“Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May/and summer’s lease hath all to short a date.” -Shakespeare, sonnet 18.
Spring meant many things when I was a little girl, in the 1950’s, Easter school holidays being high on my list as I was not too keen on school! Then there were new “Easter” dresses, purses, hats and fancy shoes for my sister and I to wear to church. “Easter” dinner included the usual suspects of bake ham with pineapple rings and baked sweet potatoes. One of the best things were the devilled eggs sitting prettily in their special blue, gold trimmed, devilled egg plate. Around this time of year our parents prepared the garden for the fantastic vegetables they grew every year. The cherry trees were blooming in our backyard, which meant that in a few months we would be climbing up to the top, sitting on a branch eating cherries and Mom would actually make juice from the cherries for homemade popsicles! There were raspberry canes too with the promise of more popsicles. Dad would soon be digging up new potatoes to boil, served with globs of butter oozing all over them and sprinkled with some of the new chives. Does it get any better? The new potatoes meant saying goodbye, finally, to that huge 100 lb. bag of winter potatoes, at least it seemed like 100 hundred pounds, Dad bought every fall to be stored in the basement for winter meals. I am convinced that because my dad was Danish, we were obliged to eat potatoes for dinner every single night. We even had mashed potatoes served alongside spaghetti and meatballs and cabbage rolls! Oh my God! After I left home, it took me a long time to want to eat potatoes again but little new potatoes won me back!
New traditions have developed along the way and for me there are a few things that I just have to make. Hot crossed buns for Easter morning being one of them and devilled eggs topped with new chives, along with a bit of ham and some new crop French Breakfast radishes for Easter Sunday lunch!
One tradition that my husband and I keep to is making a nice dinner for “Easter Sunday”. Last year there was an asparagus pudding to start, followed by roast chicken, roasted fennel and some lemon curd tarts for a sweetie. Of course, a nice bottle of wine did not go amiss either!
Helpful links to Easy Hot Crossed Buns click here. And for baking a ham click here delicious and dead easy to make.
