Easter - Celebrations, Decorations and Baking
I love holidays, I am one of those people who starts there Christmas shopping in January just because I love to celebrate things.
So after Christmas when it's those cold dark months of generally rain up here in the North I look forward to Easter and the time of year when everything starts to change and become new again.
This year Easter is early, so its still quite cold so my garden isn't looking its best. Since there's been so much rain and damp there's been no chance of tidying of planting so my Spring clean focused on the interior of my house. This involved paining everything!
Anyone who owns a dog especially a large one will feel my pain when it comes to white walls and light coloured carpets, they just aren't a great match. Now the weather is picking up just that little bit the amount of mud being trampled through the house and shaken on to walls has reduced, it was time for the paint brushes to come out of retirement and the white paint to be sloshed liberally about the walls.
That done I could raid my Easter Box of decorations, yes I am one of those people who has decorations for each celebration, just wait till Halloween!
This year my theme is suppose is Glitter Bunnies, I found these in a local supplier and fell in love so they are now adorning my mantle piece, table and stool.
My dining table has had it's Spring makeover and now has a nice light coloured cloth and runner with pale gold star decoration. I teamed this with a beautiful bowl of tulips and some Easter decorations
Once my decorations were up it was time to get baking! I love baking and cooking in general, it gives me a bit of a release sometimes when I've been writing a lot it's a nice way to distract and relax my brain.
We have Easter traditions in my family, we have to have paste eggs and Simnel Cake, we also only eat Fish on Good Friday.
Paste Eggs are really easy to make, all you need to do is save up the outer skins of any onions, the dry kind you generally throw away. I tend to save these up in the weeks leading up to Easter so I have a pan full. I then add water to the pan and submerge around half a dozen eggs at a time in to the water and skins. I then leave them on a low heat to boil for around 30 mins, then I remove and often do another two or three batches. The water and skins create a deep red natural dye so you don't need to change the water from batch to batch, if you don't think there's enough in the pan just add more water. This is what you'll get when they are done;
The next big bake is Simnel cake. This is very reminiscent of a traditional cake just made without the black treacle. Simnel cake is more or a light golden colour than Christmas cake. Once the cake batter is made I tend to use a smaller cake tin than I would at Christmas. Once baked I decorate with Marzipan.
So after Christmas when it's those cold dark months of generally rain up here in the North I look forward to Easter and the time of year when everything starts to change and become new again.
This year Easter is early, so its still quite cold so my garden isn't looking its best. Since there's been so much rain and damp there's been no chance of tidying of planting so my Spring clean focused on the interior of my house. This involved paining everything!
Anyone who owns a dog especially a large one will feel my pain when it comes to white walls and light coloured carpets, they just aren't a great match. Now the weather is picking up just that little bit the amount of mud being trampled through the house and shaken on to walls has reduced, it was time for the paint brushes to come out of retirement and the white paint to be sloshed liberally about the walls.
That done I could raid my Easter Box of decorations, yes I am one of those people who has decorations for each celebration, just wait till Halloween!
This year my theme is suppose is Glitter Bunnies, I found these in a local supplier and fell in love so they are now adorning my mantle piece, table and stool.
My dining table has had it's Spring makeover and now has a nice light coloured cloth and runner with pale gold star decoration. I teamed this with a beautiful bowl of tulips and some Easter decorations Once my decorations were up it was time to get baking! I love baking and cooking in general, it gives me a bit of a release sometimes when I've been writing a lot it's a nice way to distract and relax my brain.
We have Easter traditions in my family, we have to have paste eggs and Simnel Cake, we also only eat Fish on Good Friday.
Paste Eggs are really easy to make, all you need to do is save up the outer skins of any onions, the dry kind you generally throw away. I tend to save these up in the weeks leading up to Easter so I have a pan full. I then add water to the pan and submerge around half a dozen eggs at a time in to the water and skins. I then leave them on a low heat to boil for around 30 mins, then I remove and often do another two or three batches. The water and skins create a deep red natural dye so you don't need to change the water from batch to batch, if you don't think there's enough in the pan just add more water. This is what you'll get when they are done;
 |
| Paste Eggs |
Topping the cake is 11 round balls of marzipan, which represent the apostles, the marzipan is then toasted. I've also added a little basket of eggs in the middle.
Then lastly my favourite biscuits, I love these so much I could eat them all in one sitting! Almond thumb prints with a cherry on top;
And most importantly Hero met a new friend;
Happy Easter!
