Sunday Suppa: Easter = ham not bunnies

For the past several Easter holidays I have consumed all the ham I can handle for a year on Easter. As part of a young couple without children and with family within 30 minutes, holidays tend to bring on the travel and multiple meals. It has definitely taken some adjusting in my twenties to not awaken to my mother’s beautiful Easter baskets with chocolate bunnies and other goodies. Instead it is all about the ham.

For breakfast we attended the annual breakfast at Mike’s grandmother’s senior housing. Every Easter she reserves the community kitchen and activity space for the large family gathering. Mike’s uncle poaches eggs in maple syrup and then there is ham, which is served plain and simple. It is definitely a meat and potatoes breakfast without the potatoes or any sort of vegetable or fruit. I tried Sweet and Low in my coffee for the first time as the regular sugar was gone. I do not recommend Sweet and Low AT ALL. Clearly, this was my punishment for not being Catholic nor taking part in Lent.

After breakfast it was off to my mother’s house for a late lunch. She had mentioned that she was going to do an unconventional Easter. I was slightly worried about this. Lately, she has been on a fish binge and I dislike fish, which she knows however my family has this nice way of ignoring my dislikes. When we arrived she had decided that the ham Easter dinner would do just fine. We had ham cooked with a fruit mixture, carrots cooked with maple syrup, asparagus, and potatoes baked in a cast iron skillet over the coals from my mother’s spring burn pile. Of course she had also made deviled eggs with eggs fresh from a local farm. For dessert she served up huge pieces of her cheesecake which we enjoyed outside in the rare Vermont Easter sunshine.

I am unsure about this newish ham fest that is called Easter. I miss the chocolate bunnies and I want bubbles and a pink jump rope. I might go and find a discount aisle somewhere just so I can have a little Easter redemption to balance out all this ham.