Scott and I usually throw a big Easter party for friends and family.  This year, we totally invited ourselves to someone else’s house instead (muahahahaha).  But we’re not total jerks.  We are planning to bring the ham, and not just any old ham, this ham:

Tyler Florence’s Tangerine-Glazed Easter Ham with Carrots.  Mmm.  We made it a few years ago, and it was fantastic.  I don’t have any recollection of what we made for Easter last year, but I think it was tasty, too.  Anyway, this ham is memorable.  I don’t even like ham all that much.  Top that with the fact that we were less experienced cooks two years ago, and we still couldn’t mess this up.  It’s a winner.

In this year’s experimental holiday food category, I will probably be trying The Pioneer Woman’s recipe for Hot Cross Buns.

Since I love almost every recipe I’ve ever tried from PDubs (as we lovingly call her at home), I think this is a pretty safe bet.  Take a traditional recipe that I know I like, add my favorite maker of recipes, and magic is bound to happen.  If it does go wrong, I’ll show you funny pictures after Easter.  Failure is almost always entertaining, if not delicious.

Happy Easter, folks!  Jesus is risen!!  (Well, technically not for a few more days, but it’s history.  We don’t have to be sticklers about these details.)

Oh, and I was reading about traditions surrounding hot cross buns.  Does it seem weird to anyone else that you’re supposed to hang a hot cross bun in your kitchen all year from the time you made them on Good Friday (today) to the next batch the next year?  To ensure that your baked goods will all rise well for the life of the bun.  First, that sounds pretty mumbo-jumbo-ish to me.  Second, how would you do that in an aesthetically pleasing way that doesn’t say “This piece of bread has been here, molding away for a year”???

It’s safe to say that I don’t believe in the rising power of hot cross buns.  I just like to eat them.