Luke and Rachel just bought a house, and they moved in a week or so ago….and hosted our Easter feast today! This buffet table/unit is from their La Bella Vita shop (the old counter), and it works so well loaded up with the Easter fare. Kids are in the background and Heather (who never takes a bad picture) gives the camera a smile. You should have seen the crazy egg hunt in the back yard: thirteen cousins running around while two baby cousins watched with interest.  Hope you all had a blessed day!

Jesus had a following of faithful women, as I mentioned in the previous post, and they must have been preparing food for Him, getting water for Him, perhaps washing His feet, and any number of other things. This was their ministry to the Lord, the One who made Heaven and Earth: to give Him a drink of the water that He spoke into existence.

To minister is to act as a servant, to provide and care for. The women who served Jesus used their hands and feet. Mary even used her hair and her tears to wash His feet (Luke 7:36-50). Their ministry to Him was tangible. Jesus could taste it, drink it, and smell it.

How can we continue their ministry now that Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father in Heaven? Remember Jesus’ words: “I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me” (Mt. 25:35-36). “Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me” (vs. 45).

In other words, our ministry to Jesus is how we extend ourselves to others here on earth. First to our families: we feed and clothe and comfort and nurse our own people, old and young. When you wash your children and put them in clean clothes and feed them that after-school snack, you do it unto the Lord. He receives it. When you invite visitors for dinner and show them around town, you do it unto the Lord. When you visit the sick and remember those in prison, you do it unto the Lord. These things you do for your families, cooking, cleaning, baking, washing, are sanctified by our Lord. When your little people need their noses wiped or their hair combed or their dirty t-shirts washed, and you take care of it, these things are sanctified by our Lord. This is our ministry to Him. And when we fail to do it because we are too busy with our own “important” duties, we did not do it unto Him.

To live like women of the cross, like the women who followed Jesus all the way to Golgotha and then to the tomb, we must keep our hands full of ministry to others. Jesus sees this and receives it and puts it in His account. What a blessed way to view our service to others, as unto the Lord Jesus.

Serving others is a kind of death, and those acts of service are put in the ground and raised with Jesus. They are glorified beyond our wildest imagination. What? A drink of water for the kids when I’m busy getting dinner on? Yes. That’s it.

Both Marys saw the body of Jesus removed from the cross, they saw where Jesus was laid in the tomb, and they witnessed the large stone  rolled against the door of the tomb. Both arrived at dawn Sunday morning and saw the angel of the Lord descend and roll back the stone; and both met the risen Lord  as they ran to tell the disciples the joyful news. These women, when confronted with the risen Christ, “held Him by the feet and worshiped Him” (vs. 9).

The Gospel of Mark also mentions Salome (15:40-41) at the cross and with the two Marys as they brought spices to anoint His body. Luke includes more women at the tomb in the morning: “Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them” (vs. 10).

It is only John, that disciple Jesus loved, who mentions that the Lord’s mother also stood by the cross (John 19:25). He tells us that Jesus spoke to her from the Cross, commissioning John to care for Mary from that day forward. The Lord’s mother did not look on from afar; she was by the cross, close enough that her Son could speak to her.

These women were on enemy turf. They stood among the Roman soldiers, identifying with the condemned, outnumbered by their enemies, and in the very midst of the most dangerous place in the world. Those women who looked on “from afar” were courageous, loyal women. Yet Mary, the Lord’s mother, was nearer still, right at her Son’s side to the end. This must have been the piercing of her own soul.

These women did not give way to fear. They stayed and witnessed the Lord’s death, and so must we. We must stand near these women who stood near the cross as Jesus died.  They are good company. They did not ditch. They did not run away. They stayed and they watched. They saw Jesus laid in the tomb. And they were first up Sunday morning to greet Him.

Women are prone to fear, but not these women. They had been with Jesus, and they had ministered to Him. Nothing could keep them away. Not darkness, not death, not soldiers. These are our mothers in the faith, the women of Good Friday.

