Easter Leftovers

Here's some Easter leftovers: pictures that didn't make it to the blog yet, though they are worth posting (well, at least I think they are worth posting).

Lucy's Easter dress and another contender:

Thanks, Grandmama, for the outfit!

A nice dress with another dress under it.

Upset about the lolly in her hand

Egg dying at our UK home (with egg dye bought back at home, thank you Target for selling the brand from my youth!):

The main work area

Dyeing for approval

Lucy also helped out with the cooking this year, mostly with Mommy's famous sweet potato dish.

Careful measuring

Getting it just right

Happy worker

We had a bunch of people over for an informal dinner on Easter, at which we did not take any pictures though we (and by "we" I do mean my fabulous wife) did make this fabulous spiral ham sauce with cherries and stout. The ham was from a local supermarket's butcher (they do their own butchering in store!) and was uncooked, which was a surprise for us. We thought the process of turning the pork into ham involved cooking it. Apparently that isn't necessarily so (or they have some strange and ancient magicks here in England). Cooking the ham took longer than expected but we discovered our error in enough time that food wasn't delayed. But back to the even better cherry glaze:

Dried Cherry and Stout Sauce
1 cup chicken stock or canned low-sodium
chicken broth
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 medium shallots -- chopped fine
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
4 cups stout
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup dried tart cherries (about 5 ounces)
1 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Salt and ground black pepper

Whisk together chicken stock and cornstarch; set aside. Heat butter in 12-inch skillet over medium heat until foaming; add shallots and saute until softened, about 3 minutes. Stir in allspice; cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add stout, brown sugar, and dried cherries; increase heat to medium-high, bring to simmer, and cook until slightly syrupy, about 10 minutes. Whisk chicken stock and cornstarch mixture to recombine, then gradually whisk into simmering liquid; return to simmer to thicken sauce, stirring occasionally. Off heat, stir in balsamic vinegar; season to taste with salt and pepper. (Can be cooled to room temperature and refrigerated up to 2 days. Reheat in medium saucepan over medium-low heat.) Serve with ham.

Taken from here.