Easter Sunday with family and friends ...

Elaine's 'bunny park' !!

... started off with an Easter egg hunt. As soon as Jeanette and family arrived, Bradley was on a mission to hunt for eggs in the garden. The Easter Bunny can't hide any of his eggs before they come because the Robbie and Jackie (doggies!) would love to nibble on some brightly covered choccie found in their garden!

So the Easter Bunny had to hide his eggs earmarked for Bradley and Connor in the back and side garden as quickly as his legs could hoppity-hop with ears flopping .....

Phew ! Just in time for the rush of two little boys .. led by the 'older-and-wiser-one' who has experience in Easter egg hunting ..... but the littlest-less-experienced-one didn't do too badly ...

... and all the eggs were popped into a basket for sharing ....

.... "Sharing is Caring" ... wise words from Barney ....

"Look .... 'Lainey .... eeter ... egg"

Then .... it was time for relaxing with family and friends. A beautiful autumn day ... sitting under the tree with autumn leaves gently wafting down - some on the table and on plates of food ....and in the wine .. :) Nothing nicer than sitting in the garden, with a braaied (bbq) lunch served with salads and a very good wine ... with family (not all of them unfortunately - my son and family were in the Drakensberg having their own lovely Easter weekend) and friends - our 'old' friends R and C and our Colombian friends, CS and CA.

CS made a very tasty Peruvian chicken dish (she is originally from Peru) which is made with chillies - yummy! Thank you, CS, for a little taste of Peru!

... and the wine we had was one of my favourites, Meerendal Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot - just to get the taste buds going ... followed by this one ...

... from Boekenhoutskloof, in the beautiful town of Franschoek in the Cape. Will do a whole post on this magnificent wine estate - we've been there and done the wine tasting where we were accompanied by a wine guru and critic ..... and ... where we tasted the most magnificent bottle of wine - The Journeyman 2005 - of which there were only 5 Barrels produced!!!! It deserves it own post!!

Jeanette and Lance squinting in the sinking sun ...

... and then we had dessert which had to include chocolate eclairs!!! Just HAD to make them for CS!! Oooh and when they appeared on the table she beamed from ear to ear!!!

.. and I had to take a photo to show Mr T! ...mmm ....yummy! Are you drooling yet, Mr T?

Later, in the early evening the two girls stayed for coffee and that's when.....

I learnt to drink black coffee !! Never been partial to black coffee .. always added a little milk and a touch of brown sugar ... tip-of-the-teaspoon amount! 'Why bother' my family always says!

Now .. in South America .. in particular Colombia and Peru - only because we had first-hand knowledge of this from CS and CA ... and have no idea if other places around the world do the same ....

Method : A chocolate must be in one hand! Take a bite ... a tiny bite - especially if you have a tiny Easter egg like I did - it has to be a tiny bite ...

... enjoy the flavour of the choccie first .... then take a sip of hot black coffee ... and let the left-over chocolate taste and coffee kind-of mix ... oooh !! aah !!! Next .. another tiny bite .. more hot coffee ... mmm mmm!!! yum!! Definitely need a few more tiny Easter eggs before coffee is finished! No milk or sugar necessary!!

Now that I have experienced that ..... I have been told to try an 'after eight' mint chocolate - even better ... so I'm told. I was also told to try this next week when hubby is away on business .... and then I won't miss him so much !!!

For those who like Espresso ....

Method : take a chocolate-coated coffee bean and plop it in your Espresso ... sip coffee 'til last drop and remaining coffee bean .... plop coffee bean in mouth and ... crunch!

Not sure whether I've been living under a stone forever but this was all new to me!!!!