I asked a good friend to do a guest post to get us started. She is a wonderful hostess, cook, and knows how to make the food that people just want to eat! She has a houseful of children, but always finds ways to share the bounty of their table with a great many more people. She is the kind of woman that can make parish life a reality. And here she is to tell us a bit about it. Welcome Tora, and thank you!

From Tora’s Kitchen:

One of my favorite aspects of the Easter meal is that the timing of the meal itself motivates me to be more organized.  Church in the morning limits the time that I expect to have available for prep and is a great motivator to have things lined up ahead of time.  Here are some helpful hints to relieve the pressure on the actual day and give you some confidence to help you greet your guests with a smile.

First of all, I make lists, lots of lists.  I get teased by family members for all the lists floating around.  Here is a sample of some of the types of lists I’ve made in the past. I’ve even named them for easy reference.

Menu -If we are having a big crowd, I’ll plan the menu a couple of weeks in advance and list everything I want to serve, including drinks, appetizers, the main dish, sides, dessert and even coffee.

Grocery List – Using the Menu List, I’ll get out the recipes and make a grocery list.  I usually make my list in the kitchen so I can check quantities while I’m at it.  Do I really have that much cocoa powder on hand, and is that can of olives that I remember being in the cupboard really there or did I throw them in a salad on a whim and forget that I’ve used them?  Do this when you are alert and thinking clearly and then trust your list when you get to the store.  Many is the time that I’ve looked at my list in the store and thought, “Evaporated milk, what do I need that  for?” and so I saved the cash, started cooking a dish, and realized that yes, it was on my list for a reason.  Another biggie that I tend to forget to include is ice: make sure you have plenty of it and room for it in the freezer.  If you are short on space, you may have to add it to your time line list a day before the event and throw it in a cooler for an evening.

Time line – As the event gets closer, I often make a list of the days leading up to the event and the prep that I can do early.  Usually there are some general items at the top that can be done on a looser time frame, and then I get specific farther down the list.  Here are some ideas to get you started on this one:  Think about traffic flow and where you are going to set up extra tables if you need to.  Schedule moving the furniture and setting up the tables as far in advance as you can.  Think about how you are going to set the table or tables and how many place settings you need.  Make sure that you have enough place settings and glasses in advance.  It is also wise to get your serving dishes, utensils, and table linens out a few days ahead of time so that you are not left scrambling to find a serving fork for the meat or a bowl that is big enough for the salad.  Add ironing that table cloth to the list if you need to.  Often I don’t think far enough ahead of time to choose music for the event, but that could also be added to this list.  Many of the things that can’t be done as far ahead of time, such as food prep, are listed under specific days leading up to the event t so that I have a check list of what can be done when.  Can the sauce for the ham or the salad dressing be made a few days ahead of time?  Put them on the list for Wednesday or Thursday.  Do you need to get the meat out of the freezer a few days in advance to thaw? Put it on the list. Can dessert be made ahead of time?  Put it on the list under a specific day.  Want to buy fresh flowers?  Put that job on the list for Friday or Saturday.

White Tornado – The day before the event, if I haven’t had time to tackle the house on my own, I’ll pull out our “White Tornado” list.  Each of our older kids has an area of the house that they are assigned to.  I keep the assignments posted inside a kitchen cabinet for quick reference.  When it is time for a White Tornado we try to put on peppy music, scatter to our assigned areas, and whip the place into shape.  If a child gets done with their job early, they report back to a parent for another assignment, if there is one.

The last list I make is a more detailed time line for the actual day of the event.  Again, the beginning of this list is more general and includes things like making sure that there is room in the coat closet, the trash can is empty, and the dishwasher unloaded.  Setting the table can also be on this one, although if you are blessed with room that allows you to set your table a day or two in advance, do it then.  From this point on it gets more specific.  I will look at what time I want to have everything ready and work backwards from there.   I try to include everything that I am planning to serve somewhere on the time line just so I don’t forget to get it out and find it in the fridge once everyone has left.  (Yes that has happened before!)  If I want to have appetizers ready by 2:00, I’ll put “1:30 cheesecake” on the list to remind me to set the crab cheesecake out early enough to come to room temperature.  Starting the coffee maker also makes it on this list with an assigned time, but the most important items here are the baking start times, temperatures, and baking lengths.  Not only does having them on this list relieve the clutter of having to have all the recipes out, but it helps me anticipate if I am going to have trouble fitting everything in the oven at the same time.  Speaking of room in the oven, let me just put in an ad here for roasters.  Yes those big white things that you think of grandmothers using.  My mother-in-law bought me one many years ago, and every Thanksgiving turkey has been roasted in it since, leaving my oven free for side dishes.  Roasters are also are great for serving large groups.  Au Gratin potatoes for 80 anyone?

