Easter Goodies

My sister has come back to Whitehorse from Haida Gwaii and has brought with her a dynamite sourdough starter filled with raincoasty, mountainous Haida Gwaii-an microbes.

Super starter from Haida GwaiiWe are going to take full advantage of its power and make sourdough hot-cross buns. Here’s the difficulty: I made them last year and they were fabulous, but I cannot find the recipe. However a search through the echoing halls of the interweb has turned up a simple and straightforward version that does not use a kilo of flour or such arcane steps as sautéing the spices in butter. Here’s a pic of last year’s buns, and a link to the recipe we’re experimenting with.

 Last Year's Model

Other Easter cookery today features a monster turkey from northern Alberta that looks like it has been in a few barnyard brawls.

Bad Bad Leroy BrownWhoa. That’s some bird. We’re going to stuff it (all hands on deck to pull the bread) with my mother’s traditional bread, onion, butter and summer savoury mixture than which I have never tasted better. Highbush cranberry jelly and apple and red currant jelly from the trees and bushes around here will accompany the bird, and for dessert, apple upside down cake with crème fraiche and saffron-rosewater ice cream (either or both, your choice).

Michelle R's upside down apple cake

I’m really happy my sister is here, living in my basement, and my friend Yvette, visiting from afar. How’s your Easter going?