Easter and Violets

“Victoria puts bread to sleep on pillows!” said a college classmate after visiting me during my Easter preparations. You see, in order for paska, the Ukrainian brioche-like bread made for the holiday, to retain its lacy, lighter-than-air texture and not collapse under its own weight, it has to cool down on something soft. So my paska had its own pillow, and once a year it was brought out to serve as a ceremonial cushion. All of this might strike others as quaint, but Easter is the most beloved holiday in my family, and everyone takes preparations seriously.

easter

This year we follow the familiar pattern, but it’s an even more special holiday because I’m spending it with my family in Ukraine.  I’m anticipating an Easter feast with my grandmother. This morning we already boiled the onion peels to create a natural maroon-red dye for eggs. The fresh cheese has been drained and whipped with almonds for an Easter cheesecake.  Our home is once again filled with the wine-like aroma of rising dough, vanilla sugar, rum soaked raisins, and violets.

I wish everyone Happy Easter, Happy Pesach and a wonderful spring. May it usher in more joy, love and happiness.

Photography by Bois de Jasmin

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116 Comments

  • Sandra: Happy Easter to you! Your holiday sounds like it will be very special! April 18, 2014 at 8:32am Reply

    • Victoria: Happy Easter, Sandra! We’re having a good time together. 🙂 April 18, 2014 at 9:37am Reply

      • Katerina: Χριστός Ανέστη!!(in greek). Easter in Amsterdam is not exactly what I am used to celebrate in Greece, so to fill the gap and fill well I visited Skins and I bought a Labo (ylang) perfume. Happy Easter to everybody. April 19, 2014 at 3:19pm Reply

        • Victoria: Alithos Anesti! I have lots of Greek friends, and I’ve celebrated many Easters with them. The festive table is always incredible, and I need two days to recover after the meal. 🙂 All the same, enjoy your Easter. Ylang is a perfect way to add some opulence and sparkle. April 20, 2014 at 6:34am Reply

  • Johanob: HAPPY EASTER Victoria! April 18, 2014 at 8:44am Reply

    • Victoria: Happy Easter to you too! April 18, 2014 at 9:38am Reply

  • Anka: Happy Easter and Pesach, have a save trip and a lovely time with your family in Ukraine! April 18, 2014 at 8:55am Reply

    • Victoria: Happy holidays to you too, Anka! This week it finally warmed up, so I’m sitting outside right now on the grass. Bliss! April 18, 2014 at 9:40am Reply

  • rainboweyes: Easter is my favourite holiday, too. I think probably mainly because it’s in spring and not, like Christmas, in the darkest time of the year. I remember, as a kid, I also dyed our Easter eggs with onion peels, red cabbage and beetroot juice at home.
    We were supposed to go to Paris for Easter this year but due to my husband’s sports injury we had to cancel it just yesterday 🙁
    So I’m not very well prepared to celebrate at home but I’m going to bake an advocaat cheesecake tomorrow.
    Here I’m sending the link to the poppyseed/cherry cake, as promised http://www.essen-und-trinken.de/rezept/346887/rosenkuchen-mit-kirschen.html and the rhubarb coconut cake http://www.essen-und-trinken.de/rezept/347125/rhabarber-kokos-kuchen.html
    Have a happy Easter! April 18, 2014 at 9:04am Reply

    • Victoria: I love it for the same reason–spring, rejuvenation and hope. Everything is green, there are many flowers, and I get to enjoy some of my favorite foods. My grandmother’s paska, Easter brioche, is among the strongest scent memories from my childhood. Just smelling the yeast dough rising is making me lightheaded with happiness. 🙂

      Thank you very much for the recipes. I’m going to buy some poppyseeds in the market next week. April 18, 2014 at 9:48am Reply

  • solanace: Huuum, brioche-style breads are my favorites! Imagining it must contain a healthy amount of butter to be this fluffy, am I right?
    Wishing you a beautiful Easter and a great time with your family, Victoria! April 18, 2014 at 9:05am Reply

    • Victoria: Oh yes, our recipes calls for butter, sour cream and a dozen of egg yolks. It’s rich beyond belief, but it’s also lacy and airy. Nothing short of magic, if you ask me.

