Lucie Chin and the Rite of Spring

My friend Lucie (who is not, despite her name, of Asian extraction) used to make a mean meatloaf--not so much the ingredients, but the presentation, special for Easter: bunny meatloaf.  When I had kids I decided this really needed to be part of our seasonal festivities.  It's basically whatever you like for meatloaf, coated in mashed potatoes, on a bed of green beans, with paper ears and raisins or jelly beans* or...well, whatever, for eyes and nose.  This year I put a couple of mushrooms on the platter for pretty.

So every Easter I commemorate Lucie and her grandma, from whom she got the recipe.  Happy vernal celebration of whatever stripe (though with the amount of butter in the mashed potatoes I can assure you that this bunny is not Kosher for Passover).

* the problem with jelly beans is that the color runs in the mashed potatoes, and you get a bunny with little pink rings around his little pink eyes.