Happy Easter!

Easter this year was quite the event. Mother organized the whole thing, and ended up inviting 32 people to join us! Well, actually she invited more than that, but that’s how many showed up.

Dinner was at a new restaurant in Palmer called The Red Beet. I highly recommend this place! I think it might even be an Inn where you can stay over. For sure it is a very nice place to eat. The cook makes excellent dishes with unusual combinations of food, and uses mostly local produce.

We had 8 tables set up with 4 place setting each. The tables & chairs had an antique look to them – whether they were actually antiques or not, I don’t know – but it was a very nice presentation. They had tiny little vases on each table, with sprigs of pussy willows cut from the trees right outside the window. Makes for a nice local touch!

At the first table, we had Mr. & Mrs. Guinotte = my sister Noel’s in-laws. Sitting with them was my brother Stewart and his friend Tucker. At the table behind them sat Mr. & Mrs. Pollock = my sister Kelly’s in-laws. We were very happy to see them both, as they are both getting on in age and don’t get out very often. My niece Tara and her cousin Ben sat with them. The table behind them had my high-school friend Rachel and her husband David and their daughter Ellie. We sat our new friend Chris there, and they had a good time talking about hiking and whatnot. The next table had my sister Kelly, her husband Danny, their daughter Laurel – who is 7 months pregnant with their first grandson! – and her partner TJ.

Starting over again at the head of the room but one row over, we had Lisa and her husband Mark and their little girl Mabel. My sister Noel and her husband Hank joined them. Behind that table, we had a special guest: Carmen Kern, a lady from church, joined us this year with her friend Anne. Carmen is in her 90’s we think: she is a retired teacher and probably had each of us kids in one of her classes at one point in time or another! My nephew Robin and his wife Jamie sat with them, along with Jamie’s father Jim. (I know: they broke the 4-people to a table rule there) the next table is where I sat, with my friend Anne from Germany, my brother Reed and Stan, my mother’s partner. Behind up sat Mother, keeping my nieces Lauren & Madelyne company. The girls were doing Sudoku puzzles throughout dinner, which kept them quite occupied.

The food was, as mentioned earlier, quite wonderful – and very different. The appetizer consisted of the absolute best chocolate! Now, that right there told me I was going to like this restaurant – they know how to treat a guest! The chocolate was followed by a salad of some unusual greens topped with slivered beets, sliced strawberries and asparagus tips. The main course was a herb-crusted pork loin along side a generous piece of potato pie. I’m told the pork was quite good, but of course I did not have any myself. I can say the potato pie was excellent. The cook used purple potatoes, so it did look a bit strange: but the taste was superb! The whole meal was wrapped up with a small pastry in the shape of a cross, drizzled with a chocolate sauce and topped off with some cream. Tea & Coffee was served throughout the meal.