I just noticed that WordPress is adding advertising into my content in links which are not mine. How to tell the difference is that my links have a dotted underline and the ad links are solid and dotted together. Not cool at all.
Last week I was blown-away flattered by my Hungarian friend Zsuzsa (Zsuzsa is in the kitchen) when she invited me to participate in a blogging event to post your Easter Menu! You can read about Zsuzsa’s Easter here; she grew up very close to where my Mom grew up in Budapest. It’s really just a round up of past post recipes and a little bit about your Easter memories. How could I say no? Thank you Zsuzsa, I would be honoured. Zsuzsa is taking part with the following Hungarian ladies: The author of this event, Éva from Takarekos Konyha (this blog is in Hungarian) and Elizabeth from Food and Thrift.
Growing up, Easter was always about bunnies for me. Yes, we went to church and all that but let’s be honest, it was about the bunnies! At eight years old, my very first pet bunny was an albino Dutch whom we called Boom Boom (he was called Boom Boom because he stomped his hind feet loudly). Sadly good old Boom Boom only lasted 3 years, but he made such an impression on me that I’ve only ever had bunnies as pets! I cried so much when he died that my Dad swore he would never let me have another pet because losing them made me too sad and he just couldn’t bear it. I was sixteen before I was permitted to have Boon, another albino Dutch but smaller than Boom Boom (no, we weren’t very imaginative with the names!). But I digress, back to Easter.
You already know that my Dad was a Puppeteer (and if you don’t, you can read about it here) and we had a family business with the puppet shows. Easter was a big time for us, these holidays meant that the malls, schools (note that this link is NOT mine) and some companies needed entertainment for their events and what’s not to like about a puppet show? So many of our Easters were on the road with the show. In fact, Boom Boom was first adopted because my Dad needed a live bunny for the show (he was the star, don’t worry, it was all very humane).
But Easter also had a serious side: FOOD! Chocolates, coloured eggs and of course, ham. I don’t have many of the recipes that we had at Easter but I’ve gathered a bunch I am going to have this weekend when we have JTs family for Easter Sunday lunch. I hope you enjoy them.
Hors D’œuvres were usually Deviled Eggs (here and here) and French Salad (Francia Saláta). I don’t have a post about Francia Saláta, but you can see Zsuzsa’s recipe here (my Mom never put potatoes in her version). I may do a new hors d’œuvres recipe I saw on my friend Lorraine’s blog of her recent trip to Amman, Jordan. It involves cheese and phyllo pastry, that’s all I can give you!
We usually had an Easter kalács (Zsuzsa made a gorgeous one here) but I’m making John’s Easter Cheese Bread instead.
We’ve decided to go nontraditional and have a beef tenderloin for lunch. This recipe is my favourite way to serve this special cut of meat.
I’m going to serve it with my traditional Celeriac Cauliflower Mash. And a wonderful lemony Asparagus from my friend Greg’s Rufus’ Guide.
And a little tangy German Purple Cabbage Slaw.
Now if you had any room for dessert, I’m going to make Charle’s Sweedish Apple Cake (from Five Euro Food), which totally looks like the perfect ending to a rich and heavy meal. It’s really just all apples and then there’s more apples. The only flour in this is the use of the breadcrumbs as the base, thickener and likely adds a little texture. I love that I can make it sugar free too, since I have a diabetic and a hypo-glycemic in the house — I like to make only one dessert that everyone can enjoy and not make the person feel odd that they have something else.
I may not be able to comment on your blogs for the next few days but I’ll definitely read up when I get back into civilization with internet. Thank you for reading my blog and leaving comments, you really, really make my day. Thank you to every one of the blogs I read, you provide me with the inspiration for my blog and it really wouldn’t be the same without you!
Happy Easter to All!
A very lovely easter dinner! Thanks for sharing this lovely post with us! 🙂
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Thanks Sophie, very kind of you to say even though it’s not even vegetarian.
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What talented parents, no wonder the daughter is so talented. Your parents look beautiful. So does your Easter Menu.
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Thanks so much Minnie, that is very kind of you to say.
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Hi Eva, that sucks about WordPress adding those links in. Must admit that I don’t see them though because I have an ad-blocker installed. What they call “useful, contextual advertising” I call obnoxious, pushy annoyances. It’s one thing to have a banner, but to trick readers into clicking links because they think it’s endorsed/written by you… that’s just not cool.
I do vaguely remember you mentioning your father being a puppeteer – how cool is that? I suppose there aren’t so many people with such a skill these days, thanks to the rise of ipads… sigh – killing the imagination of the youth of today :(.