      Wishing you wonderful holidays too! April 18, 2014 at 9:50am Reply

      • solanace: Loads of butter, sour cream and egg yolks? Count me in! I’m looking for a recipe at the sovietkitchen blog ASAP!

        Very happy because my Jour de Fete decant finally arrived (oh, these customs/mail of ours). Loving it, only wish it were a tad stronger. April 18, 2014 at 11:27am Reply

        • Victoria: There are lots of paska recipes online, but ours is an old family recipe, and I haven’t encountered anything like it. I don’t have it written down, or else I would happy to share it. It’s more like Italian or French brioches. I’ve made an Italian panettone from Carol Field’s book, Italian Baker, and it’s the closest one. Here is the recipe:
          http://thedaringkitchen.com/recipe/panettone

          To make it more like my grandmother’s, I skip all citrus zest and up vanilla. I also add 1/8-1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg. I don’t add the candied orange peel. Our brioche has a few raisins, but it’s not too stuffed with them, or else it can’t rise properly. And instead of the recommended almond glaze, I simply glaze with a beaten egg. When the bread is cool, I glaze it with a mix of lemon juice and confectioners sugar. Sprinkles are optional. April 18, 2014 at 3:02pm Reply

  • Fae: Happy Easter! April 18, 2014 at 9:10am Reply

  • Sylviane: Happy Easter Victoria ! April 18, 2014 at 9:10am Reply

    • Victoria: Happy Easter, Sylviane! April 18, 2014 at 11:10am Reply

  • rosarita: Thank you for sharing your beautiful family traditions and photography, Victoria! All the best of spring to you and yours 🙂 April 18, 2014 at 9:13am Reply

    • Victoria: I’ll take more photos of our preparations and share them later. 🙂 April 18, 2014 at 5:33pm Reply

  • Allison: Happy Easter and have a wonderful spring! April 18, 2014 at 9:14am Reply

    • Victoria: Happy Easter, Allison! April 18, 2014 at 5:34pm Reply

  • Lauren B: Oh, I might have to get my own bread pillow now! Have a Happy Easter, Victoria, and have fun with your family in Ukraine. April 18, 2014 at 9:17am Reply

    • Victoria: My grandmother also has a basket and a special towel to wrap paska. It’s then taken to the church to get blessed during the Easter services. April 18, 2014 at 5:37pm Reply

  • Bhama: Happy Easter and have a wonderful time with your family in Ukraine,Victoria!! April 18, 2014 at 10:17am Reply

    • Victoria: Thank you, Bhama! Happy holidays to you too. April 18, 2014 at 5:38pm Reply

  • Jillie: Such a lovely photo – and is that the paska? It’s so tall!! The pillow obviously is the magic ingredient.

    Hope you have a wonderful Easter with your grandma.

    Here’s wishing you and all your readers peace and happiness. April 18, 2014 at 10:54am Reply

    • Victoria: Yes, the tall bread is the paska. It’s baked in an orange juice tin. 🙂

      I also wish you lots of happiness, Jillie. I imagine that you’re cooking something special for the holidays. April 18, 2014 at 5:40pm Reply

  • Karen: Wishing everyone a beautiful spring celebration. Lovely photograph! And Victoria, I am sure being with your family now is especially meaningful. April 18, 2014 at 10:58am Reply

    • Victoria: Thank you, Karen. It’s so good to be together. April 18, 2014 at 5:41pm Reply

  • Claudia: Happy Easter! Wishing you and your family a wonderful time! April 18, 2014 at 11:10am Reply

