Easter ... oh yeah!

See this guy:You don't know it, but you really wish he lived next door to you (Oprah shirt not withstanding).

This guy has SKILLZ! Mad skills, yo.

By trade, he's a distiller and brewer. He brews kick-ass beer, cider, brandy and vodka.

But he cooks, too.

Davy and Jenn hosted Easter dinner yesterday afternoon.

We all brought side dishes: three kinds of potatoes, delicious ginger beans (I wish I'd gotten some of those before they went home), green bean casserole, asparagus and pea salad, these fab cheese and bacon ymmies on pumpernickel bread delights, cheesecake, strawberry torte ....

All of them were amazingly good. But Davy made the meat ... and not just a ham (aka sam - as coined by 4-year-old Kate), but he also smoked salmon (yeah, smoked it himself) and he made prime rib — probably the best prime rib I've ever had (I mean, who actually makes prime rib? Davy, that's who).

I could go on and on about how absolutely fabulous the food was. I ate until I couldn't eat anymore, then I got caught eating off the serving dishes — I just wanted a little taste!

So dinner was probably one of the best meals I've eaten — definitely the best since Thanksgiving when Markel and Special K made THREE different kinds of turkey.

Man, I have the best friends and the fact that they cook means I'm the luckiest girl around.

But there was more to Easter than the sumptuous meal.

The day started with Margaret and Kate scouring our yards for plastic eggs filled with candy (and I do mean filled. The Easter bunny had lots of candy for the girls this year).


Here's Mar after the hunt. See, I said the Easter bunny was generous this year.
This is Bill with Richie's bundle, Soren. She was nice enough to bring him to our work's Easter egg hunt which was held on Saturday.

Richie eventually had to wrestle Bill to the ground to get her kid back. Bill loves himself some baby.
Another co-worker was kind enough to bring a basket full of baby chicks (isn't that redundant ... I mean, chicks are by definition, babies) and goslings (which I insisted on called ducks for a long time).
As much as I'd like to have family to celebrate the holidays with, we have filled the gap with some really wonderful friends. How lucky am I?