Enough of lists, let’s get to the fun stuff – food!  It is always a nice to have something that the guests can eat when they arrive.  It gives them something to do and can buy you some time if something goes wrong.  Here are some of my favorite Easter food ideas that you can have ready to go with no last minute prep.

This crab cheesecake needs to chill overnight and is great for an Easter appetizer.

Strawberry Soup:

A favorite of my family.  It can be made ahead of time and served out of a pretty punch bowl into bowls or cups.

1 cup dry white wine

7 T sugar

2 cups strawberries fresh or frozen

1 cup orange juice

-Put the wine and sugar into a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Continue boiling for 5 minutes, then remove the pan from the heat and let cool.

-Hull the strawberries if using fresh.

-Puree the wine syrup and strawberries in a food processor or blender until very smooth.

-Pour the puree into a large bowl and stir in the orange juice.  Cover and chill for at least 3 hours.  Serves 4.

Another festive idea for an Easter appetizer is fresh fruit.  There are many beautiful ways to use strawberries, pineapple, blueberries, grapes and melons.

Fruit skewers – For a buffet, take a fresh pineapple and cut a one inch thick round from it.  Cut the rest of the pineapple into bite size chunks to use on the skewers along with other fruit.  Using 6” skewers, string the fruit on the skewers and then stick them in the pineapple.  The more skewers the better.  It is fun to sit down at a table that already has an individual serving at each spot.  If you like, you can have a fruit skewer on a small plate at each place setting with a dollop of fruit dip or sour cream with brown sugar.  Another option is to layer fruit in a fancy glass with a topping of fruit dip and cherry and place it on the plate at each setting, or have a tray of fruit salad glasses to pass around as hors d’ oeuvres.

An Italian Soda bar is always a hit with the kids.  Set out glasses, ice, club soda, flavored syrups and cream.  My biggest tip here is to make sure you have the bottle top pourers so you don’t run out of syrup too quickly.  The tops can even be found at the grocery store in the kitchen section.

One of our favorite side dishes in the spring is broiled asparagus.  Break off the bottom ends of the asparagus and lay on a baking sheet.  Drizzle the asparagus with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Place under the broiler of an oven until starting to blacken in parts.  These stay green and fresh looking and can be made last minute after you have pulled the other dishes out of your oven.

Another way to make your Easter prep easier is to have all the desserts prepared ahead of time.

A beautiful Easter dessert that can be made a day ahead of time is this lemon poppy seed cake with strawberry slices between the cake layers. You can bake it in 3 cake pans instead of cutting one cake into layers, and, if you like, multiply the recipe by 1 ½, and bake the cake in 3 9×13 pans for 15-18 minutes at 350 for a larger cake.   You can even successfully substitute a cream cheese based frosting for the white chocolate recipe, bake the cake two days in advance, assemble it the day before, and people will be amazed!.

This chocolate trifle can also be made a day or two before the event and is easy to prepare.   I usually multiply the recipe by 1 ½ to make it a better fit in my trifle dish.

Chocolate Grace

1 box brownie mix, prepared according to package directions, baked (slightly on the well done side of things) and cooled.  I usually sprinkle on some chocolate chips before baking just for fun

¼ Kahlua or strong coffee

1 4-serving size box instant chocolate pudding

1 ½ cups cold milk

1 12-ounce container frozen whipped topping, thawed

4 ¼-ounce Heath or Skor bars

Use a fork to prick holes in the top of the brownies.  Pour the liqueur over the top, set aside.

