Christmas Cookies and Beer

Cookie baking was an activity that fell primarily on Mom's pre-Christmas agenda. In years past, she would mix the dough for a dozen different cookies in double-batches during the day and refrigerate them in bowls. When I got home from work (or school), I'd roll them out, bake them and help Mom decorate them. There were some cookies that Mom handled herself, like Spritz cookies. This year, I helped Mom mix the cookie dough and bake them.

On Christmas Eve, I used the hand-crank cookie press for the first time. I was a little concerned because to quote Sheldon Cooper on The Big Bang Theory, I "have the upper body strength of a Keebler Elf." Although that comparison isn't entirely correct because Keebler elves can make cookies. I doubted I'd have the strength to turn that flower-shaped handle enough to squish out the compacted cookie dough.

Nonetheless, with trembling arms and stifled grunts, I pressed, turned and lifted the cylindrical aluminum press 24 times on the first cookie sheet. Some came out good, while others had to go back into the bowl for re-pressing. I asked Mom, "Am I supposed to be breaking a sweat doing this?"

Mom decorated each cookie with either a red or green candied cherry before sliding them into the oven and setting the timer. I had 7 minutes to press another 24 poinsettia-shaped cookies on to the next cookie sheet. Eventually I found a rhythm that worked. In my humble opinion, the cookies turned out lovely for my first attempt. I really enjoyed that memorable little baking episode with Mom and look forward to using the cookie press again next year.

The Stradivarius of Beers

This morning, Mom and I chatted at breakfast as we nibbled on our Christmas cookies. Mom mentioned that she once had an electric cookie press but the motor had burned out and she never replaced it. She went on to say her in-laws had given the manual cookie press kit to her when she and my dad were first married. Mom believed my grandparents got the kit using coupons from Tavern Pail beer bottles.

I had never heard that part of the story before, nor of Tavern Pail beer. So, I immediately searched the internet and found the interesting history of this popular Chicago brewery. I also found images of Tavern Pail coasters, labels and coupons, as well as photos of a delivery truck and the winner of the "Miss Tavern Pail" contest.

Newspaper ads from the 1930s touted Tavern Pail as the "Stradivarius of Beers," and in the 1940s the beer could be purchased in a convenient 3-bottle box. In the 1960s and early 70s, Tavern Pail was available in sturdy 24-bottle cardboard cases.

But the big campaign was the promise of free gifts for collecting coupons from the bottles themselves. One ad hyped bottles of beer at "4 quarts for $1" and promoted their 1963 gift catalog. Oh, how I would love to find one of those booklets to see what other gadgets were available to homemakers, and what other items might have been acquired by my grandparents and gifted to Dad and Mom.

This little bit of fun history behind the family cookie press made a lovely afternoon of Christmas baking with Mom even more special.

* * * *

Inspired by nostalgia.

Stand and Deliver: Krispy Kreme Pirate Day

At the local Krispy Kreme, with Kenneth the Doughnut Swabby.

Avast ye SeaDogs! Today is "Talk Like a Pirate Day."

With the popularity of the Disney pirate films in recent years, "Talk Like a Pirate Day" has gotten favourable south winds in its sails, and companies like Krispy Kreme Doughnuts are seeking their share of the promotional "booty."


Today only, in a fun PR promotion, some Krispy Kreme locations are offering one free doughnut to anyone who comes in to their store and talks like a pirate. For those customers who are a little bit more adventurous, Krispy Kreme will give 12 free doughnuts to anyone who comes in DRESSED like a pirate.

Shiver me timbers! This type of craziness is my "cup of grog"! Not only do I get to TALK and DRESS like a pirate...but to be REWARDED for doing so is more than enough reason to venture out early on a stormy Thursday morning for hot, fresh doughnuts.

Yo Ho! to Krispy Kreme doughnut master Kenneth who was a real sport to pose for this photo with me. (The other clerk was not much of a "Jolly Roger" with her chin dragging on the "poop deck"! FYI-The floggings will continue until morale improves. Savvy?)

So swash your buckle on down to the Krispy Kreme shop on Highway 100 in Milwaukee today and say "Ahoy!" to Kenneth and the crew for your tasty doughnut treasure!

Inspired by the letter: Arrrr!

Breaking the Easter Fast

Easter baskets awaiting blessing on Holy Saturday.

The blessing of the Easter foods is a tradition handed down in our family through generations of Polish Faithful. We take our baskets to Church for this special service to have them blessed, so that our meal will strengthen our bodies as well as our souls. We ask God’s blessing not just for Easter but also for the entire year. 

On Holy Saturday, our family loads up the car with a half dozen large wicker baskets filled with the delicacies in which we will partake for our Easter breakfast, known as “Swieconka”. (We pronounce it “sh-ven-soon-ka”.) At the Church, hundreds of colorful baskets are laid before the altar, and the aroma of Polish sausage and fresh baked goods fills the Sanctuary. Together, we sing and pray. And as he gives the blessing, the parish priest reminds us of why we observe this tradition.

