Yup, I’m still on Easter.
I can’t get enough of it this year. The flowers, the budding trees, the life all around…
The empty tomb. My emptied out life – filling up, slowly, with good things.
This Sunday was spent with some dear friends. Sean is the soccer coach at the college where I teach; he and his lovely wife Rae make their home an oasis for his soccer players. So many of them are from very far away, students with nowhere to go for Easter, so he invites them. Sometimes they don’t even live so far away, but this home has become a place of love and peacefulness and family. It is a good center for them.
And, of course, there was a lot of good food. Did I mention we had prime rib sandwiches? Mm. Hmmmmm. . And two of the girls made spinach dip from scratch that was all gooey and cheesy and just the best thing ever. And our friend Elisheva came and brought her world’s best guacamole (along with her cute kids and husband) and I put some of it on my sandwich and the angels sang, I tell you.
And the soccer kids (one from Mexico, one from Peru) who spoke quietly and smiled a lot, played soccer with my boys in the most adorable way.
It was a good day – surrounded by children and sunshine and some rain, but the really cool, soft kind. And lunch at a long table in the garage, smooshed together, laughing and being goofy.
There was a time when this kind of function would make me itchy, nervous. Social things were… outside of my element I guess. I felt ajar, like a door was left open in me somewhere, and I had to shut it.
Now, I just let the door swing wide open, and ask friends to come in, and talk, and run around with kids, and then, if tired, I can go home and take a nap. It’s a lot simpler than I ever thought it could be.
Now, let me leave you with the wonderfulness that is my Great Aunt Dorothy’s chocolate fudge icing recipe.
This stuff is so good it’s hard to get it on the cupcakes – eat it on graham crackers, or ‘nilla wafers, or with a spoon. It’s divine.
And you know what? It was divine to share it with these goofballs. What a lovely day.
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Aunt Dorothy’s Amazing Fudge Frosting:
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 3-4 heaping tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- ⅔ cup whole milk (sometimes I use coffee and milk)
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into cubes
- 1½ teaspoons vanilla
- pinch salt, teensy pinch cinnamon (that was my addition; I hope Dorothy doesn’t mind.)
- Mix sugar, cocoa powder, and milk together in a large saucepan.
- Cook over medium-high heat until large bubbles form. Boil one minute. Remove from heat and add butter and vanilla, salt and cinnamon.
- Return to medium-high heat and boil for a minute or so, until it thickens. Remove from heat and beat with a wooden spoon until thick and smooth.
- Try not to eat it all before you frost the cupcakes.
Dana Bowman 