Instead of a Blog

Annamaria on the Monday After Easter

 

Can you guess what's in those carry bags in the picture above? If you look closely, you will make out what looks like a pie in one of them.

It is Easter Sunday as I write this, and those totes are ready to be transported to my brother's house in New Jersey.  Easter is one of the few days of the year that my family gathers all together. This year's celebration is one we are hoping to make very special.

As Americans of Italian descent, we have traditions we follow pretty closely. As the matriarch, I am the chief guardian of those traditions when it comes to food.

Here's what inside those bags  

1. Appetizer: Pizza Rustica, a Easter-time only treat of ham, two cheeses, a cured salami called soppressata, and lots of eggs, baked into a pie crust.  
2. Wine
3. A main course offering of roasted leg of lamb, and the makings of mint gravy.
4. Desserts: Torta di ricotta, made according a recipe passed down to me through four generations. And a spectacular chocolate layer cake. 

It has been my duty and my pleasure over the past few days to gather the ingredients and produce by best version of these goodies that I could manage.  Now, at nearly noon on Sunday, I will be packing them into an Uber car and transporting them to my beloved family members.  I'll be too tired this evening to say more here, so for now I wish you a Happy Springtime, if you are in the Northern Hemisphere.  And a pleasant winter to my dear ones at the Equator and below.  And to jokesters the world over: Lots of fun on April fool's day.