Easter

I don't know about you, but I'm just getting over all the Christmas and Australia day celebrations when bang before I know it it's Easter.  Not that I wasn't warned. As soon as the Christmas decorations come down and all the Christmas stock in stores went on sale,  in came the Easter bunnies and chocolate eggs.  Actually Christmas didn't even leave the building before Easter muscled its way in.

Again its another weekend of prayer, lent and then a huge feast.  In my faith which is the Christian Orthodox religion there are those who do lent for 6 weeks. But if you can't do this you can do it for one day at least on the Good Friday out of respect for Jesus Christ and all he went through for man kind.   This year Easter has fallen on the same days as everyone else so we are all doing it together.

Throughout  my life and as long as I can remember Good Friday was spent eating bread with a mixed relish or dairy free spread. Sometimes we had a Tuna salad with beans or my dad would make his Fish Broth, which I loved and am sharing his recipe with you below.  There was to be no alcohol and no music. No cleaning or washing.   Just a day of reflection and quiet. 

In our household it was also a day of dying and painting eggs. My father was the one in charge of dying eggs.  My brother and I were in charge of making them shiny with a bit of oil.  My mum would get the day off to relax.  The main colour was Red to represent the blood of Jesus Christ.  But my Father also liked to incorporate, Blue, Green and Yellow.  Sometimes he would use an onion and a stocking or leaves to make different patterns. 

I absolutely love this tradition and I am carrying it on for my children.  That is what I spent the day doing on Good Friday and my son who is almost 4 now really enjoyed helping me.

Easter Saturday is usually spent shopping and buying up last minute chocolates or food needed for the following day.  My mum and dad would start cooking all sorts of things on the Saturday before and even on Sunday morning.  We would usually go to midnight mass and join everyone in a prayer.

Sunday is the big feast day.  There is everything you could possibly imagine on the table and more.  Sometimes we would be joined by other members of the family and other times it would just be us.  But there was still an abundance of food.  Suffice to say we never ran out and had plenty the next day.    Easter Monday we would just relax if we had the time off, eat more food or go out and spend the day with friends.

Before we feast and sometimes after we would all grab one of the painted or dyed eggs ( which are hardboiled) and play the game of cracking each others eggs.  You grab one of the painted eggs and you all smash each other's shells.  The person who's egg is not cracked or smashed wins. See demonstration below.  It was always a fun thing to do.  I loved it when I was the winner.

However you choose to spend Easter please be safe and take care.  Some will be holidaying, others will be home with families and other's still who do not follow religion or don't care for Easter will be doing something I'm sure.

Below I have added my Dad's Fish Broth and a couple of demonstrations on how to dye eggs.

Happy Easter and Happy Holidays!!



Dad's Riblja Corba:  Fish Broth

  

Ingredients:

1 large chopped Brown Onion
2 to 3 large cloves of finely diced Garlic
Fish of your choice.  I use Carp or Barramundi (slice in portions)
I large Carrot finely diced
2 Celery sticks finely diced
4 Button mushrooms ( optional )
1 Capsicum finely diced and seeded
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 flat tablespoon of tomato paste
1 red chilli seaded and diced ( or chilli flakes half a teaspoon )
4 cups of Good quality Fish stock ( or make your own)
4 cups of Vegetable stock
2 Cups of Water
2 teaspoons of Vegeta ( You can buy this in the stock section of your supermarket or Deli
1 tablespoon of Sweet Paprika powder
I bay leaf
I tablespoon of chopped parsley ( you can use dried )
1 teaspoon of chives
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons of oil.


Method

In a large deep stock or soup pan add the oil and  brown onion and cook for a minute on high, add the carrot and celery and cook for a  couple of minutes on high stirring occasionally.  Add the capsicum and cook for another couple of minutes on medium.  If you like mushrooms which I do add them at this stage and cook for another couple of minutes on medium heat.  Add 1 can of diced tomatoes stir and cook for 2 minutes adding 1 teaspoon of vegeta.  Add Bay leaf.  Stir.  Add vegetable stock stir and bring to the boil, turn down and simmer for about 15 minutes. Add tomato paste stir. Add sweet paprika and stir. Cook for 5 minutes. Add chilli and stir.  Add Fish stock, stir let cook for another 30 minutes.  Add parsley and chives.  Add water and cook for another 30 minutes on a simmering flame.

