Saturday, April 19, 2014

Easter Gathering

My husband's family,
(my incredible in-laws)
have been gathering for Good Fridays for many years.
It started as a Spring Clean Up help day
for Mother - way back when
and we've continued to meet on that day ever since.

Somehow, Murray and Marilyn have taken on
the hosting of this yearly event
and they are the most gracious and hospitable hosts ever!

Marilyn prepares the feast of ham, sausage, scalloped potatoes,
buttered corn, veggie casserole and all the extras!
Not only that, she decorates the tables beautifully,
making us all feel so welcome and special.








Here she is carving the 
delicious, super tender, 
Easter Ham.










The table groaned with all the
wonderful salads and 
extras brought by
all who attended.
At least two trips to the table
were necessary
as our plates were not nearly
large enough for just one round!






It's always a blast with these two gorgeous ladies!


Following first course,
it's our tradition to travel to our hosts
beautiful home
for dessert.
We should have walked the 10 minute drive
after that meal
to make room for this deliciousness!



The desserts were amazing,
as usual
and this year there was a lot of
lemon flavoured goodness to 
taste!
There was banana cake with raspberry sauce,
lemon poppy seed cake,
lemon cupcakes,
graham wafer pie,
lemon cheesecake,
Judy's lemon magic custard cake
sugar cookies and more!!!







Check out these cute
"bacon and eggs" 
cookies made with pretzels,
white chocolate and 
yellow smarties.
Angela always brings these fun
and delicious treats.










My niece, Shannon, decorates
the sugar cookies to perfection.
Can you tell she's a wonderful artist?




The gathering is never complete
without a good game of Rook!!!
This usually lasts till midnight or some other
wee hour of the morning.

WE ARE TRULY BLESSED!



Till next time ...............  note to self - "get back to the gym" and "healthy eating" - eek!


11 comments:

  1. Your Easter celebration looked picture perfect. Those salads and desserts looked quite tempting, too! I think family gatherings (with good cooks) make the best holidays!

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  2. I wonder if your 'graham wafer" pie is what I call Flapper Pie? I've been looking for a recipe. Such an old-fashioned pie I thought surely some MGCC would have it.

    Sharon

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    Replies
    1. Hi Sharon - I do believe it is the same as Flapper Pie. I posted that recipe sometime ago. Here is the link:http://rhubarbandroses-rosella.blogspot.ca/2013/03/graham-wafer-pie.html
      Enjoy!

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  3. Oh that looks so lovely! It seems that large extended family gatherings are more rare for us and so it is so wonderful you can still enjoy it and celebrate Easter with such delicious food.

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  4. That sounds about perfect to me...your Good Friday gathering of the clan! Though I ate far too much myself over the holiday, I'm hungry again...just looking at all the yummy dishes over here. And eating with a good game of Rook is perfect as well!

    How did the lemon magic custard cake turn out?

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    Replies
    1. The cake turned out great!!! The farmer loved it and gobbled up the few left-over slices the next day. I adore lemon anything and this cake delivered! Thanks again for the recipe Judy!

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  5. What a feast! It all looks amazing, and sounds like it was a most wonderful day. Those bacon and egg cookies are adorable -- I'm going to pin them on my cookie board!

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  6. This looked like a lot of fun. You have me ooohing and awing over some wonderful recipes. What startles me the most is that you have no "Paska" Is that not part of your background? Or is that for Sunday.

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    Replies
    1. Hey Marg - good to hear from you. You must have survived your big day and weekend - can't wait to see some pictures!!! The Paska is not part of our tradition although I made some this year and yes, was saving it for Sunday. I gave my sisters each a loaf too and they loved it! We are still enjoying some with our morning coffees. I hope no one minds that I've "adopted" the Paska tradition into my Swiss Mennonite Easter food.

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  7. What a wonderful Good Friday tradition. The food looks amazing...I would have needed a long walk, too!
    PS...that bacon and egg treat is so cute! As are the decorated cookies!

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  8. Oh my... I had to enlarge to check things out more carefully. The food looks amazing!
    And so neat to such great hosts and to see everyone get involved.

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