The aroma of sausage and baked goods fill the church.

Traditionally during the season of Lent, families abstained and fasted from sweets and meats. While fasting meant to not partake in certain foods at all, abstaining meant to limit oneself to smaller portions. So when Resurrection Sunday arrives, it is truly a day of rejoicing and feasting. Thus the first meal on Easter morning truly exemplifies the phrase “breaking the fast.”

The meal typically consists of meats, eggs and butter, and a variety of breads and baked sweets.

The meats are cooked the day before, and are served cold on Easter morning. This tradition is reminiscent of our Jewish brothers’ Sabbath celebration. Because no work was to be done on the Sabbath—including cooking—foods were prepared a day in advance and eaten cold at breakfast.

The types of meat included in our Swieconka basket are Polish sausage and ham, and occasionally a pork shoulder roast. In early Polish history, there were various class levels of population, where the richest ate the choicest cuts of meat, and the peasants consumed what was left. Since Easter is considered the Holiest of Christian holidays, every family reserved the best cut of meat possible for the celebration, even among the poorest of the poor. Since pork was more abundant—and less expensive—than lamb, the sausage, ham and roast became the tradition for many Easter meals.

Smiling Jesus Easter egg

The dairy products include hard boiled eggs—both peeled and colored—and butter in the form of a little lamb. The eggs represent new life: the colored eggs represent the renewal of the earth at springtime. Some colors having significant meaning: red for the precious Blood of Christ, purple for His royal Kingship, blue for the sky where He ascended after His Resurrection, and so on. The peeled eggs—out of their hard shell—represent Jesus’ transformed and perfected risen body from the confines of the tomb.

The butter signifies the work of human hands and the flavor of life. It is generally in the shape of a lamb because the Israelites ate the sacrificed lamb, whose blood was used to mark their doorposts, at the first Passover in Egypt. Just as God delivered them from the bondage of slavery in Egypt, so too does Jesus, the “Lamb of God”, deliver generations of Christian Faithful from the bondage of the slavery of sin.

Mom's butter lamb: too cute to eat!

Mom makes the butter lambs herself. She makes what one priest called a “flock” of lambs. She makes them one by one, and details each lamb with a curly “wool” texture, peppercorn eyes and nose, and a ribbon around its neck. After the butter lambs have been blessed in Church, Mom distributes them to family, friends and neighbors for their Easter meal, thereby insuring they are blessed through the year as well. I call it part of her “ministry.”

Typically, a “blessing” bread and a lamb-shaped cake are found in our family’s Swieconka basket. The baked goods have roots in Jewish tradition as well. We recall the “bread of haste” the Hebrews ate at the Passover, and the “manna” from Heaven by which God sustained them on their 40-year journey through the desert. The blessing bread reminds us that Jesus broke bread with His Disciples at the Last Supper. At Easter especially, we remember that He is the “Bread of Life” for us, sent down from Heaven. We know that God is with us and will always sustain us.

The Jewish tradition of a sacrificial lamb for the atonement of one’s transgressions is represented here with the lamb-shaped cake. The sacrificial lamb was to be perfect and “spotless”, therefore the lamb cake is generally made of white cake and decorated with white frosting. For Christians, Jesus is our Sacrificial Lamb. We believe He died for our sins, so that we may be worthy to enter into God’s Heaven, and that our hearts are properly prepared for His Spirit to dwell within.

In a more ambitious mode: I decorated TWO Lamb cakes!

A more recent tradition for our family is the making of cupcakes, decorated to look like little lamb heads. This more or less developed from the need to use the excess cake batter that did not fit in the mould for the lamb cake. Nothing goes to waste!

The Holy Saturday Basket blessing reminds us that food is the bounty from the land, all given to us by God’s graciousness. The preparation is the work of our hands, which we dedicate to God and ask His blessing on us for the coming year.

At that Passover meal—His Last Supper—Jesus released us from the restrictions of Torah, allowing us to eat pork products and breads made with yeast. As a result, there is plenty of food for our Easter celebration: breakfast, lunch and dinner. In fact, Swieconka food can last all week long! We are assured that at God’s banquet in His Kingdom, there are delicious foods of every kind that we may enjoy in abundance. And with every tasty bite of our Easter Breakfast, we know God is with us—here and now.

Inspired by God’s “Comfort Food”.

A Wave of Passion

Christians are in the final week of preparation for Resurrection Sunday. Sharing the same Gospel reading, all over the world, the Faithful are united. Whether by reading from books, or play acting as our parish does, the story of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, His Passion and Crucifixion moves across the globe, time zone by time zone, like the "Wave" moving through an athletic stadium. 

That's the awesome image that came to my mind this morning as I meditated before Mass. There are some sections in a sports stadium where the "Wave" rolls strong among zealous fans. Whole sections of cheering people quickly stand and throw their hands in the air, then sit back down again. Seat by seat, with enough participants, the ripple-effect creates the optical illusion of a giant "wave" moving through the crowd.

