"traditions" news and stories

I can't believe it's Easter already. Time is just flying. Did you get the eggs decorated and hidden? Did the Easter Bunny leave a basket for all the kids? I remember as a kid that my favorite part of the holiday was the Easter egg hunt in the back yard. My dad would hide them all several times so we could have multiple hunts, and boy did he ever find some creative hiding places!

We have all of these traditions for Easter, but do you know where they came from? I surely could not answer that question until recently. I came across this really neat web page that explains the origins of several Easter traditions, such as where the Easter Bunny came from and why we decorate eggs. If you're interested in finding out the why's and wherefores of our Easter activities, you should check this out!

I realize that it's the day after Christmas and probably not the best time to talk about what your holiday breakfast traditions are, but it's on my mind and so I'm writing about it. You see, in my family, it isn't Christmas morning without bacon. In our house it's turkey bacon because my mom Jewish, didn't grow up eating pork and still can't bring herself to do so to this day. But still, we must have that bacon, along with sunny side up eggs (whites cooked, yolks runny). Along with that there is typically a bread product (this year it was toasted panettone, last year we made these scones).

Last week there was an article in the Oregonian food section about another family's tradition of having aebleskivers on Christmas morning (I have never had the opportunity to try those little round pancakes and am hoping to get my hands on a pan in which to make them in the near future).

What are your holiday breakfast traditions? Did you stay true to those traditions yesterday, or did you branch out and try something new?

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The start of Hanukah is just under two weeks away and there are a lot of food traditions associated with it, as there are with most Jewish holidays. Any holiday that has a food tradition is worth taking note of as far as we're concerned, whether it is one you usually celebrate or not, if for no other reason than to expose yourself to some new food. In the case of A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking, the foods probably aren't all that "new" to most of us, but that only makes learning the history behind the recipes more interesting. The author discusses dietary laws, the symbolism of particular foods and how Jewish cooking has been influenced by other cultures. The recipes include NY Style Water Bagels, Traditional Friday Night Challah, Frozen Cheesecake and My Trademark, Most Requested, Absolutely Magnificent Caramel Matzoh Crunch. The instructions, even for the most complex breads and pastries, are easy enough for the the "baking challenged" to follow without problems

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Easter is my favorite holiday. It is not that I am a devout Catholic and strictly adhere to the Lenten rules, though I do find solace in the sense of renew the season brings, rather it is the feeling of freshness that comes with Easter that never fails to raise my spirits after the long, cold winter. Even if I did not have children I would likely color eggs and create baskets just for fun. One of my favorite Easter traditions is the peek-a-boo sugar eggs. I have many memories of treasure hunts that ended with the discovery of my basket which always contained one of these treasures. The eggs are edible in the same way that a gingerbread house is edible, you can eat them but they are fairly gross and stale. But for a child it is absolutely amazing to sit and ponder just how exactly the Easter Bunny was able to create the sugary orb and insert the candy animals inside.

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Since it is Friday the 13th, it seems an appropriate day to look at food superstitions. Every culture has many of them, some stretching back hundreds of years. What are yours? Did you twist an apple stem to determine the first name of the person you were destined to marry? Were you expected to set the salt shaker down instead of handing it directly to someone? There are so many food myths and legends, I won't pretend that this is the ultimate list; it is just a starting point. These are simply 5 famous food superstitions:

• Throwing rice at weddings ensures fertility
• Throwing spilled salt over your shoulder keeps the devil away
• Garlic keeps evil away
• Push a spoon through the bottom of a boiled egg to “let the witches/devil out”
• Eating specific foods on the New Year will bring good luck