Saturday Outtakes (Easter edition)

Yes, a Beanie Baby. From a Happy Meal. (No, not my Happy Meal.)

 

Happy Easter everyone! Despite having a bucket load of St. Paddy's Day decorations, I realized last week that I have a total of three (count 'em) Easter decorations. There's the two in the picture above, and then there's this gal:

Yes, she does totally lay bubble gum eggs. Apparently this plastic wind-up hen is as close as I'm going to come to real actual chicken ownerships, although I do have some plans to domesticate the neighborhood grouse this summer . . . . Just kidding. . . . Kind of . . . .

The bubble gum eggs will also be the closest we get to dyed eggs this year. Every year I think I'll dye some eggs (of course using some of those cool techniques that have been popping up on Pinterest lately), but then I remember that I'm not actually the biggest fan of dying eggs. It can be tedious and I'm just not artistic enough to create spectacular colored eggs. I'm sure we'd dye eggs if there were some littles around, but since there aren't, any eggs that will be consumed tomorrow will be fried.

I'm amused by this picture. I think I'll sell it to the MN tourism agency . . .

Andy's mom is up for the weekend to celebrate the holiday and last night we went over to the nearby campground for a picnic to soak up the beautiful spring weather we've been experiencing this week.

Today, I'm keeping busy in the kitchen, getting set for tomorrow's Easter dinner. So far, I have my pie shell baked and there's bread dough raising in a warm corner. This evening I'll mix up a batch of hot cross buns.  My parents are coming up tomorrow for dinner, so we're having a big ol' holiday celebration at the cabin this year.

2011's hot cross buns

Here's our Easter menu:

• Hot Cross Buns 
• Greek Salad
• Lamb and Green Beans (Arni me fasolakia)
• Yet-to-be-determined rice dish
• Lemon Meringue Pie 

Currently, Andy and his mom are out fixing up our two new raised bed gardens. There's something about Easter weekend that makes me want to shove my hands in the dirt in get gardening. Must be all the talk about renewal and rebirth associated with Easter.

However you celebrate the weekend, I hope you have a lovely one filled with the promise of spring. 
 

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The Lebkuchen Came!

On Monday I was sitting at the computer, working away, when I heard a knock at the door. I figured it must be the last Christmas present I'd ordered arrived, but when the FedEx lady handed over the box, it looked a little big for what I was expecting. I flipped over the box and found a pleasant surprise: lebkuchen from Paula over at Love is a Journey had arrived!

Lebkuchen is a traditional gingerbread-like cookie baked at Christmas time in Germany. When I opened the box, I found an assortment of charmingly packaged lebkuchen of all different shapes and size, which I tucked under the Christmas tree. 

"Hey what's this?" Andy asked, spying the assortment of goodies beneath the tree when he got home from work. He opened of the boxes. "Oh my gosh, did you see these?" he asked, his eyes growing wide. "HUGE chocolate cookies!"

Everything is so beautifully packaged that I'm hesitant to open anything. We are nibbling our way through the package of HUGE chocolate cookies and I have to admit that the package of Butterzeug (butter cookies) are nearly gone. (Hey, I like my butter.) I love holiday traditions, and I'm thrilled to be incorporating German Christmas traditions into Christmas 2010 at the cabin.

The closest I've ever come to being in Germany at Christmas is switching planes in Munich for a J-term trip to Italy back in 2006/07. But this isn't my first brush with lebkuchen. Back in high school, I worked on an online teen e-zine and one of my fellow editors lived in Germany. One Christmas, she sent all of the e-zine editors an assortment of German Christmas candies and included a small lebucken ornament in the parcel. There's been a piece of plasticized lebkuchen hanging on my Christmas trees for years!

While studying in Ireland in 2005, I had a chance to visit my fellow editor and experience Germany for a long weekend. Although this picture of snowy Heidelberg in the Rhine Valley was taken in March, this how I imagine a German Christmas: all snowy castles, brightly lit storefronts, lebkuchen and mulled wine. 

Thank you Paula for a taste of German Christmas. That first sweet bite of lebkuchen brought back equally sweet memories of Christmases and travels gone by.

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