To quote Megnut: "Summer drinks should be like summer evenings: long, light and cool." May I add? Summer drinks should be like summer evenings: easy, relaxed and refreshing.

In two days, my home will be descended upon by a mother-daughter group from Michigan, Minnesota, Maryland, Colorado and Saskatchewan. Half are staying at my house (what we're calling the "restaurant") and half across the street at a neighbor's, whose shaded patio has "happy hour" written all over it. So I went looking for recipes for easy summer cocktails, concoctions that can be served on a moment's notice, ones that will titillate the eyes and the nose and the throat.

So belly up, bloggers, summer's nearly here.

Passover starts this weekend, and Mata has already shared her Passover memories and observations. After some coaching on Passover food restrictions, I realized last year that there was a natural connection between gluten-free cooking and Passover food restrictions, and found a great collection of Gluten Free Passover Recipes for BlogHer readers. This year I'm noticing that flourless desserts for Passover are showing up on a lot of my favorite food blogs.

Just over 25 years ago I began attending Passover seders at my friends J and E's home. Their sons were just young teens then, and now they are both PhDs with smart and capable wives. One couple has had two children. I have moved away from NYC, but I will drive down to the city so that I can help with the preparations for seder starting Thursday and into Friday. I will be peeling veggies and laughing and basking in the immense joy of my extended family. With the exception of one 85 year old (Catholic) cousin, my entire blood family is dead. So my extended family is my family in every way.

This is a weekend for Holy Days in more than one tradition. The calendars of a variety of religious traditions mark special days on this weekend. As I researched this weekend I discovered that it is a once-in-a-millennium convergence of holidays across all major religious traditions.

Not once-in-a-lifetime, but once-in-a-millennium.

For traditional family feasts, consider the cooking trinity: Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. This year, Easter falls on March 23, unusually early. How early? Well, Easter hasn't been this early since 1913 and it won't be again until the year 2228. (What? How do we even say that year?) March 22 is the very earliest day on which Easter can fall, the last time in 1818 and not again until 2285.

So many dates got your head spinning? Mine too. Just know this: this is the year -- and more to the point, the week -- to treat ourselves and our families to traditional Easter dishes, breads, desserts, and more. We've got between now and Easter Sunday, so there's plenty of time to experiment with recipes from all across the globe.

Habari gani! (That's Swahili for What's happening?)

If you are celebrating Kwanzaa, the word for today is Ujamaa, which means "Cooperative Economics." It's a day for thinking about ways in which people of African descent can pool their resources to strengthen their families and communities. It's also the fourth day of the week-long celebration, and I've been asked to do a roundup of photos and reports from the festivities so far.