Baking Easter Bread | The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

It’s time to ponder Joyce’s questions and find the answers. This Cafe is on the main drag that runs along Lake Washington through Bothell, Kenmore, Lake Forest Park, and Lake City. This is the 522 bus route that goes to downtown Seattle. We haven’t tried the cafe yet but Dear has read many a book on that 522 route to Seattle and back.

1. April is Lawn and Garden Month. On a scale of 1-10 what’s the current state of your lawn and/or garden. (10=a showpiece, 1=send in the professionals). Tell us about any lawn or garden plans you have for this month.

Haha! As I was mowing on Monday of this week the thought came to my mind that we really could use some professionals to come in and totally redo our lawn. We have more moss and weeds then actual grass. I had the thought that it would be great to meet that guy at the big box store who would come up to me and say “can we come and do a yard project for you?” So I’m saying 1!

We have made some improvements on the walkway and planters since this photo was taken but the lawn remains a mess! This next photo is what things look like since 2016.

2. “Many things grow in the garden that were never sown there.”~Thomas Fuller What does this quote mean to you?

I’ll take it literally and say I never sowed those weeds but there they are.

3. What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think about God?

Almighty

THE APOSTLES CREED

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.

And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord; Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit; Born of the Virgin

Mary; Suffered under Pontius Pilate; Was crucified, dead and buried; He descended into Hell; The third

day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven; And sitteth on the right hand of God the

Father Almighty; From thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit; The Holy Christian Church, the Communion of Saints; The Forgiveness of

sins; The Resurrection of the body; And the life everlasting. Amen.

4. If we were chatting in person, how would I know if you were nervous?

If I was talking too much.

5. Do you like the color yellow? Would I find any in your home or wardrobe? Daffodils, tulips, roses, sunflowers, day lily, black eyed susan…which yellow bloom on this list is your favorite?

Not much yellow in my home or wardrobe. I do like lemons. Daffodils are my favorite yellow bloom.

6. Flip flops or bare feet?

Bare feet. Flip flops don’t agree with my feet.

7. Tell us about any Easter plans, celebrations, or traditions you’ll carry out this month.

This Easter will be different because we are headed east to spend time with our kids and our granddaughter Addy. We will celebrate but not in the usual way. We love Easter and we generally have a baking day before Easter to make Russian Easter Bread, Kulich/Paska and our yummy sweet cheese spread for the bread called Seernaya Paska. Lamb is the protein of choice for our Easter meals. We are going to have a post Easter celebration when we are back on this side of the mountains and we will celebrate our son-in-law’s birthday, too.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I owe everything that I am and everything I will ever be to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for my robe of righteousness afforded to me because Jesus took on my sins and the sins of the world. I am washed clean by the blood of the Lamb.

Linking to Hodgepodge Wednesday with Joyce From This Side of the Pond.

I’m recuperating today from 2 days of hard labor. Monday was yard day and yesterday after a nice walk with Katie, Dear recruited me to help him finish a shed project at our son and dil’s that took us till 7:30 last night. They are very happy with their spiffy new shed and we were happy to put it together. I’m a bit behind this morning. Hope to catch up with everyone shortly. Happy Wednesday!

I love Easter and all that it holds and all that it means. I like the idea of new Life, a resurrected Life. The greatest Love that was demonstrated on Good Friday and the Life that was resurrected on Easter Sunday.

Here are photos of our Easter weekend labors of love and celebrations.

This was the end result of our labors on Easter Saturday. Top left an Russian Easter sweet cheese spread called Seernaya Paska. The X and the B stand for Christ is Risen. On the right is the finished and frosted Russian Easter Bread called Kulich or Paska surrounded by Russian shrink wrapped eggs. The sign in Russian on the bottom left says Christ is Risen so you see where the X and B comes from. Now I’ll show you some of the process of getting here.

First you gather your labor force. This is my sister Lana who arrived early so that we could get the Russian Easter Bread (Kulich/Paska) started.

The rest of the laborers arrived and were donned with their aprons and head scarves.

At one point in the process of mixing the dough I thought I made a big boo boo so we prayed over the dough and Lana and I laid hands on the KitchenAid. I didn’t want to start over again. All turned out well…

Lana showing how her slippers match her apron. I am behind in giving a shout out to My Mother’s Apron Strings after I won this Christmas apron giveaway without knowing I even entered the contest. My sister is wearing it on the reverse side since this is Easter and not Christmas. Thank you Susan for sending the apron to me.

The other photos in the collage are of kneading the dough and shrink wrapping the boiled eggs. While the dough was rising we enjoyed lunch together. Home made tamales and beans with guacamole, chips, and Dan and Jamie’s home made salsa.

After lunch it was time to prepare the cans and to punch down the dough after it’s first rise. The Peter Rabbit bunting was completed by Katie and hung by Laura and Katie. Josh and Laura gifted me the bunting kit for my birthday last week.

After the second rise we punched again and prepared the dough by hand for the cans pinching off enough or almost enough for each can we picked for this time around. Short, medium and tall.

The guys were busy outside in the sunshine solving several world problems.

The finished eggs and kulich on Easter day. I’ll show more from our Easter table in another post.

When the baking was done and the cheese mold was in the refrigerator setting up for our Easter Sunday meal the kids went out to dinner with their aunt and uncle. Dear and I stayed at home and crashed…

All of our kids together enjoying each other and extended family fills us with joy and not having to make dinner for them after a full day in the kitchen was a bonus!

We love and treasure these traditions and hope to carry them on through the years and pass them on to the next generation.

I’m linking up with Tuesday’s Treasures hosted by Tom the Backroads Traveler and ABC Wednesday started by Mrs. Nesbitt and carried on by Roger and the ABC team for L is for Labors of Love. I noticed several L’s in this post like Life, Love, Lana, Laura, Lunch, and Labor force.

Hope you all had a good Easter Weekend and some of you got the bonus of Easter Monday holiday which is brilliant!

I’m also linking up to Thoughts of Home #8 with Laura at Decor to Adore.

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

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Almighty Hodgepodge

Labor of Love…