Polish Bread Recipe for Easter and Christmas

Every Easter, we celebrate Jesus' death and resurrection.  One way we celebrate is with food. Michael always had a special Easter breakfast with his family, growing up.  So, the week before Easter, we travel down to Baltimore to buy the kielbasa.  This has been the tradition of Michael and his friend, Mr. Miller, for years. When the kids were small, one kid was allowed to go along.  Now, we all like to go because we know what a special treat it is.  Each year, it gets harder for Mr. Miller, who is getting older.  This year, he was still recovering from a fall, so he was not able to go along.  It was sad for all of us, and we missed him terribly.

Last year with Mr. Miller and Blane at Jimmy's Restauran

Last year at Jimmy's

Traditionally, our first stop is Vaccaros to buy coffee and a treat.  Then we pick up the kielbasa at Ostrowski's.  Sometimes, we stop by a church for Mass, a polish store, or the market.  Then we go to Jimmy's for lunch.  This year, we went to Chick-fil-a, then Ostrowski's, then a bakery nearby.  We got donuts, enough for us and the Miller's.  Sadly, Jimmy's was closed because they changed owners and were remodeling.  We just stood outside, not knowing what to do.  After looking for a restaurant, we just ate our donuts and went home.  Our day was special, but had a sadness in the loss of tradition and missing Mr. Miller.  We visited the Millers in the evening.

The sad picture of Jimmy's with the chair all outside, closed for renovation.

Here we are, eating donuts for lunch!

On Easter morning, we eat a special Polish breakfast of kielbasa, hard-boiled eggs, horseradish, and bread (which Michael's family always calls "bulka").  The closest bread that I have found is called "Babka."  We have been buying all different kinds of holiday breads for Easter and Christmas each year.  This past Christmas was the first year I made this recipe of Holiday Babka.  It turned out great, so I made it again for Easter this year.

Here is the recipe:  Cooks.Com Holiday Babka (Mother's Polish Bread) from Belle
We went to be with family and went to their church.  There we proclaimed:  He is Risen!  No matter what this life brings, we have hope of eternal life because Jesus died for our sins and rose again, conquering death.

After lunch, we had an Easter egg hunt.