Meanwhile season your fish with salt and pepper and a bit of extra smoked paprika. Cut to desired portions.  Add to the vegetable broth and cook for about 20 minutes or until fish is nice and flakey. Taste and season accordingly.  You can add some more parsley, vegeta, chilli or chives if you desire. If you feel your stew is disappearing add more water.

Let rest for 15 to 30 minutes before serving.  This way all flavours will combine.  Serve with crusty bread.  Once you have this you will never look back.  Its one of my favourite things to eat in the whole world.  So try it and see how you go!!!


Instructions on dying eggs: 

Hard-boiled eggs

Paper towel or newspaper

Bowl or cup deep enough to completely submerge an egg

Tongs, egg dipper, or slotted spoon

1/2 cup boiling water

1 teaspoon white vinegar

Liquid food coloring (about 20 drops per color)

1. Start with cool hard-boiled eggs.

2. Protect your surface by covering with a sheet of newspaper or paper towel.

3. Fill container with the mixture of water, vinegar, and food coloring.

4. Place egg on spoon and dunk, turning occasionally so both sides get color. Keep in liquid for up to 5 minutes, leave in longer for a darker hue.

5. Carefully remove the egg and set aside to dry.

If you’re using a store-bought kit, simply follow the instructions on the package.


Or

10 drops food colouring

1 teaspoon of white vinegar

1/2 cup of boiling water

1 tablespoon of Olive Oil

Glitter Optional   


Directions:


1 For each dye bath combine 1/2 cup boiling water with 1 tsp vinegar and 10 drops of food coloring in a bowl. Start with 5 drops red and 5 drops yellow, for orange for example, or 6 drops blue and 4 drops green for turquoise.

2 Dip hard-cooked eggs in dye bath for 3-5 minutes, extend time for richer color. Try using tongs to dip only half an egg in one color, then dip other half in a different color.

3 Use tongs or a slotted spoon to remove eggs and place on wax paper to dry, blot any excess with a paper towel.

4 For tie dyed eggs, add 1 tbsp olive oil to the mixture and stir with a fork. Roll egg gently in bath to pick of streaks of color. Remove egg from bath and blot oil off with a paper towel, then dry on wax paper. Once dry, lightly dip in another color if desired.

5 For glitter eggs, brush dried dyed egg with a thin layer of craft glue. Spoon glitter over egg, allow to dry on wax paper. To put glitter on only part of an egg (half blue, half red for example), use masking tape over the un-glittered part (or use stickers for shapes) and once dry remove masking tape and glue/glitter the remaining area.

6 For letters, numbers or shapes use small vinyl stickers (office or hardware supplies) and place them on the egg before dying. Once slightly dry peel off stickers gently. You can also use a white crayon to write names or draw pictures.

7 If you plan to eat your easter eggs, never leave them unrefrigerated at any point for more than 2 hours.

Quote of the day:  Easter is meant to be the symbol of hope, renewal and new life. Janine De Giovanni

                                   

Boundaries

In life we are always told to know our boundaries.  Whether that be in the playground, at work, our everyday relationships, with strangers and in our families.

We are taught to respect our elders and speak accordingly, be polite have manners and know when to speak and listen.  There is certain behaviour that is deemed acceptable and there is a natural order of how to do things.

Not everyone is taught these skills I must admit.  Or people from different backgrounds, ethnicities, religious groups and upbringing have a different view on what this is.

  What is right for one person isn't another.  What someone considers personal space another person considers their right to invade.  Some children don't feel they owe their parents an explanation for their behaviour. Some adults feel they can say what they want when they want without consequences.  Some people don't believe in loyalty to anyone not even friends.  Others just believe walking away is the answer.  Others still are fearful and judgemental.  Not willing to look outside the box and see that not everyone is the same.  That being different isn't a bad thing and not everyone was born to fit into society's conforms.  Where should the line be drawn?

