IN YOUR EASTER BONNET

When I was a young 'un, I had to have my hair flattened down, my ears washed, a tie knotted around my neck in a shirt with a ridiculous collar and taken to church for Easter services.

Why on earth I was smiling through this torturous experience is something I surely don't know to this day.

I don't remember any chocolate bunnies in my youth though there may have been some.

After church finally got out (it was only an hour but in my Presbyterian church with its dour Scottish preacher it seemed to last forever), we came home to a baked ham dinner.

I still like baked ham.

If I ever had a chocolate bunny I haven't had one for many, many years.

But I spotted a real one in our backyard the other day.

I first saw him as I opened the blinds and pulled them back on the slider door in the living room.

I hurried around to my den and opened and slowly pulled the blinds back there and the dumb bunny just sat their, frozen, as I got my camera and took several shots.

Lori Down the Street, hates the bunnies because they eat her plants.

We have only a few herbs in a pot and I don't think the bunnies have found them.

Or they don't like them.

Anyway, I enjoy seeing the bunnies.

And none of them are missing their ears or their butts.

Though I've always thought that they seem about as smart as the damnable mourning doves that hang around, wooing and cooing.

Speaking of which, I wonder how many of you remember the Singing Cowboy, Gene Autry.

NOT TO BE DENIED

After the phenomenal success of her dessert,



SWMBO graciously came into my hole den yesterday morning and requested that I make a loaf of my legendary whole wheat bread.

Knowing, as I do, that the bread machine does 95% of the work, I immediately agreed.

Those dark spots are not rot.

They are dried Craisins (cranberry raisins).

They still migrate to the bottom of the loaf but they're a tasty addition to the bread.

And nothing tastes better than homemade bread, right?

That's what SWMBO would tell you as she saws off the domed top, dabs it with margarine and digs in to the still hot product.

Personal goof: it is a day later now and I just realized I haven't even tasted it yet!

FOODIE ALERT!

When Tom and Lana were here Tom said "I don't know why you don't weigh 300 pounds with all the good food that comes out of your kitchen."

Well, yeah, I can understand that.  Or not.

Anyway, Judy has been back at it again baking a dessert that I found a recipe for in the New York Times.

(I love their food writing though SWMBO has been skeptical of some of their recipes.)

But she decided to try this one after the recipe had been lying around for a month or so.

It's called Lemon-Almond Butter Cake and Regina Schrambling offered a recipe she had adapted from one by Jody Adams, who runs restaurant Rialto in Boston.

SWMBO adapted the recipe further by using pre-made lemon curd from Trader Joe's.

Once she had everything mixed and ready to go into a spring-form pan, she called me in to ask my advice.

The mixture was quite thick and she wondered if she should add some half-and-half to lighten it up a bit.

I saw where the recipe said "scrape the dough into the pan" and said "No, I think it's all right the way it is."

While it was baking she expressed a bit of doubt because the daubs of curd topping the crust seemed to run into the center but I looked up pictures of it on the web and they all looked sort of like that.

So she took it out.

She said it didn't rise very much but later when we tried it, the unanimous opinion was something like "OMG! That's wonderful!"

So here is a link to the recipe.

And here is our finished product.

Under that crisp crust is an almost fudgy interior, rich with lemon flavor.

Thank you Jody. Thank you Regina. Thank you Judy.

It was exquisite!

FRIDAY FUNNIES

TGITFF!

Visitors, a landmark birthday, eating out, more activity than in a thousand years.

Frankly, we're wasted.

So (in case you didn't figure it out) Thank God It's The Friday Funnies!

That was just to make sure you were paying attention.

All right, that's enough hilarity for one Friday.

A special thank you to all of my contributors.

Hey, Gentle Readers, here's my wish for the day.

Have a stupendous weekend of resting up, don't forget to tell us about it and always remember to keep laughing.

Here, kitty-kitty.

(oh, no . . .)

THROWBACK THURSDAY

One way to get rid of some of the past.

Peddler's Pass swap meet back when we were still driving the Blue Streak - a 1986-1/2 Volkswagen Quantum station wagon.

That car lasted us a good many years, through Mexico and back, before it gave up the ghost and was towed away.

I'm beginning to wonder when I'll be towed away.

A New Header

I really liked this photo by my friend Tom Cochrun and thought I'd share it for awhile.

THE SOCIAL RUMBLE

I knew a guy once who used to say "the social rumble isn't restful."

Turns out he was slightly misquoting the originator of that aphorism, Mr. Satchel Paige, who actually said "the social ramble ain't restful."

We've just had a social rumble or ramble that only lasted about a day and a half but, for whatever reason, we were worn out when it ended.

It was fantastic to see longtime friends and we took it pretty easy, just sitting and talking the first afternoon and evening (along with prodigious eating and accompanying sipping.)

And the next full day was spent in an easy auto journey and a picnic (and some sipping) and dinner in a restaurant (and some more sipping.)

Now, Gentle Readers, you might think that we were drinking a lot.

Facts are that while we were consistently hydrated, we didn't consume like we might have in the good old rock and roll days.

No, I don't think any of suffered from any "hard rock" or "rolling stone" hangovers during the visit.

And it was kind of tough to say goodbye as we lingered outside their hotel, recalling just one more story from days gone by.

But it has taken both of us about a full day to get over the lethargy and tiredness that prompted some long naps and early bedtimes.

But, after all, these are the days of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

As the first part of the wise Mr. Paige's quote advises: "Go very light on the vices, such as carrying on in society."

Probably good advice at any age.