Lovely looking menu – we had beef for lunch as well on Easter sunday. My father wanted to try my brining recipe so I was happy to oblige :D.
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Thanks Charles, the beef turned out exceptionally well, as did your lovely dessert which will go live on Thursday (I shuffled things around so I could post it sooner). I’m still going to try the brining recipe, but I’m off beef for a week or two trying to shed about 8 kg.
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Oh join the club… I don’t know how much I put on during this damn vacation but I know it’s a lot. It’s back to some hardcore dieting from Thursday 😦
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It’s tough not to, particularly when we all enjoy food so much. Good luck.
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Happy Easter Eva. What a delicious post! very yummy!!!!!
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Thank you kindly Katya. The luncheon was very well received, everyone seemed to enjoy the food very much.
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Losing a pet can be so hard…it sounds like Boom Boom really left a lasting mark in your heart… love that bunnies are your preferred pet and what an enriching experience spending Easters on the road as your father entertained… that’s such a great photo of your parents Eva. As for your menu, I think you’ve pretty much thought of everything and it looks so inviting too – love the purple cabbage slaw and am very intrigued by the Easter cheese bread. Will have to check that out. Happy Easter Eva!
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Thank you kindly Kelly, the dinner went off very well and everyone seemed to enjoy the meal. It’s always lovely to get the family together for a meal, even JT’s 89 year old father was able to join us (he even took a little nap before lunch so he wouldn’t fall asleep and miss a thing!).
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Boom Boom must have been one special bunny to have captured a life long affection for the small guys. Understandable enjoying rabbit as a food is out of the question. 🙂
Looks like a fab menu for today Eva.
Happy Easter to you and JT!
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Thanks Jed. I once thought I had eaten a bunny at an Italian wedding, nearly hurled; it turned out to be chicken thank goodness.
Hoppy Easter to you and Liz too!
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What a lovely meal you’ve got planned. I didn’t know your parents were puppeteers.. how awesome that must have been as a child! I made John’s bread last Easter.. and was toying with the idea of baking some again, it was just the best! Happy Easter to you and your loved ones, Eva! xx
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Hi Barbara, it was rather unique growing up and since both my parents were artistic, they certainly encouraged my path.
John’s bread is indeed wonderful and I encourage you to make it. Hope you had a wonderful Easter too.
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Well Eva, I have to comment on your parents, now we all know where you got your good looks from.
About the bunnies… We had bunnies too for a brief 2.5 years when we lived on Horse Lake in the Cariboo. But I don’t think you want to know what happened to our bunnies. They had nothing to do with Easter.
Thank you for writing up this traditional and yet innovative Easter Lunch menu! It is plain to see how we honour tradition and at the same time bring in change. You didn’t serve an Easter ham either, but then you had the eggs. I would love to see into the future, and watch how these customs will change and evolve with time.
Our Easter Sunday meal will be at a fabulous restaurant on the reserve this year. I have no idea what I will pick from the menu. Tonight we will have a ham steak and hard boiled eggs and egg bread and then pick up grandchild and go to Fiddler on the Roof live; we are season’s ticket holders to Western Canada Theatre Company productions. So it seems like you are the only one preparing an actual Easter feast on Sunday – to this I wish you luck and a totally wonderful weekend with your family! Happy Easter Friend!
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Thank you for your kind words Zsuzsa; just before they started dating in the late 50’s my Mom referred to my Dad as a szép fiju and she avoided dating him for quite some time until he broke her down! Lucky for my brother and I.
Your plans to go out sound wonderful. I would love to have a link to the restaurant, so I could drool over the menu. We have a relatively new restaurant close to home who’s executive chef is an aboriginal gentleman and he cooks with a lot of references to his own cuisine.
Happy Easter to you and your lovely family. Enjoy the live production with your grand child!
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Haha, your dad was a szep fiu? I love it!
We went to the Hoodoos at Sun Rivers – http://www.sunrivers.com/hoodoos/menu_hoodoos.html – and I must say we weren’t disappointed. This isn’t your average clubhouse. I am not sure who the chef is, but the food is always delicious and the service is excellent.
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Yes, indeed, that is what my mother called him! I’m glad you had a lovely meal.
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Happy Easter to you and your family!
I have to say your menu is unbelievable. The steak, makes me hungry just looking at it.
I hope you will post more photos after the big dinner!
Have a great Easter!
