So...whats for dinner?

One of the best parts of living in the South was the diced sweet and dill pickles at the supermarket. Brilliant! Already diced pickles! We were rather wedded to the Mt. Olive pickles, made in Cairo GA, a small town near my husband's "hometown." I like dill pickles in tuna. I like a combination of sweet and dill pickles in potato salad. I don't care for pickles inside my eggs. I like them nearby. Funny isn't it? I was not raised with French's which I hear is odd. As a child, my mother always used a spicy deli mustard, and then she progressed to Dijon. The only reason I ever buy French's is to make Inner Beauty Sauce, a famous Jamaican-style sauce developed by Chris Schlesinger. I make this in the Fall when the habaneros are in season.

Tonight, our life is all about the NCAA finals. This is my husband's non-musical passion: b-ball. We are dinner [I kid you not] at 5:30!!!! He wanted pizza so he went for take out, while I made a large salad. It was alright but not great.

My life is all about fixing these files. Then taxes, then planning, then laundry, then packing.... I am a bit overwhelmed.

Red, how is your wrist today? Did the mixer solve the pain issues for you?

Love that we have hamster for Easter... those little suckers are really only big enough to serve as an amuse bouche. I really send my best wishes to anyone celebrating Passover and Easter this week. I am making our tandoori chicken [again.] I know, I am getting boring. Having trouble getting really inspired to try new things while my life is so full of obligations.

*susan*

I'm proud of myself. I mustered the energy to make the deviled eggs I wanted and I made twice baked potatoes for tomorrow's Easter dinner. I didn't think I was going to be up to it. I can't seem to stop sleeping!!

Moon--I can see why you want that sweet little creature in your basket. So adorable.

I clobbered DH at Scrabble again tonight.

Happy Easter, Happy Passover, Happy Saturday, Happy Weekend.

Easter dinner in my house will be pork roast, roasted carrots and potatoes, homemade rolls and a Reese's Peanut Butter Creme Pie (store bought).

Monica, she is quite the photogenic cutie! I like the picture with the blue vase too. Nice shot.

Although I love pickles, the only thing I like them in is potato salad. Tuna has only mayo and onions.

More whim cooking. I made a lemon meringue pie for two yesterday (6 inch). A nice springy treat. It held up better in the refrigerator than most lemon meringues last night so it will serve as dessert tonight as well. I forgot how much trouble they are to make compared to fruit pies.

Hope your day is lovely! DH has promised me French toast this morning. That's certainly a good start!

Oh, Nance, I think lemon meringue pie is much easier than fruit pies since I prefer making the meringue to a top crust. Glad it held up in the fridge. I'm sure it is totally delicious!! Yum! You are my baking idol!

Yum, yum, yum! Lots of wonderful Easter tables today.

Thanks for the encouraging thoughts about letting myself rest. I was worried that I wasn't normal to be so much more tired now that I'm done. I can't believe you did T-dinner for 26 in this condition Susan!! You must have been sub-human by the time that was over. I can't even imagine.

Everyone is doing the rest of the cooking, but we are having BBQ pork ribs, twice baked potatoes, deviled eggs, lots of veggies, fruit cobbler, lemon bars....There's probably more, but I don't know what the other extended family members are bringing. I didn't have the energy to make Frog-eye salad. My third kiddo will be so disappointed. He doesn't eat most desserts in the world, but he likes Frog Eye Salad.

Sounds like we will all have a wonderful feast today. Happy eating and Happy Easter.

The pork roast I made was delish. Before I cooked it, I injected it with some wine and put Ms. Dash's seasoning on them. The roast came out perfect. Enough leftover for another night or two.

ncaa I CANNOT BELEIVE Wisconsin beat KY!!!  Wow that wa somegrudgematch...

Now I don't know who to root for on Monday.  My bowling potluck is Mon night and even though I haven't bowled since the first week of Feb, they want me to come.  I am making.....deviled eggs.  And so they are on the stove now in the water.... Now this is my "signature" potluck item but I didn't think (being childless and all) about the glut of hardboiled eggs that may be out there... Lets just hope half the bowler s don't bring the same tihing....