    • Victoria: Thank you, Claudia! Happy holidays. April 18, 2014 at 5:44pm Reply

  • Ralu: Happy Easter Victoria! I miss Easter celebrations back home (I’m from Romania). April 18, 2014 at 11:27am Reply

    • Victoria: Happy Easter, Ralu! Do you ever bake cozonac? I remember my Romanian ballet teacher bring it to our classes during Easter. April 18, 2014 at 5:45pm Reply

      • Ralu: Baking cozonac is on my to do list. I have the recipe from my great-aunt. My grandma made incredible cozonac. Paska sounds really good. Is it filled with cheese? April 18, 2014 at 6:23pm Reply

        • Victoria: Ralu, I’d love your recipe for cozonac, if you can share it.

          Paska is not filled inside, but it’s usually eaten with the cheesecake on the side. Yes, Easter is not the time for thinking about dieting. 🙂 April 19, 2014 at 3:56am Reply

  • maja: My onion peels are boiling as I read this. 🙂 There is nothing like cracking a red egg on Easter morning.
    I am happy that you are in Kiev for Easter celebrations. It adds so much meaning to this wonderful day. 🙂 April 18, 2014 at 11:34am Reply

    • Victoria: It does! 🙂 Yay, another person who uses onion peels for dying eggs. They create the best and the most intense color, and I much prefer it to the bright synthetic dyes.

      What are you going to cook for Sunday? April 18, 2014 at 5:46pm Reply

      • maja: When I was a kid I used to prefer those fancy purple eggs that were in style during the early eighties. But now I adore natural red ones especially when you rub them with some oil. 🙂

        I am not cooking anything, just a rustic pie as we’re invited over by our friends. I did prepare though a chocolate cake for my men. 😉 However, your table looks fantastic, I don’t know how you can resist that pyramid of cheese goodness until tomorrow. April 19, 2014 at 9:15am Reply

        • Victoria: When you rub them with oil, they look like agates. But I know what you mean, as a child, I loved the neon-bright eggs which I saw in the German magazines.

          It’s much harder to resist the tempting smells of garlic sausage cooking…. Our meal is still a couple of hours away, so I’m nearly fainting with hunger. 🙂 April 20, 2014 at 6:37am Reply

  • Cornelia Blimber: Happy Easter to you and your family!
    Is Viola living in Kiev? April 18, 2014 at 12:39pm Reply

    • Victoria: Viola is in the US. But Viola’s counterpart here has been naughty–stole a piece of chicken from the counter. 🙂 April 18, 2014 at 5:47pm Reply

  • Annette Reynolds: Oh Victoria, you are so lucky to be able to do this still. I miss Pascha and Kulich so much. Once my mother passed away (in 2005), the will to try to replicate my grandmother’s recipes left me. I’d always counted on my mother to do that…
    I have my grandmother’s Pascha mold – it looks much like the one in your photograph. It’s wooden – well over 100 years old.
    But just trying to find the special cheese to make the Pascha is so difficult that I’ve given up.
    Growing up in a Greek/Russian family, Easter was ALWAYS the biggest holiday. Always the most mysterious, anticipated, and delicious.
    I’m so happy you’re spending Easter with your family. Wishing you a happy day. And eat some Pascha for me! April 18, 2014 at 12:41pm Reply

    • Annette Reynolds: And I just realized you call the bread “Paska,” while we’ve always known it as “Kulich.” And the “cheesecake” is what we call “Paska.”
      I wonder why that is? April 18, 2014 at 12:45pm Reply

      • Rowanhill: For my family kulitsha is a round loaf life brioche with the orthodox cross made from the dough to the top. Baba is the tall cake and pasha is the one made in the mold. These are the three essentials in Easter coffee table. And of course the dyed eggs. April 19, 2014 at 11:57am Reply

        • Victoria: I love comparing these variations. A friend’s grandmother always made poppyseed bagels for Easter, as well the breads you describe. I’m not sure if it was a specific regional tradition or just something her family did, but the bagels were out of this world. April 20, 2014 at 7:07am Reply

    • Victoria: You’re so lucky, Annette! Paskha, the cheesecake, is a relatively new tradition for us. My grandmother never made it before. I found a few recipes in the pre-1917 Russian cookery books and loved the taste so much that I now make one every year. Our mold, unfortunately, is plastic, and it’s not as good as wood, because it doesn’t absorb the moisture as it should. But paskha still tastes delicious, even if looks a bit crooked.