Then there are sections where only a handful of die-hard supporters fearlessly leap up and raise their arms, in an attempt to rouse the spectators around them to participate. But sometimes all that is needed is just a persistent little patch of believers that keep the movement going, to the delight of the entire crowd. 

When the "Wave" builds enough momentum to make it all the way around the stadium, loud cheers rise into the air. And if the "Wave" is strong enough to make it two or three times around, that is really an accomplishment. That's really a good analogy of how God's praise moves across our planet every Sunday as the sun rises.

So, today's blog entry is a little different than the previous postings, as it is more of a pictorial of how one little parish community in this particular time zone on this side of the planet shares the Good News within it's parish community.


Inspired by the Spirit.

Keeping Christ In Easter

Nothing has been more enjoyable than watching my nephews grow up hunting for eggs and baskets left behind by the “Easter Bunny” year after year. Even now that they are both over 6 feet tall, it is amusing to see them scrunch down low to look under chairs or stretch up high to look atop bookcases and refrigerators for their sweet treats. And even though my eyes see these lanky teenagers, my heart is blessed to still see them as excited little boys happily scurrying about in search of holiday treasures.

There is always a lot of talk in December about “Keeping Christ in Christmas” and with all the hype surrounding the Easter Bunny and baskets full of eggs and candies, the same should be said about Easter. I have always been concern that the true meaning of Resurrection Sunday would be lost among the Easter grass and candies. I do not recall at what age I made the whole “Jesus is the Reason” connection when it came to our Christian holidays; Jesus was just always there in our household. So when I was sure my nephews were old enough to know whom Jesus is, a new tradition developed for our family.

As mentioned in my earlier blog about Ash Wednesday, part of my personal prayerful journey through the Lenten season is to spend time with the Lord. Almost a decade ago, the Lord put an idea in my heart to use the talent He gave me to help my family focus on what this Holiest of Holy Days truly means.

After some quick research of historic detail and religious iconography, I sketched a scene of the Resurrected Christ. Transferring the sketch to an 11 x 14 paint board, and using acrylic paint, my vision of what the Resurrection might have looked like began to take shape.

 The painting was completed in one week, but the project was not finished. I created a digital image of the painting and took that file to the photo center at a nearby Wal-Mart. As with many photo services, customers turn their personal photos into gifts like coffee mugs, calendars and jigsaw puzzles. After convincing the sales clerk that I was indeed the artist and owner of the painting, and having provided a typed/signed statement giving the photo department permission to reproduce the image, a limited number of copies of the puzzle was ordered. In the course of two weeks, the puzzles were ready, just in time for Easter.

Along with coins of all denominations, jellybeans and chocolate kisses, the puzzle pieces were then distributed in numerous plastic eggs of all sizes and colors. I was a little anxious as I hid the eggs around the yard. I wondered if the puzzle would hold any interest for the boys, or if they would be too distracted by the candy and money. 

When all the eggs were concealed, my nephews were “let loose” in the backyard. Running, laughing, shouting, they rushed to and fro with absolutely no semblance of order or methodology. After all the eggs were accounted for, the family went back into the house to inspect the gains. Where during the hunt there was no organization, not so with the inspection process. Each boy created separate piles of candy and coins, and a shared pile of puzzle pieces.

They did not seem too interested in the puzzle pieces at first. But when all the eggs had been opened, and all the candy counted and the coins tabulated, their attention turned to the puzzle. What could it be? Then, everyone -- Grammy, Dad, Mom and Aunti -- began to help assemble the puzzle. As the picture began to come together, the discussion of its meaning started. It evolved from a “spectator” sport to an “all inclusive” family activity. It was truly wonderful, quality family time!

Over the years, the boys have come to expect this type of activity every Easter, with no repeats, and greater in challenge. There have been word puzzles, treasure maps, Bible trivia, and games similar to charades where words from the recounting of Christ’s Passion have to be acted out and guessed by other family members. Each homegrown activity is a learning experience, and a chance to review what we know, or share what we’ve learned since the previous Easter.

One Sunday, my younger nephew called me after Church to tell me what happened in Sunday school. His teacher asked a question, and my nephew was the only student to raise his hand with the correct answer. “I knew the answer,” he announced proudly, “because I remembered from Easter!”

"Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!" by Cheryl Michalek.

The puzzle activity reminds me of how many of us go through life. As we race about in our daily activities, searching for wealth and success, we find bits and pieces of our Faith were we least expect them: among the necessities and luxuries. How much attention we pay to those pieces is really up to each individual. Do we take the time to search out the pieces of our Faith, and try to put the pieces together? Do we ask questions while building our own personal picture of Jesus? Do we assist others who are puzzling over their own pictures? Is the meaning of Christ’s Resurrection becoming clearer in our own personal lives as well?

The Lord said, “Be thou like little Children.” God wants us to look for Him in our lives with as much earnest as little children hunt for treasures and treats in plastic eggs. If we make our search an every day activity, not just once a year on Easter, the treasure we find may surprise us.

Inspired by Faith.