Easter Parade

My favorite things about Easter are 1.) Family Time 2.) Excuse to buy chocolate for the "kids" & 3.) The opportunity to create a memorable meal. I don't normally have a lot of time to make a meal that takes more than thirty minutes, so a holiday, when I am off for the day, is a perfect time to peruse my cookbook library(it IS a library) and spend time creating something my family will love! Yesterday, it was Pastitsio, a Greek Lasagna with two layers of pasta, a layer of spiced meat(I used lamb and lean angus beef with cinnamon, allspice and cloves), and a rich creamy bechamel sauce. Thanks to my Twitter friend, Kalofagas, whose blog I also subscribe to, for the wonderful bechamel sauce recipe, it turned out perfectly! In the past, my bechamel sauce would not "fluff" properly and I couldn't figure out why. Then, with my Peachtree Inn cookbook, by Cynthia Collins Pendregon of Fredericksburg, TX, I made a lovely Black Raspberry Cobbler. We picked the black raspberries last summer and they were so sublime, the kids and DH loved the cobbler, some had seconds!

Although this is not what many would call "art," I feel that cooking is an art...you are creating a memory of family and occasion, which will stay with all partakers for years, if not forever. I have many memories that are tied to food, and sometimes, in a restaurant, at a friend's house or just walking down a street, I will get a "whiff" of something that pulls out a long ago memory, appearing with feelings and all, like magic. Food is art, the kind you get to see, smell, taste and literally take in, be a part of, I love it!