LadyGypsy.net – the blog of Kimberly Dowd of New Jersey

Easter dinner was held at the lovely Kristen’s house* and it was magnificent. I was tasked with bringing dessert. I checked out Pinterest for inspiration and found these:

There's a mood-killer, hm?

Whoa. While completely in tune with the THEME of Easter, the tone of those cupcakes borders on the macabre. (I have no idea where these came from. The link on Pinterest was spammy)

Rather than recreate The Passion of the Pastries, I decided to make a carrot cake. I found a carrot cake recipe on Smitten Kitchen. I have NEVER gone wrong with Deb’s recipes.

It was around noon today that I realized I had no way of taking a layer cake anywhere. I don’t have a cake carrier. I wandered into CVS after church** and while I didn’t see any cake carriers, I saw that they were selling Easter baskets for $5.99 and basket wraps for $1.99. Score!

I filled the bottom of the basket with crumpled up aluminum foil and put a cake pan on top of it to build a raised base. I set the finished cake on a plate and put the plate on top of the pan. Wrapped the basket up and voilà!***

An Easter-y (and cheap!) way of taking a cake to dinner. And oh my gosh the cake was so good.

*and my brother John’s house too but he doesn’t have a blog or bylines anywhere.

**I went back to church today. It felt really good.

*** Not viola. Not walla. Not wallah.

The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”

Matthew 28:5, NIV

***
As always, this Easter I commit myself to be a better person. Someday it’ll stick. ‘Til then I remain a clumsy and forgetful sheep, always stumbling into pits and thorns.

Bring on the Blessings by Beverly Jenkins
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was a “Free Friday” Nook book that I picked up. I tore through it in three days. Divorcee Bernadine E. Brown receives hundreds of millions of dollars in her settlement. She is a Christian, so she believes that when much is given, much is expected.

So she decides to save a historically Black town in Kansas by buying it and decides to re-home foster children there. Everyone in the town except 2 people are immediately for her plan. All of the foster kids have hearts of gold. Any problem that comes up is solved by tossing money at it. The ending was so abrupt that it reminded me of how quickly I end my NaNoWriMo efforts once I hit my 50K word goal. And whoever edited it should be fired.

Yet, I smiled and laughed and even teared up through the entire book, and I’m thinking of getting the sequel. Why? Because the characters are endearing, the message is uplifting and it’s a fun, light read. And every once in a while I need a book like that.

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