1. I transported myself back to St. Mary's Episcopal Church a couple of time today on Easter Sunday. First, the deeply solemn and joyous Easter Vigil service came alive in my memory as Carol and Paul reported on their experience attending the confirmation and baptism of one of their students at Sts. Cyril and Methodius Byzantine Church, a Byzantine Catholic parish in Spokane Valley. The confirmation and baptism rites were a part of the church's Holy Saturday service and I was fascinated by learning more about the Byzantine Catholic liturgy and how it looked in relationship to the Episcopal one.
2. I was also transported back to St. Mary's after dinner. To my delight, the Symphony Hall channel on SiriusXM played the entirety of Handel's Messiah. The Easter Vigil liturgy is structured around selected readings from the Hebrew Bible (or the Old Testament, if you prefer) and on into the New Testament that bring worshipers into highlights of the biblical story that ultimately reaches its peak with the story of the Resurrection. Handel's Messiah, also brings elements of the Old and New Testament to life. Both the Messiah and the Easter Vigil are journeys, helping us to prepare for and experience the Resurrection as the conclusion of a series of stories and poetry ending in glory.
3. Paul, Carol, Christy, Debbie, and I gathered at the Roberts' house at 2:00 for Easter family dinner.
We went immediately to the dinner table and enjoyed the superb deviled eggs Christy made as an appetizer. Before long, Paul brought the phenomenal London Broil he prepared on the grill and along with it we enjoyed baked potatoes, the creamed spinach I prepared, and an inspired salad built around bok chow and the scintillating flavor of tarragon that Debbie made. We enjoyed cupcake size pieces of cheesecake that Carol made for dessert.
I had never made creamed spinach before today and I thoroughly enjoyed making the white sauce, enhancing it with green onion nd garlic, and wilting fresh spinach with bacon grease and later batches with butter. I thought the broken pieces of bacon I mixed in with the spinach and white sauce enhanced the over all flavor of the dish.
I really enjoyed eating at 2;00 and wondered it that time would work for other family dinners, even if the dinners don't fall on a holiday.........
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