      I’ll happily eat some for you. Happy Easter! April 18, 2014 at 5:52pm Reply

  • Ashley Anstaett: That sounds lovely, Victoria. Have a wonderful holiday with your family! April 18, 2014 at 1:07pm Reply

    • Victoria: Thank you, Ashley! So far, we’ve mostly been cooking and eating, which is already a definition of good holiday. 🙂 April 18, 2014 at 6:02pm Reply

      • Ashley Anstaett: That sounds like a perfect holiday! My family is coming to visit me for Easter on Sunday. We are very southern, so there will be lots of casseroles. I can’t wait! I picked some violets today to make into jelly, so I hope I can get that done tomorrow in time for Easter! April 19, 2014 at 12:00am Reply

        • Victoria: I’ve lived in the south for a few years, and the opulence of the holiday tables at my friend’s houses there reminded me of home. 🙂 Enjoy your Easter! Violet jelly sounds heavenly. I assume that your violets are scented? My grandmother’s garden is full of them, but only half are perfumed. April 19, 2014 at 4:55am Reply

          • Ashley Anstaett: They are scented! My boss has a bunch in her yard and called me when they bloomed so I could come get them. A delightful little treat. April 19, 2014 at 8:03pm Reply

            • Victoria: Mmm…. I love everything violet flavored! April 20, 2014 at 7:10am Reply

  • La fête de la vie: Happy easter! Hope you’re having a good time with your family, especially now the situation in Ukraine is getting a bit worrisome. I hope that everything will get better there soon. Enjoy the easter-spirit!

    Greetings,
    Anna April 18, 2014 at 3:27pm Reply

    • Victoria: Thank you so much, Anna. Very much hope so too! Meanwhile, we focus on the positive–being together, celebrating and eating delicious things. 🙂 April 18, 2014 at 6:05pm Reply

  • Irina: Христос Воскрес!

    Дякую за побажання щасливого Песаху. Хай у Вас все буде добре і всім добрим людям завжди вистачає коштів на найкращі парфуми. Здоров’я Вам та Вашій родині, світлого душевного стану та миру в оселях :)))

    Слава героям! April 18, 2014 at 5:52pm Reply

    • Victoria: Воістину воскрес!
      Іріна, дякую Вам! Бажаю Вам та Вашій родині радості і здоров’я. Нехай збуваються усі Ваші мрії і бажання! April 18, 2014 at 6:11pm Reply

  • behemot: Happy Easter Victoria and everyone! I am going back to baking (babka and cheesecake) and cooking:) April 18, 2014 at 6:04pm Reply

    • Victoria: Happy Easter! Oh, I’m already hungry thinking of all the delicious things we’re going to eat this Sunday. Happy baking, Jola. 🙂 April 18, 2014 at 6:18pm Reply

      • spe: My mom uses pillows to have let the Easter bread rise properly as well! We also always have the food blessed Holy Saturday. We use large, empty coffee cans for the bread molds. A blessed, peaceful, happy Easter to everyone! I was wondering if you were going to muse on a favorite violet scent for the holiday! April 18, 2014 at 7:59pm Reply

        • Victoria: 🙂 At home in Brussels, I use large, empty coffee cans too. They’re inexpensive and work better than the fancy bread molds.

