When my dad was growing up, his family ate only seafood or meatless pasta on Good Friday—dishes like Baccalà salad, pasta with Baccalà, fried eel, spaghetti with anchovies, and red sauce without meat. (You’ll eventually see these recipes on ONO.) When my dad was in the Army, and I was growing up, we were less traditional on Good Friday (soldiering is not a high paying job). Sometimes on Good Friday we served the traditional meatless or fish dinner; Sometimes it was what we had on hand.

Earlier this month, my mother educated me on the “new” Easter traditions we were going to enjoy this year. We are going to make whatever we feel like, she says. I showed up at her house today expecting that we were going to immediately get started on Easter baking. Instead, we started straight away on dad’s mojito’s and mom’s spaghetti with meat sauce. Can’t think of a better meal on Good Friday. Didn’t do any baking.
Tomorrow’s Saturday, and after a trip to the produce store, I’m going to bake Easter Rice Pies, Eggman, Ricotta Cheesecake, and colorful cupcakes for the kids. That’s the plan for now.

Mojito Recipe
Ingredients
- 2½ cups sugar
- 3 cups water
- 2 ounces of citrus rum
- 1 fresh lime squeezed
- 2 sprigs of mint
- 2 ounces simple syrup
- Club soda
- 2 tablespoons crushed ice plus more to taste
- Lime slices and fresh mint for garnish
Instructions
- To make the simple syrup: boil 3 cups of water and add sugar. Stir until water is clear. Remove from heat. Cool.
- Crush mint with crushed ice and fresh lime in a tall class. Add more ice, then rum and simple syrup. Fill glass with club soda. Garnish with lime slices and fresh mint.
[…] were on our feet beginning on Friday, and it didn’t end until we left for home this afternoon. It felt like we were on Dinner […]