Great Saturday

I have been very busy today. I attended the morning Liturgy at Holy Transfiguration, which was the Vespers, Blessing the new light, Procession of Triumph, the first proclamation of the Resurrection, and Divine Liturgy of Our Father among the St. Basil. Essentially, it is the same service as what is the Easter Vigil in the West, but this service focuses more on death's realization that it the apparently simply Carpenter from Nazareth that it has taken in is no ordinary man, but is God. It bewails the loss of its power over those whom it has taken in, but has no choice except to surrender the Chosen to the Divine Son of God, while the Chosen rejoice in the triumph over death by God and their release from the captivity of Limbo to heaven.

After the morning Liturgy, I had brunch at Holy Transfiguration. After that, I took Hugh M. to the store to get some food, and then went back to the apartment.

I've spent a lot of time cooking for the Pascha celebration -- good old mac and cheese. I made it using a self-modified recipe given to me by Christine C. It's more of a casserole: a layer of farfalle on the bottom, layered over with slices of sharp cheddar, then a layer of shells, then a layer of mozzarella, then a layer of meat (bacon in one pan, ground beef in the other), then a layer of riccoli, then Colby Jack, then elbows, then alternating rows of extra sharp cheddar and muenster. Top that off with several pats of butter and a drizzling of milk on it, and a enough Parmesan to mostly cover the top, but not enough to permeate the whole thing. The style of layered noodles and cheese came from the original recipe. The end was just the result of my thinking, "What might be good?" I honestly have no idea how it tastes, because I've never made it before -- I just hope that someone likes it. I'll let you know how much is left...