          My violet of choice for the holidays would be Violetta di Parma, a soft, candy-like violet that feels insouciant and happy. I wish I brought it with me, because it would be perfect. But the violets from my grandmother’s garden smell identical. 🙂 April 19, 2014 at 4:12am Reply

  • Lulee: Thank you, it’s my favorite holiday also. Lucky you, you are doubly blessed to celebrate Pesach with your relatives too. Love reading about your sweet traditions, thanks for sharing! April 18, 2014 at 8:35pm Reply

    • Victoria: My pleasure! I also love hearing about the traditions others follow. April 19, 2014 at 4:50am Reply

  • kaori: Happy Easter! You always keep a good table.
    Have a wonderful time with your family! Your grandmother is about the same age as mine, my dad’s step mother 🙂

    Kaori April 18, 2014 at 9:34pm Reply

    • Victoria: She’s in her 70s. She is making garlic sausages right now, another classical Ukrainian Easter dish, and I’m off to help her. 🙂

      Happy Easter, Kaori! April 19, 2014 at 4:52am Reply

  • Buka: I have very a special memories attached to Easter: the moments spent at my grandmothers, all the preparations…
    My favorite treat was “Paska”(the one is made from cheese) and luckily there was quite some left for us to enjoy the next day!:-)

    Victoria, let your Easter be filled with light, calmness and warmth! April 19, 2014 at 12:20am Reply

    • Victoria: Same to you! May it be a wonderful holiday!
      The pre-holiday prep is just as exciting as the holiday itself; it prolongs the pleasure from the celebrations. So, just like for you, those childhood memories are indelible. April 19, 2014 at 4:57am Reply

  • Iodine: Happy Easter dear Victoria! A big hug fron Vienna, I wish I could send you some of the delicious lilac scent that wafts in parks and gardens! 🙂 April 19, 2014 at 4:18am Reply

    • Victoria: Happy Easter! And thank you for the lilac scented wishes. 🙂 Vienna is so gorgeous in the spring. April 19, 2014 at 5:00am Reply

  • Tania: Good morning Victoria, I’ve been reading your wonderful blog for years now and wish you a Happy Easter as well.
    Tania April 19, 2014 at 4:41am Reply

    • Victoria: Happy Easter, Tania! Thank you for visiting here for so long, and I look forward to chatting more about perfume with you. 🙂 April 19, 2014 at 5:01am Reply

  • Karima: How lovely it sounds and the table looks! I also want to thank you for the world your blog has introduced me to, and wish you and your family a happy, carefree time! April 19, 2014 at 4:59am Reply

    • Victoria: Thank you! It took a while to find a proper festive tablecloth, which for me means bright, hot pink. 🙂 April 19, 2014 at 5:08am Reply

  • George: A lovely post! Happy Easter Victoria! April 19, 2014 at 5:38am Reply

    • Victoria: Thank you, George! Lots of warm wishes for the holidays to you too. April 19, 2014 at 5:50am Reply

  • Amer: Happy easter Victoria! All the best to you and your family and to your troubled homeland. Hope everything resolves in the best way possible.

    About the table, I mistook the table for a huge pile of pancakes… and what is that pyramid shape? April 19, 2014 at 6:07am Reply

    • Amer: by “table” I mean bread… go figure April 19, 2014 at 6:08am Reply

    • Victoria: Happy Easter, Amer! Khristos Anesti!

      The tall bread is paska, brioche-like bread, and the white pyramid shape is the Easter cheesecake, syrna paska in Ukrainian. April 19, 2014 at 6:17am Reply

  • Lucas: Happy Easter to you and your family Victoria! April 19, 2014 at 7:31am Reply

    • Victoria: Same to you, Lucas! Happy holidays! April 19, 2014 at 8:07am Reply

  • Chilloften: Happy Easter! And yes…more love, more joy. April 19, 2014 at 9:07am Reply

    • Victoria: Happy Easter! Yes, we always need more of them. 🙂 April 20, 2014 at 7:10am Reply

  • Nancy A.: Happy Holidays to all! May the season usher in whatever one’s heart desires. April 19, 2014 at 9:32am Reply

