Feast Day: Divine Mercy Sunday

Today, Easter Sunday is done for this year. For Catholics, Easter Sunday is such an important day in the liturgical calendar that it actually breaks the world's schedule and extends for an eight-day period! Honestly! (Also, the "Easter Season" goes on thru Acension and on to Pentecost -- 50 days AFTER Easter Sunday -- so we've got quite a few "partying" days left).

I thought this was an appropriate day to post a bit about our Lenten practices this year and our Easter Sunday (that lasted 8 days!):

Here is the calendar I posted so the family could focus on different events, readings and schedule of Lent. I marked all the feast days (that interrupt the fasting of Lent) -- such as St. Patrick's or St. Joseph's days -- and the fasting times. On each day, I put the appropriate liturgical readings and any other pertinent information. There is a little picture of two boys walking that we moved each day to mark our Lenten journey. This seemed to help the kids remember that although Lent is LONG, it is not endless and that there is a "happy" ending -- the happiest ending for all mankind!
Here is our Lenten table. The alms box (for Catholic Relief Services) was center-stage the whole Lent -- we all added to the box when we could (in secret) and dad would take the offerings to school each week. The red hexagonal box holds the kids' rosaries for evening prayer. The flowers remind us that Easter (and Spring) are coming ... we tried to keep fresh ones there throughout Lent. The purple cloth is for the penitence and sorrow of what lies ahead for Jesus during Holy Week.

Here is a close-up of the knitted "nest" I designed. Based on a smaller design from Hannah Fettig's Closely Knit (a great book with sensational ideas), I knit from the center out and made a family-sized version so we could ...use it on Easter Sunday for our family basket. Here it's filled with goodies -- peeps (for the annual peep wars!), jelly-beans, chocolate eggs, DVDs, games and even a drawing book, and of course "custom-designed" hardboiled eggs surrounding the whole. The cloth is one I embroidered back in 2001 for a special Easter Basket that was blessed at Church the year we did the Byzantine "Great Lent". (BTW, for my knitted nest directions, check out my knitting blog, By Hand, With Heart for a free Easter gift to you ....)

0-dark-30 Easter Monday (or 3:45 a.m.!) we headed out to visit relatives down in South Carolina -- and the 8.5 hour drive was so worth it as we so LOVE these folks down there. The kids have fun, dh and I are surrounded by those who love and respect us, and it is just a wonderful time. BamBam finally ventured out on his 2-wheeler (without training wheels) and felt the sense of freedom only learning to ride a bike can give! A few days of R&R was just what we need ... and we hit the road back here on Thursday, just in time to check out potential houses (God willing, the house in Colorado closes on May 11th!) on Friday.

We finished up the week with a spectacular Easter Saturday: a day of fun-in-the-sun with our favorite Chaplain at the Nationals game against the Marlins. Unfortunately, they lost (9-6 in the 11th inning) but the day (and company) were so fabulous, we didn't mind too much ...

Here are some photos of the big day (the first time for us at the Nationals Stadium):Sipping on cokes ...munching on hotdogs and chips ....and stuffing our faces with cotton candy (and yes, those two ate the whole bucket -- while the rest of us ate ice cream!)A great time was definitely had by all!Divine Mercy Sunday (today) found us down at St. Patrick's in Spotsylvania for Divine Mercy Sunday Mass ... and a wonderful reminder from the parochial vicar there to NEVER forget that God's mercy is bigger than ANY sin (or sins) we can commit. All we need do is ask for His forgiveness and follow the right path ... and we will live with Him and the Saints for eternity!

Happy Divine Mercy Sunday to you and yours ... and enjoy the next 42 days of the Easter Season!

Lent: Holy Thursday

Today is Holy Thursday ... tonight starts the Triduum (the three holiest days of the year) when Jesus fulfills his mission here on earth. Here's an impression of the Last Supper -- when Jesus instituted the Eucharist, something Catholics remember EVERYTIME Mass is celebrated; this is when the bread and wine truly become the body and blood of Jesus Christ! How cool is that????LegoManiac served the Holy Thursday Mass tonight -- the washing of the feet, the commemoration of the Last Supper and the transfer of the Holy Eucharist with reposition of the Blessed Sacrmant in the tabernacle.

An interesting thing we learned this year is the idea of Grundonnerstag from the Germanic countries. Translated loosely, this means "green Thursday"; this is actually a slippage from the original which used the German word "gruen" for grieving or mourning. But, we followed Jennifer's advice from Catholic Cuisine and made only green things for dinner: coleslaw with lots of raisins and toasted walnuts (and homemade dressing) and spinach pie! Wow, that was a hit!