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Hi Tudor, thank you kindly. Yes that piece of beef is extremely tender and the sauce really makes it. It’s so difficult to take photos while we have company that I often choose not to do it, only to regret it the next day. But I hate serving cold food and usually that’s what happens.
Have a great Easter too, will you be going home to Romania for Easter?
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No, I’ll be here in England for Easter. Will have a nice meal with my colleagues from work and creme eggs. Not too many though. I’ve been losing so much weight in the past few months, I want to keep that going.
Well, pics or no pics, your recipes are amazing, if I could start a restaurant you would be my chef.
Seriously, you need to be on TV. Your recipes are so much better than what you get on TV.,
Just for fun, check out this British show, Come Dine with Me – http://www.channel4.com/programmes/come-dine-with-me/4od
I hope it works in Canada, if not maybe you can find it on Youtube. It’s very popular in UK, because they’re always crazy people on this show and they cook for one another and score each other. It can be hilarious sometimes.
Have a great Easter and hope you will check out my Mediterenean fish I made last week. I should post it next week.
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Thanks Tudor. Have you posted other recipes since the Superbowl? I only see that one. I look forward to your Mediterranean fish, sounds incredible.
Yes I’m familiar with that show, we have a similar one in Canada. One if my SILs neighbours went on the show and they took everything she said out of context and made her a real ‘B’ — it is TV after all. Anyway, I’m happiest in the kitchen cooking!
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Happy Easter to you too, Eva. I love your mother’s dress. She looks so glamorous. Your Easter menu sounds wonderful. I’m going non-traditional too and cooking pork belly. It’s traditional here not to eat meat at Easter – fish only! I asked my web hosting person about those links and she said she thinks I have a virus in my web browser so I have to delete it and then download the latest version and start again. I’ll give that a try xx
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Thank you so much Charlie, I have a love for polkadots too, and I’m sure it’s because of that dress!
The Easter menu will be executed for lunch tomorrow, I hope everyone will be very hungry as there is a lot of food!
The pork belly sounds great, I’ve never made that before but love to taste it in restaurants.
I’m thinking it may have been a virus too, because it was only at work and not on my home computer. I’m going to delete my browser on Monday and re install to see if it fixes that issue. I would really be annoyed if WordPress was so sneaky as to do that.
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Happy Easter Eva!! This looks like a fabulous menu and I recently made your and Zsuzsa’s Kremes. They were delicious 😀
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Thank you kindly Lorraine. I’m very flattered that you made the Krémes, I do hope you will blog about it, I’d love to see what you did with it. I am very happy that you enjoyed them.
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Now this is how you plan a holiday menu, with tasty dishes lovingly prepared. WIth your attention to detail and eye for presentation, Eva, your guests will be treated to a very special meal. I hope you all have a very happy Easter!
I’ve never noticed any of the ads, Eva, whether here or anywhere else. I wonder if they may be appearing because of the browser being used? I employ Google Chrome. I just accessed this post using Firefox and still no ad links. I don’t have Bing or I’d try it, too, for you.
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Thanks for checking John, I noticed it on Wednesday as I finished writing the post, I am wondering if it was wordpress trying out something new, or perhaps I had a bug in my browser. I noticed it at work, but not at home,
The holiday menu will be executed tomorrow, I’m hoping everyone will be very hungry as we have a lot of food. I wish you a very happy Easter too, John.
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Until I read your post I thought the photo was of Ingrid Bergman. What a great photo of your mom and dad! Deviled eggs and roast tenderloin. What more can you want after that?
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Thanks so much for dropping by Liuba, that’s very flattering of you to say, I wish my Mom was around to read it, she would be floored!
It sure is a feast that we’re having tomorrow, I hope it all goes well.
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That stinks about the sneaky links…ugh. But on the brighter side, I love your marvelous Easter menu. I went and pinned your beef tenderloin recipe to try another time. Your parents are both gorgeous!!! Such a fun photo of them. Happy, happy Easter, my friend!
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Thanks so much Liz, you are very kind. The beef is absolutely lovely and you should definitely make it with the sauce which in my opinion makes the meal. I have the roast resting in the fridge now.
Happy Easter to you and your lovely family.
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Happy Easter my friend, thank you for sharing your family history and beautiful menu 🙂
Cheers
CCU
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Thanks CCU, it was fun to travel down memory lane too!
