Chips with everything

Being something of a traditionalist (not really) I had to have hot cross buns ready to eat on Good Friday, so spent Thursday evening kneading and waiting for dough to rise. Fortunately the time was well spent as our hot ‘happy’ buns (junior doesn’t like them having a pastry cross on!) were enjoyed by all at breakfast time. I must admit that although they obviously don’t have that ‘look’ which you associate with shop bought buns, they taste better than anything I’ve ever had before; spicy, fruity and soft – yummy

After the success of our Christmas trifle and the promise that I would make another for Easter, I’m currently in the process of making a sponge to crumble in to the bottom of the dish, then to pour jelly over, then vanilla custard, then top it all with cream. That will be our Easter Sunday evening treat as tradition dictates (well junior anyway) that we have a picnic on the beach on Easter day with the Easter Bunny who has to hide small chocolate eggs around for her to find. I normally get the mini eggs over the internet but with one thing and another I just didn’t get round to it and didn’t really remember until junior mentioned that she hoped the Easter Bunny had remembered about the egg hunt on the beach. When I casually said that we might not be able to get any small eggs she told me not to worry because it was the Easter Bunny’s job to bring them. There is a price to pay for a child’s innocence – and in this case it was €8.00, as that’s how much Sean paid for the handmade mini eggs from Athens! They better be good, especially after he left them in Volos when he returned home and had to arrange for someone to put them on the boat the next day.
I also received some handmade Easter chocolate from Maria at Cocoa Touch in Volos www.chocolatesandmore.gr/, very unusual flavour of dark chocolate with rock salt, strangely delicious.
We went out for lunch today as the sun was shining and had skordalia, beetroot salad, giant beans and chips – well three healthy dishes out of four isn’t bad. Junior has reached the grand old age of 6 without ever having tasted a chip, declaring on many an occasion that she knows she wouldn’t like them. However, today, she deigned to try one and found, much to her surprise, that she actually rather liked them. The thought of mushy peas still leaves her cold however!