Spring things at my house

We’ve been enjoying small symbols of spring at our house: an Easter supper, flowering branches, eggs everywhere — and a bottle of Zyrtec omnipresent on the counter. A peek inside:

I piled together this textured table setting for our Easter dinner for two: eggs, mini vintage terracotta, slubby linen and a sprig of green.

 

JaimeeRose_EasterPartyIdeas

Flowering branches and hydrangea on the buffet.

JaimeeRose_EasterPartyIdeas

My first attempt at deviled eggs, courtesy Martha Stewart. I hate eggs, but I love to make them.

JaimeeRose_EasterPartyIdeas

I don’t know if this pink quartz thing is supposed to be an egg, but I love it for Easter and all the days in March, April and May. It will soon be styled in a more appropriate and rough-edged setting.

JaimeeRose_EasterPartyIdeas

For supper, I tried to make a copycat Honey Baked Ham. It was good. But next time, I’m going to stand in line with the rest of the smart people.

 

 

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Greens with hazelnuts and shallot vinaigrette:

JaimeeRose_EasterPartyIdeas

Popovers hiding under woven beehives from Sweet Salvage, and Tyson in coral linen:

JaimeeRose_EasterPartyIdeas

A little marble birdbath from Antique Gatherings:

JaimeeRose_SpringDecor

And behold the most evil and caloric dish in the history of the casserole universe: Funeral Potatoes. In this little dish, there is a pint of sour cream, a half cup of butter, almost two cups of cheese. They’re called funeral potatoes because church ladies like to bring them to funeral luncheons. I think of them as potatoes that will hasten your funeral exponentially. Use this recipe. Add 1/2 tsp. salt.  Die happy.

JaimeeRose_EasterPartyIdeas

 

 

By |2013-04-02T07:41:20-07:00April 2nd, 2013|Parties|3 Comments

The Best Popovers Ever (with Neiman Marcus Strawberry Butter) for Easter

I get grumpy about Easter. In Arizona, it marks the end of all the nice weather. The days of sweat and suffering are on the way. Also, I’m expected to wear pastel clothing. I get grumpy about that, especially.

But homemade popovers with Neiman Marcus strawberry butter? This could mitigate the email I received from my mother specifying “spring-like Easter hues” for an 8 a.m. family photo on Saturday morning. Ugh.

I had huge, billowing popovers at the Arlington Club on a recent trip to New York City, and the entire table swooned. I need those for Easter, I thought, and oh, my, YES. For all future parties, brunches and breakfasts at home — YES.

JaimeeRose-BestPopovers-StrawberryButter

The strawberry butter is key. (I’ll take my butter in spring-like Easter hues, as long as my dress can be black.)

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You need a popover pan for proper puffed results. Mine was $20 at Williams-Sonoma.

JaimeeRose-BestPopovers-StrawberryButter

The kind people at The Bitten Word tried a few popover recipes, and pronounced this concotion from Martha Stewart’s Twitter feed supreme. I agree. (Omit the Gruyere cheese if you want to serve with strawberry butter.)

JaimeeRose-BestPopovers-StrawberryButter

Best Popovers Ever
From Martha Stewart’s Twitter Feed

Place popover pans in oven. Heat to 350 degrees.

Sift 4 cups + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour with 2 teaspoons salt.

Heat 4 cups of milk.

In a separate bowl, whisk 8 eggs.

Slowly add milk and flour, alternating and whisking until smooth.

Remove pans from oven. Spray the hot pans w/cooking spray. Fill each cup half full with batter and top with Gruyere cheese. (You’ll need 10 ounces cheese total — omit if serving strawberry butter.)

Bake 15 minutes. Turn pans, and bake 35 minutes more. Invert to remove.  Makes 22-24.

JaimeeRose-BestPopovers-StrawberryButter JaimeeRose-BestPopovers-StrawberryButter

These are best served warm, so try this: if you poke a hole in them immediately after they come out of the oven, the steam will escape and they won’t deflate. Just warm them when you want to serve.

For the strawberry butter — which is served with the popovers at Neiman Marcus restaurants, just mix one cup butter with 2/3 cup strawberry preserves and a pinch of salt. I used my homemade strawberry jam to devastating effect.

I recommend using a food processor to get the strawberries properly incorporated into the butter. I first tried mixing by hand but heard Shirley MacLaine in Steel Magnolias in my mind: “That looks like an autopsy.”

Indeed:

JaimeeRose-BestPopovers-StrawberryButter

This is better:

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The insides of the popovers are craggy and hollowed, perfectly structured to encourage rivulets of melting strawberry bliss.

JaimeeRose-BestPopovers-StrawberryButter

JaimeeRose-BestPopovers-StrawberryButter

Happy (grumpy) Easter.

P.S. Isn’t this the cutest (little black) Easter dress you’ve ever seen?

By |2013-03-29T08:10:53-07:00March 29th, 2013|Recipes|4 Comments

My Mom’s Easter decor

Her achievements in ingenuity continue:

 

For Easter lunch decor, my mom made a “nest” out of cats claw vines and Oasis, and filled it with hard-boiled eggs. She is the fount of all creativity — at least in our family.

More Easter scenes — tulips, chandeliers, and boys:

Cousins in matching outfits:

Also: there was a bunny, of course.

By |2011-04-28T02:53:29-07:00April 28th, 2011|Parties|1 Comment

Easter Chez Mom

My mother had us all over for Easter lunch. Won’t you come in?

The windows were open, the sun was bright, and she had cleverly raided her yard for decor. (My mother: the original source of all Rose family creativity.) On the front door: cat’s claw vines that she trimmed from the fence and wound into a wreath.

Flowering vines found their way into vases, and my Mom let them stay long and wild. Genius.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chocolate bunnies are totally deserving of elegant display (and totally cute). Go, Mom.

My Dad brought a carrot harvest from his garden, which we turned into decor. (And then ate — raw. His carrots tastelike soil and sun.)

Scarlett — my niece and favorite Easter egg, decorated the lawn in a white tutu and beret. (Her mother is brave.)

Very brave — the whole family dressed in white (and went home unscathed).

I wore black linen. I am boring. (But Ty in white linen? Yes, please.)

Baby Taylor, with eyes the color of the sky, and his Papa — my dad. I like a man with the gumption to wear pink.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Below: my Mom and Kenny. Everybody likes Kenny. (He was a basketball star in France, long before the days of Tony Parker, which my nephews are going to think is SUPER cool as soon as they figure it out.)

For lunch: sandwiches and salads. My mother — and her daughters — are devotees of pretty food.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were deviled eggs,yes, but my Mom made them look like hatching chicks. The kids were pleased (and me, too).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For dessert, a Pop Cake — a glory of my family and the ’80s. And my Easter gift to you is the oh-so-easy instructions, straight from the recipe box my mother got for her wedding.

Pop Cake

Bake a boxed white cake in a 9-by-13pan according to package instructions. Let cool one hour. Poke cake all over with a skewer. You want the holes to be about a centimeter apart. If you have a serving fork with large tines, use that to save time.

Dissolve one small package strawberry Jell-O in one cup of boiling water. Add one cup of strawberry soda, like Crush. Stir. Slowly pour mixture over cake, making sure to distribute evenly. Let sit at least two hours, or overnight.

To frost the cake (cake must be completely cool, so I do this at the very end): make a large package of vanilla pudding. Add two cups of Cool Whip. Spread over cake, and serve with fresh strawberries.

Happy spring.

By |2010-04-18T02:56:54-07:00April 18th, 2010|Parties|1 Comment

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