Easter!!!

Right, so a new year... and a new blog, well, sort of! So the thesis has been handed in and I'm awaiting my viva so I can now, instead focus on what really matters to me and that is FOOD!!!

From now on this blog is not going to be solely about complexity, but about the complexity of those everyday mouthfuls that most of us (at least those of us with access to this blog) take for granted everyday- what is it about food that makes it so special? Food as a right, food as an experience, food as nutrition and as custom... I could go on for a while (and will) but at the moment my real focus is on food as celebration and ritual- cue Easter!

Once a year I don my domestic hat and decide to have all my friends who have been abandoned in Oxford at Easter over for Easter Sunday lunch. I have once again stocked up the fridge with a leg of lamb and a chicken, I've also sent out the e-mails requesting assistance with the additional dishes- Michael is bringing salad, Anika and Yuan are in charge of dessert and Raj is bringing the booze. But as I prepare for this every year I wonder what it is about Easter that makes me feel like I have to celebrate- but not just with any old food, but always with the roast lamb- it is the central element of the meal and Easter would just not be Easter without it (see photo from last year above...

and the year before that)

You see, it's all about the lamb and it hears back to my mother and her Easter lunches and of course there is the religious element too- Jesus as the sacrificial lamb and the lamb Jews eat over Passover (which is at the same time of course)


But enough about the lamb- Easter is also all about good friends being brought together to share in a good meal and I think that that's what makes it so special and that is why I'm really looking forward to this Sunday where I get to lord it over the kitchen once more, with a glass of red wine in hand and pouring more of it over my leg of lamb... mmmm, delish!!