Easter is always such a strange time for me…when I was small it was a time of precise preparations and even more precise foods. Easter breads and nut rolls and ham and kielbasa…my grandmother prepared a huge basket of foods that she took to church to be blessed by the priest. My Aunt Annie made something amazing out of eggs that looked like cheese but really wasn’t cheese. There had to be pink horse radish dip, too. Then there was stress about whether we were eating blessed foods or not and my grandmother would literally freak out if we didn’t like or finish a food that was blessed. In between all of that there were regular Easter baskets filled with jellybeans and Peeps and Chocolate Bunnies. I once kept a Chocolate duck for three months because I couldn’t bear to hurt him. I didn’t like dye on my hands from coloring Easter Eggs. We couldn’t watch TV on Good Friday. My sister and I were dressed alike in hats, dresses, coats, shoes and even purses. Our purses had a real ironed lacy handkerchief inside and our little rosaries. And money for the collection baskets. My dad took Easter movies of us walking to church. My mom died near Easter. One of my beloved aunts died near Easter. My mom was the one who made loaf after loaf of special Easter Bread. My aunt made the yellow cheese that really wasn’t cheese.
I have a ton of Easter issues. Sigh!
I don’t like making a big deal out of Easter so I don’t. I don’t even like saying Happy Easter! Yikes! After rereading I think I may have more Easter issues than I thought! Oh well…
Books!
I just finished this and I can’t tell you enough about how good this book was. Little gullible 12 year olds and a mysterious man called Wither! So good!
Up next…I am loving the Deborah Crombie book and craving something beachy!
Weekend foods!
Den loves eggy casseroles so I want to make this one from the NYT…we love Veggie Sandwiches…this one is from Cup of Joe…and I think we are having this Very Cheesy Rice Bake…I think it’s from Food 52…tonight!
So…have a lovely weekend!
See you on Monday!
Patty
Books, Thoughts and Adventures 
Yummy food, and I can’t wait to read Before She Was Found and Sunset Beach.
Easter was a big deal when I was a kid, and we always had Easter dresses and hats. And colored eggs.
I’ve done nothing for Easter since my kids were little, and even then, those Easters were different than my childhood ones.
Enjoy your weekend!
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Thank you! Enjoy yours, too!
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Oh, you made me giggle (in a good way – I’m Catholic). In my big Irish family we didn’t have any of those customs but I can see why you got a bit stressed. We always had a new outfit to wear to Easter Sunday mass. I wasn’t a fan of jelly beans but anything chocolate was great!
The cheesy rice dish looks yummy. Enjoy your reading 🙂
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Thank you so much! I am glad you had a good giggle or two!
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I know Easter means something different for you now that your mom and aunt or no longer around but you mentioned so many wonderful memories too. I never had EASTER when I was kid. No coloring of eggs. No church. No mention of it at all. I didn’t even know when it was Easter or Christmas in my house.
This Easter I am not craving ham at all. I always make that apricot glazed ham and it’s always good but I’ve been battling nausea due to some physical issues so what sounds good to me right now is steak and lobster. That is probably what we will have if I can find good lobster.
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I hope you can find great lobsters! The good memories mixed in with the not so good…that’s Easter for me. I hope you feel better!
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Since Vance is grown and we don’t live near family, we keep Easter low key too. I fix Easter baskets for Carl and Vance and, every single year, Carl acts surprised.
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That’s so sweet that he is surprised, I am all for a low key Easter!
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I smiled at all your Easter trads. Like Mary I grew up a Catholic and we seemed to spend most of the time at church. My grandad was Irish and my mother always told us about how he kept Good Friday – very frugally. Now I just go to church on Easter Sunday, and i’ve already cracked open one dark choc Easter egg – very yummy. I have just started Sunset Beach – sitting by the fire! Liking the book.
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I started it, too…and I like it, too…not loving it yet. Those Catholic traditions were tough…Den reprimands me for not appreciating Easter and I do…I really do…I am just not that into it. Enjoy you yummy egg!
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Your post makes me smile…. our families had so many of the same Easter traditions! For the past 4 or 5 years we have been in Florida, so it’s much more low key. Just us and my FIL. I will make a ham for dinner, but no Easter bread. I’ve been the official Easter bread maker in our family for more than a decade… things change.
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I know…and although I looked I could not find Pink Horseradish anywhere. It must have been a family recipe! Wegman’s always has kolachi…the sweet nutty Polish bread…but it was raining so hard yesterday that we didn’t get there. We had bagels with tons of veggies and salmon and that was different but good! Have a wonderful day!
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I think there are so many different ideas and traditions around Easter that it’s perfectly understandable that people have issues with it sometimes? I mean, my Easters were a little less involved than that, but I can definitely see where you’r coming from! I try to keep it fairly simple but still remember what it’s about, at least for me.
Oh and I sometimes felt bad about eating my chocolate bunnies too!
I love anything with cheese haha!
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Me, too…cheese! The cheesy rice was so delicious! Happy Quiet Easter to you!
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Happy Easter! We eat pretty much the same food here for Easter too: cooked ham, sausages, eggs, horse radish, spring onions and radishes. It was my fave holiday when I was a kid exactly due to this food, but as a vegetarian I don’t eat it anymore. I do enjoy a chocolate egg or two …. dozens 🙂 My city is the only one in the country that celebrates this Easter, the rest celebrates the Orthodox one next weekend.
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Yes…my grandmother was very Polish…even speaking Polish fluently in her home. I knew that you would be familiar with these foods. I wish I knew how to make some of them! Enjoy your chocolate eggs!
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