Easter Monday
Today, as I write this, it’s Easter Monday. We had a nice lunch together as a family. This past Saturday, while my wife and daughter spent the day in Zwolle with my sister-in-law, I baked an Easter loaf with our youngest. We’ve really enjoyed it—yesterday and again today. I found the recipe in Allerhande and gave it a little twist: we veganized it and turned it into a healthier treat. Veganizing it was easy—we simply swapped the milk for almond milk and replaced the butter with a tasty plant-based alternative.
An Upgrade
The healthy upgrade involved using a whole wheat bread mix instead of white, and replacing the sugar with a sugar substitute. I even made the almond paste myself this time, using blanched almonds, a sugar substitute, and canned white beans. It turned out to be a richly filled Easter loaf, with currants, raisins, dried apricots, pistachios, and hazelnuts. The sugar substitute I use is Monkfruit Sweetener from the American brand Lakanto. It’s not cheap, but it’s a one-to-one replacement for regular or cane sugar, with only 8 grams of carbohydrates per 100 grams.
Pope Francis’ Passing
After lunch today, the kids and my wife plopped down on the couch to watch a Harry Potter movie. Yesterday afternoon, we kept our tradition and rewatched The Passion from last Thursday, just the four of us. Two afternoons in a row on the couch was a bit much for me, so instead, I decided to write this blog.
Anything else noteworthy today? Well, I’d say so. When I got back from my morning walk, I was told the pope had passed away. For a moment I wasn’t sure if it was true, but considering his frail condition, it wasn’t entirely unexpected.
Just yesterday I said to my wife, as we watched the pope in his fragile state, that perhaps it would be best if he followed in his predecessor’s footsteps and stepped down soon. A pope who can barely lift a finger is not the kind of strong leader the world so desperately needs right now—especially with all the global tensions. We need someone who can stand up to autocratic leaders. After all, with 1.38 billion followers, the pope is arguably the most influential person on Earth. Trump and Putin have nothing on that. I sincerely hope the next pope will be a unifier, a bridge-builder. Ideally someone young enough to carry the role for years to come. And honestly? I wouldn’t mind if that person were an Afro-American transgender woman.
A Simple Celebration
Easter Monday, for us, is really just a day off. And while supermarket sales around Easter are starting to rival those of Christmas, we keep things fairly low-key. Our only indulgences were the homemade Easter loaf, some whole wheat rolls for the kids, and a fresh juice blend of pineapple, orange, spinach, cucumber, and kiwi. Dinner wasn’t fancy either—we had a fully plant-based version of Kurdish Tapsi: a baked dish made with plant-based minced meat simmered in broth, eggplant, tomato, onion, garlic, red bell pepper, potatoes, walnuts and raisins, broad beans, fresh herbs and spices. For tonight’s meal, we’re having minestrone soup with garlic bread.
Sourdough Bread
The garlic bread is made using my own homemade whole wheat sourdough. I bake one every weekend. It takes quite a bit of time: to bake on Saturday, I start feeding the sourdough starter on Thursday. I feed it again on Friday—Thursday with whole wheat flour and water, and Friday with all-purpose flour instead of whole wheat. On Friday afternoon I make the dough, which needs four hours to rise, then 24 hours in the fridge. Finally, it’s ready to bake. My first loaves were flat and dense, but now they rise beautifully and are airy and delicious. Sourdough is also said to be healthier than yeast-based bread. Everyone here at home is a big fan.
No Chocolate Eggs
One thing you won’t find in our house: chocolate Easter eggs. Not because they’re expensive, but because they’re overly sweet and unhealthy. We’re all fans of very dark chocolate—90% cocoa. Once you get used to that, eating lower-cocoa chocolate just isn’t pleasant anymore. And I might sound snobby now, but I’ve yet to come across Easter eggs made with 90% fair-trade, organic dark chocolate.
Time for me to start on the soup—so when the movie’s over, we can all sit down together and enjoy a nice, simple meal.