... and are crystalised as a delicious cake decoration!
So surely, when Niki's calendar is full of violets this month, I can find some to make a little vignette?
Oops, I think we ate all of them, except for this:
It does make a very pretty backdrop for a spring bird's nest from Ele, though.
So April's display is simple, but effective, I think!
Thanks so much for your kind comments below.
This one (using bought French marzipan, I have to admit) was a doddle, and absolutely lovely. For anyone who doesn't know, it's a light fruit cake with a circle of marzipan baked into the middle (yum yum) and another on top, which is toasted before serving. The eleven balls of marzipan on top represent the eleven faithful disciples of Jesus, so it's an Easter cake. It went down VERY well with the troops...j
My news is not so good - my mum, for whom I blog, is not well at all and can't get downstairs to see the computer at the moment. My blog posts feel a bit lost, knowing that she won't be reading them. I hope that the medication and treatment she's being given will help matters, and that in the meantime we can organise a laptop so that we can remain in blogging contact. She has been seriously ill for about two years now, and is expected to get worse, but we would very much appreciate your prayers. Thanks so much for all your support.
We ate the first strawberries of the year (French) with shortbread made to Sumea's recipe, for pudding.
On the table was a vintage embroidered cloth and a tulip, rescued from the soil, where it was found dry and drooping after having been knocked over by the dog. Our own little Easter resurrection!
The main course came from a recipe I found in Sherri's House Beautiful Magazine.
It was so simple but yummy that I've copied it here for you - I hope you enjoy it!
STUFFED CHICKEN WITH COGNAC 
Some of them came back and told the others that they'd met angels, who had given them good news about Jesus being risen to new life - he had been dead, but now he was alive again! But that was confusing news, too.
The first person who really began to understand was Jesus' friend Mary (not his mum - there were lots of Maries in those days!). Mary was crying near the empty tomb because it was all so confusing. She looked up and saw a man, but her eyes were all blurred from the tears and she couldn't see who he was. She guessed he might be the gardener, so she asked him where on earth he had put the body of Jesus.
But it was actually Jesus himself! He said to her: 'Mary...', and when she heard him say her name, she knew it was true - Jesus had been dead, but now he was alive! Can you imagine how happy she was? She told everyone about it, and soon Jesus had gone to see his other friends too, and they were all telling each other the good news.
God is so powerful that death cannot hold him back, and Jesus had been telling the truth all this time - he was God, and death could not hold him!
Why did he die? He did it because he loved you and me, and all the people (ordinary and important), and he didn't want to see us punished for the things we do wrong. He decided he would rather take the punishment, instead of give it to us. So he was doing what he'd taught - being the servant, who helps his people, instead of the bossy king. On Easter Day we can say THANK YOU, JESUS!
Action: Take the stone away from the cave tomb in your Easter Garden - the cave is empty, because Jesus is alive! Put some flowers in the garden, to make it beautiful and full of new life.
Soldiers stood outside Jesus' tomb, to stop anyone from stealing the body, and sometimes we put some soldiers in front of the stone...
Do you recognise these soldiers?
So, poor Jesus was dead, and his friends and family were very, very sad, and very, very scared, in case the important people came after them next. They hid and cried.
But we have today to try to work out the puzzle: Why did Jesus decide to die? He didn't have to go to Jerusalem. He didn't have to annoy the important people. He could have run away when the soldiers came or told everyone that the important people were lying about him. But he didn't! Why did he let them kill him?
Then remember that Jesus told his friends that the bread was like his body, broken for them. Did we see his poor body broken yesterday? We did.
So, I made my HCBs and they are appreciated in the family and are going to be part of a traditional Good Friday meal that we're sharing with friends tonight (Penny is cooking fish, of course...) I'll try to answer the questions you asked on my post about the dough the other night:
My recipe tells me to put the crosses on as rolled out pastry, but I have another which suggests piping on a watery pastry mix - it's never worked for me. Any advice?
Here is our Easter Garden this year - the 'stone' is in front of the tomb, from today until Easter morning. I find the symbolism very powerful. You'll find my children's post for Good Friday below, with some more Easter Garden photos. 
Does that make you feel sad? It is a very sad and shocking thing to happen to anyone. It seems even worse that it happened to our kind and loving Jesus, who helped people and told them about God's love, doesn't it?
You need to know about crosses - they were the way that the worst criminals were punished in those days. Criminals were put onto a cross for people to look at until they died. It's hard to imagine that because we know how wrong it is nowadays, but in those days it didn't seem so unusual - look, there are two other crosses for criminals, as well as for poor Jesus. 
Can you see who has stayed with Jesus? It's his mother, Mary, and the other women who are his friends. The men have mostly run away, because someone might want to put them on a cross too. I'm very glad that some of his family and friends stayed with him, though. They stayed there until he died. Poor Jesus and Mary. 
When he had died, a secret friend decided to be brave - he told the women that they could put the poor body in his own special cave. It was a cave for burials. This is what the cave in the Easter Garden is for. How sad the women were when they put Jesus' poor body in the cave.
Activity: Put a cross made of sticks, or a palm leaf one from church, into your Easter Garden, and find a big stone to put in front of the cave - the important people put a huge stone in front of Jesus' tomb, big and heavy so that no one could go and steal his body away.
Question for younger children: Do you like Hot Cross Buns? See if you can eat one today, because the cross can remind us of Jesus.
Question for older children: Do you remember what Jesus said about the bread and the wine? He said they were his body and his blood. Does that make any sense when you think about Jesus dying on the cross? (You can eat a Hot Cross Bun too!)
Wikipedia has an explanation (in French) here. All I know is that the jokes in France mainly revolve around sticking paper fish onto people's backs. I need to read that Wiki article properly...
So, as the back of the postcard says, I wish you 'good kisses and jokes for the first of April'!
The postcard is available as part of a set of French cards in my Troc and Broc Vintage Shop.
Can you see Jesus in the picture, looking at Jerusalem and praying? He got very upset when he prayed - praying is talking to God, and Jesus cried and told God that he was feeling very scared about what would happen next. See - even Jesus can get scared.
In this picture you can see Jesus kneeling down and praying, if you look very hard (it was dark, of course). Can you see his friends? They've fallen asleep! Jesus was sad and scared but his friends weren't there to help him.
But one friend had done something much worse. When Judas left their special meal he went to tell the important people where Jesus was going. The important people quickly called some soldiers and they all went together to arrest Jesus - to capture him like he was a criminal!
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The soldiers said: 'We don't know what Jesus looks like - how can we arrest him?' Judas told them: 'I'll go up and give him a friendly greeting - a hug and a kiss like we always do. Then you'll know that the one I kiss is the one to arrest.' Can you see Judas giving him a hug in the picture?
So Jesus was arrested, and he let the important people take him away and tell everyone what a bad man he was. It was a terrible night. Everything seemed to have gone wrong. But somehow, Jesus seemed to act like it was OK with him. Maybe he something that the others didn't...
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Question for younger children: Do you sometimed feel scared? Who do you talk to when you feel scared?
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Question for older children: Jesus' friends all let him down. Have you ever been let down by a friend? Have you ever let a friend down yourself?
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Activity: Judas got paid some silver coins by the important people when he gave Jesus to them. See if you can find a silvery coin and put it in your Easter garden, to remind you of this sad night.
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I'll keep you posted...