Easter Celebration: Spring Table-scape & Menu

Over the weekend, we were blessed by having our son, daughter-in-law, their two munchkins, and a nephew as house-guests. 

 Yesterday for dinner, they were joined by a great grandfather, two great grandmothers, and a great aunt.  Getting ready for the party is always fun for me.  I enjoy cleaning the house, planning menus, purchasing the groceries, and making flower arrangements.  But, the flower arranging is my favorite preparation.

purple tulips and purple grape hyacinths (Muscaris amenicum)

I began by soaking the oasis in water with flower-perservative.  Then I cut two dozen purple tulips stems into seven inch lengths.  Next, I gathered several dozen of the tiny grape hyacinths from my garden, cutting them in five inch lengths.  I spaced the tulips in the oasis.  Then I filled in with the smaller flowers, and finally I added the tulip leaves.  The green and purple color scheme is one of my favorites.

My Easter menu was easy and could be used all spring and summer.  I began by serving crackers and cheese and a pear nectar with sparkling pear juice as an appetizer.  

At the table I first passed the whole wheat dinner rolls and the citrus and strawberry salad.  A short cut that eliminated the time consuming and tedious chore of segmenting the grapefruit was using canned but drained pink and white grapefruit sections. I also added a can of drained crushed pineapple.  Finally, I mixed in a pint of frozen (but defrosted) sweetened strawberries in their juice.  

  

The main course was a honey baked, spiral-cut ham, green beans, carrots, and scalloped potatoes. My shortcut for the scalloped potatoes is to use the packaged sliced potatoes sold for making home fries. The recipe is on the back of the package.

 

Dessert was simple--a purchased coconut cake topped with a scoop of pina colada sorbet.

The most memorable moments of the weekend were watching a three-year-old and a one-year-old hunt Easter eggs.  

Too quickly, the weekend was over and they had to drive away.  

Happy memories linger.