Preparations were at full steam after my Bride returned from doing readings at her church for Easter morning. The final details for the rooms with decorations and getting all of the gifts for Easter for the children; as well as the presents for the people that would be celebrating birthdays in the month of April had to be finished. We do enjoy having people over to the house, and there is nothing like having a party.

My Bride was getting ready to make a leg of lamb, a ham and chicken for dinner that evening, so that there would be food to everyone’s taste. The dinner for Easter would not be as ethno-centric as the Easter Eve dinner we attended the night before. The roast leg of lamb would be Armenian in the sense that it would be heavily scented with roasted garlic and other spices. The ham was a more traditional Easter dish done with cloves, and the chicken is a concoction that is my Brides own recipe that comes out extremely moist. Add to these three entrée courses were the salads, vegetables, potatoes and of course Armenian Pilaf, a dish that even my in-laws have come to expect when they come over for dinner. There would also be other side dishes that some of the guests would be bringing, and that my Bride knew about, so she could keep the menu from being too lopsided with any one type of dish. There were also appetizer to set out, not to mention sweets and assorted munchies until everyone arrived. There was also a selection of desserts and a birthday cake as well decorated with the names of the April honorees. The one thing that does drive my Bride crazy is trying to get everyone to arrive by a certain time, as she wants the food to be hot for dinner, and she tells the guests to come an hour earlier, but that is not always the case, and she does fret about that. I always feel that if she served the dinner when she states and the same people end up with tepid dinners for being late, a couple of times they might be more attentive. Thankfully there is always wine in the kitchen, some is used in the dishes, and some is there to assuage the chef’s nerves.

We always have a bar set up in the library with soft drinks, beer, and liquor and of course wine. There are a couple of bottles of our every day wines, plus something that I want to try for that dinner, and sometimes even some new bottles that are unexpected in the form of gifts. That morning my Bride ran into some old friends of her family, as they lived across the street from her Mother’s house way on the east side of the Detroit area from where we live, and these people had moved out our way. When she found out that they did not have any special plans, they were invited over at the last minute and they accepted, and there was no problem with the menu as there is always enough food even with teenagers in attendance. The new guests brought over a bottle of wine to the house which I opened. I always believe that people bring wine over that they enjoy, so let them enjoy what they are comfortable with. The wine was a bottle of Chateau Ste. Michelle Riesling 2012. This is an off dry white wine from Columbia Valley in Washington State, but I found it a little sweeter then I prefer especially with the food that we were serving that evening. The wine that I was looking forward to trying was Wrath San Saba Vineyard Syrah 2010 in the Santa Lucia Highlands that we received from out wine club in Monterey. This was a very dark inky purple wine with a lot of fruit and much more powerful in taste then any Rhone wine that I have ever had; of course most of the Rhone wines are also blended with other varietals. This wine really stood up to the lamb and the roasted garlic for a pleasant change of what I would have normally served, so I was very happy. Later that evening after the guests had all left, my Bride looked at me and said “How could you serve a wine called Wrath on Easter?” and I just smiled and told her I didn’t even think of the name per se.