While I was hanging out at
Dress for the Nines on Friday with Allison, I asked her is she was going home for Easter, and she said she wasn't. Her and her boyfriend, Rich, were just planning on hanging out, so she invited Joseph and I out for
brunch. I told her that would be fun, but I had to make sure that Joseph wasn't working. I got home and found out that Joseph did have to work! Shoot. I thought, "Why not have them over for dinner"?
So, on Saturday I sent her a text letting her know that Joseph did have to work but that we would love to have them over for an
Easter Dinner after he got off work. She said that would work, and then that night Joseph came home and said he didn't have to work Easter morning after all. So, we went to brunch and got the house ready for our guests.
On our way back home from our own little Easter Sunday Brunch, we found this pretty little flowers growing behind our building. While I cleaned up the living room and kitchen, Joseph ran to the grocery store for me and picked these flowers for the table. They were so sweet.
To no one's surprise, I had come up with an entire menu for the night. And since I had not entertained in quite a while, I was kind of rusty and
stressed especially because I'm not used to having to really look far for the ingredients and things that I need for recipes. Usually I could just drive up to Dahl's and know they would have what I needed or I could ask Carolyn for it. Not here, apparently they didn't even know what a honey ham was (long story & very frustrating). So I decided to have a couple of glasses of wine to calm my nerves while I prepared :)
For an
appetizer, I made these little Bite inspired crostini's. I lightly
broiled the baguette slices, spread goat cheese on them,
placed three little cherry tomatoes on top of the cheese, and
scooped a small amount of home-made pesto on top of the tomatoes.
The
main dish, was of course, an Easter Ham.
I looked and looked for a quartered Honey Ham
but could not find one, so I bought a half and made my own glaze. I served it with mashed garlic mashed potatoes and fresh steamed asparagus. As you can tell, with four people eating, we barely even made a dent in it. But it will make some great ham sandwiches for the next couple of days. I followed the Barefoot Contessa's
Orange Baked Ham recipe. It was fabulous and everyone LOVED it. I was so happy it turned out well.
For
dessert, I had my mind set on
Strawberry Tarts. I had never made them before but have
always wanted to. So earlier in the week, I stopped by
Williams-Sonoma and bought a six pack of miniature tart pans. I could not wait to make them. I thought about them all week. They turned out wonderfully. Allison and Rich were in shock that I had made everything from scratch. She said "I don't know that I will be able to compete with you, when we have you guys over for dinner". I was so flattered and ecstatic that everything turned out so well.
Unfortunately, we didn't even have a chance to take pictures of all four of us! The conversation (and wine) was just flowing. Overall, it was a great Easter, even though we really missed everyone back home. I wished we could have shared it with all of our friends & family.
I can't forget to mention that our lovely guests, brought us a bottle of wine and this beautiful Easter Lily. It smells great and makes us so happy that
Spring is finally here.
Joseph and I put together the "Easter Table" with random things we had around the house. Joseph hung the lights from the ceiling and we used his desk as a table. He hand-picked some wild flowers and placed his colored eggs around too.
Caitlin and Theresa brought this BIG cupcake thing. They told me that they had made it. I was super impressed, only to find out later that they had lied. They took it from a party that they had been to earlier... but I guess it was the thought that counted!
Shannon brought this home-made Strawberry Champagne cake. It was awesome, so moist.
