Spring In Pittsburgh Is Finally Here

After so much back and forth with rains and warmer days, we are finally feeling the effects of Spring here in the Pittsburgh area.  We will be having rain off and on all week, but the temperatures are predicted to be pleasany.

Budding Forsythia Bushes

I need to walk more and I truly miss my Tipper who I would walk when the weather changed.  Yesterday as I was walking I stopped to talk with some neighbors who have forsythia bushes along their fence.  They are just starting to bud this year.  In years past, they have been in full bloom along with the daffadils.

Dogwood 2014

Last year on my walk I spotted the neighbor's Dogwood Tree and it's blooms.  They are not as full as previous years but they were definitely starting to show their white blooms.

Dogwood Spring 2013

In 2014 at this time the Dogwood Trees were just full of blooms.  As I've stated before, what a difference a year makes in the growing patterns of the flowers.

Purple Azalea

Even though the dogwood isn't as full, the Azalea Bush is in full bloom and showing beautiful colors.  I'm thinking of putting an Azalea behind my Madonna.

Tulips for the Madonna

The Madonna across the alley from me has some spring blooms cropping up just in time for the Month of Mary in May.

Tulips under the Rhododendrongs

The tulips are starting to bloom very nicely and this group of bulbs flowered just below the Rhododendrons that I featured last year.  This year the buds are just starting to get big enough and should be open soon.

Blossoming Tree

I'm not sure what this tree is in one of my neighbor's yards, but the blossoms remind me of crab apple.  I'll have to ask my neighbor what kind of tree this is but it is in full bloom.  What surprised me was that there was a bird in it singing but it never flew away.  The birds are getting used to my comings and goings and don't flit away as much when I go in and out of my kitchen.

So spring has sprung, the grass has risen and I know where the birdie is.  In the tree waiting for the blossoms to turn into fruit.

Asian Lily Explosion - Thank You, God

In 2012, I planted two Asian Lily plants in my walk up surround.  They were sparse but pretty.  Since I haven't had much luck with anything in this garden other than wildflowers, I wasn't hopeful that they would flourish any better than the other plants I have tried in that spot.

Wow! what a difference a year makes.  Early the next spring I found the plants flourishing and growing tall.  I never expected these lilies to be so profuse or to sprout such beautiful flowers. Early on this year they looked like tall stems with nothing on them. That is usual for all of the bulb plants I have planted in this location so I was resigned to just getting stems and no flowers.



Can you imagine my surprise and the wonderment when these small buds started to form.  As they grew, my awe grew right along with them and this is what I find greeting me every morning as I walk to my car.  This has  been a wondrous experience and one that I'm sure that God has his hand in.

My Madonna with her profusion of lilies

Thank you, God, for surrounding my Madonna with such a wonderful profusion of color.

My Madonna after her refreshed paint

Since then my Madonna was painted by a neighbor to reflect her beauty and the surrounding gardens are waiting for this year's profusion of flowers.

The following year I was astounded to find my Madonna gone.  I searched and posted online my disappointment in losing something that had no value other than sentimental.  I was rewarded by something that I never expected.  A neighbor came to my yard and put a new Madonna in place of the one that disappeared.  He restored my faith in my fellow man.  Now we will see if my lilies come up this year to make the transition perfect.

Good Friday Project Italian Easter Bread

Easter Bread was traditionally a Good Friday project in my Mother-in-law's house.  She started the morning hard boiling her eggs and then dying them.  After she finished her eggs, she started her Easter Sweet Bread.  The difference from her weekly bread baking was that this bread was made with eggs and sugar.  She would lessen the amount of water she used with her yeast and add the same fluid amount of eggs to the recipe. 

This loaf of bread is not traditional Italian.  Can you spot the error?

I pulled this picture from a yahoo search at http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=image&fr=yfp-t-701&sz=all&va=italian+easter+bread.  There is something wrong in that there are an even number of colored eggs on this loaf of Italian Easter Bread.  I was taught by my husband that it is considered bad luck to have an even number of eggs in the bread.  I normally put three eggs on my loaf but this is the shape of the loaf that I make.  The link will take you to various types of Italian Easter Bread shapes that can be made.

