Friday night our friend Shane, Jay and I hit Ranch Market after I got out of work. We had a delicious early dinner and did some quick Easter grocery shopping. For those of you who haven't been before, Ranch Market is basically a big grocery store that is targeted to the Hispanic population here in Phoenix. There is a huge restaurant inside, a bakery, a gigantic meat/seafood department, and more. The food was delicious, and the tour around the meat department was definitely an eye-opener! I couldn't resist taking a picture of this (which, by the way is yours for only $39.99!).
Saturday we had a double-lesson with our dance instructor before heading to Erika's 30th birthday party. Let's just say that you would never guess she's THAT old! :) It was a great time and nice to catch up with some friends we hadn't seen for a while.
We got home just in time for me to do this:
Sunday morning we got up early & headed to 8:30 mass. Admittedly, we haven't been in several weeks, so it felt really nice to get back there. It was nice going to the earlier one too as we had lots of time to clean the house and get dinner ready. Jay and I each seasoned a chicken (guess who's who's in the below picture). We also made rolls and Brussels Sprout Hash for sides. (Quick sidenote on the hash: May made this last time we went to Kansas City and Jay and I both really enjoyed it. We've made it twice since then and I can't help but share the recipe with everyone! Jeff and Tara don't like Brussels Sprouts but they even went for seconds!)
We even used my chicken to decant the wine! There is a restaurant in Burlington that serves wine this way and I just had to have my own. Here is how the tradition started, "The origin of the chicken pitcher dates back to the Renaissance period in the Republic of Florence. A Nobleman was saved from assassination from the sudden chattering of chickens in the courtyard. It is now Italian tradition to give a new chicken pitcher to a friend to protect them from danger."
We were so happy to have Jeff and Tara over to celebrate Easter. They brought absolutely delicious scalloped potatoes and a homemade cheesecake that were just incredible. I honestly could live off just those two dishes alone. My most favorite item they brought with them was this little munchkin:
Alistair was all dressed up and looking pretty handsome so we did a little photo shoot outside. Here is an action shot of the scenario. It's not easy to photograph a 5 month old but we got some really cute shots!
We had such a great time and are so happy to have such great friends to share these special times with.
We hope everyone had a very special Easter as well. It's times like these that we all are reminded that it's not about the things you have in life, it's about who you share them with.
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3 comments:
I have that same chicken decanter (from the same place, I believe), along with a couple I got in Italy!
Love the head in your picture. That's how the meat is in every grocery store here. It was a bit shocking at first to see whole pigs ready for roasting!
I'm so glad the chicken were served on Easter instead of the Cow's head...thank you for a great time
Hmmm... can you find recipes online for cow's head??? Do you put an apple in their mouth like you do for pigs? Yuck. Glad you had a good time with Tara, Jeff & Alistair.
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