AN EASTER BLOG

With Easter fast approaching it’s not surprising that I began remembering past Easter holidays.  Family traditions abound during major holidays such as Easter, ours included.  Many years ago my mother–in-law, Mary Shields God rest her soul, introduced us to what she said was a Pennsylvania and Lithuanian tradition---Egg Konking.  The rule of the game is simple. One holds a hard-boiled egg and taps the egg of another participant with one's own egg intending to break the other's, without breaking one's own. As with any other game, it has been a subject of cheating; eggs with cement, alabaster and even marble cores have been reported. Mary on one occasion even tried to sneak in a wooden egg.

When doing a little research about egg konking, I found that this custom was shared by many cultures and was called by many different names such as, egg tapping, egg fight, egg knocking, egg pacqueing, egg boxing, egg picking, egg chucking, egg jarping and in English folk traditions, the game has variously been known as "shackling", "jarping" or "dumping".

In 1999 “The Mary Shields Memorial Egg Konking Trophy”was established and was supported by a tournament. Prior to setting up this tournament family members just ran around willy-nilly finding someone to “konk” with.  That did not work well so my son Bill designed a sheet that was laid out similar to the NCAA basketball tournament.  I’m sure you all are familiar with the concept when you filled out the sheets during March Madness. Our tournament begins with the oldest person konking the youngest or vice versa and continues in that same way until only the champ remains with an unbroken egg. The winner of the 1999 inaugural contest and the first name on the trophy was Mary’s daughter, my wife Marge.

Unfortunately this year’s Easter celebration and trophy hunt has been canceled due to the Coronavirus.  At the stern command of our children, Marge and I were thrown into a new world, the world of isolation. Social distancing would make egg konking a might difficult unless we stood back and threw the eggs at each other. Needless to say  Karolin Palko, winner of last year’s contest, will unfortunately be unable to defend her title due to the cancellation.. We’ll all miss this fun contest and also the usual after the game culinary celebration. The Easter kielbasa, ham, eggs, cheesy potatoes, Bapka bread etc. will have to wait for another day.

I will, however, grab a little liquid refreshment and salute our past winners and say a silent prayer that this very unwelcome visitor in our lives leaves us soon.

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Here’s a recipe for potatoes which has often been included on our Eastern Sunday table.

Cheesy Potatoes – by Mary Ann Pixton

6 large potatoes, boiled, peeled, or (sub frozen hash browns)

1 can cream of chicken soup

1/8 pound butter, sliced

8 oz. sour cream

1/2 teaspoon onion, minced

1-1/2 cup cheddar cheese, grated

Corn Flakes

Cut potatoes into small cubes, and salt them.  Mix together soup, butter, sour cream and onion, add 1 cup cheese.  Put in greased casserole dish.  Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup cheese and top with corn flakes.  Bake at 325 degrees for 30 to 45 minutes.

 

DOCTOR ADDAPILL

Years ago I discovered that my blood pressure was high. High enough to begin treatment with prescribed medication. The medication was able to reduce it to an acceptable number.  Over the years doctor visits showed additional pressure increases which resulted in medication increases.  Next visit, still pretty high requiring another medication adjustment. I began to feel that perhaps I might be having one of those” white coat syndromes”) where just walking into a doctor’s office made blood pressure rise.  Not an uncommon thing. To check things out myself I set up a spreadsheet on my computer to record my daily blood pressure readings for an entire month to closely monitor  My readings disclosed that my average pressure was a about 120 over 80.  I brought my spreadsheet to my next visit to help the doctor to see what was going on.

Why the hell is my pressure 150 over 90 when I visit you Doc, I asked?  What happens now, does he check my spreadsheet that was developed using the blood pressure machine he had recommended?  Does he take my pressure several times waiting between them?  No, each time over the years  Dr. Addapill just ups the dosage or finds  an alternate pill to add to my growing arsenal of medication.  Including his prescriptions, my cardiologists, my urologists and my  rheumatologists, I’m currently taking 71 pills a week.  And that’s not even counting Tylenol  and vitamins.  Scared the hell out of me after I took a count.  It would be nice if once in a while they would take away one of the old ones from the arsenal.  It’s beginning to be a major chore filling up those damn little plastic containers every 7 days.  My fingers are getting tired. Anyone else having similar experiences?

But on the upside I’m 85 and still alive.  I’d like to think it’s because of all these damn pills.

Recipe:   Here’s one that is very simple and easy to make, but you’ll be happy with the results.  A plate of these seems quickly disappears at parties.  Give them a try.

Ham Roll Appetizers

3 oz. cream cheese
1 tsp. finely chopped onion
1/4 tsp. horseradish
1 tsp. salad dressing or mayonnaise
8 oz. thinly sliced ham (Krakus ham is perfect shape for this recipe)
Olives for garnish

Mix first 4 ingredients. Spread on ham slices and roll in jelly roll fashion. Slice into 3 or 4 pieces. Top with 1/2 olive, using a decorative toothpick.