One a penny, Two a penny

Not my picture- credit goes to http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/real_food/article3574489.ece

This week, I am busy making hot cross buns for Easter at our church here. Apparently, it's a tradition to eat hot cross buns at Easter (though, I've never done it before. I'm more of a gorge myself on chocolate eggs kinda gal.). Hot cross buns are a spiced bread with dried fruits inside and a lovely, icing X on the top.

Apparently, the tradition goes all the way back to the Greeks who offered spiced buns with a cross on them to the goddess Eostre (aka Easter), but the buns became popular in Tudor England. A law enacted by Elizabeth I in 1592 that said hot cross buns could only be sold on Good Friday (as part of Elizabeth's anti-Catholic crusade- take that, Catholics! NO delicious baked goods for you.).

The real kicker is the superstition surrounding these buns. Many people believed they had special properties; thus, the buns were hardened in the oven and kept in the home all year. Basically, the bun then became a good luck charm: it would protect a house from fire and rats, would prevent shipwrecks, and would be ground and mixed with water as a medicine. Kind of puts the rabbit foot to shame, don't you think?

Anyway, you should try to find a hot cross bun- or just come to California, and I will give you one for your trouble. We can sing the song together, too!