Easter roundup

Easter has come and gone. It was a good one this year - lots of reflection, time with family and good food.

It really is the most under appreciated holiday of the year - both religiously and secularly. On the religious side it celebrates Christ bringing himself back from death, and in the process doing away with death entirely. If that isn't something to get together with friends and family over a big meal then I don't know what is. On the secular side, it is the celebration of spring, new growth and the beginning of the "no jacket" season. Also something to be excited about.

We had a really really good Good Friday at our house this year. Tara's parents, Tara's sister and husband, and Tara's aunt, uncle and cousin came over for a wonderful dinner of home made ravioli, sausage and salad with a great cheesecake for dessert and a fruit fondue for second dessert. I learned how to play Pass the Ace and I went 4-0 against Linda to win the game, but I left the prize in Laura's backpack (hee hee).

I took a bunch of pictures - you can look at the best ones here (warning - they are mostly of family).

We bought a ravioli tray to help speed up the ravioli making process. It worked really well. If you make a lot of ravioli I highly recommend one. Basically you put one layer of pasta on the tray, put filling in each of the indents, put another sheet on top, roll it with a rolling in, then flip it over, and cut the shapes out. Easy-peasy. A couple of tricks we learned though:

1. Make sure the tray is floured before you put the first sheet in. Otherwise the ravioli don't come out and you have to dig at them. Alternatively you can flour the bottom of the pasta sheet before laying it on.
2. Brush water on the top sheet before you put in on. This will help seal the seams.
   

I suspect that I could make a whole batch of ravioli in half an hour now (not including making the dough and filling).

Saturday was spent relaxing and figuring out my new camera. Tim offered much advice and we both learned how to use the exposure bracketing function on the camera. Good times...

Tara, Linda, Dave and myself played a couple of rousing games of Carcassonne on Saturday evening. It was the first time that we had taught someone the rules; I think we did a decent job. It was a blast.

After church today (and brunch at the new Cora's in Cambridge - go if you can) the last of our guests left and it was just Tara and I again. It's nice to have a full house, but it's also nice to have time to ourselves. This weekend was a great combination of the two.

[Post-script] The Good Friday service was amazing. I don't know if they are going to be putting the audio up on their website, but if they do - you need to listen. I learned something new which blew me away (I've been going to church since I was in vivo - shouldn't I know it all by now?). The last cry by Christ "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Mark 15:34 is a direct quote from Psalm 22. The learned Jews near him would have recognized it as such. Read the psalm and be amazed.