Easter

Easter is the second biggest holiday at the Hendleman house. We do the whole egg hunt and we have an Easter Egg Cupcake-off (even though no Hendlemen really like cake).

This year, the hunters were:
Tom
Jamie
Gabe
Kat
Blake
Cael
Whit
Meg
Hendlemom
Hendledad
*John is at training and Mindy was at work.

and the rules were:
anything goes. But if you find a sticker, you have to put it on your head to get a prize. Prizes include anything that was too big to fit in the eggs (like giant sticks of beef jerky).

Hendlemom put plastic lips in the eggs. It made for some fun smooching.

We had our second annual Cupcake-off. Last year’s was immensely disappointing to Whit, who was new to the Hendleman house – when we said “Cupcake-off,” he undoubtedly had visions of mounds of cupcakes – chocolate frosted, sprinkles, candies – the works. He was surprised (to say the least) when we arrived, with our “normal” cupcakes in tow, to see the competitors: Kat had dished sugar-free homemade tapioca into little cups and Hendlemom had crafted tiny pie crusts filled with hollandaise sauce and stood three spears of asparagus tied with a red pepper bow in it. Azucena, had she been able to make it, would have brought her cupcakes made of play dough. Whit went ballistic – “Don’t call it a Cupcake-off if it’s a One-Serving-off!” He never let it die all year; whenever we went to my mom’s, he’d ask if we were having asparagus cupcakes.

So, this year, the rules were a little more specific and the entries were a little…sweeter.

Cael frosted chocolate chip bottom brownie cupcakes (that Kat made).
Kat had brought half a cake leftover from their adoption celebrations.
Tom made nutty caramel swirled brownies.
I made egg-shaped cakes filled with whipping cream and drizzled with strawberry syrup.
Hendlemom made ginger cupcakes topped with whipping cream, chocolate candies, and a miniature second ginger cake (Whit said she definitely made up for last year)

We voted and I won – whew. I love winning.

I was talking to Blake and Tom afterward, telling them that the strawberry syrup I drizzled over the cakes had initially started out as strawberry jam. Whit said he really liked homemade strawberry jam, so I tried to make some, but just ended up with really thick syrup – you couldn’t even tell that there were any strawberries to begin with except that it tasted super strawberry strong. The next part of the conversation went like this…

Tom: And you used the syrup in the cupcakes?
Meg: Yeah, I drizzled it on the tops.
Tom: They’re all pink. It looks like you did more than drizzle.
Meg: I had a lot of syrup.
Tom: So the syrup was supposed to be jam?
Meg: Yep.
Tom: So…you’re telling me that you soaked the cupcakes in failure?
Meg: Well, yeah, I guess so. But I won, didn’t I?
Tom: And so, in failing, you succeed.

- dun dun dun –