Easter Recap + Lonesome Evening Plans

Well, hello there! Easter is now days past and I don't know what I've been doing with myself all week that I'm just now getting around to posting a few pictures. Time flies when you're ... unemployed and listless? Hmmm, I don't think that's quite how it goes.

Aaaanyhoo, we did have a lovely Easter remembering the death and resurrection of our perfect Lord and Savior. The cheese plate was a big hit! If I'm "known for something" among my in-laws an opulence of cheese is certainly it. I also got spontaneous on Saturday and whipped up a new recipe that I found in Cooking Light and was intrigued by: Shrimp Puffs. Odd sounding right? Maybe a little disgusting? I wasn't sure what exactly they'd be like but they were light, fluffy and had just the right flavor and were all gobbled up before long on Easter Sunday.

How the shrimp puffs were born:

First, peeled and de-tailed raw shrimp; chopped up in food processor
(this was as gross as it looks, don't worry it gets more appetizing)

Then saute raw shrimp until pink, add in ground ginger,
green onions, salt and pepper, dash of soy
- finally starts to smell sooo good

After beating eggs, butter, flour and boiling water to create
goey pastry,mix in cooked shrimp mixture,
form into doughy balls and plop onto non-stick pan

Outta the oven and ready to get down into my belly!
(after a dip in the accompanying soy ginger sauce, of course)

At last, the cheese and shrimp puffs are spread out for the
hungry munchers at Dan's Aunt and Uncle's house
on Easter Sunday - it was soon decimated

Let's not even get started on the Easter-themed mix of chocolate and yellow cake with buttercream-frosting cupcakes that I just had to bake all of a sudden one afternoon last week:

(they were a lot more light, pastel-colored than the picture appears)

Since I'd already sent brownies to work with Dan that week, I had mercy on his co-workers and brought them over to Chloe and her housemates instead. I managed to have just one, um, and a couple spoon fulls of batter.

Now the week is nearly over, but Dan is gone to Texas for the week and won't be back until late, late tomorrow night. He's been traveling a lot this whole year, back and forth to NYC or Texas regularly. I do my best to make plans those nights or come up with other distractions, but, honestly, he works so late even when he's in town it not all that much different. Let's just say I really cherish the weekends (but he works then too, just not quite as much) and the odd night he makes it home for dinner.

Last night I distracted myself from the empty house by going out shopping and to dinner with the Chlo'ster. Tonight's plan: order in fresh rolls and yellow curry from the only Thai place that delivers to Southie, pour a glass of wine and pick out a movie from On Demand. The time, it seems, has finally come for me to give in and watch Twilight -- I know there are a lot of fans out there, and so I mean no disrespect but I expect this movie to be one of the worst compilations of drivel and juvenile shmaltz maybe ever. Except that enough people (whose opinions I normally trust when it comes to this sort of thing) have told me to give it a chance, and, c'mon, let's be real: its not like I don't enjoy the occasion dose of juvenile shmaltz. I resisted watching The Notebook for so long for the same reason and when I finally broke down and watched it by myself one night in college I cried by eyes raw like a fool. People, I am not made of stone! My prejudgment about the Twilight (the movie, but the books as well) is that its going to be too self-serious and just baaaaad, and not in a sweet, "awww" cheesy way that I makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside, but more like in a "give me a freakin' break", eye-roll way. We'll see, I could go either way. Even though Dan would never in a million years watch it, I'm better off watching silly, girl movies alone anyway, so I don't feel any pressure to "act too cool" to, ya know, cry like a damn school girl during the stirring finale. I'll let you know how it goes. Right now, I've got some Thai food to order, laundry to put away and some epic vampire teen love to witness. Sometimes having the house to myself isn't all that bad ... (aside to Dan: don't worry, darling, I love you, come home safe and soon!)