Sunday, April 24, 2011

Happy Easter everyone! And Passover, too!

Today, Easter Sunday, in California but with thoughts all-over-the-place. Jade, in New York. Childhood and family in England. My sister Judith, her family, and my friends in Israel and Egypt. So dinner tonight will mix all of those together

Typical Easter dinner in England is roast lamb, new potatoes, peas, mint sauce. Very-much not a typical American dinner on any occasion ("you eat jam with meat?????"). Middle-eastern lamb embraces regional spices. And in California, any excuse to cook on the barbeque/grill is reason enough. So this is what I'm planning:

- lamb kebabs, marinating all day in a mix of olive oil, lemon juice, cumin, a little cinammon, zatar (sage and salt) and a pinch of this and of that, cooked on the barbeque with spears of rosemary
- gluten-free tabouleh (quinoa replacing the couscous/wheat) with fresh mint and coriander
- tomato and cucumber salad, small-diced Israeli-style
- fresh bread for those who can eat it (I'll just watch them enjoy it).

I had to go and buy the herbs. This time next year, they'll be from the garden.

And yesterday, like magic, I found real, yes REAL, Easter Eggs at WorldMarket. Cadbury's Flake and Chocolate Buttons hollow chocolate eggs with goodies inside. (You can usually find Cadbury's Creme Eggs without difficulty, but never-before have I seen proper, traditional English easter eggs on this side of the Atlantic...  if you've ever tasted a Peep, an artifically-flavoured plastic-tasting rabbit-shaped-marshmallow, you'll understand the craving for the oh-so-special English easter egg.) So today, lots of people here are going to find something from my childhood.

Sometimes, you have to give up searching in order to find that which was lost.

Happy Easter, everyone!

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