Easter is my favorite.

I love it. I love the colors, I love the smell, I love the hope that seems to permeate from every living thing. I love the promise of new life. I will never, ever tire of this holiday or this season and it will always, always be my favorite.

This Easter I packed up the dog and headed down to be with my family in Virginia. I honestly don't remember the last time I spent Easter with them. I usually host a brunch gathering with friends and some of my best memories to this day are of endlessly flowing mimosas, brightly colored eggs, hidden Easter baskets in dryers for kiddos, daffodils and jelly beans, all spent with friends that are like family on each Easter holiday. I have been lucky that most every Easter in my memory has showcased a bright blue sky, and that some of the more recent ones have always ended with a walk along the beach.

Last year I went kinda/sorta crazy (hello grad school...who would've though I would've had more time then than I do now?). These things were freaking adorable though.

This year was different. Things have changed in my family and while we once sat together as a family of six, there were only three to share lunch together recently. My mom, my unbelievably gracious and hospitable mom, invited over some friends who didn't have family close, resulting in a mix of unfamiliar souls gathered around the table sharing food together.

I, of course, like any excuse to cook for a crowd so I threw together a menu of filet, arugula salad with goat cheese and pomegranate seeds, orange glazed carrots with candied pecans and parsley, corn pudding, and my favorite---fresh english peas with sugar snaps and pea shoots in a light cream sauce topped with bacon. So good. So, so good.

Carrots and peas were my favorite, hands down. I got the idea from these recipes. Carrots Peas

These carrots were from the frozen section at Trader Joe's. So awesome, since it can sometime be hard to find yellow carrots. 

For dessert I made this lemon curd trifle which was also good.

It was a special, slow day which I finished off by reading Catching Fire. But I missed my friends. You all know who you are, as we have spent many Easter's together, and my oh my how we have changed and grown and our lives have gotten busy and we've moved to different coasts and some of us have actual careers and we almost all have debt. And now some of us are getting married and others are finding gray hairs (cough, cough, me), and others are picking up and just grabbing life and trying to move it and shake it and get as much out of it as possible while some are struggling to just get through the days.  But friends, my gosh they run deep in my blood, and although I lack so much in the communication department and I let my busyness take over and put friendships on the back burner for so many reasons, I was reminded how much they count this Easter. 

So to all of those who I have raised a glass with over the past years on each Easter day, whether in Santa Barbara or New York--hopefully we can gather around a table and hide easter baskets in dryers and sip mimosas one day soon. And to my mom and sister--you guys made the day great. I am so lucky.

xo