Easter at Our Place 2018 : Dinner and a Movie
Hello and welcome! Here’s a little look at Easter at our place, last weekend.
Our friend Andrea came over on the Sunday for dinner and a movie. That’s in keeping with what has become a friend-family tradition, in that this was the fourth year in a row we’ve spent this holiday together.
That’s pretty good, considering we’ve only known one another for five years. In fact, our fifth friendiversary is coming up next month.
(I love this picture taken about an hour before we first met. Aside from the fact that I look like a giant in my seat, I’m enchanted to see that Andrea’s back is in the picture. Little did I know that a new and cherished friendship was sitting right in front of me! You never know when your life is about to change, right?!)
Before I get to our visit, here’s a little look around at our seasonal decor …
↑ A new garland I crocheted on Good Friday, using vintage yarn. I have a DIY/pattern post coming up for that. ↑
↑ Two of four of my African Violet plants, sitting in thrift store finds.
That vintage mug which says “You Never Had it So Good, Maw” is one of the strangest things I’ve ever thrifted. I’ve searched online and there is little information except that it was made in the 50s by a company called “Westpac Japan”. There is a “Paw” one too, (which I don’t have) that says “Oh, Stop Griping, Paw”. Even stranger is that two different versions of each the Maw and Paw mugs were made.
I would love to know the reason they came to be and how one found itself going for 99cents at the Value Village in Toronto! (If you’d like to see more detailed photos of the mug, they are in this post.)↑
↑ Another African violet on the right, this one being my eldest of that species, at 21 years old. It has purple flowers. If you look closely you can see a bud ready to open. Now, as I type this, it has some lovely blooms. ↑
Update 2019 : For some unknown reason, this very old plant died this year. I regret not having propagated another one from a leaf cutting. It’s apparently easy to do. :(
↑ I like this “new but with a vintage look” candy dish I found at Michael’s a few years ago. ↑
↑ Here are some Ukranian Painted Easter Eggs, called “Pysanky”, which I bought last spring, directly from Ukraine via eBay, after seeing examples of this art-form at this exhibition of works by Dave Melnychuk. ↑
↑ The cute ballerina ornament my cousin Lisa and her little girl made for me at Christmas. ↑
↑ I’d originally bought those little roly-poly chicks for Eddie our cat, (they’re cat toys), but then kept them from him, as I didn’t want to see them get wrecked. Speaking of Eddie, last Easter was the last holiday we got to celebrate with him. He loved it when people came over and always hung out with us, letting everyone hold him if they wanted to. We continue to miss our much-loved furry friend every day. ↑
↑ These aren’t Easter related and hang on our wall all year long, however, I’ve tried to get decent shots of these framed vintage kitten prints to show you before, but they never turned out because of glare on the glass. The light was right when I got this picture, although, there is still some reflection. In person, these are in perfect vintage condition.
I got them from eBay, from three different sellers. The fact that they’re all in a similar frame, leads me to believe these must have been part of a mass produced series. I’m thinking 1940s? I continue to search, to see if there were any more in the set, but have yet to find another. ↑
↑ A couple of “Bead and Blow-mold” Easter garlands I made a few years ago, demonstrated in this post. ↑
↑ A collection of vintage Easter Greeting cards, displayed on a DIY display wall-hanging thing, shown in this post. How I love those charming graphics! ↑
↑ Put all your pastel coloured things together and presto, instant Easter decor! The only new-to-me piece here is the two-part rabbit dish, which I recently found at the thrift store.
I know I’ve said this before, but I truly intend to catch up on my “Thrift Store Finds” posts, and will include detailed shots on this rabbit and the figurine a few shots down. ↑
↑ The ceramic chick napkin rings are another thrifting find, shown in detail in this post. ↑
↑ The rabbit family figurine is also a recent thrift find that I’ll show in detail in an upcoming post. ↑
Nick and I laughed as we handed one another these bags, filled with almost identical Easter chocolates, which we both got, unbeknownst to the other, at the same place.
It was funny but not all that surprising, since the independent local chocolate maker, Soma, has a shop nearby on King Street West. I’ve been getting special occasion things for Nick there since I first went a little over a year ago, and we love their stuff. (There are photos taken inside the shop, in this post, if you’d like to see.)
His bag is decorated with a handmade tag that I keep using year after year. He doesn’t seem to realize it’s always the same one!
Now, onto dinner with Andrea …
↑ Ironing the linens was the last task on my list, before company arrived. Clearly it didn’t get done! ↑
We each provided a course, Andrea bringing the appetizer, Nick preparing the main, and me making dessert.
↑ The lady brought a stunning assortment of fixings for a Charcuterie Board. ↑
↑ This was served with some of Nick’s homemade Sourdough Rye Bread. He experimented with growing his own “starter”, which is called “catching wild yeast” — it’s alive, needs to be fed, and is used in bread-making instead of commercial yeast. Apparently, it’s quite an achievement to successfully get a culture going, but he has done it! So far, he has used some to make a pizza dough and a white sourdough loaf. This was his third try, made with whole wheat flour, rye flour and rye meal. It turned out perfectly! ↑
After our substantial snack, we watched the movie. We saw Brigsby Bear, which we all really enjoyed. It’s on Canadian Netflix.
↑ Our late dinner was “Vegetables and Turkey in a White Wine Sauce”, served in puff pastry “Vol au Vent”. Natural light had disappeared by then, so the final shots were taken by the light of the lamp. ↑
↑ I made Crème Brûlée for dessert. If you read my Valentine’s Day Post, you will have seen that Nick got me a small kitchen blow-torch, meant to be used to create the crunchy sugar topping of this dessert. This was why I chose to make it.
I made the custard the evening before, with an extra one for testing. So, it was then that we realized that, unfortunately, the torch was a dud. No worries though, as we were able to get a nice crunchy sugar topping by setting them under the broiler.
The torch has been returned to the store, with no problems. And now I have a gift certificate to use at Blue Banana in Kensington Market, a shop that I really like! ↑
And that wraps up Easter at our place for 2018. If you celebrate the holiday, I hope you had a good one.
Oh, hold on … before we part …
↑ Lunch the following day was an epic grilled cheese sandwich using leftovers from the charcuterie board. Yum!↑
Thank you kindly for reading,
xo loulou
