Greek Easter

Easter for the Greeks is a big deal, I would say it's our biggest religious holiday and for sure my Husband's favorite. According to Sandy, "Easter is MINE!" I don't know many men who geek out at the thought of cooking for 200 guests--to me it just seems exhausting. Sandy loves creating his menu which changes a bit from year to year but always includes the basics...Whole Roast Lamb, Kondosouvli (a pork situation--which we made two of this year and everyone said mine was better then Sandy's. I am very proud!), Lamb Chops, Souvlaki (pork, chicken, beef, or all of the above) and then sometimes shrimp or lobster, this year we had octopus as well. He also makes an huge amount of appetizers, typically involving dips (olive spread, melitzano salata--an eggplant dip, and htipiti--a spicy pepper and feta dip) along with 45 different kinds of sausage. Aside from that, my mother in law tackles her traditional fare, pita (spanakopita, tiropita, blah, blah) dolmathes, peas with artichokes, margiritsa (soup), and insane amounts of salad. I am in charge of the bar. It's funny, a friend of mine told me that Facebook was littered with Greek People taking pictures with their lambs on the spit-it's the Greek version of taking your picture with Santa. So true. Here is a glimpse of the Papadopoulos Easter Extravaganza...

That's my backyard (affectionately known as the jungle)

The Papadopoulos Brothers working the grill.

Sandy & Chris pose with the Kondosouvli (mine is the one in the foreground)

Little Arnakia (lambs)

Sandy passing around the shaved kondosouvli (little Yianni was all into it-we teach them young.)

There was an Easter egg hunt (it was anticlimactic and over in 5 minutes--next year I need more eggs) which I forced my niece into running for me.

This was before I told her she was in charge of the Easter egg hunt.


Sometimes I wish we just went out to brunch like normal people, but this is a lot more fun.