Easter Weekend

I haven't celebrated Easter in ages. When I was little, we got baskets full of candy, as you do, and we had to find the hidden eggs, as you do. It was a bit of fun, a bit of sugar high, and that was it, really. In the past few years, Easter weekend has passed without me noticing--Easter eggs are so not vegan, and my parents stopped giving us candy, so I often forgot that it even happened.

Then I moved to Australia, and found out that Easter is a big holiday here. Starting just after Christmas, grocery stores and bakeries start selling hot cross buns. I read the ingredients of the Woolworth's bakery buns, and found out that they are vegan! They're ridiculously overpriced, so we wait till Saturday afternoon when they are marked down--$2 for 8 buns. For the past few weeks we've been getting a pack or two a week and taking them to uni for lunches and snacks and things. Yum. In addition to hot cross buns, you get a 4 day weekend. Now, neither Andy nor I believe in Jesus, but as Andy so eloquently put it, "I believe in public holidays!"

So, to embrace the spirit of the season, we're taking it easy this weekend. We went to the beach for Good Friday and I marvelled at all the people getting wasted on their front patios (it's illegal to serve alcohol on Good Friday here). We read a bit, and watched some movies.

This morning I made some pancakes, using this recipe from vegweb. I cut it in half, and found that the batter was WAAAY too runny, so I added another 1/4 c. of flour. Once I got that sorted, the pancake making went beautifully. They are light and fluffy, yet hearty because they are full of oats. They were a perfect vessel for my auntie's homemade maple syrup, which my parents sent over for me. The only thing I might do next time is chop up the oats in the food processor beforehand, or just use quick oats rather than rolled.

I love cooking pancakes.

First, one side browns and the batter on top gets dried out around the edges and bubbly all over.

Then you flip it. When it's done, put it on a plate in the oven (the lowest setting, obvi) to keep warm.

At the end, you've got a stack of hot brown pancakes, just waiting to be smothered in maple syrup. Accompanied by a nice pot of tea, they make the perfect breakfast for a lazy weekend morning.


And, my parents sent a package full of Easter candy that arrived on the doorstep on Wednesday afternoon. Some of it was not vegan (when will they learn?!), but half of it was. In addition to some vegan jelly beans, they sent these cute dark chocolate bunnies. Andy thinks he's going to get one. What a sucker.

Happy Easter/Passover/Sugar High, everyone!