In my Italian family you knew Lent (40 days of deprivation, soul-searching, and fasting) was almost over when the annual baking contest began. This was no casual competition. This was the Easter Bread Grand Prix. You baked to win.

The original roster of bakers included Viola, my formidable paternal grandmother; her equally ambitious sisters Edith, Helen, and Lavinia; and a few saber-toothed cousins. But the oven mitts came off when my mother, Ida, joined the family.