gyros

Easter 2024

This year, in order to take a look back at our Easter celebration, we have to back way up, to before Holy Week even began! While Bunny was home from college on spring break, I made hot cross buns, and we made the paschal candle for the year, so she wouldn’t have to miss out on everything. Unfortunately, she had to go back to school the day before Palm Sunday, so she didn’t get to join us for that (or any of the church services that followed).

Our Holy Week was pretty standard, even though we were missing having Bunny at home. We went to church on Maundy Thursday:

On Good Friday, when I wasn’t teaching school, I was working in the kitchen, chopping things and making pita bread. Ladybug helped out by baking and decorating some cupcakes for me:

And then we went to church. The service was beautiful, as was the sunset we were treated to upon leaving the building:

On Saturday, I was back at work in the kitchen, making baklava, tsoureki (a Greek Easter Bread), and prepping other various components of our Easter dinner:

I also did a little work on decorating, including pairing some linens in a new way for the kitchen island and making our napkins look like bunnies!

And then it was time for the best church service of the year, The Great Vigil of Easter!

On the way home, according to tradition, we stopped at Wendy’s for Frostys and fries, and watched Rick Steves’ European Easter.

Back to church this morning for a service filled with joy and beautiful music!

It was weird taking pictures of only four of the children. Since things were already different, I decided that instead of taking my usual pictures by the font, I’d go with the Paschal Candle as the backdrop instead:

And a picture of…the Fab Four? Nope…that just isn’t right!

Also a picture of 6/7 of our family:

I planned a special Easter breakfast this year…I finally learned how to make omelettes! So we had a made-to-order omelette bar, featuring ham and smoked salmon, dill, chives, mushrooms, bell peppers, and two kinds of cheese:

We also had mixed berries, 13(!!!!) kinds of mini donuts (Seasonal varieties included carrot cake, blueberry, peach cobbler, spring sprinkles, honey bun, strawberry shortcake, plus the standards: powdered, old fashioned, glazed, frosted, zebra, crunch, and double chocolate ), pink pineapple, and the requisite Easter candy:

Here’s a look at our completed Osterstrauß, which was the centerpiece of our buffet:

I chose a smoked salmon, dill, and mushroom omelette, and it was delicious! I also really enjoyed the pink pineapple, which I thought tasted a little bit like watermelon…it might have just been a mental thing because it looked kind of like watermelon, though!

I didn’t have a whole lot of work to do this afternoon since I had prepped so much of dinner, so I had plenty of time for setting the table while we watched the first two My Big Fat Greek Wedding movies:

My family requested gyros for dinner, so I seasoned some sizzle steak with gyros seasoning we found at the international market and cooked it in my best approximation of gyros. We had all our favorite toppings: homemade tzatziki sauce, tomatoes, onions, and feta cheese:

I decided to go full-on Greek with our dinner, including a Greek salad, spanakopita, the previously-mentioned tsoureki, and because I’m still scared of making saganaki, fried feta coated in sesame seeds. The only thing missing was dolmas (stuffed grape leaves)…maybe someday I’ll tackle those!

I’ve been thinking about doing a Greek Easter dinner for a few years, so I really enjoyed it!

In keeping with our Greek theme, we had baklava sundaes for dessert:

And I found some time to stop by and say “hi” to Zipper T. Bunny!

This was our first big holiday without all of us here, which was weird and sad, but we made the best of it, and it was still a lovely Easter!

Bobunk on Kirby Day

Last year, we celebrated Bobunk on Twosday, this year, we’re celebrating it on Kirby Day, because Kirby’s Return to Dreamland Deluxe was released on the Nintendo Switch today!

Ladybug made Kirby-inspired hot chocolate bombs, and today was the perfect chilly day to enjoy them!

I made the Kirby mocktail I invented last year…it looked really nice in our pink glasses!

For dinner, we did something new for Bobunk and got Super Gyros, which was delicious and made our house smell like Chicago:

For our Kirby Day dessert, I turned to the new Official Disney Parks Cookbook and made the Grand Californian’s Storytellers Cafe recipe for mini strawberry cheesecakes.

It was nice to have something fun to look forward to in the endless abyss that is February!

Tasty Tuesday–Chicago’s Best Foods

Of course, one of the best things about visiting any city is finding out what foods that location is famous for and trying them for yourself. Chicago is no exception, and foods that I grew up with as just food are now special treats when we travel. I’m sure people could argue all day about constitutes a Chicago food, but here are my favorites…Chicago-style pizza, Chicago-style hot dogs, Rainbow cones, gyros, Eli’s cheesecake, and Italian beef:

Ryan thinks I should have added the Italian combo to my list, but I really don’t like Italian sausage that much, so the best I can do is mention it. Also, not pictured, but extremely delicious and addictive…Chicago-style popcorn. I could eat that stuff by the (cheesy Christmas) tinful!

Tasty Tuesday–Gyros Night

One of my favorite things about making lamb for Easter is that we often have enough leftovers to freeze so we can enjoy gyros in the weeks following. I’m not claiming they’re authentic (I’m certainly not shaving the meat off of a vertical rotisserie!), but I do make homemade tzatziki sauce to go with them, so the flavor is pretty much what I remember from growing up in the Chicago area!

Tasty Tuesday–Flip’s

Chicago has a lot of great food, and the best kind of restaurant is one that has a wide selection of favorites like gyros, Italian beef and/or sausage, patty melts, and hamburgers. Flip’s in Glen Ellyn, IL, is just such a place.

Now, I know that when I lived in Wheaton, I drove by Flip’s on Roosevelt Road countless times. I don’t think I actually ate there back then, though. That all changed when we were up in the Chicago area for Frosty Faustings, and I’m glad I finally had a chance to try it out!

The interior is just what you would expect…small! Small and friendly, with a good menu, and fun vintage details:

The food was excellent. I went with my personal favorite, gyros, and they were prepared just right. Turkey was ambitious and ordered a gyro burger, and he loved it. Among other things, members of our group also tried the tuna melt (delicious) and the saganaki (also delicious).

There are many places like Flip’s all throughout Chicagoland, and if you’re visiting, you should pick one and try some of Chicago’s (delicious) native foods!

 

Anniversary Lunch

Since we spent the evening at Busch Stadium, we decided to go out for lunch on our anniversary. Our restaurant of choice? Olympia Kebob House and Taverna in St. Louis. We’ve always wanted to go there, but never got around to it, plus, it’s located near our first apartment in St. Louis, so it also got points for sentimentality!

We shared an order of saganaki to start, and it was just like I remembered from my childhood when my parents used to take me to a restaurant that, while not Greek, was owned by Greeks. So delicious (and fun to watch)! I especially loved the slight lemon flavor…it’s completely unexpected with cheese, and yet it goes so well.

I chose a pork kebob for my meal, and it was delicious. It was also my first real experience with feta cheese, and while I was apprehensive, it turns out that I really like it. All of the assorted vegetables were also delicious, as were the wonderful Greek olives.

Ryan got the gyros. I gave him a hard time about the lamb, (I tend to have a “no cute food” rule when eating), but I ended up sampling it anyway, and it was also delicious. The tzatziki was especially good. I’d even go so far as to say that I might order the gyros should we ever go back there. Rules are made to be broken, right?

I also got really adventurous and tried the ouzo. It was…interesting. Very strong, much more so than I was expecting. And while I was expecting it to taste like licorice, I wasn’t prepared for just how strong the flavor would be. It was almost like drinking a box of Jingles. I doubt that I would order it again, but it was part of the whole experience, so I’m glad I gave it a try!