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

It is the end of the Paschal octave, but not the end of the Paschal season. We have another 32 days until the Feast of the Ascension and ten days after that is Pentecost, the second highest feast of the Church Year! We have a lot of celebrating to do.

In light of that, Rich asked me to extend some of the foods I had planned for last week into this week and later in the season. A couple days into Bright Week, we all started to get either a cold or a stomach bug, and our appetites were much lower than normal (even considering we had been observing the Lenten fast), and so a lot of our Paschal feast was packaged up for the freezer to pull out when we need a quick and easy meal another time, and much of what I had planned for breakfasts did not get made. Rich said that we should simply extend our Paschal break one more week or start a more easy going school week so we could kind of make up for that. This isn't a fast free week, so we are working around the weekly fasting and abstinent schedule, but it allows us to enjoy some more things we wouldn't have otherwise had time for this week.

Sadly, because of how unwell people were, and exhausted (as most of us were no longer actually sick with anything by then), we had to miss the Orthodox Paschal celebration last night. We are bringing some of the foods I planned to make to our church dinner tonight, and will bring some of the breads with us to break the fast after liturgy with our Orthodox brethren on Saturday.

I posted the recipes from last week and this week yesterday. Some of them, like the sloppy Giuseppes and the "Italian" cream cake are not authentic anything. Honestly, I do not know how it got the name Italian cream cake, because there is nothing in it that brings to mind either Italian ingredients, recipes, dishes, or techniques.

• Sunday - Final Day of Paschal Octave
  Breakfast: Baghrir with Buttermilk Syrup, Bacon, Fruit, Sahlab and Coffee
  Dinner: Koubbeh, Mutawam Kusa, Arabic Cheeses, Olives, Persian Love Cake, Baq'lawa
• Monday
  Breakfast: Egg, Cheese, Tomato and Avocado Tortillas, Fruit, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Thai Ginger Chicken with Eggplant, Jasmine Rice, Sliced Oranges
• Tuesday
  Breakfast: Cheese Potica, Bacon, Fruit, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Messy Meatball Buns, Salad and Sides brought by Bible Study Members, Cherry Gelato and Blueberry Cheesecake Gelato
• Wednesday
  Breakfast: Tahina and Pomegranate Syrup on Toast, Fruit Plate, Tea with Honey
  Dinner: Tangled Thai Salad, Fruit Plate
• Thursday
  Breakfast: Prosciutto and Gruyère Scones, Fruit, Milk and Coffee
  Dinner: Moroccan Kofta with Cardamom and Lemon, Rice, Moroccan Beet Salad, Moroccan Almond-Orange Cake
• Friday - Feast of Saint Anselm
  Breakfast: Steel Cut Oats with Raisins, Cinnamon and Brown Sugar, Tea with Honey
  Dinner: Crab and Shrimp Gumbo, Jasmine Rice, Hot Sauce, Fruit Plate
• Saturday
  Breakfast: Sirnica with a Butter Lamb, Italian Bacon and Romano Pasqua Bread, and a pitcher of Sheherazades to break the fast after liturgy
  Dinner: Sloppy Giuseppes, Green Salad, Roasted Zucchini Slabs, Creamy Buttermilk Cake with Coconut and Pecans

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 (this may be later this time because of our holiday feasting and rest).

Labels: Church Year, Faith and Morality, Family, Fesah', Governor Inslee Needs a Frozen Fish to the Forehead, Homemaking, Keeping the Feast, Menu Plans, Pascha, Tales from the Kitchen