Category: Holiday

Gorgeous flowers from Alec, provided by local micro-florist Pickle Hill Parties, I think.

Kavi made the devilled eggs this year.

Chicken curry done, trifle done, lentil curry going, how many more dishes can I knock off tonight? Devilled potatoes, I think — that one, I’ve made so many times I can basically do it in my sleep.

Curries are usually better the second day, so nice to do them in advance. And then save the baking of scones and star bread for the morning, so they’re nice and fresh….

Goal — get to bed by 11, so I can get eight solid hours of sleep before getting up at 7 for phase two of party prep.

I had a clean kitchen four hours ago. There comes a point in every party prep when you look at the chaos you’ve generated and ask how you could possibly get to party-ready by tomorrow. And yet somehow, it all comes together in the end. How?

I don’t know. It’s a mystery.

Kavi has discovered that she loves devilled eggs. She got a couple during the party, but they went fast, and after the party was over, she and I were lying on the couch watching Gilmore Girls together, and she said, pathetically, that she really wanted devilled eggs, and we didn’t have any. Tragedy!

I said, well, it would only take about 5 minutes to make some, since we had some hard-boiled eggs left in the Easter bread, and Kavi looked at me with big pleading eyes, so I laughed and got off the couch and made her some devilled eggs.

(The ham was super-easy — it’s pre-cooked and sliced, so it’s just heat in the oven, then cut off slices and serve. I like this little trio of glass jars; I decanted three ham accompaniments into them, so easy.)

Easter crown bread was both easy and surprisingly impressive — Kavi was impressed, and one of the little kids asked me how I made it, and I got to say “Magic.” Very tasty slathered with Irish butter. The eggs were dyed raw, and they cook through while the bread is baking.

If you haven’t made yeasted bread before, it’s really not hard — my main note is that just to be aware that it takes 4-6 hours, so start it early enough. There’s very little actual hands-on cooking in there, and if you have a mixer with a dough hook, the mixing / kneading part is very easy.

As you can see in the last photo, my eggs tipped over a little while baking, but it was easy enough to lift and reset them. Do it right out of the oven if you need to; after the bread cools, the eggshells do adhere to them a bit.

Recipe here (I skipped her drizzle and sprinkles, mostly because I ran out of time, though the bread doesn’t need it for taste, and I pulled the strands a little longer so I could shape it into a crown): https://www.thepioneerwoman.com/…/easter-bread-recipe/