Combine the pudding mix and milk and whisk until thickened.  Fold in half the whipped topping and set aside

Cut the brownies into small pieces and place half in the bottom of a large glass serving bowl.  Cover with pudding mixture, then half the candy.  Place the remaining brownies on top and cover with the remaining whipped topping.  Sprinkle the remaining candy over the top.  Chill for at least 2 hours before serving.

Hope gives you some new ideas to make your Easter celebration a joy to everyone involved, even you!

And now a  tidbit from the sermon: We do not need to prove the resurrection; the resurrection is the proof itself. The resurrection proves that Jesus is the Son of God, and that He will come to judge the world. Luke refers to the many infallible proofs of Christ’s resurrection in Acts 1:1-3.

The Kingdom of God refers to the realm and reign of King Jesus, and His crown rights were established by His resurrection from the dead. It is not an ethereal kingdom, but a very real and earthy one.  We live like His loyal subjects by loving one another, which is proof to the world that love has been raised from the dead in us. And just like the resurrection was real and physical, our love to one another is real and physical. We touch one another, we feed one another, we give gifts to one another. That is resurrection living.

Hope you all had a blessed day!

I thought I should give everyone a quick late-night glimpse into Mom’s living room . . . temporarily transformed into a second dining room. This is the adult table.

Here is the bevy of name tags designated for the two kid tables:

And finally, here is my hysterically ugly “gurgle jug” which for some reason I am insanely fond of. I am the proud possessor of not one, but two of them. (Possibly three, I can’t remember.) Anyway, the two that I can find are holding tulips on the kids’ tables. I do feel that I should explain, in my defense, that I only bought them because I was collecting green Dartmouth pottery while I was in England, and I gathered up loads of other fun green thingies at antique stores and charity sales etc. But it turns out that  the most radically popular of all the Dartmouth pottery (judging from the wide assortment on ebay) seemed to be these gurgle jugs. I held off for a while – but finally I caved and decided that it would be ridiculous to have a collection of Dartmouth pottery that didn’t contain a few ugly fish. So I bought them. Now you know. I also have a snail. But aside from those weird items, the rest of the collection is actually quite beautiful!

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Valerie asked what I was going to do with all the nekkid lemons . . . and here’s the answer. Little lemon meringue tarts.

Here are all the little meringues, baking in the oven . . .

. . . here are the little shells, cooling in tiny champagne flutes to give them their shape.

And I completely neglected to take a picture of the lemon curd, but you get the idea anyway.

These are great, because you can store all the components separately for up to three days, and then assemble before serving.

Here’s the recipe (from Martha Stewart):

INGREDIENTS

Makes about 20.

• FOR THE SHELLS
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
• 2/3 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
• 2 large egg whites, room temperature
• 1/2 cup sifted all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• FOR THE MERINGUE CAPS
• 3 large egg whites, room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• FOR THE LEMON CURD
• 6 large egg yolks
• 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest, plus 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (about 3 lemons total)
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Make the shells: Put butter and sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy. Mix in egg whites, one at a time. Mix in flour and vanilla.
2. Spoon 1 scant teaspoon batter onto a rimmed baking sheet lined with a nonstick baking mat. Using the back of a teaspoon, spread into a 3-inch circle. Repeat 4 times. Bake until golden, 10 to 12 minutes. Immediately transfer cookies, one at a time, to inverted small tartlet shells or brioche molds; gently press to shape. Let set, about 30 seconds. Repeat with remaining batter. If cookies become too cool to shape, return them to oven for 20 seconds. Shells can be stored in an airtight container up to 3 days.
3. Reduce oven temperature to 200 degrees. Make the meringue caps: Put egg whites and sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer set over a pan of simmering water; whisk until sugar has dissolved. Attach bowl to mixer fitted with the whisk attachment; beat on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form and meringue is cool, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a pastry bag fitted with a 7/16-inch star tip (such as Ateco No. 825). Pipe 20 spirals, 1 1/4 inches round and 2 inches high, onto baking sheets lined with parchment, spacing about 1 inch apart. Bake 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 150 degrees. Bake until dry but not brown, about 2 hours more. Transfer meringues to a wire rack; let cool completely. Meringues can be stored in an airtight container up to 3 days.
4. Make the curd: Whisk egg yolks, lemon zest and juice, and sugar in a heavy, medium saucepan. Cook, stirring constantly, over medium-low heat until mixture registers 160 degrees on a candy thermometer, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in salt. Add butter, 1 piece at a time, stirring after each addition until smooth. Pour curd through a fine sieve into a medium bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly onto surface. Refrigerate until cold and set, at least 1 hour (up to 2 days).
5. To serve, spoon 2 teaspoons curd into each shell. Top each with a meringue cap.

