Happy EASTER and so much more...

HAPPY bunny EASTER to all.

Who's been very busy in the kitchen?
Myself...I have not.

It's MY time to be received this year.
We are having our EASTER at my lovely in-laws... 

What the Easter festivity table blessed us with this year:
Surrounding my very hard working mother-in-law are her specialties:
. Appetizer plate starts us off with cuts of: 'Prosciutto', 'Mortadella' and 'Sopresata'
...along with the accompaniment of olives and different cheeses.
. The main meal always holds the traditional lamb which she slow-cooks
in a bath of white wine, onions, carrots, celery and potatoes.
. A slightly sweetened ham and pineapple always figure prominently at the table.
. Tender tasty meatballs, stuffed eggplants, and what she's most known...
are for her melt-in-your-mouth homemade pasta tomato 'cannelloni'. 
She makes some with vegetable and ricotta stuffing as well as
having another version stuffed with minced meat and cheeses.
Buon appetito.
***
I unfortunately could not personally make desserts this year.
I had to let go of the kitchen for a well deserved break.



Nonetheless, we still enjoyed finishing off a generously
substantial meal with nice selections of goodies.

The 'sweets' table spread was missing my usual
desserts...including the chocolate truffles
which I embarrassingly left behind as we were rushing out.

Oh, well...I had to accept that these things do happen...
and I’ll need to make up for it generously at another time.

This is what was offered on the EASTER 'sweets' table:
Starting from the center: the ‘Colomba’ Easter cake...
where the dove traditionally remains a symbol of peace.
Surrounding the cake: are the variety of classic home baked Italian cookies
along with the typical sweet and savoury versions of what we call ‘Pastiera’.
Both 'Pastiera' types hold lots of egg content with pasta and rice.
The savoury one integrates generally hams, cheeses and pasta.
While the sweet one holds a blend of sugar, cheese, lemon and rice.
***
I also wanted to absolutely share a glimpse of what I found from other
wonderfully and creatively gifted bakers.
Let's applaud their incredibly, enthusiastic talent.

Here are the talents behind this EASTER BAKING GALLERY

Starting in order...from the far left hand corner:
make-fabulous-cakes.com, Andrea Schwartz...Flickr, Anita Jamal...Flickr, apparentlyjessy.blogspot.com
AbbieTabbie...Flickr, heatherscakes.co.uk, sandra(socake)...Flickr, Fantasticakes...Flickr
Mistys Boopettie...flickr, make-fabulous-cakes.com, thefrostedcakencookie.blogspot.com, Rouvlee...Flickr
Looking for more inspiration with recipes...Click here

***
Where in the WORLD are you...
on this festive EASTER day?

Zagreb, CROATIA?

photo: croatia.org

At the Arkaden shopping mall in...
Berlin, GERMANY?

Photo by: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

In one of the town markets throughout
AUSTRIA?

photo by: Erin Garnaas-Holmes

OR...

are you taking part of a great big
egg searching adventure? 

Photo: countryliving.com

Speaking of eggs...ever wonder why they figure so prominently throughout this holiday?
Here's a tiny bit of Easter Egg history:

Since ancient times, the egg has been the symbol of a transition from nonexistence to existence. It was perceived as spring sun, bringing life, joy, warmth, light, rebirth of nature, and liberation from the grip of frost, ice, and snow.

Once it was customary to give away an egg as a simple, little offering to pagan gods, to give eggs to friends and benefactors?—on the first day of the New Year and on birthday. Rich people, instead of painted chicken eggs, often offered golden or gilded eggs, symbolizing the Sun. -- Ref.: rus-sell.com

The Romans believed that "All life comes from an egg." Ancient Christians considered eggs to be "the seed of life" symbolic of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome and Persia eggs were dyed for spring festivals. In medieval Europe, beautifully decorated eggs were given as gifts.

Today hundreds of novel methods of decorating Easter eggs have been invented, and during the week of Easter about 30 million more eggs are sold compared to any other week of the year! -- Ref.: about.com

The decoration of Easter eggs to further enhance their value
became an art form centuries ago and continues today.
Dyes made from vegetables, edible flowers, fruits, coffee, tea,
leaves, bark, and roots were used to tint the eggs.
Lovely designs were created by wrapping the eggs in ferns before tinting.
The art progressed, with western Europeans becoming expert
at creating intricate patterns in vibrant colors on the small eggs.  
Always be certain you use food-safe dyes
when coloring eggs that will be eaten. -- Ref.: about.com

 

EASTER DECORATED EGGS IN ALL THEIR SPLENDOUR

Starting in order...from the far left hand corner:
travelwestukraine.net, Musicpb...Flickr, sclit...Flickr, jewelryandwatches.com, HotelChocolate.com, Clarita/MorgueFile, hoogenhaak.nl, chew.hu, johnsheehanphotoblog.com, Andreea....Flickr, jewelryandwatches.com, loomlady.blogspot.com, sclit...Flickr, Kwentin...Flickr, johnsheehanphotoblog.com
Note:
Here's a good tutorial on how to make hollow eggs and organically paint them


Breaking any records today anyone?

