Easter Weekend in NJ ?

[Rosie]

Where are you dining? Home? With family?

[StInGeR]

This year instead of the usual buffet at the Lake Mohawk Country Club it's a huge family affair for about 30 people at the IL's. Roast turkey, roast lamb, a ham and all the trimmings Oh and did I mention lots of beer . So it looks like Sunday will be a busy day for me as I'll be helping the MIL do all the cooking, I definitely wouldn't trust my wife in the kitchen with her.

I hope everyone has a great Easter and I look forward to meeting most of you when we come back permanently in Aug-Sept.

Cheers

Tom

[njduchess]

The biggest Easter Weekend event in our family happened on Good Friday. This is the 11th year since my cousins and I have taken over the tradition of making "pizza gayn" or more correctly pizza chiena or pizza rustica. The meats and cheeses get cubed on Wednesday night. On Good Friday, I rise at about 5:30 to scald the milk for the dough. By the time the cousins arrive at about 9:00 a.m., I have 3-4 batches of dough rising and ready to roll.

We use 30 pounds of meats and cheeses (ham, pepperoni, salami, provolone, and muenster - where did that come from?), 30 pounds of ricotta, 5 dozen eggs, 20 pounds of flour. The yield is thirty 12-inch round pies which we enjoy and give many to family and friends. The first several years was trial and error because we only had a list of ingredients and vague instructions. Over the years, we have fine tuned the recipe and now turn out perfect pies (with no leftovers nor shortages).

My Mom and Aunt used to do this project on their own (their father before them), but once they entered their 70's, the next generation took over. Now my cousin's daughters in their 20's have joined in the fun. Last year, we also had the "help" of another cousin's grandson - 2 years old.

They stayed through breakfast and lunch and left at 6:00 p.m. Easter is somewhat anticlimatic after all of this.

[dbrociner]

Here's where I'll be going with my wife's family. I think that I've posted about this place before under a brunch topic. The food is good for a hotel brunch and the price of $30 per person is reasonable for what you get. I also like the fact that its not a mob scene even on Mother's day when we also go there. One of the best things for us is that kids under 5 are free and kids up to 12 are half price. Also, since the hotel is owned by Pfizer they give an employee discount of 20%, something worth knowing about that isn't well publicized.

North Maple Inn at Basking Ridge

300 N Maple Ave

Basking Ridge, NJ 07920

908-953-3000

edited to correct spelling: doh!

Edited April 10, 2004 by dbrociner (log)

[nizza]

We'll be going to Lina's Restaurant in Bloomingdale. We went there last year and it was really lovely. They put out a bountiful and delicious buffet at a reasonable price of $22.95 plus tip and tax and it too was not a mob scene.

Happy Holidays to all!!!

Edited April 11, 2004 by nizza (log)

[dbrociner]

One update on the North Maple Inn, the price of the brunch has been raised to $35.99. I still think its a good value. The Pfizer employee discount has also been raised to 25% which helped to offset the price increase for us anyway. They had the Easter Bunny walking around handing out candy to the kids, nice touch imho.

[Cook456]

Spent the holiday at my brother and sister-in law's. We are all watching our weight, so dinner was carefully planned.

For an appetizer we had huge stuffed artichokes. ( purchased at Whole Foods) with a Cave Springs dry Reisling.

Then came a beautiful salad of fennel, edamame, chunks of parmesan, topped with chopped toasted almonds, and drizzled with EVOO. yum!

For our entree, we had Rack of lamb, roasted asparagus, baby carots, and fingerling potatoes. The wine was A NJ wine.....A nice cabernet from Tomasello Winery that won a gold medal, last year.

For dessert we enjoyed a warm lemon pudding cake ( Sara Molten made this last week) and added a scoop of Blue Moon Raspberry cassis sorbet. ...and, a glass of Tomasello Winery Black Rasberry wine.

All in all it was a great meal, and relatively low in calories!

[Rosie]

Cook456--Sounds wonderful. I love stuffed artichokes. How was the wine. I haven't met a NJ wine that I have liked.

[Cook456]

Rosie,

This cabernet was very, very good. It was lush, and full bodied with lots of berry.

As I mentioned, it had won a gold medal, in last years competition, which is why we bought it.

Last fall we went to one of the NJ wine festivals. About 15 wineries had tasting booths plus there were a few( not enough) food stands.

The Black Raspberry was also quite good.

Perhaps one of the festivals might be a good e.gullet outing!!

[Rosie]

We have an eGullet outing coming up on the 21st at An American Grill if you and cook 123 and family are interested.

[clembyk]

Can you give me some good choices for Mother's Day Brunch.

[Rosie]

List of restaurants are on Table Hopping With Rosie this week. More to be added next week.

http://www.njmonthly.com/rosie/rosiemain.html

If you need more info let us know what part of the state.