Saturday, April 30, 2016

Traditional "magheiritsa" soup!

This soup with meat/intestines‎ and plenty of egg/lemon sauce is served after midnight services on Easter morning to celebrate "Hristos Anesti" (Christ Is Risen) and to break the fast (during Holy Week or for 40 days, depending..). Made by Kyria Hrisoula at the Trocadero Restaurant in Kyparissi, Lakonias. ‎Hronia‎ polla!

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Breakfast at the Paraliako Hotel in Kyparissi, Lakonias, my Papou's horio!

I'm really in trouble now! Almost everything made by Stella and her sister Foula, Including special local bread "propira" bread, olive tapenade, spinach pies, and every kind of sweet you can think of.  Stella's husband is a beekeeper, thus the honey. And Foula's husband is a winemaker in Monemvasia. Hard to get to this small, gorgeous village, so they have basically become self-sufficient and cost-effective...opa!

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Friday, April 29, 2016

Awesome Holy Week Lenten Meal!

Fasting during Holy Week ...chance to eat great vegetarian dishes like "fasouladha" (bean soup) and artichokes a la polita‎ -- two of my all-time favorites, by one of my favorite "fagathika" restaurants here in Sparti. Lambros is run by 2 brothers, whose father started the small, no-frills restaurant 53 years ago...real, cooked (not "tis oras" like souvlakia) Greek food for cheap. It's down in a basement along the main drag, but not appreciated much by young people. I'm going to put it on Trip Advisor!

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Tuesday, April 26, 2016

To roast, or not to roast a lamb on Easter!

On my way from Koroni to Kalamata, and overhearing a conversation between 3 elderly gentlemen -- will they roast a lamb at home on Sunday for Easter? 
One reports that he has heard that "a lot of dust will come from Africa over the weekend" -- not uncommon here in Greece, and clearly more relevant here in the Peloponessos.‎ And definitely not conducive to outdoor cooking that takes many hours turning a spit by hand, though many people have barbques with spits turned by DEH (the electric company). Why not just take a piece of lamb to one of the village fournos (bakeries)?
Another laments the guest list issue. His son won't come to the village. And his son-in-law has nixed a visit -- going to his side of the family (or just doesn't have the money to bring the family from Athens)? Yeah, pipes up Traveler #3: You need to have at least 10 people to justify roasting a lamb these days.

So consensus seems to have formed around using the local forno for a specific, needed quantity...or, perhaps, visiting a neighbor who has roasted a lamb :)

And there you have it!‎
NOTE: Am now wondering if and where I will eat lamb myself Sunday in Kyparissi. And, more importantly, magheiritsa. Should I worry?
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Lenten ouzo meze!

It's now Holy Week and I am making an effort to fast until Saturday midnight. So here is the ouzo meze from my last night‎ in Koroni at Kaghellarios Restaurant (one of my fave's) -- no meat or cheese. Still quite tasty. Oooops, do I seem tipsy?

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Saturday, April 23, 2016

Pre-Holy Week feast!

Tomorow is Palm Sunday (according to the Easter Orthodox faith), and I have vowed to fast until Easter. But even though I am sitting on the waterfront of my grandmother's village of Koroni, Messinias, I have settled on chicken cooked with lemon, roasted potatoes and baby okra -- perfect!

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Monday, April 18, 2016

Spoon sweets!

Going to someone's home in Greece for coffee? Theses days you may be able to choose between Greek coffee or filtered. But you must still expect to be served a boiled/preserved and bite-sized "spoon sweet" in a little dish to be eaten with a little spoon. Here are 3 examples (2 fig and one orange) served up by my cousin Dina in Naousa, my dad"s hometown.

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Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Take-out Patsas (Tripe Soup/Menudo Greek-style)



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Friday, April 8, 2016

Serious Greek restaurant!

This is what you want in a ‎Greek restaurant -- good home cooking ( a"fagathiko")...and chance to look at everything before you choose. I had the best okra and peas cooked in tomato sauce. Can hardly wait to go back to "To Limeri" at Olymbou 116, Thessaloniki. Opa!

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Tuesday, April 5, 2016

French fries a la carte!

Downtown Thessaloniki for a walk and a snack...and this is how French fries should be served "in the hand!"

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Sunday, April 3, 2016

Pontian classic!

Sonia showed up with a Tupperware container full of "Miliasta" -- it's a classic Pontian (Black Sea) dish made from cracked corn, red beans and "black cabbage. One of my favorites, what a treat!

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