Yeast Dough ready to be kneaded down

In order to make Easter Bread you need to start with your regular yeast bread recipe and then alter it for sweet bread.  Where it calls for warm water and the yeast, you first remove about a cup of water.  After the yeast has fermented into the water, replace the removed liquid with six eggs at room temperature.

Braided Bread with colored eggs ready for the oven

The whole  Easter Bread recipe is made the same way as yeast bread except for the addition of the eggs and sugar.  Some even add a drop or two of yellow food coloring but that is just for looks.  Instead of normal loaves of bread, our family makes the braided loaf that is similar to the one above.

Pan of oven baked Fritta or Frittata

Traditionally, Easter Bread is made on Good Friday and then refrigerated because of the hard boiled eggs in it.  This bread is not eaten before Easter Sunday.  A loaf is taken out of refrigeration about an hour before the Fritta is ready in order to be eaten at room temperature with the traditional Easter Brunch.

We will talk about Fritta on another day.  As always, "Munga" and "enjoy."

Another Friday In Lent - What's For Dinner

In our house today, I'm planning to make a favorite that my youngest step-daughter loved.  We are having pastaneggi.

This is a recipe that is so simple it only takes the time to boil the spaghetti and add some scrambled eggs along with your desired seasonings.


Another fun dish would be Tuna Salad and pierogies.  I make my tuna salad the way my Dad did at his luncheonette.  Tuna drained of the oil or in my case, water, chopped celery and Miracle Whip (salad dressing).  This is one dish I don't use mayonnaise.  My neighbor always put a small bit of chopped onion to spice it up and I sometimes do also.  My mother liked everything sweet so she added pickle relish to her tuna salad and egg salads.  I've never liked it with pickle relish or chopped eggs.




The pierogies I put in boiling water until they rise to the top while I am melting a stick of margarine with onions sliced the length of the onion into little crescents.  I saute the onions and margarine until the onions are transparent.  Then I put the drained pierogies into a chafing dish and cover them with the margarine and onion mixture.  I put these into a low oven until I'm ready to serve them.  Some people prefer to pan fry the pirogi so that they get browned but I prefer mine soft.  We are using a frozen pierogi from the supermarket.  I prefer the potato and cheese variety but you can get sauerkraut.

If you want to avoid the fuss and mess and you don't have a fish fry to attend, I suggest you try some of the delights at Labriola's Italian Markets.  There are several in the Pittsburgh area.  They make wonderful fried fish.  In the past they only made one batch of fish and you had to be early to get some, but now they make it all day long and you can normally get what you want into the afternoon hours.

There are several Fish Fries that I know of in the northern area of Pittsburgh.  St. Scholatica Church in Aspinwall only does one during Lent.  Pittsburgh Moose 46 on Saxonburg Boulevard has one every Friday in Lent.

Oakmont Elks has a wonderful Fish Fry but they now serve between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m.  If you know of some good fish fries, please comment their location and maybe we will try those next week.  There are some great side such as halushki, stewed tomatoes or macaroni and cheese.

As I promised I did my homework and surfed the Internet for some great Lenten Menus.  The first dish I want to talk about is a Seafood Lasagna that take 30 minutes to prepare and another hour and a half to bake.  It sounds scrumptious but if there are some ingredients in the seafood you don't like feel free to just eliminate them.  This recipe comes from allrecipes.com.

The second dish I want to talk about is an Imitation Crab Seafood Salad.  This recipe only takes 10 minutes to make.  Not only is it easy to make it sounds delicious.  This recipe comes from homecooking.about.com.

I hope you find some good hints here today and as always come back tomorrow to see what we have for you to try.  Since it is Lent the sales at the supermarket are all wrapped around meatless dinners.  Perhaps we want to make a simple chicken breast and broccoli casserole for dinner.