Another Easter over...

So, umm, that was Easter.

As usual, I went up to NJ to visit the parents. Took off Thursday and left late morning, came back Monday.

As far as holidays go, I like Easter. It's in spring, which is always a great time of year - not too hot, not too cold. It was colder this year than most, thanks to it's early arrival, but still more pleasant than Thanksgiving or Christmas.

I also like that it's long enough to spend some time with the parents, but not too long - I love them dearly, but I find Christmas - where I usually spend a week-plus - gets kind of old after a while.

My mom, as usual, cooked up a storm - ham (because one of my uncles doesn't like lamb), lamb (because my dad doesn't like ham), kielbasa (because my mom is half Polish), plus tons of sides, Easter bread, and the like.

I did get drafted to do some cooking. My mom makes this dish every year that's just beans with butter and breadcrumbs. She's done it with yellow beans, but hasn't been able to find them of late, so she used green. Since her stirring abilities aren't what they used to be, and since stirring several pounds of beans is a lot, I had stirring duty:

I've bean cookin'

My other duty was the one that's perfect for a young, single bachelor like myself - turning meat brown using a George Foreman grill. Specifically, four packs of kielbasa:

ready to cook

cookin

cooked

And after all that cooking, time for some Easter Bread, from an Italian specialty shop that trucks it in from da bronx.

ahh, dinnertime!