Christ is Risen! The Lord is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!

We are excited about celebrating the Resurrection of our Lord, even as we are recovering.

We may be traveling this week, so our menu plan will have to be a little flexible, but the beginning of it should hold true. For the first time in four years, though, we will be having our Paschal feast with just our family, and only the third time ever since we've been married.

You might notice that I call Easter Pascha or Fesah'. English and German are the only languages that use a Pagan name for this holiday. It is where much of the syncretism comes. We are not fond of that. Just about every other language in the world uses its word for Passover for this holiday. Pascha is the Greek, Fesah' is Arabic. You see Pascua, there is Pascal, Pasquale, and many other variations on this. Since we focus on the Lamb and not the bunny, since the only eggs we do are blood red from both the Jewish Passover and Christian doctrine and tradition, rather than the pastel "spring" eggs, we would also rather avoid the only linguistic connection to Paganism in our celebration. I'm not sure why, but it seems like the English had more trouble with this than other cultures.

My one disappointment this year is that I wasn't able to get good chocolate lambs for our Pascha basket. I tried to find them in a radius of about an hour and a half from our house and couldn't. I finally found a chocolatier online that made them with Callebaut chocolate, but by the time I did, it was too late to get them made. So, they were absent in our basket this year. We still have the chocolate eggs, strawberries, oranges, sausages, bacon, our red eggs and Pascha bread, Pascha cheese, ma'amoul and all the other goodies we normally have. The children will get to play a game with their red eggs before they eat them in the Scotchican eggs (our version of Scotch eggs, in which we use Mexican chorizo instead of regular breakfast sausage).

• Sunday - Fesah'
  Breakfast: Blintz Casserole with Sour Cream and Raspberry Jam, Paschal Braided Bread, Pascha Cheese, Scotchican Eggs, Strawberries and Sliced Oranges, Hot Chocolate & Coffee with Chantilly Cream
  Dinner: Herb Roasted Lamb, Harissa, Laban bi Chiyar, Tabbouleh, Hummus, Baba Ghanooj, Khoubz Araby (Pita Bread), Waraq 'Ounab, Sambousak, Fatayir bi Sabanich, Green Hot Sauce, Slow Sauteed Green Beans, Kalamata Olives, Tourshi*, Radishes, Gatayif, Baq'lawa, Ma'amoul
• Monday
  Breakfast: Leftover Gatayif, Leftover Scotchican Eggs, Leftover Blintz with Sour Cream and Raspberry Preserves, Milk & Coffee
  Dinner: Leftovers, Lamb Shaped Lemon Blueberry Pound Cake with Coconut Frosting
• Tuesday
  Breakfast: Stuffed French Toast made with Pascha Bread and Cheese, Milk & Coffee
  Dinner: Thai Peanut Chicken Curry with Rice, Apple Fritters
• Wednesday
  Breakfast: Cornish Splits, Butter and Jam, Hard Boiled Eggs, Fruit, Milk & Coffee
  Dinner: Bean and Chorizo Stew, Salad, Leftover Desserts
• Thursday
  Breakfast: Apple Cinnamon Waffles with Butter, Bacon, Milk & Coffee
  Dinner: Dinner Out
• Friday
  Breakfast: Bacon and Eggs, Toast, Milk & Coffee
  Dinner: Dinner Out
• Saturday
  Breakfast: Breakfast with Friends
  Dinner: Mongolian Beef, Stir Fried Vegetables, Steamed Rice, Key Lime Pie

What is on your menu this week? If you want a recipe, ask and I will provide it as soon as I can. If there are any starred recipes, I will follow up separately with a weekly recipe round up on Saturday.

Labels: Church Year, Family, Fesah', Homemaking, Menu Plans, Pascha, Tales from the Kitchen