    • Victoria: Happy holidays, Nancy! And may your wishes come true as well. April 20, 2014 at 7:11am Reply

  • Rowanhill: Thank you for the beautiful picture. It brings back beautiful memories of Easters at my grandmother’s. I need to get the proper pasha mold. The coffee table could be hers, except on top of the baba she had a live rose. When the cake was cut sideways the top slice with the sprinkled powdered sugar and the flower was put aside so that it would still look nice at the second serving. April 19, 2014 at 11:48am Reply

    • Victoria: Take a look at what I found! It’s a painting by a Russian artist Boris Kustodiev dating to 1912, “Easter Greetings.”

      Next year, I will add a live rose to my paska/baba/kulich. 🙂 This time we just had candied violets, sprinkles, and colored sugar. April 20, 2014 at 7:15am Reply

      • Rowanhill: Oh I love it! Thank you so much for sharing. I got a bit teary eyed here. 🙂 April 20, 2014 at 8:38am Reply

        • Victoria: I love his paintings so much for their joyful, happy aura. In fact, Kustodiev’s story is inspiring, because due to a severe illness, he became paraplegic, and painted from his bed by memory. And yet, his paintings during that period are filled with so much color. April 20, 2014 at 11:33am Reply

  • nemo: Is that pyramid-shaped cake the cheesecake? Everything looks absolutely lovely 🙂 Happy Easter to all! April 19, 2014 at 12:23pm Reply

    • Victoria: Yes, the white cake is the cheesecake. It’s not baked. Instead, I drained fresh homemade cheese and whipped it with sugar and cream. It’s deceptively light. 🙂 April 20, 2014 at 7:17am Reply

  • SC: How magical these preparations do sound! Have a happy and safe Easter. April 19, 2014 at 1:00pm Reply

    • Victoria: Thank you, happy holidays! Easter feels like a such mystical time to me. April 20, 2014 at 11:34am Reply

  • OperaFan: Happy Easter, Victoria! I love the Easter Holiday, but being a member of a church choir means my life is centered around church services from Thursday through Sunday. Our Easter dinner is usually something easy to assemble – usually some sort of roast. This year I’m roasting pork tenderloins (already set to brine) and Brussels sprouts. The husband makes the biscuits, and we’ll have a store-bought dessert.
    The violets add a lovely touch on your table! April 19, 2014 at 1:53pm Reply

    • Victoria: Homemade biscuits! Now, that’s a treat. Your menu sounds fantastic. April 20, 2014 at 11:43am Reply

  • AndreaR: I love the process of making paska. It’s a meditation. I don’t have my maternal grandmother’s paska recipe, but I know she used saffron in it. I make mine with vanilla, orange rind, lemon rind and a jigger of rum. Mine is also the low version with a braid around the edge and a cross in the center. I understand those are pre-Christian symbols that indicate unity and the four corners of the world. There’s also an old wives tale that says one is not supposed to sit during the bread baking process or the dough won’t rise. I love seeing all the beautiful Easter baskets at church.
    Wishing you a wonderful Easter with your family. April 19, 2014 at 3:11pm Reply

    • Victoria: My grandmother and I made 14 paski (a record for me; my grandmother claims that it was a third of her usual amount). 🙂

      I will make the low braided version next year. I found a nice recipe with saffron and cardamom. Yours sounds sumptuous, however.

      Happy Easter! April 20, 2014 at 11:46am Reply

      • AndreaR: Wow! 14 paski. That’s a lot of kneading 🙂

        Khrystos Voskres! April 20, 2014 at 7:20pm Reply

        • Victoria: Voistinu Voskres!

