Easter 2x – Thank You Easter Bunny!

There are lots of reasons to love Easter.  On the religious calendar, it’s a biggie!

It’s the unofficial start of spring.

Its spokesperson is a bunny.

I love Easter for the food.

When I was in college, I celebrated many Easters at a friend’s house. Her entire extended family,  maybe 6,000 – 7,000 people, came too and they always had enough food to feed a million.

My friend’s house is where I learned about giant family celebrations. My extended family is spread across the country and even when we’re all together we can fit around the average dining room table. What we lack  in numbers we make up for in banter, humor and noise but my friend’s family had all the noise-makers plus staggering numbers. At Easter they filled up two floors of the house and overflowed into the backyard.

They had history, patterns, expectations and customs and were happy to teach me important life lessons about family and food.

I learned how to make garlic bread. (Do NOT slice the Italian bread horizontally and season the pieces individually before toasting. The experts will make fun of you). I discovered that what I grew up calling “spaghetti sauce” is actually called “gravy”. I learned that dinner is never over when you think it is because after the handmade ravioli and torta there will be chicken cutlets and ham and maybe roast beef and dessert and there’s no shame in taking a break from the food (as long as you come back) or unbuttoning your jeans at the table. Seasoned veterans wear pants with elastic waist bands.

And I learned about kissing.

The social, “hello” type of kiss that is. I grew up waving “hello” not kissing “hello”. The “hello” kiss was reserved for Grandmother level people who slipped me a twenty mid-embrace. So when I arrived at my first Easter with a deer-in-the-headlights, fight or flight sort of expression on my face as I looked at the receiving line waiting for me at the front door, my friend’s Brother-in-law gave me rules to live by: “When you eat, you kiss.”

If you know when you show up that you’re going to eat, you kiss on your way in and on the way out. If you stop by on an errand you don’t have to kiss – unless you decided to stay and have food and then you must kiss good-bye.

My first thought was that I may never eat again.

But I got used to it and now embrace the hello kiss in any combination (hello, goodbye, the kiss with a hug, the double cheek hello kiss). I love all of it. And I still love the giant, elastic waist band recommended, Easter meal. So this year, one meal and one restaurant wasn’t enough. We went for two of each.

Cookshop Traditional and Blood Orange Marg - Peeps are at it again

Colicchio Marg - Food Styling by Peeps

The first stop was the Tap Room at Colicchio & Sons. The space is beautiful. It’s modern and homey and the light filtering through the windows, and the floor to ceiling wine rack, warms the air. The doughnut holes with toffee sauce were so good we wanted to order more but couldn’t. The kitchen had closed to switch over from brunch to dinner and our server hadn’t come around to let us know and see if we wanted anything else.

On to the margarita. The Peeps liked it more than I did. To test @WarrenBobrow1’s recommendation, I asked to nix the triple sec. They substituted Cointreau and it made a BIG difference.  (They didn’t have Milagro – winner of the tequila poll).

With a closed kitchen and Peeps drinks, a decision was needed. And that decision was to head to Cookshop.

Cookshop is also a beautiful space. The light streams in through the western exposure and bounces off the yellow block walls. The room is full of plants and modern touches and all around is a pretty happy place. We tested out a Traditional Margarita and the Blood Orange-Habanero Margarita and we give them high marks. And Marcello, who was tending bar and is also the mixologist behind the menu is a pretty nice guy. (When you go, say Hi – you don’t have to kiss him – and tell him margagogo sent you.)

Cookshop delivered another important treat (besides the giant basket of candy sitting on the bar for anyone to take) they had french fries on the menu. For @mscharlies, finding these fries was like finding water in the desert. She’d given up fried food up for Lent and at Cookshop, in the moment, Lent was officially over.

I was smart enough to wear a dress and leggings on Sunday so my leggings expanded with my stomach and my dress hid the expansion.  I’m grateful I learned the art of a big meal early in life and grateful to my friend and her family for all they taught me.  And always and endlessly grateful for the double Easter meal.

Thank you Easter Bunny!

Oh, and the Peeps were out of control! More pics for people who like that sort of thing.

Courtesy of @mscharlies

Happy Easter!