Here's the recipe we used (with our changes in parentheses -- I NEVER can follow directions!)
Spinach Pie

crust for 9" pie (2 shells; we used the Pillsbury shells in the refrig section
(1) 16oz. pkg frozen spinach - thawed
(1) 16oz. container ricotta cheese (we used cottage cheese)
1 cup fresh grated parmesan (we used 1 cup "pizza" shredded cheese)
1 large onion - chopped and sauteed in olive oil
1-2 tsp italian herbs (mix of oregano, basil, rosemary, thyme, marjoram)
3 eggs (we skipped the eggs because I didn't even see them in this recipe; boy, am I getting old!)

Press one pie shell into the bottom and sides of pie dish. Saute chopped onion in oil olive. Add thawed spinach to warm the spinach and mix in the onions. Cool. Add ricotta (cottage cheese) and ricotta into spinach mixture. Spoon into pie pan. Cover with remaining shell. Trim edges and slit top for venting -- we made a cross for the vent. Bake at 400 for 45 minutes -- cover with foil for the last 15 minutes if crust is getting too brown. Without the eggs, this actually tasted very reminiscent of spanakopita! YUMMY!

Mardi Gras: celebration and surprise

Today is Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday, Pancake Day and Shrove Tuesday. This is the day that the Roman Catholic calendar marks the end of Ordinary Time and switches to Lent, which starts tomorrow.

Today is always a fun day around here because of the "need" to eat up, drink up and basically finish up all the non-Lenten goodies.

We don't HAVE to do this ... but it makes for a great reason to have pancakes for dinner! Tonight I made a recipe recommended by Jenn over at Feast & Feria -- this is a recipe for "Irish Potato Pancakes" but really, the pancakes come out much like normal pancakes with grated potato to add bulk. We served them with homemade applesauce, butter and sugar, and Jimmy Dean sausages. Ice cream, a movie and Jane Brocket's Fruity Rock Buns finished off the evening.

I slightly changed the original recipe -- we didn't have buttermilk in the house so I used milk and plain yogurt; they were amazing! Here's the recipe (with my changes noted):

Irish Potato Pancakes (also known as Boxty)
2-1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2-1/2 cups buttermilk (I used 2 cups milk and 1 cup plain yogurt)
1 cup freshly grated raw potato (I used 2 medium potatoes)
2 Tablespoons melted butter or margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla

DIRECTIONS
Mix and sift flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Beat eggs slightly in large bowl; stir in buttermilk. Stir in dry ingredients, mixing just until blended (batter will be slightly lumpy). Stir in grated potato, butter or margarine, and vanilla. Ladle batter, a scant 1/4 cup for each pancake, onto greased heated griddle. Bake 1 to 2 minutes or until bubbles cover the top and underside is golden; turn; bake 1 to 2 minutes longer. Serve at once, with plenty of butter. Sprinkle generously with sugar, as the Irish do. Makes 3 dozen 4-inch pancakes.

Recipe Source: Cook's Blessings, The by Demetria Taylor, Random House, New York, 1965

The Fruity Rock Buns from Jane Brocket's book, The Gentle Art of Domesticity, always seem to just make very large cookies. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong ... maybe the butter is too soft? Anyway, they taste sensational and the family doesn't mind that they're cookies instead of "buns" ... so c'est la vie! Here's the recipe in case you'd like to try them too:

Fruity Rock Buns (makes 12)

Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup softened butter
1/3 cup golden raisins
1/3 cup raisins
1/3 cup candied fruit
Finely grate lemon
1 large egg
1-2 tbls milk

Preheat oven to 375
Sift flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg in a bowl. Stir in the sugar and then the butter. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs and feels sandy. Stir in the fruit and rind.

Whisk the egg and 1 tbls of milk together. Add to dry mix and mix quickly with a fork. If the mixture is too dry add a little more milk; it should be a stiffish dough.

Using your hands, pile the mixture into 12 even “rocks” on a greased baking sheet.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Cool on a rack and eat while still just warm.

The surprise was from the mailman ... thanks to a wonderful friend on 4real, I received ... not one, not two, but THREE gorgeous knitting books. Seems she's moving and she thought I'd enjoy the books. Is she kidding? An Alice Starmore that I used to own ... but gave away in one of my many moves; and TWO Kaffe Fasset books that are simply eye-candy for knitters! Wow! I couldn't believe my "haul". Can't wait to delve into them and start planning my next knitting project.

What a sweetie ... and now I'll need to think of some suitable knitterly gift to send to my online pal!

Tomorrow ... Lent 2009 starts. I'm excited about this Lent. I am so ready this year to really "get into it". I started by attending tonight the first of a 7-week, 1-hour theology course given at dh's school. I've got my Lenten readings all worked out, a calendar is posted to help us walk this journey, and we'll try to make it to daily Mass and bi-monthly confession. We have so much to be thankful for ... and so much to pray for ... that this Lent will be quite a blessed time for our whole family.

I pray that your Lent 2009 is fruitful and blessed!