Easter Brunch

Happy Easter! Here is our Easter Brunch menu. I will post recipes later. I was really excited to do a multi-course brunch this year. There were a few minor and major disaster and one may say casualties. But, it was fun. I love saying that. That is what people always say when they do bad at something...."well, I had fun and that is all that matters." Ha. I seriously did have fun though. Until the hollandaise. Don't worry, I'll explain.

First course: Oatmeal raspberry scones and fruit smoothies.

Second course: Salmon cakes, with potato latkes and blanched asparagus ("with a hollandaise sauce")
Third Course: Monkey bread (and Monkey munch, not pictured)
The main disaster was the hollandaise sauce, which I knew was a bad idea from the beginning. I mean me making it for the first time and not knowing how to keep it until ready for use. It was fairly easy to make, but then I was working on something else and M came in and was like, "Shanon is your sauce supposed to stay smooth?" Yes. Definitely. Turns out, the eggs scrambled somehow while I was turned away. I am still unsure what happened because the heat was off. Since my peeps are so nice, they still poured the chunky hollandaise over their food and said it tasted good. I will show a picture later.

The other minor disaster was the latkes got a little dry sitting in the oven while I was trying to revive my hollandaise. But, they still tasted pretty good. I REALLY love these latkes. You have to try them.

I was a big fan of the monkey bread. And overall, I think the brunch went well. I really want to make the main dish again and see how it tastes because I think it has great potential. Scot is deathly afraid of hollandaise now because he saw what goes in it. I'm not afraid of butter. Or egg yolks. In large quantities.

V-day Dinner

We had a nice V-day dinner. We had:

Mixed Citrus Salad

Caramelized Onion Crostini

Shrimp Bisque

Chocolate Terrine with Creme Anglaise

The dessert was ok. The terrine is like solid chocolate, or fudge. It is SO chocolatey. I would say, it is for chocolate lovers. I like to label everyone I know as a chocolate lover or not. I am not one. Scot is the ultimate chocolate lover. If you are wondering if you are a chocolate lover, then you are not. Requirements to be considered a chocolate lover:

1. loves dark chocolate, the darker the better

2. often thinks dessert without chocolate, is not dessert (this is semi-optional)

3. when getting the choice of a dessert, 99% of the time, they choose the one with chocolate

4. craves chocolate, specifically chocolate, not just something sweet. for example they will frantically search the kitchen for any chocolate they might have forgotten about. this usually happens after dinner. and usually every night.

5. when eating chocolate, they get chocolate stuck in the corners of their mouth. (ok this one is just scot)

I wish I loved dark chocolate, because I feel like all the cool people appreciate dark chocolate. I just can't fake it. I love dark chocolate in things, but by itself, I just am not so into it. I do love milk chocolate and chocolate, in general. But, given the choice, I actually usually pick something without chocolate. I love like all the spiced stuff, cinnamon. I love fruit desserts. I LOVE vanilla.

I will say though, when I was little, I did think that if I had the choice between chocolate or vanilla, I really thought I had the choice between chocolate or plain. I always thought, why would anyone ever choose plain?!?!? Same with chocolate milk at school. Weirdos.

Ok, so...the terrine, was good. It is a chocolate lovers dessert. It goes great with the custardy creme anglaise. In fact, I probably couldn't eat it without the creme anglaise because it was too overwhelmly chocolate. Scot could, though. The custard didn't get as thick as I would have liked. The whole dessert needs to be made a day in advance. Which is why I chose it. It was a lot of whipping. Like, my arms were sore the next day. I am not going to post the recipe because I am too lazy. I made both recipes from the Joy of Cooking.

Anyways, here are some pics from Scot's race.

He did great. He did that for me. Since it was Valentine's day. So nice of him! But for real, he is having a good season.