“Forget love … I’d rather fall in chocolate!” – Anonymous

Lovely ones,

Well, I think the above quote sums up the last few days. WAY TOO much chocolate for all concerned but equally, so delicious. Easter generally brings chocolate in all forms and this year did not disappoint.

We had the traditional Easter Egg hunt with lots of children – ranging in ages from 1 to 14. And how lovely it was. And also, a reminder of the uncomplicated joy of looking (and hopefully finding) chocolate hidden in a garden. Simple pleasures.

Easter lunch was a semi-grand affair with breads and roasted meats, salads and of course desserts.

I made an Easter Cheesecake (a bit made up) but it was fab and looked so, well, “Easterly” (I know that isn’t a word that relates to Easter!). I’ve put the recipe on the website.

A few weeks earlier, we had a large family celebration with family and friends. All 45 of us. Yep, 45……. It was a marathon day but worth it to celebrate one of our own.

And helping on the day was someone who is increasingly becoming a family friend. She helped all day. She didn’t stop. And yet with all of this “giving” she still underestimated her ability to help and to impart her skills. And it reminded me of the Walt Whitman poem where he says:

“I am larger, better than I thought,
I did not know I held so much goodness.”

Hold those words with you this week.

My maternal Aunt is a great cook. She too underestimates herself (!) but she is fab and I adore her. She makes a “mean” afternoon tea with all the classics – think scones, cakes, egg sandwiches. You know, all the old faves.
So, I’ve added that old classic – passionfruit sponge – to the recipe listing. The world just seems a bit nicer when there is cake, cream and icing sugar, don’t you think?

And here’s another thing that makes the world better. Eggplant. Yep, eggplant. I LOVE it.
And my spiced Eggplant recipe is on continuous rotation. Whether as part of a Middle Eastern menu or to have with roast lamb or just to put on top of toasted baguette or crackers as a pre-dinner canape. I’ve added the recipe to the site.

What I’m listening to at the moment:

Then It All Goes Away by Dayglow

Out of My League by Fitz and The Tantrums (don’t you just love their name!!)

Playground Love by that fantastic French duo, Air. Actually, I’m (re) listening to everything by Air, to be honest.

And although I love cooking too much to do this, I love this cartoon. We’ve all been there, right?

Until next time,
Diana X