ah, but the dessert.  The dessert!  I haven't made this one in years, but it popped into my head to do it a couple of days before Easter, and so I did.  Tuscan cream cake from Emily Luchetti's awesome Stars Desserts cookbook.  A treat.  It could have looked better as a whole,

but a wedge of it was tempting to look at, I think. 

It was good, friends.  So good.

We're into April.  Spring break at work, some travel ahead, maybe a little more rain before winter is fully done with us.  Welcome to a new month, everyone!

wee New Zealand post (4)

In case you weren't consulting your calendars and working things out, know that we arrived in Wellington on Good Friday and left on Easter Monday.

The day we arrived, the town was quiet - a stat holiday. The Saturday was busy with shoppers. Sunday was quiet again. Our trip was winding down, and dining was not easy to find, especially up in the government end of town where we were.

But ah, one handsome new-ish looking cafe was offering an appropriate treat for the holiday. What surprised me was that Conrad had never had them before: hot cross buns. I take for granted that everyone knows them, but that might be the British/Anglican upbringing I had, something New Zealand would have experience with. In fact, one of the big controversies we tracked in the newspaper letters pages centered on a change to a classic recipe that resulted in forlorn buns.

A good treat, though, and as I closed in on 30 flat whites for the trip, we wrote postcards and enjoyed the early autumn sun.

quick, simple Easter dinner

Easter dinner, perhaps predictably, was at Yoshi's. You know, I did a decent amount of cooking/food prep this weekend: kick ass ribs on Friday night, a good dinner for Frank last night, casual brunch at Ray Ray's earlier today. Why not go for ease, comfort, familiarity, and enjoyment tonight. I was in the mood for fish, and something not too rich. I figured Yoshi could provide quite well.

No bonnets or finery for us, though Conrad looked handsome as always.We were the only ones at the bar, though it was an especially early dinner for us. I dream of lights out at 9:30ish tonight, so getting there not long after 6 tonight was ideal.

We kept it simple, each of us having fish. Conrad greatly liked his blackened tuna, and the bit I tasted had an appealingly smoky flavour.

I had the bento-style dinner of sea bass. The sides in the little boxes are half the fun, and I rather like the little mushroom and lotus root salad above all. The fish was fine, and the garnish of shiso was a subtle, sweet, basil-y, anise-y touch.

Good food aside, it's just nice to see everyone, like Yoshi, Nobuko, Dennis, Fernanadoand the others. They were worked to the bone with a crazy Easter brunch rush. We're not sorry we missed that.

Capping the night, a little serving of fresh raspberries. Not pictured was the little ramekin of chocolate sauce. Conrad is, frankly, a sucker for the two of them, and I don't at all mind helping him with them either.

Soon time for bed, I think....

Easter brunch

Yes, what better way to celebrate this most Christian of days than by going over to have a casual brunch at the home of a Jewish friend, Rachel. Maybe we should have kicked back with a DVD of Jewison's version of Jesus Christ Superstar just to stir the pot more.

(oooo, I think I'll switch to listening to that soundtrack on my iTunes!)

We hadn't seen Rachel's new place since she moved in some weeks back, so after taking care of various housework and errands in the morning, I packed up a bag of foodstuffs and we walked down to visit her. A completely enjoyable time spent with her, with two main things to comment on:

1. Great place she bought. Very bright, and as high up as it is, she has stunning views. We eagerly pointed out the various landmarks to each other.Boystown in general,Wrigley Field a little ways off,the few remaining fine single-family homes in the area,the north end of Belmont Harbor.It's sure to be even more gorgeous in the summer. I hope we can kick back with some food and drink and maybe a board game and just enjoy the long summer evening light and views.

2. Nice little brunch. I foraged in the fridge here at home for leftovers and simple items. A couple of cheeses, some smoked salmon, salad, nuts, flatbread, olives, capers, chocolates.
I also put out some dried apricot scones and leftover rhubarb upside down cake. We were all nap-ready by the end of the meal.

It's been a fine, low-key weekend of social activities with friends. Nothing too involved, happily. I don't think either Conrad or I felt totally rested from last weekend. And with such gorgeous weather, we're feeling ever so relaxed and content.

"Sunshine" Coast

My Grandma kept a weekend home on the Sunshine Coast. We loved visiting there when we were young. The beachfront was rocky, but when the tide was high, we could swim from the decrepit old dock over which a tree full of apples hung. Blackberry brambles grew in profusion in the area, and staining our mouths and tongues purple with the fat berries was an important summer duty. Trolling for rock cod offshore was another fun activity, and once we even went over to Skeleton Island (you know, I don't know if that's what we called it or if that's its real name) and dug for clams. It wasn't fancy, but it was a great part of our summer experience.

By the time Grandma died in 1992, she had sold her house in Vancouver and relocated to the summer home permanently. Dad inherited the house from her, and after a number of years of mixed experiences juggling an array of tenants with vacation use, he retired there in 2005. It then took a whole lot of renovation and landscaping, but it seems that Grandma's old summer home is now a nice home for Dad, Bella, and the boys.

Conrad and I hadn't been up to Pender Harbour since 2005, so on Easter Sunday the two of us (along with Marie) caught the ferry up to the Sunshine Coast. We were planning on brunching with the family, seeing the house, and returning to Vancouver in time for a late dinner. And that's exactly what we did.

The Sunshine Coast is sometimes an accurate name for what was once a bucolic stretch of summer homes and retirees, fishing boats and rocky shores shaded by arbutus trees. Last Sunday, though, the name was anything but accurate. We left Horseshoe Bay under entirely grey skies.




No, not entirely. Off in the distance, toward Vancouver Island, there was a good-sized clearing in the clouds. Could it extend over to brighten up our day?

No. The rain held off, at least until our return to Vancouver, but no, the day remained cloudy. We dawdled up the coast, stopping for an extended coffee break at Wheatberries in Sechelt. Over a snack or two from the bakery, we showed Marie photos from New Zealand.

We met the family at a resort not too far from their home. Conrad, Marie, and I were a little early, so we wandered the grounds a bit and took photos.




The sea anemones caught my eye. Marie took lots of photos of the peeling bark on the arbutus limbs and trunks.


After brunch it was time to see the house and surrounding landscaping. It looked good.
Dad showed us around while Mark, one of his friends, and Nigel hopped in the boat to go fishing for a spell. That didn't last long; even so, we had to start the drive back down to catch the ferry from Langdale. Some family photos - Carlos and Nigel didn't bother taking part - and we were on our way back south again.