Every family does their basket their own way, and we like to change up a few things now and again ourselves. Here's the basket we put together this morning.
First our basket...
Since we have one basket for 4 people (5, this year), we like to have a rather large basket. I've tried quite a few different styles over the years, and really like this one. It's fairly shallow, with a wide, flat bottom that's perfect for spreading the food out. The handle is quite high, so it doesn't get in the way while arranging things.
I have a thing for tiny, decorative plates and bowls, and they come in very handy for the basket. My newest aquisitions are the tiny tajines. I ended up using one of them for the chrzan (horseradish). I usually try to get fresh horseradish root, but the ones I've seen in the stores are horribly dessicated, so I picked up a jar of prepared chrzan, coloured pink with beetroot. The divided bowls, meant for sushi sauces, if I remember correctly, are holding two types of salt; Bolivian Rose Andes Mountain Salt (larger crystals in pale pink) and Alaea Hawaiian Sea Salt (dark reddish, slightly finer crystals). Usually, I just use table salt, but I've enjoyed experimenting with different types of salt these days. The butter was whipped with garlic granules and dill. Last year we introduced olives and olive oil to our basket, since olives played such a large role in daily life 2000 years ago (and still does, in some parts of the world). The tinned olives include garlic stuffed, which we tried last year and enjoyed, and anchovy stuffed. I haven't mentioned that to my family yet; none of us have tried anchovy before. We decided to include vinegar this year, as it was also a staple for thousands of years. When I found a double bottle of both olive oil and vinegar together, I couldn't resist!
The plastic grass is completely hidden in our basket, so it doesn't matter what it looks like, but it helps keep things where I want them when I arrange them.
Since some of the food is damp or might stain or spill, I line the bottom with paper towel.
Then comes the fun part. Trying to fit it all in! The pickled eggs are a new addition. Those were left to pickle for several days. They're gorgeous, but my goodness, they stain!! I can't wait to see what they taste like.
The cheese for this year is also a new one. Cabra Curado, a Spanish goat cheese.
After this photo was taken, I added a few foil covered chocolate eggs. Then my husband took more pictures.
This one turned out really well. What you can't see is me holding the reflector, and the cat that was VERY interested in that basket!
Then it was off to the church for the blessing. I only took one quick photo. There was no restrictions on photography, but it didn't feel right to take more! The blessing ceremony took place in the basement, where several tables were placed end-to-end.
I tried to count the baskets in the photo and got over 50, but it's hard to tell. This was taken just before things started, and there was a rush of people with their baskets that came in right after I took the picture. There were so many people there - standing room only, and all ages represented. The priest was also VERY thorough in making sure all the people and baskets were well sprinkled with Holy Water. ;-D
After it was done, we took our time reclaiming our basket, then headed out, passing a stream of people going the other direction with more baskets for the next blessing ceremony! I wonder how many they do? I'm really glad I found out about this. It feels nice to have a properly blessed basket again. :-D
I had intended to use some crafted eggs for decorations, but there was no room, so they're part of a centrepiece now. There's wax resist eggs the years and I did years ago, temari eggs, net beaded eggs, also from years past, and crocheted eggs I finished making just the other day.
Looking forward to being able to enjoy the contents of our basket tomorrow morning!
I wish you all a Happy and Blessed Easter.
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