miss b loves ..........Easter treats and traditions!

I always know that spring has arrived when cute signs appear on the trees down our lane! 

One of the highlights of this time of year is of course Easter. The tree which we bought last year with the glass and feather baubles has been brought out again ........

..... with a couple of new additions. A pretty egg-shaped candle (too cute to light?) and traditional woven palm leaves....both surprise gifts which were brought back from Barcelona for us this week. Palm Sunday is the beginning of Semana Santa(Holy Week)and the palms are sold on stalls in the city.

miss b loves ........ an extra-special Easter weekend

Easter is always one of my favourite times of the year with so many treats to satisfy my sweet tooth...... Cute cupcakes from our local Broadway Pantry....

Easter biscuit at Carluccio's
Egg-shaped macaron from Selfridges Food Hall
Ginger and acacia honey hot cross bun from Waitrose

It's not really a tradition to decorate our home for Easter but it was hard to resist a simple white Easter tree at John Lewis and a few clear glass feather baubles just added a little spring colour too ...

miss b loves.........giant Easter eggs in Manchester

A couple of weeks ago as we were walking through Manchester City Centre we came across some beautiful giant Easter eggs. They were part of The Big Egg Hunt sponsored by Lindt chocolates raising money for Action for Children, a UK charity.      

101 eggs designed by leading artists had been dotted about the city centre. The range of designs was fascinating and I was on a mission to track them down even though this was meant to be a shopping trip!! It was a cold, wet day but we still persevered although we certainly didn't find them all!! 

As it's Easter Weekend I thought I would show you a few of our favourites from cute.....to quirky.....

Butterfly Catchers by Rheannon Ormond

Equinox by Barbie Harrison

miss b loves.......... Easter treats

Easter is the time for sweet treats - the sweeter the better for me! Why does chocolate seem to taste even better when it's egg-shaped?.........

I found these cute Easter-themed cupcakes at Hey Little Cupcake Cupcakery and Tea Room in Manchester on Easter Saturday. Delicious flavours and amazingly light texture....maybe I should try one of their classes!

Egg Nest cupcake with a
 vanilla custard centre

Creme Egg cupcake-
so creative!

Of course Easter would not be complete without a bowl of Cadbury Mini Eggs - once you eat one you just can't stop........ 

We always eat hot cross buns (delicious toasted) on Good Friday and continue throughout the weekend! This year I heard that Heston Blumenthal had created his own variation - Earl Grey and mandarin (a perfect combination!) so off we went to the nearest Waitrose supermarket to stock up.....and they certainly exceeded all expectations!

Lindt milk chocolate is another favourite and buying a few little gold bunnies has now become an Easter tradition in our house......

Imagine my surprise on Good Friday when I saw this giant gold bunny outside Cheshire Oaks Designer Outlet.

and finally .....this video made me smile......

                                        Happy Easter!