Holy Thursday

It is already Holy Thursday and I've not made pretzels yet! I pulled out all my cookbooks on Wednesday to put together my meal plan for the rest of Holy Week and the Triduum. Much of my inspiration this year comes from Feast Day Cookbook first published in the 50s so a lot of the recipes reflect those tastes. In it they discuss dandelions being eaten on Holy Thursday as a nod to Passover's bitter herbs. Last year I made a salad; since I'm not vegan this year I decided to use the Holy Thursday Spinach recipe as a guide. I found a nice, big, fat, leafy dandelion in my grass and chopped that up with some spinach and sauteed them with shallots in butter and olive oil. It was good and not very bitter.
I couldn't find the online recipe I used in the past for pretzels so I did a combination of two others. I used this Lenten one for the ingredients and baking time but added the poaching step from this Martha Stewart one. I omitted the egg wash but they still looked great with the salt sprinkled on top. Mr. W suggested I make some letter too for Our Little Helper since he is into the alphabet these days thanks to a They Might Be Giants ABCs DVD. Both the pretzels and the greens accompanied a simple lemon pepper chicken breast for our meal. Unfortunately the timing of nursing, making dinner, eating dinner, and nursing again did not allow for me to make it to Maundy Thursday service and the washing of feet. Nursing makes it challenging to keep to schedules.
Earlier in the day, while My Little Helper was at a daycare, I took Baby Boy to Clackamas Town Center to have his picture taken with the Easter Bunny. I think these photo opportunities are kind of cheesy and feel the need to make them regular traditions. HOWEVER Mr. W had us take Our Little Helper to get a photo with Santa when he was 3 months old and I feel a lot of self imposed pressure that all children be given the same experiences. So I decided a photo at 4 months with the Easter Bunny would keep everything even; I don't ever want to be accused of being unfair. By the time Christmas comes my 1 year old will want no part of sitting on any costumed stranger's lap! We even got a smile. I think these white rabbit suits are so creepy looking.