Lent

Alright, so I don't necessarily call myself a Catholic, even though I was raised as one. I broke free from religion when I was seventeen and while I have my own beliefs and I am caught once in a while making the sign of the cross, I don't call any one religion my home.

There are things, however, that occur within the religion that I still like to practice. One of them is the meals at Lent. Lent is a time in the Catholic church that is sets up to repent for one's sins in preparation for the resurrection of Christ (yup, I know my stuff). During this period, every Friday is usually a day of fasting in the old days of tradition, but now, one of the traditions that remains is no eating meat on Friday. This leads to great meals such as fish (done in many, many delicious ways), shrimp, and pretty much anything seafood. One of my favorite Hispanic dishes is Tortas de Camaron. These are dried up pieces of shrimp and placed in an egg batter then fried, to make egg torts with shrimp pieces. This is then covered in chile colorado, or red chile and nopales, or cactus. Absolutely amazing. These are a real treat for me because I hardly eat them.  Then you have dessert which is traditionally capirotada. This extremely sweet dessert is something like a bread pudding. It is made with piloncillo, or brown sugar, bread, raisins, coconut shavings, and topped with cheese and candy sprinkles. Interesting fact that I read from wikipedia:

The basic ingredients carry a rich symbolism to the Passion of Christ, and the dish is viewed by many Mexican and Mexican-American families as a reminder of the suffering of Christ on Good Friday. The bread is for the Body of Christ, the syrup is his blood, the raisins are the nails of the cross, and the whole cinnamon sticks are the wood of the cross. The melted cheese stands for the Holy Shroud.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capirotada


 Fun huh? Anyway, being the last Friday before Easter, I decided that capirotada would be my pic of the day. Enjoy the sight, cookie!