Shirley Longwell EASTER food traditions

Holiday meals are very important for family traditions. On Shirley Longwell’s (my mother) Easter menu are all foods that can be made ahead and everyone can eat when they get to her house. She remembers when a basket of food was brought to church to be blessed but that is no longer a tradition. Meat figures prominently in the menu. She buys nine pounds of ham with some of it thinly sliced, kielbasa for $4.00 per pound (2011 prices) from Ralph’s Market on Leonard Street. Other years the kielbaska has been purchased from 20th Century Meat Market, Levandoski’s Meat or Frank’s Market on Fulton St. She starts the kielbasa in a large pan at 11:00 a.m. after returning from church. It will come to a boil after 20 to 25 minutes and then she will let it cook another 20 minutes before browning it in an electric fry pan. We used to have thinly sliced rye bread from American Bakery, but since they closed it is a challenge every year to get just the right bread. Roy (my father) normally would have peeled all the potatoes for the potato salad but at some point Lori and Marissa (my sister and niece) started coming over to do it. Grandma Raczkiewicz (Pauline) always thought the potato salad needed more salt and often Shirley will think something is lacking -- maybe mustard?--or that there is too much onion. But it is hard to tell until it has been chilled, she said, “It’s got to get cold, it’s not good until it is cold.” Mom’s Potato Salad Recipe Potatoes, peeled and chopped (6) Hard cooked eggs (8) Celery, finely chopped (1 ½ cups) Radishes (a few) Onion, finely chopped (one, very small) Green pepper, finely chopped (two strips) Mayonnaise (one cup) Sugar (1 Tablespoon) Mustard A lot of salt and pepper Cook potatoes in boiling water until a fork can go in easily. Remove from the water and cool. After cool, cube the potatoes. Add the celery, radishes, onion and green pepper and mix. Mix the mayonnaise, sugar, mustard, salt and pepper and fold into the ingredients. Chill before serving. Other items on the menu include hard boiled eggs, horseradish and lamb shaped butter. Shirley always bought the butter from one of the nuns that made it who were connected with St. Adalbert Church. Desserts vary a little year to year. One year my sister LInda made a decorated bunny cake. A homemade apple pie might be baked for the occasion. Often she will make something sweet the day before with granddaughter Marissa and have her help put on the table cloth and set the table. What Easter foods are part of your celebration?