Hippity hoppity

Photo: Contributed

Well, here we are, already at Easter. It’s good to know that spring is under way, and I feel like it’s time to celebrate and let loose. I watch my dogs get spring scents in their nostrils and their tails perk up, like they have inhaled a tonic. It seems children at Easter are the same, as they run and hunt for Easter eggs. Adults should have a dose of that, too. With that in mind, here's my lighthearted foodie nod to this holiday weekend.

Easter is a celebration that rates of the same magnitude as Christmas – there is much to be done for it to be heralded in with the appropriate amount of fanfare and indulgence. Whether you are celebrating the end of Lent or planning an Easter Egg hunt for the kids, it is and should be a big deal. Those just don’t materialize overnight!

Are you feeling like I am, that it seems you just put away the Christmas decorations and here you are trying to find a pastel-coloured tablecloth and napkin rings that match the tulips you bought? Does it irk you that you can’t decide which sheets to put in the spare bedroom so that it looks bright and springy? Well, the one saving grace is the reward that awaits us at the end of all the agonizing decisions… chocolate!

I am not trying to make light of what many consider to be a serious occasion. The consideration that goes into religious Easter week celebrations is important. Feasting is just one component that has great significance to the reason for the holiday. But in this column I am focusing on the frivolity of Easter.

Bunny-tails and fuzzy chicks make me smile, and chocolate makes me smile even more. Jelly beans are one of the four Easter goodie food groups and that is not a bad thing either. It is the one time of year when the theme overrides the issue of quality; you can have just as much fun eating “Peeps” as you can savouring artisanal chocolate bunnies made from estate cocoa beans and flavoured with some exotic spice. And, if you have to hunt for your Easter “loot”, then that is one more reason to enjoy every morsel, in celebration of following directions or solving the riddle given. (One year when I was a kid we had a poem whose rhymes gave hints on where to find the eggs – it included a quote from MacBeth that was to lead us to the eggs hidden in the washing machine!)

So, I may not get everything all ready for spring by this weekend, but I certainly plan to sample a jelly bean or two, and I promise to savour a chocolate bunny on Sunday night (I'm a tail-first gal, I eat the ears last.) Next week there will still be time to work on the garden plan, and the ironing of those lighter weight blouses can wait until after the company has left. I will watch the dogs bounce in the new grass and I might even check in the washing machine to see if the Easter Bunny remembered a long-ago hiding place.

I hope you have the chance to take the time for such frivolous celebrations of life this weekend – you deserve it too! If you need help with some Easter egg hunting ideas, check out this great article I discovered.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.