This chocolate plaque says "Joyeuses Paques", or, Happy Easter!
Amongst the goodies were these incredible works of art - all marzipan!
Thomas ate all of them, one right after the other, in about 4 minutes. We all have our vices.
Here's Estelle enjoying her Easter morning with a funny little cow egg cup from Cathy. The red egg you see on her tray is one that we dyed together yesterday.
Today we headed out at 10:30 to Mougins to Craig and Doug's Easter Feast. It was a warm day, not too sunny, but no rain. Here's a few shots of the grounds:
The new "conservatoire" or solarium recently built downstairs underneath the terrace.
Here's the cabana were I relaxed inbetween the meal and dessert.
I'm not the only one who needed a chaise lounge. It's a dog's life.
There were about 28 or 30 of us, including 5 kids.
A lot of super-yummy food, as usual. As you can't get hams here, one of the guests brought it over from London in her suitcase on Thursday so that Craig could cook it up.
Some poolside mingling.
Doug and Estelle take a stroll.
This used to be the back shed. Now it is Doug's office complete with Wifi - MELISSA, can you believe this was that old shed full of spiders?
And now for my traditional look at......the desserts:Here's a flourless chocolate and almond cake covered in cream and fresh raspberries, decorated with chocolate eggs. Made by a British woman whose mom was a famous cook and had her own show.
Here is my cake, which is less stunning but a visual treat for all the children. I incorporated the chocolate plaque we got from Thomas' parents and several little decorations off an Easter package from sister Joan years back. 3 colors of frosting. And the children helped me decorate. Hence the crazy green lines (Martha, please note done with a plastic baggie for lack of a decorator's bag). Yankee ingenuity.
What you DON'T know is that I in fact made cupcakes last night, but as greasing and flouring just didn't work and they were not fit to bring as they didn't come out well of the mold. So I made a SECOND cake and went with the tried and true sheet cake. Mother, this is that Dairy Association 1956 cookbook recipe for the Fluffy Layer cake. But it wasn't fluffy! But Thomas has enjoyed eating about 14 cupcakes since last night since I just left them here.
Here's Doug's homemade apple crumble: whoah baby.
Here's the only store-bought dessert. It was loaded with cream and raspberries. Lucious.
Here's Claudia (Dutch), grating fresh chocolate over her Tiramisu. Thomas said it was fantastic. I don't eat Tiramisu because it always has coffee in it, which I don't care for. But it was a hit.
And if you just needed some fruit:
After dessert there was the big Easter Egg Hunt. These 2 little boys live in London but their parents are both American. They were all visiting C&D for the wkend.
Finding eggs in a tree.
On the prowl around the pool.
Estelle in hot pursuit of the older boys:
Estelle find some in the back next to the goldfish pond & fountain:
Little Dylan checks his intake:
My friend Philippe gives Estelle a hand while Craig looks on:
Estelle rakes it in:
More running about:
The 3 littler kids comparing all the loot:
And then those boys took a dip in a chilly pool before going into the hot tub. Estelle enjoyed dipping her fingers and toes, under Daddy's watchful eye.
Meanwhile, before all this, Estelle's new bed finally arrived Friday:
And here she is enjoying it:
Earlier in the week, my mid-wife and the other woman in my childbirth class came over and we had our class at my apartment as the center is having some renovation. Helene is one of the mid-wives who helped me during my first pregnancy - and here she is holding Estelle!
Here's Estelle, showing her affection:
Here she's trying to listen for a response:
All in all, a lot of fun and chocolate! And as tomorrow (Monday) is a national holiday, the fun continues - stay tuned!