          Yes, it took more than one hour of kneading non-stop. Yours truly did it all by herself, since we have no mixer here. Made me appreciate both my grandmother’s annual efforts and the technology even more. 🙂 April 21, 2014 at 3:26pm Reply

      • Rowanhill: Those are exactly the spices! Just careful with the saffron as it dries the end result. Always a balancing act also with the christmas bakings to get the saffron right. April 23, 2014 at 3:32am Reply

        • Victoria: I’ve made that mistake before, and while the color was beautiful, the taste was too medicinal. From then on, I’d err on the side of too little. April 23, 2014 at 3:30pm Reply

  • maggiecat: Your Easter sounds lovely! Enjoy! April 19, 2014 at 3:17pm Reply

    • Victoria: Thank you! It’s the first Easter I’m spending in Ukraine since I’ve moved to the US, so it’s extra special. April 20, 2014 at 11:47am Reply

  • Jehane: Dear Victoria, Happy Easter & Happy Pesach!

    Your post, as ever, brings a smile for its beauty and life.

    I’m just back from Easter Vigil & sinfully luxuriating in how much the smell of incense and burnt candles lingers in my hair.

    Wishing you all that is springlike,

    Jehane April 19, 2014 at 7:26pm Reply

    • Victoria: It’s such a heavenly scent. I especially love it if the candles are made of pure beeswax, and it makes everything smell like melted honey. Enjoy the holiday. Happy Easter! April 20, 2014 at 11:49am Reply

  • Elena: Happy Easter! I loved seeing your preparations, beautiful. And reading all the comments about the other traditions is making me so hungry! April 20, 2014 at 9:20am Reply

    • Victoria: I was feeling ravenous as I read the comments yesterday, so I know what you mean. 🙂

      Happy Easter, Elena! April 20, 2014 at 11:48am Reply

  • Alessandra: I adore violets… happy easter!! 🙂 April 20, 2014 at 10:25am Reply

    • Victoria: Happy Easter! Violets are associated with Easter for me. April 20, 2014 at 11:47am Reply

  • Amber: Blessed Easter and Happy Passover to Victoria and everyone here!
    Most years we have been lucky to get a portion of friends home made paska and koolitch , so amazing.They put white sultanas in their cheesecake, yum!
    Stil recovering from vestiges of the flu here but we had overnight french toast made with store bought paska ,maple syrup and blueberries, turkey sausage and hash browns and made the dining table festive with candles, sunny daffodils and brilliant blue hyacinth. Now I will go nap while the 3year old is sleeping! April 20, 2014 at 5:36pm Reply

    • Victoria: Happy Easter, Amber! I hope that you’re feeling better today. Your French toast sounds really delicious, especially with maple syrup, and having spring flowers around is one of best mood lifters. April 21, 2014 at 3:12pm Reply

  • Ola: You are lucky to celebrate it in Ukraine! Smachnoi pasku) i, zvuchajno, slava Ykraini!:) April 20, 2014 at 6:03pm Reply

    • Victoria: Оля, найсердечніші вітання вам усім! Дякую! 🙂
      Yes, it’s so wonderful to spend it here with my grandmother and my other family. The last time I celebrated Easter in Ukraine was such a long time ago. April 21, 2014 at 3:18pm Reply

  • Michaela: Happy Easter, Victoria. Sorry I’m so late. Hope all your wishes come true! April 23, 2014 at 5:55am Reply

    • Victoria: Happy Easter, Michaela! Thank you so much. April 23, 2014 at 3:34pm Reply

  • Mel: I’m just catching up on my e-mails and seeing this beautiful post and photo only now! I spent Easter planting my tomato garden here in California. And as I was transplanting my Black Krim, I thought of you, Victoria, and wondered if you liked this variety. I hope you and your family are well in the Ukraine! Much love. April 23, 2014 at 11:49pm Reply

    • Victoria: Thank you, Mel! It’s good to spend time with my family in Ukraine, especially now. Nothing lifts the spirits more than sharing delicious food and celebrating spring holidays together.

      Black Krim is delicious, and we grew them one year. My grandmother liked the flavor, but found the color a bit too strange. I, on the other hand, enjoyed especially for deep, baroque shade. Good luck with your vegetable garden! April 24, 2014 at 10:03am Reply

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