Family Easter

When I was a child Easter was a big thing in my life.  Apart from all the chocolate, it started weeks before.   I didn't often get new clothes, but for Easter mother would take me shopping for a new "Sunday go to Meetings" outfit.    Sometimes she would have it made for me by a friend of hers and I would get to pick the material.  It was also the time when I got my summer sandals, and a new hat or bonnet.

We had a family ritual.   Sunday morning was for church, of course.   After church we would walk a mile and a half to my grandmother's for a big family lunch.   Almost everyone walked in those days, as ordinary people couldn't afford private cars.   The style was fabulous, everyone out in their Easter finery.   After our evening meal at home we would boil and decorate eggs for the next day.

On Easter Monday we would travel across the city to Belfast Zoo, two bus rides away.   The place would be thronged with people.   The Zoo was on Cave Hill, above the city so lots of slopes for egg rolling.   We would meet up with family friends and have a picnic outside the Floral Hall (a local dance hall) before returning home for our evening meal.

On Easter Tuesday we would walk 3 miles to the Belfast Botanical Gardens and the Ulster Museum.  There was a tropical ravine in the gardens with exotic birds and fish in a little river.   I loved exploring the little paths of the ravine.  We would climb to the top of the museum and walk back down through the galleries, looking at the pictures(I loved art even as a small child).   Until we reached the Egyptian gallery.   They had a mummy in a glass case and my brother had me convinced that she was asleep.   I would watch carefully to see if I could see her breathing but, of course I never did.

These days, I have my family to stay and we continue the traditions.   Sadly, the Zoo and the Botanical Gardens are no longer on our schedule as we now live too far from the city.    We do enjoy the festivities in our home patch, a local seaside resort.

This year we are having our big family dinner at my house on Easter Saturday as my grand-daughter must return to university in Cambridge early on Easter Sunday, but we will still be painting our eggs and rolling them down some hill on Easter Monday as usual.

Dark chocolate Easter eggs

In my childhood, I was an indiscriminate chocolate eater.  I wouldn't have got chocolate very often, so would eat whatever I was offered.  This meant that it was always special when Easter came around and I could often make the Easter treats last for over a month.  I would have to keep them well hidden or my older brother would snaffle this treasure trove.  

As I grew older, I became more discerning.  My early favourite was 'Nuts, whole hazelnuts' and since 'Cadbury's take them and they cover them with chocolate', I grew to like milk chocolate.  I think this was because the nuts toned down the sweetness of the chocolate.  

My godmother bought me a box of Black Magic chocolates one Christmas. 'Who knew the secret of the Black Magic box?'  Well, I found it out.  I was hooked.  I tried all sorts of dark chocolate.  In those days, dark chocolate had a much smaller percentage of cocoa solids than we have available today.  The higher the percentage, the higher the price.  I would save my pocket money and treat myself from time to time.  I preferred dark chocolate but still ate a fair amount of milk chocolate.  

White chocolate was not prevalent in the shops.  I can only think of one, The Milky Bar.  I can still sing the Milky Bar Kid advert, but the chocolate was almost too sweet for me.  I would eat it if I was given it, but my preference was always for the dark.  Fry's Chocolates Cream was a favourite with its minty centre, as was Cadbury's Bourneville.  If I was given a box of mixed chocolates, the dark ones always went first.  

I have retained this love of the dark to this day, though my tastes are much more refined now than they were.  My favourite of the moment is Lindt Dark with a Touch of Sea Salt.  The hint of salt seems to enrich the flavour of the chocolate. 

I also have a lifelong love affair with Chocolate Oranges, the plain ones, of course, which are only available on the run up to Christmas.  I have noticed that over the last few years, Rowntree's have been marketing these in egg form coming up to Easter, but only in the milk chocolate variety.  I only buy dark chocolate, these days, but wouldn't turn down a milk chocolate if it was offered.   

I would have to say that one of my other lifelong favourites has been the Cadbury's Crème Egg.  I am a dyed-in-the-wool traditionalist on the Easter front.  Who ever heard of an Easter Bunny Hunt.  Birds don't lay bunnies, they lay eggs.  Chicks, eggs and chocolate epitomise the British Easter. 

Bunnies were an import from Europe and they tasted 'funny' due to the fact that they didn't use the same ingredients as British made chocolate.  Also, chocolate bunnies didn't contain the extra chocolates inside, so weren't as attractive to the chocoholic in me.  I have a collection of decorative eggs which I display each  year on a special tree made from twigs.  They are mostly, hand-painted and many are gifts from friends.  I also use them I  flower arrangements for Easter.  I don't have any Easter Bunnies.

So my ideal Easter present would be a Lindt Dark chocolate, with a hint of Sea Salt, Easter egg filled with Terry's Chocolate Oranges.  The only way I will get one of those is to make it myself.  

Now, where did I put that chocolate egg mold and the double saucepan?