Hippity Hop Easter's On it's Way

I found this really cute idea for Easter eggs and thought I would share PRIOR to the actual holiday.

Melted Crayon Eggs

Boil eggs as usual. Take a fine grater and grate the crayons into individual piles. Place boiled eggs on bottle cap over newspaper, it will get messy. Sprinkle egg shavings on top of eggs and watch them drip down the sides. If you are so incline to do the bottom flip it over with tongs and sprinkle there as well - we found it didn't work very well. Let them dry for about an hour. Just so you know they turned out cuter with just two or three colors but the kids wanted make them crazy. It was easy and fun.

Lamb Meat Loaf

This was an experiment that turned out great. (I modified a Fine Cooking recipe to death.)

1 lb ground lamb
1 lb ground
2 Tbs olive oil
1 carrot peeled and chopped into small pieces
1/4 red bell pepper cored and chopped into small pieces
2 1/2 cups white bread (I use Italian, French or sourdough that is a day old) cut in 2" cubes
1 cup milk
2 tsp fresh grated ginger
1/4 cup chopped cilantro (I used a little less but wanted more after tasting it.)
2 eggs lightly beaten
1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
2 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 tsp Garam masala
2 Tbs honey

Heat olive oil in a skillet to medium low. Add carrot and red bell pepper stirring frequently until softened, about 6 minutes. Set aside in a medium large bowl. Put bread in a shallow dish that can hold a single layer of the bread cubes, add the milk, flip them once, until bread is soggy but not falling apart, about 5 minutes. Lightly squeeze a handful of bread at a time to remove some of the milk. Chop it into fine pieces and add to the bowl with the carrots and peppers. Add meat, eggs, ginger and cilantro to bowl and mix just until combined. Sprinkle in Worcestershire, salt, pepper and garam masala. It should be a loose mixture. Put it in a 9x13 baking pan. Brush the top and sides with the honey. If the honey is too thick heat it for 10 seconds in the microwave to make it runny. Place in 375' oven for about 55 minutes.

I served this with Jasmin rice and steamed glazed carrots. Jim and Lauren loved it. Not surprisingly the boys hated it.

Stripping for a Living

I have decided NOT to be a stripper. Yup. There is just not going to be enough money in it for the work and effort needed to do the job. I have been toning up my arms for a whole week and I'm still sore after the first stripping job. I thought I had put enough effort in to make this easy and yet I was surprised at the effort it took to get the job done. And quite a job it is! I had no idea! The hours spent on your feet, the shoulder work alone would cause some people to faint. The attention to detail is important too. I can't leave out one single step or everything is messed up. I thought I could miss a bit here or there and be fine, but no, you have to fill in everything to make it work. I tried to rush it a bit and found that couldn't be done either. You need patience and hard work. You need to really understand the job and I obviously didn't. And don't get me started on having the right tools! I have committed to doing it another 3 times but then I'm done. A promise is a promise so I'll power through but just know I won't be stripping for you.....