Isn’t this what Easter is all about – new beginnings?

So I‘ve been slightly slammed lately, trying to get MSI off the ground, keeping PM+CO going, (cause that’s where we make money to pay the mortgage, rent and salaries) and just trying to balance it all to be able to sleep at night – which hasn’t been easy. So this past weekend, we got to go up to the country for the first time in four weeks! I cannot tell you how blessed we are to have this very simple place that is so very different from the city. I have my little painting studio there and I was working on a very abstracted landscape and got to go back to its simplicity and wow – that felt SO good! Even when we could drive up there, I had been away from the studio for so long because the snow was so deep, I wouldn’t have been able to open the doors. So I walked in last Saturday and really had to take a step back to try to remember what it was I was trying to achieve in my work.

I put it together and happily continued on for hours – and it felt SO good!! New beginnings – springtime – eh?!

Here is a snippet of our Peaster celebration! (Passover and Easter). We started with my husband’s delicious matzo bowl soup with one son’s homemade sourdough bread, followed by Barbecued Fresh Ham with an Ancho Fig Compote – both recipes from an April, 2001 issue of Food and Wine magazine – served with Parsley Buttered Egg Noodles, and Sesame Soy Sauteed Asparagus. Dessert was two gorgeous pies with whipped cream and of course, some chocolate eggs and jelly beans too!

We were privileged to have one girlfriend with her Mom and stepdad, one nephew, and one close friend of one son with his mom visiting from Turkey and the four of us. We made ten in total. It was wonderful and really, my boys take over. One makes drinks and one dotes on me to not get too stressed. They both help serve (because they just think I’m not capable?) One made the fantastic loaf of sourdough bread that we served with the matzo ball soup and the other acted as my sous chef earlier in the day. Honestly, I AM amazed. They know so much. I only wish my own mother was still alive to see this. My mother loved to bake breads. She unfortunately rarely had enough time when we were all home (6 kids) and then when she did have time, no one was home to eat it all! And here I have a son who has a sourdough starter (my Mom’s dream) and makes bread all the time!! He was making another loaf just yesterday morning. And this is a time consuming thing, particularly if you don’t have a big six hour dedicated time block. But he makes it work with his schedule. He’s figured out how to do it in stages, interrupted by all of his activities and it works!

To you younger moms out there, this is proof that it really does pay off to cook and serve healthy meals at home. The one girlfriend said at Easter, “Oh well god forbid, if I even TRY to throw out the chicken bones, I get yelled at – gotta make broth!”

And I’m sitting there thinking, I don’t make broth with every chicken…. 

I hope you all had a great holiday celebration – whatever you celebrate – it’s just important you get together and CELEBRATE!! EVERYTHING!!

Take a look at this fantastic, simple appetizer that everyone loved. I’m sorry that this photograph is not great but here I am holding a plate of these Bacon Wrapped Walnut Stuffed Dates, and talking to one of our guests, while licking my fingers!j

These are amazing – make them and you’ll see! 

BACON WRAPPED WALNUT DATES – serves 10

20 large Medjool dates, slit the long way but not cut all the way through, and pitted
20 walnut halves
10 slices of thin sliced bacon, cut in half

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Stuff a walnut in the middle of each date, close and wrap with 1/2 of a slice of bacon, having the ends meet underneath the date. Arrange on a small broiler pan with a rack so grease can drip down. 

Roast for 12 – 17 minutes, until the bacon is done. Let cool 5  – 10 minutes as they are much too hot straight out of the oven. Serve with LOVE and a toothpick inserted in each one, plus plenty of napkins. Delish!!