Easter Is What You Make It

Last year for Easter, Kevin had an away game so a few of us girls made plans to go to church and then have a little get together that night for some food and drinks. This year, I really didn't think about making plans or anything. I figured we'd go about our day the same as we usually do. Then Saturday night at about 10:00pm, Debbie and I decided we would just wing a Easter dinner. Luckily, Kevin and I had just gone shopping in Innsbruck and had a pretty full house.

By chance, we had a ham in our fridge. They were on offer this week and since Kevin never remembers which one he likes the best and can't make a decision, I told him just to buy one of each...so he got three. We had also just picked up two LARGE tubs of German potato salad while we were in Innsbruck. We can only find the brand we like at this organic/bio store so we always stock up when we are there. I was also able to toss together a salad with the veggies I had on hand and we had a package of dinner rolls at the house. For dessert, I looked through my Pinterest recipes and considered what I had here and decided to make Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Cookies...and I might add that they were delicious and fat free. Okay, the fat free part is a lie, but that is what I'm going to tell myself as I devour the leftover cookies today.

Our last minute, thrown together Easter dinner was perfect. It was definitely nothing fancy or elaborate, but it was a great time with great friends. The way I see it, we could have been eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and it still would have been an amazing time because Easter is what you make it.

Lent

The Lenten season officially starts today and that means it's time for all the crazy Catholics to figure out what they want to give up until Easter. Every year I rack my brain to try to figure out what it's going to be and this year is no different. Kevin said I should give up cussing, but that just made me cuss more. I know it isn't very ladylike, but I like to do it and sometimes I just can't help it. So instead I ran through a list of things I love and indulge in (that are foods) and this is what I came up with: soda, coffee, pizza, chips, chocolate, and cheese.

Soda wouldn't be a hard one for me to give up, but Kevin just got me Sprite Zero the other day in Bolzano and I really want to 'indulge' in it. I haven't had a Sprite all year. As for coffee, I just don't think I can do it. I'm in Europe; people drink coffee all day long here, with every meal. Giving up my latte macchiato or cappuccino would be like giving up on my European experience.

I've never really been a fan of sweets. Back home, I might have a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup or a Snickers occasionally, but nothing extreme. Here, things have changed and in a bad way. After I eat dinner, I feel like I have to have something sweet. Maybe it's a piece of chocolate or it could be an ice cream bar covered in chocolate. Then, I also am obsessed with chocolate croissants. Every week Kevin and I go to one of the bakeries and get a treat and I'll give you a wild guess on what I usually get.

Oreo Milka Bars are amazing!
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Cheese and pizza are two of my favorite things. Right now, I probably have 8 different kinds of cheeses in my refrigerator. As for pizza, let's be practical here...there is no way that I could give it up. I live in Italy and eat pizza numerous times a week. In fact, I'm going to eat it for dinner tonight.

I love potato chips! I typically have them at least once a day. I know they aren't good for me, but that doesn't stop me. They are my weakness and I don't want to ever give them up.

Out of all of my indulgences, I have to pick something so I'm going to be giving up potato chips. I hate to do it especially since I have a drawer full of chips that are already tempting me and it's only day one. But Easter will be here before I know it and I can celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus with a bag of Paprika chips.

This is what our chip drawer looks like on a regular basis.