Wednesday 11 April 2012

An attempt to make Paska...


All photos: Life in Oz

Being from a Ukrainan background, one of the biggest celebrations is Easter, also known as Pascha! Since we go by the Julian calender, our Easter will be this Sunday April 15. In preparation for this wonderful celebration I have decided to attempt to make the famous Ukrainian Easter bread, called Paska.

The only other Ukrainian food I have made is perogies, or perohy as we say it, so this was an adventure! I got the recipe off of my aunt, who is one of the best cooks I know and who makes the best Paska by far (sorry Baba :S). At first when I made the dough it wasn't rising, but a quick phone call to my mamma fixed that! In order for it to rise, the yeast needs heat so I put it on my bed which has a heating blanket. That didn't work, so I decided to bake some cookies and while they were in the oven I placed the bowl of dough on top and before I knew it I had double the dough!

Not rising :(

Aesthetically it turned out nowhere near as pretty as my babas' or aunt's, but for the first time it's not so bad! I hope I cooked it long enough, it's hard to tell when it's finished. Apparently if you tap the pan it should sound hollow, but I don't know the difference so this is strictly trial and error! I attempted to make an Orthodox cross to put on top of the round loaf, can you tell what it is?!


I look forward to the day when we have a family to share this feast with, where I can cook the full Easter meal. For now, Damien will have to be my test subject -- let's just hope he enjoys Ukie food!


We had a wonderful "Gregorian" Easter with my inlaws and family members. My brother in law was able to come down from Canberra to celebrate with us which is always a hoot. I did my first Stations of the Cross, in which we joined over 2000 people at the seminary where we were married. It was a moving and beautiful event to see all of those people praying and being there for Christ. On Sunday we went to morning Mass and then had a phenominal Easter lunch with the fam! Truth be told it felt more like Thanksgiving with the cool, Autumn weather and the scrumptious roast lamb, pork and veggies! It is strange celebrating Easter in the Fall when I am so used to having it in Spring but it was a different and nice change. It's always a great time with the Keady family :)



I did it!!
There will be more to come on the Ukrainian Easter events soon! Sending lots of love and Easter blessings to you all!

Alex