Rating: 💋 💋 💋
When I was little, it was very easy for me to love Easter. The church was covered in yellow decorations, my favorite color, and pretty flowers adorned every surface. My mom always dressed my sisters and I up in pretty dresses with frilly white socks and snappy shoes, and I thought that was so fun. Everyone was happy because Easter is the greatest day in the Catholic calendar. Plus, the holiday came with arts and crafts - egg coloring, games - the Easter egg hunt at Granmom's house, a party with my whole family, and what I took as a mandatory order to eat as much chocolate candy as possible. Not to mention, Easter is basically bunny day, and bunnies were and still are my favorite animal. I live for the day I get to adopt my very own super fluffy brown bunny, whom I have already named Rufus. It will be the best.
As I got older, I did not grow out of Easter. I loved the brunch. I have a vivid memory of the monkey bread my Aunt Mary would make, and how difficult it was for me to stop eating it. Its sticky cinnamon deliciousness was just so tempting. I loved taking my little cousins on walks around the neighborhood while the egg hunt was set up, and then running around with them in pursuit of eggs hidden up in trees, inside the mailbox, within the notches of my uncle's car wheels, etc. Then we would go home and eat a delicious dinner that always included some variation of rack of lamb. Easter was fun and simple.
When my parents asked back in early March if my siblings and I would come home for Easter this year, I said I did not know. I would love to, but I would have to see if my work schedule would allow for the travel. Within weeks, the question became a moot point. Nobody was traveling anywhere. Shannon and I were left to our own devices, and needed to find a way to keep the day special.
Shannon's penchant for baking is certainly no loss for me. She recently made a chocolate chip cinnamon coffee cake, and we finished it off for our own little Easter brunch. The coffee cake is, in a word, superb. I give it five stars. There are zero complaints. I enjoyed it immensely. The cake is perfectly spongey and thick, poured into two layers with a lovely strip of sweet cinnamon sugar in the middle. The chocolate chips on top are added in oh so delicately, so they do not overtake the cake but add a lovely chocolate taste that melts into the cinnamon sugar topping gorgeously. Enjoyed with a cup of Boston Mint Tea sweetened with Golden Blossom Honey, I am in heaven.
Above you'll see the baker herself, pictured with the knock-off Jenga my mom mailed to us. We are very excited to play.
I could not go to mass on Easter, but I did stream my childhood parish's mass. It was comforting to hear the same old organ playing the same hymns we have been singing since 2000, our first Easter in the parish. I had never spent Easter away from my family before, and had never missed an Easter mass. As our priests went through the service, I found myself thinking of how my siblings and I always squeezed each other's hands so tight they nearly lost circulation during the Our Father, or how the girls I went to high school with had a tradition of hugging rather than shaking hands during Peace. I love those things. I have to admit that I have been out of sorts recently, with a lot weighing on me and nowhere to go to distract myself from it. It was very helpful and a little bit more special to hear the Easter message this year.
In the afternoon, having discovered we had polished off the coffee cake, Shannon baked a batch of brownies. She is a baker on a mission! Life is so difficult for me, having to taste-test all her new concoctions. We spent a very lovely afternoon reading on the couch while the intoxicating smell of fudge permeated our apartment.
We are getting through social distancing as best we can. I purchased a case of wine a little bit ago and it arrived on my doorstep last Wednesday. Oh, the thrill! I will review them all for you as I go through them. I am looking forward to having twelve bottles worth of content to tag along to my posts for the next few months.
I started my first bottle on Holy Saturday, for the Houseparty Happy Hour I had with Shannon and my parents. To start off, I chose a Brothers Miller Chardonnay from 2018, and it was a very good start! I ordered the case through a Naked Wines coupon I got with my first HelloFresh order. Naked Wines sources wines from independent vintners, whom I am very happy to support. This first bottle came from Santa Barbara, California.
I do not usually drink Chardonnay, so I was not so sure going into it, but the wine was absolutely delicious! As soon as the cork popped out, a deliciously fruity aroma wafted out of the bottle. The aroma was true to taste - with hints of apple and nutmeg, this Chardonnay was super flavorful with just the right amount of acidity so it did not get overly sweet. Also, I was very charmed by the 'Drink Me' cork, and have saved it for I don't know what purpose. Great packaging and a sense of humor really get me. I enjoyed my glass while chatting with my parents, playing Trivia and Draw It and a terribly unsuccessful round of Heads Up! I think we can all agree that Chips and Guac was the crowd favorite.
