We attended a beautiful and prayerful Easter Vigil Mass at our parish Saturday night. Then, we woke up early Sunday morning to the sound of excited kids filled with anticipation to see what the Easter Bunny had left them. It always makes me happy to see my kids so happy. Once the excitement of the Easter Bunny began to wane (and after a bit of overindulgence in Easter candy), we packed up and headed to Baton Rouge to spend Easter with Char's parents.
The kids hunted Easter eggs (filled with candy... and money!). Afterwards, they swam for a couple of hours, while the parents and grandparents chatted outside on the deck. Though the forecast predicted severe thunderstorms and sustained tornadoes, the afternoon was warm and sunny with hardly a cloud in the sky.
Being Lebanese, our Easter dinner had a Lebanese motif. Not surprising, huh? It was absolutely delicious. Lamb, tabouleh, lamb-stuffed grape leaves, kibbeh nayee, stuffed artichokes (not really Lebanese, but delicious nonetheless), and grilled sausage. All of this was accompanied by wine. Lots of wine. The dinner was followed by a coconut cake baked by my lovely wife, Char. And then there was the houka. And the cigars. And more wine. It was a great day.
I am sure that we will talk more about our Easter dinner on episode 16, which I will record in just a day or two.
What do you eat for Easter? Let me know and I will share it on episode 16! You can email me at catholicfoodie@gmail.com. Or, if you are feeling creative, you can record an mp3 file, or just call the feedback line at 985-635-4974.
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Until next time... Bon appetit!
Simple seasoning yields phenomenal lamb!
Tabouli (tabouleh)
Lamb-stuffed grape leaves
Kibbeh Nayee
Mint from my mother-in-law's garden
Me... enjoying the day!
Comments:
Hi Jeff:
Thanks for sharing your fabulous Lebanese Easter feast. I remember a close friend's Greek Easter years ago. They cooked a whole lamb in the backyard of an elegant San Francisco apartment!
You asked what your readers prepared for their Easter feast, so here goes...
Well, before we ate, we attended a vigil that started at 4am at the Benedictine Grange, liturgical home of Fr. John Giuliani. (You may know him as the painter of traditional icons--with Native American motifs. Here's one of my favorites http://www.bridgebuilding.com/narr/gasc.html.)
We usually spend all day with my husband's extended family and eat a long traditional Italian Easter dinner.
For various reasons we had a smaller brunch gathering.
After 3 hours of incredible liturgy that included a bonfire in the woods, processions, a baptism, all the readings, etc, we came home and crashed.
Then I served brunch that included Strata--a layered egg, sausage and cheese souffle-type dish--Pecan Sour Cream Coffee, fresh fruit salad, Hot Cross Buns--weren't as light as they should be--and loads of post-Lenten chocolate. And mimosas.
By the way my college age son occasionally smokes a houka with flavored tobacco. I freaked out just a little when he brought it home!
Lorraine,
Thank you so much for your Easter experience! I think it is so cool that you have a Benedictine abbey close to you. We basically live right down the street from St. Joseph Abbey. As a matter of fact, I graduated from the seminary located on the abbey grounds!
Your brunch sounds like it was delicious! And mimosas... we had mimosas too!
We did not have brunch though. My wife's family is Lebanese, so the day is usually full of cooking and conversation and munching on mezze (which is a slow process of sharing uniquely Lebanese appetizers). Our mezze was accompanied by mimosas and lots of wine (it's a family tradition!).
We finally ate in the evening! Besides a very lite breakfast, it was the first meal of the day! But, there was the mezze, of course.
Thanks, again, for the comment. I love to read what others do for their meals and family traditions. And thank you for the link to the icons. Beautiful!
Jeff
The Catholic Foodie
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