My Easter Celebration
Easter is such a fun holiday and mine was extra special because I got to share it with my daughter, Alexis, her beautiful children, Jude and Truman, and many of my friends.
This year, more than 50-guests joined me for Easter brunch at the farm. Nearly 20 of them were children who participated in my annual Easter egg hunt. The weather was cool and overcast, but brightened up just in time for the hunt, and the Easter Bunny also made an appearance to greet and delight the children. Afterwards, we all enjoyed a delicious feast prepared by me, and my friend, Chef Pierre Schaedelin, of PS Tailored Events.
Please enjoy these photographs of my wonderful spring celebration.
1 This is the beautiful Easter basket I received from Kevin - filled with lots of lovely lamb figurines and green and white decorated eggs.
4 This large table in my Brown Room seats 16. It was just one of several set for the occasion - each one decorated differently.
6 It looks so scrumptious, doesn't it? Actually, this is not a real chocolate bunny, this one is a plastic mold, but it will last much longer.
11 The eggs were dyed in bold, dark colors and light, pastels. Some eggs were marbleized, while others were embellished with gold leaf. All these eggs were laid by my beautiful chickens.
12 And, these four gilded eggs were the special "golden eggs" - prizes went to those who found them.
14 New York interior decorator and author, Jeffrey Bilhuber, and his son, Christoph, were among my guests.
15 This is the Nash, the grandson of my dear friend, Memrie Lewis. He loved playing with Peluche, and I am pretty sure Peluche loved playing with him too.
16 These are two of my neighbors, Marco Larsen and his young son, Dasch. Marco also helped plan my recent trip to Doha, Qatar. I will tell you more about that journey on tomorrow's blog. It was an amazing trip.
18 My annual Easter egg hunt was scheduled for 11am, and it was right at that time when the sun began to peek through the clouds. Here is the Easter Bunny leading the group to the hunt location.
19 It's really for the youngest guests, up to nine-years old, but everyone has a great time watching the kids find the eggs.
25 I pulled out all the platters we needed for Easter brunch, and placed them on the counter, so the food could be plated easily and quickly.
30 Pierre likes to peel the bottoms of the asparagus stalks and then tie the asparagus in bunches before blanching. We had delicious asparagus from Mister Spear in California. http://www.misterspear.com/index.php
32 A variety of horseradish sauces were provided for the kielbasa - we had beet horseradish, plain horseradish, and horseradish cream.
34 One of the first things Chef Pierre does is prepare all the vegetables. This is called "mise en place" - a French culinary phrase meaning "putting in place", as in set up. It is used in professional kitchens to refer to organizing and arranging the ingredients.
35 Here is a lovely collection of carrots. These vitamin-packed carrots come in red, yellow, purple, and of course, orange. You can also find them in white.
36 These are delicious, small, tender white turnips. They are root vegetables and members of the cabbage family - full of vitamin-C.
37 Pierre steamed the artichokes and removed the hairy chokes. They were then filled with poached eggs and frisee. These giant artichokes are also from Mister Spear.
38 We also served the artichoke hearts - most people love artichoke hearts. They are low in calories and a great source of dietary fiber and anti-oxidants.
39 I removed the tops of all these eggs. They were filled with scrambled eggs and red salmon caviar.
40 Pierre scrambled the eggs, and then piped them into the egg shells before topping with the delicious salmon roe.
42 My friend, Chef Pierre Schaedelin, has been helping me prepare wonderful meals for my family and friends for years. He has a catering business called PS Tailored Events. http://pstailoredevents.com
43 This ham was baked with a cognac and brown sugar glaze. It came from Pat LaFreida in New York City. http://www.lafrieda.com
44 This Benton's Smoky Mountain Country Ham was a gift from our friends at Blackberry Farm in Walland, Tennessee. https://shop.bentonscountryham.com http://www.blackberryfarm.com
46 We had grilled cheese sandwiches for the children in fun Easter shapes - eggs, carrots and bunnies. They were a huge hit!
52 My original recipe for this cheesecake called for ricotta cheese, but I replaced it with fresh sheep's milk farmers cheese from Blackberry Farm - utterly delicious. http://www.marthastewart.com/354099/ricotta-cheesecake
54 Because lunch was buffet style, I decided to push the islands in my kitchen together, so guests could walk around one big serving station instead of two.
55 A delicious fruit salad with pineapple, grapefruit and orange slices was served along with the other savory dishes.
57 The red salmon caviar is from Russ & Daughters in New York City. We also got sliced smoke salmon, sliced sable and smoked sliced sturgeon from Russ & Daughters - it is one of my favorite shops - I've been going there for years. http://www.russanddaughters.com
58 Pea and potato pierogi - a traditional favorite in my family. http://www.marthastewart.com/1144156/potato-and-pea-pierogi
59 The poached eggs with frisee and mache served in the hollow artichokes - they were so good. http://www.marthastewart.com/340956/easy-poached-eggs