We might be facing a tragedy. One of our worst moments was when our favorite bread bakery, Pacific Bay, closed for business in Bountiful about 15 years ago. Ten years later we found Old Hearth Bread Company in Casselberry and the best ciabatta rolls around. We typical order 5 dozen rolls every few months and freeze them for future use. Yesterday I called to place an order and got a recording saying to leave a message. I left a verbal order and requested that they confirm so we didn’t make an unnecessary 100 mile round trip. No confirmation ever came. So we decided to go ahead and take a chance and drive the 50 miles and confirm that indeed, it was history. Happy ending – they were having phone problems and all was well. We got our 5 dozen rolls plus half dozen kaisers and a loaf of hard crust olive bread.
We’re prepared for Easter and our guests – the head count is looking like somewhere between 12 and 14 – a modest gathering by past Easters. Rather than an all out onslaught on Saturday, we started earlier in the week and just did something for a couple of hours every day. My landscaping and trimming are as complete as it’s going to get. The food prep is in the same state. Comes the big event, I think all we have to do is put the hams in the oven. Nancy has already made the Lion House beans and the macaroni salad. I’ve made the Dutch coles slaw, using Chinese cabbage, (does that make it Chinese cole slaw?). We’re debating making carrot salad, we have sooooo many carrots. We’ll also make a batch of smoked bluefish dip using the last of the bluefish. We go to the beach near the end of April so the pressure will be on to restock with fresh blues. I’m fully committed to that, no matter how much time I have to spend on the beach surf fishing.
I have big plans for my great, great niece Grace in the garden. I have held back planting a couple of rows of green beans, cucumber plants, and some additional tomato plants. I also can use some help picking onions, scallions, snap peas, and radishes. Lindsay assures me she’s up for it. Another job awaiting her is feeding George’s gold fish. He is back in the hospital, this time for an operation to plug the blood leak they finally found, and I’ve got fish feeding duty. I think she’ll really enjoy that as well. And of course, Nancy has loaded up on Easter candy, eggs, baskets and all sorts of entertaining things for the princess. It’s been a while since we’ve had “little” guests.
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