Happy Easter - The Haney Menu And a Few Recipes

Even without the significance of the day today, the day itself was a gift.  A gorgeous Spring day -- I think it was in the 60's even.  And I saw the first violets opened up in the yard.  My absolute favorite flowers.  They made me feel like living again!

It was hectic here today; we hosted a brunch for one gaggle of family members and dinner for another gaggle.  We were also blessed to have a dear friend of the family share our Easter celebration.

Brunch was: 

• Breakfast Casserole
• Fresh Kielbasa
• Haney Made Horseradish
• Hard Boiled Eggs
• Babka
• Sweet Butter

Later, dinner was:

• Simmered Ham
• Green Bean Casserole ( My daughter Stephanie NEEDS this dish!)
• Scalloped Potatoes
• Hard Boiled Eggs
• Haney Made Horseradish
• Asparagus roasted w/garlic
• Babka
• Raspberry Topped Cheesecake

Here is a montage of yesterday's preparations for today.  It's going to take me a little while to put that babka tutorial together -- perhaps a week or two.  But it will be worth it.  It's a treasured family recipe - I remember helping my mother to follow my little Polish grandmother around, measuring out her handfuls of this and pinches of that, for that is how she baked.  And her babka was the best - I can't completely replicate it.  But I'm told it's very, very close.  So I'm content with that.

You will note that Calvin is in the first shot.  This is because, although he is new to us, he has already made a decision to be a Polish cat for Easter and truly enjoy kielbasa.  If you know us, you know that this little guy has turned out to be a real chow hound.  I wasn't sure how he would feel about the kielbasa...but did I even need to wonder?????

Please also note the egg tree -- my dear father (long since deceased) selected that branch years and years ago just for this purpose. I have tried to take good care of it from year to year. Some of those eggs are store-bought -- some are eggs that my own mother decorated way back when I was a little girl. So that was way back in the dark ages!  Next Easter we'll make a project of crafting some new homemade eggs for this tree.  Store bought is nice, but I would love to replace the hand-made ones that have broken over the years.

We pray that all of our friends had as blessed a weekend as we have had here.  Now here it is not even 7:00 pm, company is gone, the house is all tidy, and already we're trying to get ready for work tomorrow.  Whew!!!!

A High End Thanksgiving - Holy Cow!!!

I'm pretty sure I know where holy cow came from, and it's quite irreverant.  Maybe "holy cats" would be better.  That was my father's favorite exclamation, at any rate.

Today, we were blessed on this day of thanks to have the means to travel (along with my mother, Big Steve, and daughter Stephanie) to visit Stephanie's twin sister Kim at her brand spanking new apartment in North Adams, Mass, and have dinner at a lovely bistro (a bit higher end than the Haney-ites are accustomed to in recent days).  Understand now, that Kim is a starving student, and her apartment is quite chilly (the heat is turned down, to save $$$).  So, we traverse the entire .6 miles from Kim's apartment to the Bistro and enjoy a lovely Thanksgiving repast.

So.....This appears to me to be the mecca of high art in N. Adams, MA.  We were graced with image, after image, after image.  Your thoughts, please!

OK -- I laughed at this.  Right at our dinner table.  I'm not trying to disrespect the artist, by any means.  But does anyone else think the visceral (Steve's word) nature is conducive to happy dining?????  Seriously, is it really just a flesh wound????

So then, we progess to the soup/salad course.  We all chose the soup, and it was impeccable.  A butternut squash/cider soup, gloriously presented with a swirl of ginger glace and a dollop of creme fraiche.  Yummmy!!!

So then the twins start their "I think I'll start acting like I'm 5 years old" re-enactment, and the results are here:

LOL!!!  It was only a pose for the picture.  Their blood sugar was beginnig to rise from the soup, and they were starting to feel frisky and fun.

So we turned our minds toward the "art".  Apparently, the topsy turvy trees were a hit before the topsy turvy tomatoes. 

This is art.  Yes.  This is art.

Kimber did her own art.  It is entitled:  Three forks, a knife, and a spoon.  Genius!

And finally, the large and impressive (I don't know what) art that could actually house my twins in the cold:

Again, I'm not exactly sure.  I know I was blessed by being in this art mecca.  I'm still trying to figure out how.  In the meantime, I'm going to head to the kitchen and start getting ready for our traditional Thanksgiving feast on Saturday.  Stay tuned!!!