anticipation

I have to confess I'm getting very excited about Easter. And one reason is the anticipation of cooking Easter dinner. OK- so you know by now that I'm a foodie, and you also know that I really like to cook. Well, I've been thinking about Easter dinner since the beginning of February. And the main reason is because of this wonder ham Erin cooked for us when we were back in OH in December. It was AMAZING! Since it's coated with brown sugar and molasses, I can't really justify sticking it in our regular weekday diet as it's not real consistent with the South Beach plan. However, Easter presents the perfect opportunity. It's an Alton Brown recipe, and seems pretty easy. It's going to be an early morning though as it takes 6 hours to cook... kinda reminds me of Thanksgiving. I might just have my own little Easter sunrise service. :)

I'm also planning on a prime rib, lemon caper mashed potatoes, and fresh green beans. I haven't made the lemon caper mashed potatoes since our family all went to Gatlinburg together for Thanksgiving several years ago. I've been thinking about those in the back of my head for a while. Potatoes aren't on the diet, and so I'm tedious in planning the ways in which I'll splurge at holidays - the mashed potatoes are at the top of my list. We're having a bunch of our friends over for dinner on Sunday, and I'm looking forward to their dishes as well. Hopefully we won't be too full for a little boccie ball afterwards outside.

I'm going to try to decorate some Easter eggs on Saturday morning. I haven't done that in quite a while, and seems like an appropriate year to pick it back up. It will be a fun new thing for Joe and I to do together.