Greek Easter Summary/Reference (and Easter 2018)

Xristos Anesti!

Happy Easter! Last night was the most exciting night in all the Greek year; but we're in Bangkok.

This week, I've been looking back at my nearly-liveblog of Easter last year. I'd forgotten a lot of the events and symbolism. It was nice to have a reference. I've compiled it for you here, because I'm a kind person, who wants to be able to find this crap more easily next year.

Greek Easter Summary/Reference

(So I Can Find This Crap More Easily Next Year).

Holy Week Background
Thursday
Holy Thursday
Holy Thursday Update 1
Holy Thursday Update 2
Holy Thursday Update 3
Holy Thursday Update 4
Friday
Great Friday
Great Friday Update 1
Great Friday Update 2
Great Friday Update 3
Great Friday Update 4
Great Friday Update 5
Great Friday Update 6
Saturday
Great and Holy Saturday
Great and Holy Saturday Update 1
Great and Holy Saturday Update 2
Great and Holy Saturday Update 3
Great and Holy Saturday Update 4
Great and Holy Saturday Update 5
Great and Holy Saturday Update 6
Great and Holy Saturday Update 7
Sunday
Midnight Easter Sunday
Easter Sunday

Recipes
Tsoureki
Koulourakia

I appropriated some of Greece's things to celebrate Orthodox Easter in Thailand. I mostly did all right, for an American with no Greek heritage whose only ties to the country are a former two year residency as the wife of a foreign service officer, and a kid who isn't even an anchor baby, because Greece doesn't have jus soli citizenship the way some countries (USA) do.

Deep breath.

Here are our red eggs for the tsougrisma game. The Kid won this year. He's good at cracking other people's eggs. He's had a lot of practice.

Last year, I used a special packet of Greek dye for the eggs, because it was readily available, because I was in Greece. This year, I mixed 1tsp vinegar with 1/4c hot water, and a buuunch of red food coloring. I also used brown eggs, because that's what they sell. They turned out perfectly. Better than last year.

Here are our koulourakia cookies. I'd rather buy them from Eat Crete, but their online store is offline, and they weren't open when I was there in person. I'm very worried they might have gone out of business. It's kept me up at night.

I used THIS recipe, with the baking ammonia. These would be great with coffee. I don't like coffee.
I did not put enough orange zest in the dough. To compensate, I made a glaze from confectioners sugar and the zest/juice of an orange.

I was pleased with how store bought these looked in the takeaway containers. Almost like Eat Crete, if Eat Crete were open to give me cookies. I wash and hoard takeout containers for just such occasions. 

Here's the tsoureki. This is the second year I've made it, and the second time I've thought, "I really don't care for this." I keep thinking I'll just make challah next year, and call it good, but I convince myself that it has to be the real deal, mastic flavor and all. The Kid likes mastic. I posted an instagram about it the other day (good plug, right?). Mastic, or masticha, is tree sap. It's like eating a pine tree.

Year 2 of a botched tsoureki from THIS recipe. I make beautiful, six-strand braided challah loaves, but for some reason this three-strand thing is beyond my skill level. I blame the mastic. It's tree sap, for Pete's sake!

We added a little mainstream Easter to our morning. We missed it last week, due to E.coli, or whatever. The Kid got some cars from Aunt Kate, and just about died. He took them to nap with him. I could hear him in there saying, "How are you?!" to his cars, over and over again.

Bella on the egg trail.
It took The Kid a while to find the baskets. I thought they were pretty obvious, but the eggs turned out to be more of a red herring than anything. "Balls!" he yelled, and spent the next five minutes naming the colors. 

Here are my egg cutout cookies. Love them. That's a command, not a comment.

Phil's mom arrived late last night, just in time to celebrate with us today. Everyone is napping now, including the new cars. It's been a pretty nice Easter.

Right, Bella?

Χρόνια Πολλά!!