Special Ingredients

My daughters have been calling in requests for things that they want me to cook for Easter.   I don’t  know how many generations have been making our family recipes but since my Mother died 4 years ago, it’s been my turn to keep them going.

Yesterday I made nut roll.  There’s a lot more cooking left to do and some of the ingredients aren’t available in  the regular grocery stores.  I took a little trip to a town about 40 minutes away that has a strong, Eastern European community and a good ethnic market.  There was a 45 minute wait to get into the shop.  In line, the mood was festive.  Everyone was  excited about the holiday.  We were all talking and laughing with each other.  Since many of us were making the same traditional Easter dishes, the conversation turned to recipes and cooking anecdotes.  It was fun and the time flew by!

The store was pretty big and had a lot of interesting things that aren’t in the regular grocery stores.  Many of the items had labels that weren’t written in English.  I got everything I needed, had  a good time looking around and found a few interesting things for the Easter baskets.