Category Archives: Holidays
Peeps are Here
Last year I was still working at my previous employer and that means I was going into an office every day. We were quite a social group and often had pot luck parties. Around Easter last year we had a Spring party and I contributed a “Peeps Sunflower Cake”. Some of my long time readers may remember it.
Since I no longer go into an office regularly and when we do, lunch is usually delivered, I haven’t done any baking since Christmas. (I’m supposed to be losing weight. Just ask my Doctor). But a few weeks ago I ran across a recipe for another “peeps cake”. I cut it out and left it on the end table.
Every night I’d look at it sitting there. Some nights I’d pick it up and read it. Oh I was tempted to try it. It looked so pretty.
Well I finally gave in. The problem was that once I got into it I realized I didn’t have the right size cake pans. It’s a 4 layer cake and even if a 9″ pan worked I only had 3 pans. I could use the 9″ pans and have skinny layers or I could do the right thing and get 4 new 8″ pans. I’d already been to the store and had all the ingredients. It would be a shame to quit now.
So off to Michael’s Craft Store I went. Sure enough, they had 8″ cake pans. They aren’t cheap! But I consoled myself that I’d have them for future cakes.
I baked the cake after work and let the layers cool completely. In the morning I frosted and decorated the layers. And here’s the end result 🙂
I do love being creative!
What’s Your Favorite Easter Candy?
Easter is almost here. I remember Easter Sunday services. They were a big deal when I was growing up. We always had on our EASTER Sunday best.
You see there was our Sunday best but on Easter we really went all out.
We had hats (Easter bonnets) and white gloves and the first time I was allowed to wear stockings and pointy high heels was on an Easter Sunday. I remember one year Jackie Kennedy had made pill box hats the fashion so that year I had to wear one on Easter.
I went to church every Sunday. I was active in the choir but my Dad only went to church on High Holidays…Christmas and Easter. I remember one Easter I had the Easter Sunday Solo. I was scared to death but so proud that both my Mom and Dad were in the congregation that day.
After the church service we’d all stay for the traditional Easter Egg hunt.
Up in the Adirondacks it was not unusual for snow to still be on the ground where there was shade. Snow banks and snow patches were perfect places for those colored eggs. I wonder if my old church still has Easter Egg hunts.
Back home we got our Easter Baskets. They always had a chocolate bunny as the center peice but the really special Easter candy was a sugar egg. I never see them anymore. They were so pretty and delicate. They were almost magical. Eventually the egg got eaten just like the chocolate bunny and the jelly beans but part of me always hated to eat something so pretty.
As an adult I could almost believe that I dreamed it up but I remember the way the sugar melted on my tongue. It was like eating a sugar cube. But I could never find them anywhere. Then about 6 years ago I found them in a little candy shop in Old Saybrook , CT. I said I’d go back to get one at Easter but I never did.
Recently I did a search on the internet and I found them. There weren’t too many places to get them and they are really expensive but they are just as beautiful as I remember.
So what’s your favorite Easter Candy?
Valentine’s Day in History
I ran across this article on the site This Day in History and thought it was worth a share.
Feb 14, 278:
St. Valentine beheaded
On February 14 around the year 278 A.D., Valentine, a holy priest in Rome in the days of Emperor Claudius II, was executed.
Under the rule of Claudius the Cruel, Rome was involved in many unpopular and bloody campaigns. The emperor had to maintain a strong army, but was having a difficult time getting soldiers to join his military leagues. Claudius believed that Roman men were unwilling to join the army because of their strong attachment to their wives and families.
To get rid of the problem, Claudius banned all marriages and engagements in Rome. Valentine, realizing the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret.
When Valentine’s actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death. Valentine was arrested and dragged before the Prefect of Rome, who condemned him to be beaten to death with clubs and to have his head cut off. The sentence was carried out on February 14, on or about the year 270.
Legend also has it that while in jail, St. Valentine left a farewell note for the jailer’s daughter, who had become his friend, and signed it “From Your Valentine.”
For his great service, Valentine was named a saint after his death.
In truth, the exact origins and identity of St. Valentine are unclear. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, “At least three different Saint Valentines, all of them martyrs, are mentioned in the early martyrologies under the date of 14 February.” One was a priest in Rome, the second one was a bishop of Interamna (now Terni, Italy) and the third St. Valentine was a martyr in the Roman province of Africa.
Legends vary on how the martyr’s name became connected with romance. The date of his death may have become mingled with the Feast of Lupercalia, a pagan festival of love. On these occasions, the names of young women were placed in a box, from which they were drawn by the men as chance directed. In 496 AD, Pope Gelasius decided to put an end to the Feast of Lupercalia, and he declared that February 14 be celebrated as St Valentine’s Day.
Gradually, February 14 became a date for exchanging love messages, poems and simple gifts such as flowers.
Happy Valentine’s Day
Without Valentine’s Day, February would be… well, January. ~Jim Gaffigan
