You know it's getting close to Easter when you see these huge chocolate eggs appear in the windows of the bakery shops all over Italy. When I was little, I remember my mother would receive a huge chocolate egg in the mail from her relatives in Caserta, Italy every year. I thought they had to be the most wonderful thing in the world. Wouldn't it be incredible to get one of these eggs ?
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Another of the signs Easter is just around the corner are the posters in all of the butcher shops reminding you to order your lamb for Easter dinner.
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Just like Panettone is the traditional Christmas cake, at Easter the cake you see sold in all the shops is called the Colombo,because it is shaped like a bird (technically a dove), with candied orange pieces inside. There isn't much difference between a Panettone and the Colombo, besides the shape. The Colombo I bought this year is a miniature, only about 4 inches in length. Unfortunately for me this year I am on a strict diet enforced by my doctor. If I had bought the regular Colombo, I would have had very little will power not to eat the whole darned thing. At least with this tiny one, I have a shot at not blowing my diet too badly. (It is still safely wrapped in it's plastic, gone untouched the whole day. I'm doing my best to stick to the rules of this diet. I'm quite afraid of this doctor!)
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We love to color eggs for our Easter baskets, however, we have not done any egg dying since we've moved to Italy because the eggs sold in the markets here are brown. Brown eggs don't dye quite the same as white ones. This year we found eggs already colored at our local market on Via Garibaldi. We couldn't resist, these came home with us. Already hard boiled too.
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Easter baskets are not typical here as they are in the United States. In Italy the custom is to give a huge chocolate egg. Inside is a surprise of some kind. We've not done the big eggs in previous years, but this was a year for some firsts. Besides the colored eggs, this big egg found it's way home with us from the grocery store this Easter. It's about a foot and a half tall.
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We were curious what surprise we'd find inside! Mike carefully unwrapped the colorful foil, to discover that the egg was sitting in a plastic cup. So the egg wasn't quite as big as we thought it was, but still, it was big enough!
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Eager to see what was hidden inside, Mike broke off a piece of the egg. Inside was a small plastic wrapped package. It was a mini-bowling game, complete with 6 tiny bowling pins and a ball. "Made in China" was clearly stamped on the label. This is making it's way into our trash bin in the morning. So much for surprises!
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With this diet I'm on, I'm allowed 20 grams of dark chocolate for part of my mid-day snack one day a week. I think we're going to break our egg up into pieces and store them in a zip-lock bag so I can take out 20 grams each week. Our egg won't go to waste!
As you can see, some of our old Easter traditions have gone by the way side, traded for new ones. Living in a different place requires you to adapt to different things.
What are some of your Easter traditions?
Hope you all had a wonderful day filled with family and friends.
Buona Pasqua!
Another of the signs Easter is just around the corner are the posters in all of the butcher shops reminding you to order your lamb for Easter dinner.
Just like Panettone is the traditional Christmas cake, at Easter the cake you see sold in all the shops is called the Colombo,because it is shaped like a bird (technically a dove), with candied orange pieces inside. There isn't much difference between a Panettone and the Colombo, besides the shape. The Colombo I bought this year is a miniature, only about 4 inches in length. Unfortunately for me this year I am on a strict diet enforced by my doctor. If I had bought the regular Colombo, I would have had very little will power not to eat the whole darned thing. At least with this tiny one, I have a shot at not blowing my diet too badly. (It is still safely wrapped in it's plastic, gone untouched the whole day. I'm doing my best to stick to the rules of this diet. I'm quite afraid of this doctor!)
We love to color eggs for our Easter baskets, however, we have not done any egg dying since we've moved to Italy because the eggs sold in the markets here are brown. Brown eggs don't dye quite the same as white ones. This year we found eggs already colored at our local market on Via Garibaldi. We couldn't resist, these came home with us. Already hard boiled too.
Easter baskets are not typical here as they are in the United States. In Italy the custom is to give a huge chocolate egg. Inside is a surprise of some kind. We've not done the big eggs in previous years, but this was a year for some firsts. Besides the colored eggs, this big egg found it's way home with us from the grocery store this Easter. It's about a foot and a half tall.
We were curious what surprise we'd find inside! Mike carefully unwrapped the colorful foil, to discover that the egg was sitting in a plastic cup. So the egg wasn't quite as big as we thought it was, but still, it was big enough!
With this diet I'm on, I'm allowed 20 grams of dark chocolate for part of my mid-day snack one day a week. I think we're going to break our egg up into pieces and store them in a zip-lock bag so I can take out 20 grams each week. Our egg won't go to waste!
As you can see, some of our old Easter traditions have gone by the way side, traded for new ones. Living in a different place requires you to adapt to different things.
What are some of your Easter traditions?
Hope you all had a wonderful day filled with family and friends.
Buona Pasqua!
