The Promise of Easter....

May joy fill your day,

Hope light your path,

And the many blessings of Easter
warm your heart....

Wishing you a Happy Easter!!



Thank you for visiting!

Sweetened Condensed Milk Cheesecake, with and without fruit / Homemade Sweetened Condensed Milk - Margaret Ullrich

Holy Saturday!

No, I'm not swearing.

Tomorrow is Easter.



Everything is ready for the family's feast.

Yeah, sure… you just got a phone call.

Would it be alright if a few more people joined your festivities?

You don't want to trash all the goodness you've developed over Lent.

I mean, you could drop dead right now and go straight up.

Sure, what's a few extra mouths… I mean… welcome

Carmela Soprano's Insalata di Mare / Seafood Salad with Dressing (for 6 or 50)

Tomorrow is Good Friday.

Time for another fish recipe.



I really like the recipes in Charmaine Bucco's chapter, Cooking for the Whole Famiglia 

in her husband Artie's The Sopranos Family Cookbook.

Charmaine gives recipes for a regular crowd and for when you've invited all the
in-laws, cousins and relatives over.

As often happens during the holidays.

Like Easter.





Charmaine's recipe for

Carmela Soprano's Calamari Ripieni / Stuffed Squid in Tomato Sauce

Today is the start of Passover, an important time for the Jewish people.

On Friday it will be Good Friday, and on Sunday it will be Easter.

It's almost the end of Lent!





This isn't just a special time for folks of the Judeo-Christian tradition.

Tomorrow is Holi, a Spring festival celebrated by Hindus as a festival of colours.

The backstory is that viruses and colds are caused by Spring's

Carmela Soprano's Cassata / Iced Sponge Cake with Ricotta Filling l Palm Sunday Customs

It's Palm Sunday!

And almost everybody has fresh palm leaves to prove it!



In Malta, on Ħadd il-Palm, both palm leaves and olive leaves are used.

Many parishes there have a shrine of 'Jesus prays in the Olive Garden' (Ġesù fl-Ort).

In memory of that, people take a small branch of olive to their homes.



In Italy palm leaves and small olive branches are also used.

These are placed above

Carmela Soprano's Salmon Steaks with Avocado Salsa

Today is another Friday in Lent.

But we're in the home stretch.

Only another week to go until Easter.





Lent is a good time to visit the shrink, Dr. Jennifer Melfi, M.D., M.A., M.F.T.

She can't absolve us of our guilt, but she does try to help in her own way.



Dr. Jennifer Melfi's chapter Rage, Guilt, Loneliness, and Food in in Artie's

The Sopranos Family Cookbook actually has some

Anna Sultana's Pane di Pasqua all 'Uovo / Italian Easter Sweet Bread

The First Day of Spring!!



I have to admit Spring in Manitoba is not the same as Spring in Queens, New York.

There's something about shovelling snow and slipping on ice that just doesn't make it feel springlike.

Oh, well... the calendar says it's Spring, so, it's Spring.





While I miss the New York Spring weather, there are some things I don't miss.

My family's Easter celebrations were

Carmela Soprano's St. Joseph Zeppole / Yeast Proofing

Tomorrow is St. Joseph's Day!!

Now we're talking celebrating, Mediterranean style!!





In Entertaining with The Sopranos there was a recipe for Sfingi,  

also called St. Joseph's Day Zeppole.

Carmela Soprano called it Sfingi, Anna Sultana called it Zfineg.

For St. Joseph, the Sopranos and the Sultanas are one.



Sfingi / Zfineg is a tiny ball of puff pastry, fried like a doughnut ball,

Potato and Cabbage Casserole for St. Patrick's Day - Margaret Ullrich

Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day.

As the patron saint of Ireland, well, he wasn't exactly a biggie in Mediterranean circles.

Still, we ought to prepare something to remember him by.

I mean, he is a saint, and still on the calendar.



When I was growing up in College Point I had many Irish neighbours.

The big debate among my classmates was whether the proper meal was
corned beef and cabbage or

Carmela Soprano's Biscotti Regina (Sesame Cookies) / Cookies for Lent

I know this is Lent.

Strictly speaking we should confine ourselves to very plain fare.

And no desserts.



Well… There are ways to get around that.

Think it through.

We're allowed bread and pasta, which are made from flour.

Eggs are an economical source of protein.

Cookies are made from flour and eggs.



So, if we make very plain cookies, like Carmela Soprano's Quaresimali or

Ma's

Carmela Soprano's Ravioli alla Bucco / Anna Sultana's Ravjul and Ravjuletti

Sometimes recipes, like Melfi's Minestrone, are quick.

And sometimes recipes aren't.

Artie's Ravioli alla Bucco, in his chapter Mia Cucina in The Sopranos Family Cookbook, 

is one that takes a bit of time.





Ravioli, like pyrogies, is basically dumplings.

Making things like ravioli can be a sociable event.

Our parish, which has a Polish base, has pyrogy making days.

Especially before

Carmela Soprano's Baked Chicken with Potatoes, Lemon and Oregano

Today Daylight Savings Time begins for Canadians, except if you live in Saskatchewan.

As I mentioned a little while ago, Saskatchewan doesn't get as much notice as other Canadian provinces.

Which is a shame, because it has a lot of history and a certain quirky charm.




Growing up, Sunday always was a day for friends and family to gather.
So, Sunday is a perfect time to go to Carmela's chapter

Carmela Soprano's Giambotta - Meatless Vegetable Stew

Friday in Lent.

Time to eat fish.

Or a nice vegetarian dinner.



Whenever I want a taste of what I had as a kid, I turn to Junior's chapter The Soprano Family Tradition in Artie's The Sopranos Family Cookbook.

Nice basic dishes that folks off the boat survived on until they settled into the country.

Nothing fancy, just healthy and filling.

Lots of pasta with seasonal vegetables.



And

Carmela Soprano's Calamari Fritti (Fried Calamari) / Maltese klamar mimli / Squid information

Past a certain age, we can't exactly eat whatever we want.

If you're a Catholic of a certain age, you remember when The Church also had a say in your meals, especially during Lent.

There was a time when Wednesdays in Lent were also meatless days for Catholics.

If you don't remember those days, well, there'll be another Friday in Lent.

Or just another day when you'd like some seafood.

Carmela Soprano's Pasta all' Amatriciana (Bucatini Amatrice - Style) / Pasta and Bacon varieties

March may have come in like a lamb.

But it can't  seem to make up its mind.

Hope you didn't pack away your toques and mittens just yet.





Eating out is a funny thing.

There are some folks who love to try something they've never had before.

To be honest, some of the latest in food recipes seem to me a little out there.

But, what the heck, everybody needs a little excitement in his life.

Carmela Soprano's Roasted Sausages, Peppers, Potatoes and Onions (for 4 or 50)

Okay… travelling is nice but it's time to get back to the recipes.

March has just come in like a lamb, thank goodness!

As the days get longer, they just seem to fly.

Before you know it, it's going to be April.



I don't know what it is about April in Manitoba but it always is a very busy month.

Churches have teas, couples have socials, families have gatherings.

Maybe it's just that we're

Little House on the Prairie in Winnipeg by Margaret Ullrich

Sunday's Academy Awards had a salute to James Bond.

Fifty years of hearing someone saying "Bond… James Bond."

And fifty years of listening to Bond theme songs!

It was great to see Dame Shirley Bassey belt out the Bond classic Goldfinger.

This year's Skyfall was a nice Bond song, too.



Bond was based on William Stephenson, from Winnipeg's Point Douglas area.

Let's hear it for James Bond,