O my chief good,
How shall I measure out thy blood?
How shall I count what thee befell,
And each grief tell?

Shall I thy woes
Number according to thy foes?
Or, since one star show’d thy first breath,
Shall all thy death ?

Or shall each leaf,
Which falls in Autumn, score a grief?
Or cannot leaves, but fruit, be sign,
Of the true vine?

Then let each hour
Of my whole life one grief devour;
That thy distress through all may run,
And be my sun.

Or rather let
My several sins their sorrows get;
That, as each beast his cure doth know,
Each sin may so.

Since blood is fittest, Lord, to write
Thy sorrows in, and bloody fight;
My heart hath store; write there, where in
One box doth lie both ink and sin:

That when sin spies so many foes,
Thy whips, thy nails, thy wounds, thy woes,
All come to lodge there, sin may say,
No room for me , and fly away.

Sin being gone, O fill the place,
And keep possession with thy grace;
Lest sin take courage and return,
And all the writings blot or burn.

Yes. I have peeled off some lemon peels and they are steeping in a mason jar full of vodka. Things, to date, have not been all that labor intensive. However, I’m expecting them to hot up shortly . . . because a package of fabric is scheduled to arrive any moment . . . and the second it shows up I have to crank out three Easter dresses. Then this Thursday is Jemima’s 10th birthday – and as you may or may not have noticed, that puts her birthday as being on April Fools Day. (Not my fault – I did my best. I was in labor all day on March 31, but she refused to be born until 7 minutes after midnight. Oh well. April is a nicer month than March anyway.) What this means however, is that I’m taking a consignment of cupcakes into her 4th grade class, and she would like them to be April Fools cupcakes. Hhhmmm. Luckily, Lizzie just happens to have, amongst her 9,312 cookbooks, a cookbook that has a special section devoted to April Fools cupcakes. So I’m going to have to borrow that sometime in the next short bit here. And then of course there’s the birthday party, and then Easter dinner preparation.

About the only thing that I could do this far in advance was the limoncello. I’ve made it for Easter a few times, and it’s a great aperitif option if you’re doing hors d’oeuvres. You know, while the kids are having the egg hunt and chowing through the jelly beans it’s nice to have something for the adults. So anyway, the limoncello is fun. In case anyone cares, here’s the recipe:

10 lemons

1 (750-ml) bottle vodka

3 1/2 cups water

2 1/2 cups sugar

Using a vegetable peeler, remove the peel from the lemons in long strips (reserve the lemons for another use). Using a small sharp knife, trim away the white pith from the lemon peels; discard the pith. Place the lemon peels in a 2-quart pitcher. Pour the vodka over the peels and cover with plastic wrap. Steep the lemon peels in the vodka for 4 days at room temperature.

Stir the water and sugar in a large saucepan over medium heat until the sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes. Cool completely. Pour the sugar syrup over the vodka mixture. Cover and let stand at room temperature overnight. Strain the limoncello through a mesh strainer. Discard the peels. Transfer the limoncello to bottles. Seal the bottles and refrigerate until cold, at least 4 hours and up to 1 month.

To serve:

1 (750-ml) bottle limoncello liqueur, chilled

1 cup sparkling water, chilled

1 cup fresh blueberries

5 fresh mint sprigs, lightly crushed, plus extra for garnish

Crushed ice

In a pitcher, combine the limoncello, sparkling water, blueberries, and mint sprigs. Fill glasses halfway with crushed ice. Pour about 1/2 cup of the limoncello mixture over the ice in each glass.

Garnish with mint sprigs and serve.