I have had many debates with friends and family members on what is the right way to bring up a child.  Do you give them freedom and space and let them develop with their own will.  Allowing them to form more of a friendship with you then you being the authoritarian.  Or do you set boundaries, have rules and teach your children that you are the parent not the friend and there are ways to behave and show respect.

I favour more of the latter.  From the experience of people I know and their relationships with  Mother's and Father's and what I have seen going down the friendship road has not always been ideal.  The intention to mean well is there but somehow all respect goes out the window.   I was brought up with the notion that your parents are just that.....your parents.   Friends come and go. But your mother and father will always be there no matter what.  It is the Holy Grail of all relationships and in most cases your very first one.  You give respect, you don't answer back, you listen and you abide by the rules of the house until you reach adulthood.  Then when you have come of age you can make your own decisions and hopefully learnt enough to go on your way.  I have also realized as I have gotten older that this has worked for me in many ways, that learning these boundaries has made me a tough and responsible individual. Through trial and error I have managed to make this part of my life but in no way has it limited my freedom.  It has actually enabled me to be freer then I imagined.

My father was the main authoritarian in our household.  If you did not follow the rules or you overstepped your mark you knew about it.  He was a tough disciplinarian.  However he was a good teacher. He prepared us for the hard times, he gave us skills to be strong and responsible and he taught us many things about life and people.

I am lucky that even though my father could be a hard man he was also very good at allowing me to be the adult when the time came.  It was like all these years of hard work and discipline paid off.  He allowed me to make my own decisions and learn from my own mistakes.  But he was always there in the background if I needed a hand. (Although I was too stubborn to ask for it).

 Many times in my young adulthood and latter years all the things he said to me or repeated to me over and over really came to mind.  We don't often look at our parents as people who know what they are talking about. We forget they were once in our shoes and we forget all the struggles they went through.  We always think "Gee why are they making it so hard" but really everything I was taught or spoken to about was in one way shape or form an experience they had before me or something I could learn and take with me.

I am glad I didn't look at them as my friends.  Because if I did that, we may not have had such a good relationship.  I may not have known how to value them or understand them.

Boundaries I feel are needed especially in early forming years of children's lives.  They need guidance, routine and a sense of security.  We didn't have to worry about bills or mortgages.  There was always food on the table and a roof over our heads.  My father would allow us to go out but we had to set our own curfews and we had to make sure we stuck to it.  My parents gave us the tools to be strong and independent but to always know how to behave in every circumstance. 

I'm not saying there were not times we tested our mother and father.  There were a lot of those times especially from me.  I questioned everything, demanded answers and even when disciplined would fight for my rights.  I always used the excuse that I was a good student, behaved well and didn't deserve the discipline.  But my parents were right on every occasion.  Especially with my father's words of " You will see when you become an adult how tough the world is out there and how hard it is to be a parent"  And I must admit he was right, right about it all.

My father is no longer with us.  He passed away in 2011 unexpectedly at the age of 62. I am sad he is not here to be with my children and pass on his wisdom, he would have made one hell of a grandfather and he was for a short time before he was taken from us. 

But,  I am his daughter, and as my mother always says I am exactly like him in many ways.

So in my household my children will know they have a Mother and Father.  That above all we are their rock, their security, and the people they can come to for anything. We will be there for them through thick and thin and never abandon them.  They will learn in time that some friendships are not meant to be.  That they cannot always rely on other people.  That first and foremost they need to rely on themselves and know they have us there as support. Always.

I would like my children to grow be strong, kind, open minded people, with confidence and a sense of self, knowing we are there to guide them all the way.   When the time comes and physically we are no longer here, I can only hope we have given them enough skills to contribute and participate in this big sometimes unforgiving world.  Hopefully they will know their boundaries.

I'm not sure if everyone agrees with me and I don't expect that everyone does. But let's revisit this topic in about 20 years and I will let you know if I have been successful.

I will sign off with this which I think sums it all up: