I have been baking Easter Paska for several years now using this favorite recipe my family loves.
Lately, I have been experimenting with other paska recipes to compare the taste and texture to my original paska.
The amount of work to prepare any paska is the same, but each recipe has a minor difference, hence the paskas differ in texture; however, they ALL are absolutely delicious.
The whole process of decorating a pysanka, consists of twelve basic steps listed in this post. I have chosen a very basic egg design for the first egg, and if you purchased an egg decorating kit, you will find several other designs to choose from for your next projects.
These Ukrainian Easter Eggs were decorated by my Great-Aunt Anna Kril Bart (Bartoszewska) and her children, in Queens, New York, over 80 years ago. The “sticks” displayed in front of the platter, are homemade styluses, used for drawing the outlines for the design on these eggs. The stylus handles were made from tree twigs, and the metal funnels were made from a metal can cut out…..such was life even in New York, USA, many years ago.
The Great Lent begins on Monday, as it always does for the Byzantine Rite Catholics.
The Great Lent for Roman Catholics does not start until Ash Wednesday, so they have two extra days to enjoy meat meals. They also celebrate a very traditional Fat Thursday, when they enjoy their delicious “Paczki”, doughnuts.
I personally like to prepare meatless meals on Wednesdays and Fridays for the duration of the Great Lent, as well as during the full Holy Week, which is the week just before Easter Sunday.
If you have been following my blog, you already know that I am very impressed with The Fat Smash Diet, and I love following all the phases at least once every year, with gratifying results.
Of course, before making this decision, you should consult with your Primary Care Physician to be assured that your medications and pre-existing conditions will allow you to make these lifestyle changes.
Some people feel it is too harsh (no coffee or alcohol for 9 days), but it works for me.