Here are some that made notice in the past.

. The latest recorded world's biggest Easter Egg is found in the town of Vegreville, Alberta, Canada.

Known as a Ukranian "Pysanka".
It was constructed in 1975 to commemorate Ukranian settlements east of Edmonton, Alberta.

It is made of multicolored aluminum triangles, it is 7.8 meters long (25.7 feet), 5.6 meters wide (18.3 feet), and stands 9.6 meters high (31.6 feet), and it weighs over 2300 kilograms (5000 lbs).

The dedication plaque was unveiled by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, in 1978.

The dedication message is written in four languages: English, Ukrainian, French and German. It reads: "This Pysanka (Easter Egg) symbolizes the harmony, vitality and culture of the community and is dedicated as a tribute to the One-Hundredth Anniversary of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police who brought peace and security to the largest multi-cultural settlement in all of Canada."
...For much more info...click here:  .... Photo: thehungariangirl.com

. Easter Holiday 2009...
Rome was home to Europe’s largest chocolate Easter egg building event, sponsored by Euroma2, (a mega shopping mall in the EUR district of the city). The dark chocolate easter egg ended up weighing 2500 kilogram!
It was then publicly broken with a hammer in order to be sold to onlookers, so to then give the proceeds to victims affected by the earthquake in the Abruzzo region of Italy. --Photos: LaRepubblica

. St. Niklaas, Belgium is home to this mammoth chocolate egg: It was made the Guylian chocolate company and contains 4300 pounds (1950kg) of chocolate... roughly the equivalent of 50,000 candy bars. The egg took 25 workers 525 hours to build and measured 27.25 feet (8.32 meters) high.

Photo by:iPage.net

. Also in 2008,  Paris, France at ‘La Maison du Chocolat’ (a fine chocolatier) on rue de Sevres...another giant egg within an egg was displayed in their pastry shop.

photo: parisbreakfasts.blogspot.com

In 2007...displayed at 'Patisserie Dalloyau' in Paris...was an intricatly lacey designed very large chocolate egg!

photo: parisbreakfasts.blogspot.com

Let's not be deprived of knowing that we'll never ever get a small chunk of this expensive gem. United Kingdom's very own diamond-encrusted chocolate egg which was available in 2006 for only around $100,000 U.S. ;0)

photo: MJ Kim/Getty Images

The EASTER BUNNY.

The meaning behind this symbolic fluffy, cute animal?

Today on Easter Sunday, many children wake up to find that the Easter Bunny has left them baskets of candy. He has also hidden the eggs that they decorated earlier that week. Children hunt for the eggs all around the house. Neighborhoods and organizations hold Easter egg hunts, and the child who finds the most eggs wins a prize. The Easter Bunny is a rabbit-spirit.--ref.:About.com--photo: alloveralbany.com

Largest chocolate bunny - world record set by Harry Johnson for Duracell this year, 2010...in SANDTON CITY, South Africa.  The sculptured Easter bunny, an exact replica of the well-known and loved Duracell® Bunny officially came in at 3.82 metres tall (12 feet, 5 inches) and weighed more than 3 tons (2721 kilos) - setting the new world record for the Largest chocolate bunny. -- photo: worldrecordsacademy.org

This is where EASTER BUNNIES HIDEOUT

Starting in order...from the far left hand corner:
Cher12861...Flickr, PerOlaWiberg...Flickr, proflowers.com,
latimesblogs.latimes.com, yourehistory.wordpress.com,
Gaz-zee-boh...Flickr, PerOlaWiberg...Flickr,
Cher12861...Flickr, proflowers.com,
George Sharp...Flickr, Algo...flickr.com


Alright...Bunny Rabbit...enough already
...move over for me and my friends!

Our dog Sushi and his friends also wish you...
a great awaited HAPPY DOGGY EASTER.

Starting in order...from the far left hand corner:

Pyza...flickr (twice), pawpathlittermat.com, fiveprime.org

At the center and forefront...our little prince 'Sushi'.

He just wasn't in the mood for the bunny ears photo.

Have a very memorable EASTER
with your loved ones.

Flavourful wishes,

Foodessa

Comments ... ??? ... or suggestions ... write me :o)

Claudia at: foodessa [at] gmail [dot] com