For Easter Sunday, Shannon shared one of the bottles of wine she received with her wine case order: a sparkling rose that seemed perfect for the holiday. I am very grateful for her sharing, and will be splitting whichever one of my bottles she chooses down the line, so as to return the favor. The sparkling rose, an Eponina straight from California, was perfectly frothy. It looked very festive in the glasses Rebecca gave me as a housewarming gift when we moved in back in July. The wine was not too sweet, with a light, refreshing flavor. The little bit of bubbly made it taste like a celebration.
We could not make a rack of lamb for Easter Dinner, but we still did our best to make the meal a little bit fancy for our celebration. How do two ladies trapped in Brooklyn ball on a budget for a holiday? They order takeout, obviously.
We ordered from Istanbul Park, a mediterranean restaurant that Grubhub is constantly bragging to me about via email. Why not see if it was worth the hype? It was indeed. As soon as we got our order, the delicious scent of our dinners made us sure we were on the right track. One of the most exciting skills I have gained at my new job is learning how to flip take-out onto nice plates, so everything looks pretty when we serve lunch to our clients. On Easter, I got to be my own client. It was fun showing Shannon how to do it, pulling the takeout lid away to see my dinner smiling back up at me, neat and presentable on the plate, rather than just shoveled out into a mess. I ordered the Kofte Kebab platter, which included ground lamb mixed with bread, onion, parsley, and garlic. This was my first time eating meat in over forty days, and the iron in my blood was ready to give a standing ovation. A complete protein at last! The lamb patties were mouthwateringly juicy, and smoky like a beach shack cheeseburger. The tzaziki and hot sauce mixed perfectly into the meat and rice, while livening up the salad. Refreshing tomato, lettuce, red cabbage, red onion, and carrot slivers added a nice crisp texture to the dish. I loved the chickpea rice it was all served a top. The rice had a buttery texture, I believe due to being cooked in a garlicky broth. The Turkish bread - the size of Shannon's face! - was such a fun surprise too. It was not mentioned on our order, so it was like its own little Easter gift. With all the food on my plate, I could only take a taste of the bread, but it was good and properly chewy. I saved it to brighten up another dinner down the line. The whole thing reminded me of a slightly fancier version of the chicken/lamb over rice we used to get from the bodegas back in college, which was a fun memory of the Bronx to have.
After over a month of being vegetarian, digesting the lamb was a bit uncomfortable for me, but I was not going to say no to those brownies Shannon made. I'm not crazy! I picked a beautiful brownie at the top of the bunch, with lovely waves of chocolate chips covering the top. One bite and I was transported back to the shore, a child eating brownies at the family party we would have when everyone rented beach houses and stayed down the shore for a week. The only thing missing was a glass of lemonade - but wait, there was sparkling rose. Even better. The brownies had a caky, deliciously chewy texture and the fudge was rich and dark. A superb job done on the part of the baker!
We enjoyed dessert while watching NBC's Jesus Christ, Superstar. I had never seen the show before, so I had nothing to compare it to, but it seemed pretty good to me. Chrissy Teigen and John Legend are one of my favorite Hollywood couples, along with Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, so I was excited to see John's performance. I thought Judas really stole the show, and we loved how they gave Alice Cooper the carny-est song. Also, I had to sing 'I Don't Know How to Love Him' for a voice concert back in high school, and I had totally forgotten about it until Sara Bareilles started singing. It was a fun little nostalgia, similar to how I felt when Maura and I watched The Perks of Being A Wallflower on Netflix Party last week. Actually, watching Perks made me feel like I got punched in the face with every emotion I ever felt in high school, all at once, but, like, in a needed way. I am honestly not sure if nostalgia is a good or bad thing to be feeling when you're on lockdown, but I think there is no reason to be upset if the memory has notes of happiness. Anyway.
I am not what you would call a homebody. While I like a good moment to myself to recharge as much as the next person, I would not consider isolation my happy place. At all. Still, it has to be done, so I am getting through and finding bright moments along the way. I am having a really great time incorporating dance routines from the Fitness Marshall into my workout three times a week - he is hilarious! Plus, I filmed a bunch of ad videos last week, which made my first paid acting gig ever. That was pretty exciting for me. It's a start! And when all else fails, I get lost deep in YouTube videos of bunnies hopping around. They are so precious. I'm not saying I cry tears of joy every time I see a bunny rabbit the way that Kristen Bell does whenever she sees a sloth...but I don't know. I'm not far off. I just see them and my heart feels like it is going to explode with joy. Ask Shannon for a more accurate description of my bunny breakdowns.
Love always!
XX,
MK
how could you not love this fluffer's cute little face omggggg 🥺🥰😍
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