Easter at the Romeo House

The day before Easter, we color Easter eggs to "help the Easter Bunny." On Easter morning, Nic and Sonny always get up early (even though encourage them to sleep in!) They get a poem from the "Easter Bunny" with clues about where their baskets are hidden. Some years the baskets are easy to find and sometimes REALLY hard. Last year, one basket was in the fireplace and the other was in the clothes dryer.

While they hunt for baskets, Dom and I make breakfast. We make breakfast so that the guys eat something other than chocolate before we head to Mass. If we are having dinner at home, we always have lamb. One year, Dom cooked a leg of lamb at our fireplace. He tied a string to the leg and let it "spin" in front of a blazing fire all day. It smelled SO good. It was like food TV; watching the lamb spin all day made everybody hungry. We can't do that every year because the weather is usually too warm.

I make deviled eggs with the Easter eggs. Dom and Nic don't like them so Sonny and I eat our fill. We hope the "Easter Bunny" was good to everyone! Happy Easter!

No Turkey for Easter

While Sonny and I color Easter eggs for tomorrow, Dom is headed to Costco to buy a lamb roast. Everyone is out of town so it will just be the four of us for Easter dinner this year. Traditionally, we have lamb on Easter maybe because when Dom was growing up he had Turkey for Thanksgiving, then for Christmas Day, and again for Easter. Now, bear in mind, he is NOT a die-hard turkey fan like some. (He doesn't like chicken either.) When he was about nine years old, Dom finally said to his Mom and Grandma, "You are not supposed to have turkey for Easter!" He remembers them both being stunned by his culinary commentary, but he was ready for their rebuttal with a set of goat horns that hung by the front door as proof of his claim. After lots of debate, they agreed to change the menu. That was his first taste of lamb. Needless to say, he liked it.

We have made lamb every year for Easter since having children. Including one year when it was cold enough outside to cook a leg of lamb in front of our fireplace. In fact, the first meal I ever cooked for Dom when we were dating was a lamb shoulder roasted simply in a pre-soaked clay pot with garlic, fresh rosemary and potatoes. Both good stories for another post...