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Greek Easter Tablescape

April 15th, 2011

Greek Easter Tablescape

This year, I thought that I would pay homage to Greek Orthodox Easter (which happens to fall on the same Sunday as Easter this year). While the Greeks are celebrating the same holiday, with the same meaning, they have some different traditions than the ones that I grew up with.

We always celebrate late in the day with friends and family . One family hosts, complete with spit roasting lambs that the men start turning early in the morning so that it is crispy and falling off the bone by the afternoon. All of the matriarchs make their best dishes, and you basically roll out of there stuffed to the brim. It is my kind of celebration.

But early in the day, we celebrate just with just our family, and have brunch.

One of the traditions that I learned about the very first year, and that has always stood out to me are the eggs. They play a game with these eggsThe brilliant red eggs (that symbolize the blood of Christ) are the focal point of this tablescape. They are combined with the beautiful white eggs that remind me of Spring, and rebirth. Together I found them to be breathtaking and far more exciting than flowers.

If you are interested in making these red eggs (I died 10 dozen of them)-let me tell you how. After 30$ worth of red food coloring, I couldn’t figure out why they were still pink! My mother in law came over and solved the mystery! I guess the trick is to use Ritz fabric dye in “scarlett.” I used 3 packets for the 10 dozen eggs. Boil the eggs in a huge pot, with the dye, for about 20 minutes. When they are drained and cool, then shine them up with a bit of olive oil on a soft rag. Clearly DO NOT EAT THESE!!!! the fabric dye is NOT edible! There are however, many recipes out there if you would like to keep them edible. When the eggs are ready, the Greeks play a game where each person gets an egg and they all tap the eggs against the other guests eggs and the person who doesn’t crack their egg wins!

I did however tuck a few fresh jasmine blossoms in with the eggs. Whenever the Greeks speak of their saints, they talk about the smell of Jasmine. As there is a lovely vine blooming at this time of year right outside our kitchen window, it worked out nicely, and was very fragrant.

On the buffet, along with two big bowls of white eggs was a giant arrangement of white tulips and white and blue fragrant hyacinth.

It was meant to emulate the colors in the china and glass wear and to feel fresh and very Spring like.

While I was inspired by Greek Easter for this table, it could certainly be used as inspiration for any Easter table!