Yes Susan, your DH could be involved in much more questionable activity than a college basketball obsession...but then I am biased. And yes, I share your opinion about Kentucky's "NBA farm league" philosophy of college basketball. So I was happy to see the real college team make it to the finals.

Tonight the ND gals barely squeaked by South Carolina. They will not get away with that if they play UCONN Tuesday night. Go Irish!

Our Easter went well....after a lot of effort. I made what felt like a ton of food for five people, but it was well appreciated....DS2 and DGF took a lasagna home, and our niece took some, as well as the pasta dish with asparagus, lemon and parmesan.

For apps we had assorted cheeses and crackers, crudite and hummus, and fruit kebobs with dip that DGF brought. For dinner we had "combo fowl".....barbecued turkey tips and balsamic/rosemary marinated chicken breasts, two pasta dishes....roasted veggie lasagna, and lemon parmesan gemelli with asparagus, red onion and yellow squash, a garden salad, and mashed butternut squash. For dessert we had the fresh giant strawberries dipped in sour cream and dark brown sugar. Also offered a Trader's lemon tart and the cookies I posted along with anise pizzelles.

The egg hunt went well except for the fact that two eggs were not found and they were two of three that had $$ in them. DH still has no idea where he hid them. LOL

After dinner our next door neighbors joined us and we had some good laughs. She brought some chocolate meringues, and boy were they good! Everything she makes is good.

Oh, DGF's little Scotty came too, and loved playing fetch in the backyard with anybody who was willing to bear the chill. He is a city leash dog, so he was delerious about the freedom he had today. He is a very cute little guy, sort of like a little cartoon character, and easy to have around.

So we all had fun and DH and I will be eating leftovers all week which is fine with this tired cook!

Lovely family Lacey! I can't believe how much food you made! LOL

Just my DH made it home for Easter. DD1 husband was oncall, DD2 worked, DD1 wife still is laid up with the 2 plate 7 screws and 2 pin ankle, and DD2 wirjed. What you gonna do? LOL. Made a small part of ham about 3 lbs. Scalloped potatoes with sweet potatoes added in and the last frozen corn from last summer. Oh and Pillsbury biscuits. LOL. Not exactly what I usually cook with everyone home UT plenty for 2 meals Each. DH is going to South Carolina for work this week. He went last week to NC. He's kind of fed up with the corporate office releasing all those engineers. He's now working 6 days a week with no overtime pay.

I'm glad WI won. It was a heart breaker last year with them losing at the last second.

Red, i wouldn't worry about the eggs, most kids do what mine did, they eat the white and toss the yolk. LOL

Much love

Love the pics Lacey. Looks like you managed to please everybody. No wonder you're a tired cook!

I am doing taxes, no bunny heads or peeps consumed, no cooking yet.  I think we are doing leftovers from last night - ham with cherry/mustard sauce, my vegan scalloped potatoes that turned out ok, and a salad since we ate all the asparagus.

red - is this the recipe?  Looks yummy!  I have a similar one but has sour cream and no vodka.  I usually drizzle melted dark and white chocolate instead of glaze.  It stays moist forever, so it is a good cake to slice up and platter.

http://www.imbored-letsgo.com/black-russian-cake/

Special, I don't know.  Everytime I ask for recipe, he says GOOGLE IT.   His is really chocolaty and he puts a ganache on top.  But he makes it in a bundt pan.  So maybe he uses chocolate cake mix. But he kinda likes to cook so it might be from scratch.  One time he brought whipped creame in one of those aluminum pressurized cans like they use on TOP CHEF...... It is really black and gooey and jeez, I am getting so excited for CAKE......

Therapy---well today was the first day where the therapist worked the whole session with the hand and wrist.  It hurt some. he massaged my scar for a long time and then we did hand holding with resistance.  Its depressing how little they ask me to do and how hard it is to do it.....One of my exercizes is to touch my fingers one at a time to my thumb......and the pinky one hurts... I have a funny looking thing on my skin where the cast was that they claimed they have never seen, so tomorrow I am going to Urbana to my dermatologist to have her take a look.  It's a yellow triangular shaped thing and its a little bigger than a pencil eraser so sorta big considering the size of othe things she takes off.  Better safe than sorry...