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Eva, first of all: your parents were beautiful! Their profession has always seemed extremely difficult and almost impossible for me, so I’m in awe. Secondly, isn’t the world a tiny place? Zsuzsa growing up close to the place your mum lived… I often think about the small world here in Switzerland. It’s such a small country, but I sometimes meet people who are strangely related to my friends or friends’ friends…
Anyway, back to your wonderful Easter menu! My mum always served eggs with mayonnaise but either with salt and pepper or also with chives, so your deviled eggs remind me of my childhood parties… I used to it tons of eggs during Easter and no one told me off for this.
The purple cabbage salad looks beautiful too. I remember when you posted it… I wanted to prepare it and then forgot… Now that asparagus appears, I think I will put it off for next autumn! Happy Easter, Eva, and thank you for sharing with us your family memories.
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Thank you for your lovely words Sissi. Yes, puppeteering is a difficult profession because it is not consistent; my Dad also worked on a local television show called The Friendly Giant, he was often a guest puppeteer.
I loved your post of the buffet and I too love to entertain that way, particularly if you have more people than you have chairs for a sit down meal. Tomorrow we are serving our maximum diners at 8, for a sit down luncheon. It should be fun. Happy Easter to you too, hope you enjoy the day.
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I love the photo of your mom and dad! It’s so much fun to get a glimpse of your past Eva. I love that your bunny was Boom Boom. That’s what my kids call my dad. Mr. N named him that when he was one years old because my dad would carry him down the stairs with exaggerated steps saying “BOOM!” It has since stuck with all the grandkids. Your Easter line up looks fabulous. I can’t wait for deviled eggs!!!! By the way, there is a chance we may be in Toronto this summer. I’ll keep you posted. I would love to meet up with you! 🙂
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Thanks Kristy, what a great name for your Dad! I bet the kids just love saying it too!
We will welcome you with open arms, hope to see you in TO! Let me know by email and I will arrange to have Barb (Profiteroles and Ponytails) available for a visit too! Looking forward to it!
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How fun would that be! I’ll keep you posted. 🙂
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On the run here, but Eva I loved this post. Be back later today!
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Thanks Zsuzsa, looking forward to it.
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Happy Easter, Eva to you and JT. Your meal will be delicious…that is for sure. I have gone back on your other posts and this one and don’t see any links other than what should be there. There is nothing leading to advertising.
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Thanks for checking Karen. The advertising links jump around and they don’t happen on the same word all the time. I’m wondering if wordpress is trying something out. I know I don’t like it because it makes it appear that I am endorsing what the link is and I certainly have not. It happened on Charlie’s blog (Hotly Spiced in Australia) and she self hosts!
Thank you for your lovely words about our Easter feast for tomorrow.
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Your parents were puppeteers?! A tad bit very extremely jealous.
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Thanks Jen, it was a very entertaining childhood, for sure.
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I still need to make that slaw! Thanks for the shout out. Happy Easter. Looks like you’ll have a great one.
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Thanks Greg, we sure won’t be hungry that is for certain. Have a great Easter too.
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They all look very delicious. Happy Easter, Eva.
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Thanks Angie, so nice of you to comment. Happy Easter to you too!
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Lovely photo of you parents, you look like your Mom. Do you have any of your father’s puppet? I see where you get your creativity from.
Quite an Easter Sunday feast. Beef tenderloin instead of ham, great choice.
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Hi Norma, thank you for your lovely words about my parents. Yes, as a matter of fact I have all of them, but sadly because they are made of foam rubber, they are slowly disintegrating. I just don’t have the heart to throw them away. We used to have a Puppetry Museum in Ontario, but with lack of funding, they had to shut their doors several years ago.
My brother has three of my grandfathers’ puppets that have to be well over a hundred years old!
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I loved your Easter post and those photos made me smile or drool or both. I want to make Charles’ apple cake too. Beautiful meal!
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Thank you kindly Maureen, I know we will enjoy Charles’ cake, I haven’t yet been disappointed with one of his lovely Swedish desserts.
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I feel like I am right there with you Eva! I was swooning over that apple cake too. Can’t wait to hear more about it when we see you next week. Happy Easter!
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Thanks Barb, I made it Wednesday because we went away for the weekend, but I’m serving it tomorrow. Hope it held up well. Happy Easter to you too!
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It all sounds delicious Eva. They are wonderful pictures of your parents. Your Mothers arms are amazingly beautiful.It ia so lovely to have bloggiing friends, happy easter
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Thanks so much for your lovely words, Happy Easter to you too.
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Can I come to your house for Easter dinner? Looks Delicious!
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That’s cute Bam, it’s a long way to go just for one dinner, but sure! Happy Easter to you!
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