melissa grace kreider

You might be aware: Easter Happened. It was very strange being away from home for Easter this April because I was unable to gorge myself with Starburst jelly beans and eat dark chocolate until I puked. I mean, get up early and go to church with my mother then hang out with my family. 

But really, all of those things are what makes Easter, well, Easter. For me, at least! While you're abroad, you try to make as many things homey as possible. You might hang things on the walls, keep traditions, or for comfort, make food that your parents used to make you. For Holidays, we like to cram 10 people into our tiny Italian kitchen and cook a meal fit for an army. 

Before dinner I attended Mass at the church right down the road from my apartment, Santo Spirito. It was a beautiful service, and I took communion from a decrepit Italian preist.

Inside of Santo Spirito-phone quality.

After Mass, we walked back (in the pouring rain) and began the mad dash to cook for ten people. We were able to prepare things like dessert a few days beforehand.

My roommate shaped a bunny rabbit out of dough to put on top of our apple pie-adorable!

Either way we still had mass food to prepare-

The Assembly Line-but it all eventually got finished! We had appetizers of pizza bread (One of my roommate's family traditions!) and homemade bruschetta. 

Appetizers!

For dinner we had prepared a ridiculously wide range of food: pasta con pesto (for us vegetarians, and my favorite. I'm literally an addict.), salad, asparagus, breaded green beans, mashed potatoes and roasted chicken with onions, rosemary and gravy. 

The table at dinner!
     We tore through dinner and arrived at dessert: a two-layer cake covered in nutella and apple pie with panna gelato (cream-flavored, not vanilla!). I still can't believe how much I ate in one day; but it was so worth it. All of us ended up playing charades to end the day. Even the fact that our kitchen is miniscule made it feel more homey and comfortable! 

Pie <3

      Getting together and making food really made Easter feel special and it made me feel at home in Florence on a holiday that I usually spend with my family. When you're abroad, you really have to do things like this sometimes to keep your head. :]

Ciao for now,

-m

All of us girls, taken by Marisa's boyfriend who was visiting :]