mandatory easter post

flower watch: April 29th, this magnolia is right next to my place, as i get out the back door to walk to the metro

...and it's not the only one. so, the weather may be having its ups and downs these days (last week i wore my winter jacket 2 days in a row; today it's 7 degrees/rainy for the second day in a row again...) but the blooms haven't died.
and, we're still ahead of last year
which i realize might be also seen as pathetic, but whatever. the next 6 months are going to be great, zero weather gripes

anyway, on to even sunnier topics: christian orthodox easter weekend, you guys!
i always find it funny labeling myself as simply "orthodox", because every religion has its orthodox branch, and, purely semantically, i think it's pretty embarrassing of one  wing of christianity to simply denominate itself as such. yo, i get it guys, at one point back in distant history you felt super-entitled re: your religious quirks.... but it's been a really really long time since your entitlement stopped being the most entitled - still, the label persists, as a noun, not adjective. and i feel weird trotting it out.
but trot it out i do, every easter. i'm not just a normal non-practising christian, i'm one of those who do easter at a different date, AND walk out with candles in the street at midnight.

well, it's fun.
last year was the first time i went to see the greek procession on good friday in parc ex. i liked it so much that i went back this year: i have a soft spot for ceremonial stuff. romanian church doesn't do a procession (back in romania they walk 3 times around the church at midnight, but here i guess it's too hard to implement that?) so i will take what i can get. obviously the greek community is much more entrenched here than the romanian one, especially in parc-ex. this is their church on st roch, but there are a few other greek churches that i know of in the neighbourhood. and all the service is in greek (duh), but if i follow it closely i do recognize the formal steps and stages.

holy epitaph! this year's version looks exactly like last year's. so sad to have it sort-of-confirmed that those flowers are not real flowers. needs more flowers, asap! i don't mean in church rites, just generally in life

parc-ex is a strange strange land, i know, some people are apparently still holding on tight to their christmas decorations
that, or (as i've noticed recently ) lights are all the rage across seasons nowadays. they do look pretty cool

and since we're all about various religions in this post, let me acknowledge this goddess of parc-ex, reigning over her own athena park. i recognized her by the helmet, you guys! though i feel weird not having noticed her months and years ago. i guess my relationship with this neighbourhood is getting to a new level

moving on to traditions, cultural and personal: my painted eggs came out pinkish instead of red this year, so i didn't insist with any extra decoration. but yeah, my mum thought it was cute to send me a white bunny and a brown bunny AND ask me whether i "got it". nope, didn't get it, your meaning was not quite clear, could you try once again with more chocolate please

i am a person who cooks things: here's the traditional romanian drob, on my first attempt: some meat, lots of eggs and lots of greens. plus i love baking, baking is easy.
(as usual, a note that i did make cake, but a) i always make cake b) it tastes better than it looks c) the cake i made on this occasion is chocolate on chocolate, so it wouldn't photograph well d) honestly my cake is really good)

lamb is the most important thing on the orthodox easter menu, next to dyed eggs.
this is the first time i've had actual lamb for easter while in canada.
in this context, lamb curry (with rice!!), as i pointed out to a friend, symbolizes cultural harmony...or my perfect readiness to let other people do my cooking for me, even on big holidays.

selfies are hard.
public acknowledgements are harder.
but maybe it's time to start. 

happy easter everyone :)