By now, in normal times, Many Branches would be jumping with people. We usually have at least twenty and usually close to thirty. Today we have five with only four eating the Easter feast which is pizza. Yes, you read it right. Pizza. I decided to cook for people in crisis today rather than we who are not in crisis unless you count the pizza. I simply have to get out of here tomorrow I am really getting rather strange, and, the freezer and pantries have let me down. I can find nothing that I want to cook.
I usually start cooking and bringing out the finery a week ahead of a holiday celebration. Several tables are covered with antique linens and interesting old plates and combinations of colored glasses with matching flatware all in place, then covered until just before the guests arrive and the flowers need placing. Candy is scattered over the tables and little gifts to take home appear now and then. I line up the crockpot like soldiers appearing for duty. I then begin to make the soups and stews for the first meal of the day on this glorious day. I manage one or two canapes a day during that week as well. So around 11:00 the guests start arriving being greeted with flutes of Prosecco and we are off. After a couple of hours those items are taken away and the stage is set for a sit-down meal with at least two meats, several salads, and vegetables. Potatoes of many kinds take the stage as do deviled eggs and Pam and Chees' pies. I sometimes lose my mind and made a cheesecake or a trifle. We make plenty so there are left-overs to be taken home and enjoyed. After the second meal, things settle down with several tables of cards, and outdoor games, and chats under the pergola or the awning.
We never hurry. It is meant to be savored and enjoyed because one never knows how long we are to be given the pleasure of being together.
Beth making a liquor run for we old folks.
