Yummy and easy pasta and spinach recipe (Tip:You don;t need to speak Greek!)

You may also cook them with fresh cream!

Let them eat CAKE in Athens

A week ago, I received a couple of friends in Athens. 

As they don't visit often, I took them for a stroll in the most beautiful part of the city, next to the Acropolis, the Kolonaki area. 

Athens's fashion and good life district has always been home to me, and I trully love living in the city center. 

As it wasn't morning enough for coffee and midday enough for lunch, I chose CAKE , an american-style coffee house, owned by the Elliott clan, once neighbors in my hometown of Kifissia.
We tasted a lovely and light carrot cake, a stevia mousse and a quiche that was an absolute delight. We had a quiet time connecting with each other, with the discreet personel gently atteding to us. And we left happily ever after!
Though I might visit again soon as I do covet those mugs! I do believe though -and I said so to the lady in charge of the shop- that a line with their delightful pink and green trademark colors would be a success. I'd definitively buy the latte cups!

xoxo

Rena

CAKE, Irodotou 15 , Kolonaki Irodotou 15

210 721 2253Irodotou 15
210 721 2253

Dine out in Athens-Yoleni's

Last night, on my way home from work, 

I decided to stop by a spot I always passed by, but never decided to enter.

In my part of the city which I cross from age 9,

we are not used to this type of "alternative" facade.

It is a new spot, anyway, so I can be party excused, but still, I was wondering whether it is an eco/raw/food-cum-cannabis shop of some kind, with insanely high prices and poor service. 

And yet,

last night I did get inside.

I was greeted at the door -but a little further inside, 

which was a good thing, as I got to spot the place first,

by a trendy but nice young man who showed me in but not to my table. 

I got to pick the one just behind and above the music duo who was playing jazz for the night. 

This gave me the opportunity to survey the people (young, "alternative", older with grown children)

and the atmosphere (informal yet tightly woven). 

There is also an extra spacious upper room which houses some rather more fashionable and older groups, but which was so tightly packed that 

I wouldn't care to cross, unless I was meeting someone special.

I'll go back for the smoothies

I ordered a pita with egg and a caramelised onion chutney.

The pita was kind of heartwarming, I'd say. 

this soulful kind of food that is not exacly a dish to talk about, but it does its job of making feel 

a simple plate, a treat. 

What I need to say, though, is praise for the onion chutney, that turned out to be delicious, given that I am not an onion fan but tried it on purpose.

This special little dish was washed down with a home made lemonade which was not really, really special, and rather too sugary for my taste, 

but was a nice alternative if you don't want to drink alcohol.

On my way out, I stopped by the selection of Ionia crockery that is for sale. 

Ionia is a Greek company that produces premium quality porcelain since 1972. 

Finest quality and lovely design. Highly recommended. 

As it turned out, they also do take away and delivery, 

and

they work with TV-famous chef Dina Nicolaou,a graduate of

«Le Cordon Bleu», «Ritz Escoffier», «Alain Ducasse formation», «Lenotre».

which goes a long way to explain the imaginative dishes they sell in a creative manner.

 The even better part is that the store has also a basement where you can shop for

  GReek-only items of food and wine, all presented in an aboundant yet boutique manner, 

which really does fit the neighborhood, 

linking upper class Kolonaki to the student-in-rebellion Solonos/Exarcheia planet.

All in all, a lovely experience 

with real food

reasonably priced

and

efficient but non-intrusive service. 

YOLENI'S

SOLONOS 9

ATHENS

T:0030 2122223623

open all week 8:00-22:00

Sat:9:00-22:00

Sun:10:00-22:00

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Galaktompoureko-The Recipe

Last week-end we spent time with friends near the sea.

As it was the last Sunday before Lent and we let go of dairy to fast for Easter, I had bought all the ingredients to make a sweet pastry that my mother used to make traditionally on this day, the famous galaktompoureko. A fyllo and crème patissière sweet, that I love, and quite honnestly, every Greek loves! But being tight on time, I decided at the last minute to take the ingredients with me, and make the said pastry on the spot. And it was so much more fun! I spent the first day sleeping and resting and eating lightly, then on Sunday morning I woke up refreshed and got in the kitchen, while my host was still asleep. The children, her three, and my youngest, began realising that something was happening in the kitchen and they began coming in and checking. I was so happy and serene, that I made it in no time at all! 

And how gratifying to see them all coming to ask for firsts before lunch, and seconds and thirds! I even left my trays on the house, for the next bunch! 

Here is the recipe I use:

ingredients 

• 1 Lt. milk
• 4 eggs
• 70 gr. fine semolina 
• 2 leaves/pots of vanilla
• 1 packet of fyllo
• 125 gr. butter

For the syrup

• 400 gr. sugar
• 200 gr. water
• the juice of 1 lemon
• the gridding of one orange

How to 

Mix the milk, eggs, semolina, sugar and vanilla in a big pot and put it on medium heat fire. Whisk continuously (this is SO important!) until mix is unified and starts boiling. That should be about 10 min. Let the cream cool.

Pre-heat the oven to 180-200 C

Butter well your tray(s) Add 4 fyllo leaves, buttering each one of them, and cover with the rest, as in my photo above. With a sharp knife pre-cut the galaktompoureko, but don;t go deep to the bottom. 

Put your tray (s) at two levels above bottom and let it bake for 45 mins. checking occasionally to see the colour of the top. When it gets caramel brown you may want to cover it with foil. 

Let it cool.

Prepare the syrup, by boiling the water and sugar. Let it boil for for 3-4 mins.

Add lemon and orange grind. 

Once you feel the galaktompoureko cooling, add the hot syrup and let it rest. 

Serve and enjoy!

xoxo

Rena

In the tavern

Royal in Athens

Did I trick you into reading this post , by its title?

I hope I did, because Royal doesn't get any more royal than this rest-bar in the heart of Athens.

It used to be one of the residences of King Otto and Queen Amalia, the first loving king and queen of Greece at the beginning of the 19th century.

Today the residence at 16-18 Kalamiotou str. is a lovely greek-with-a-twist restaurant and bar with cocktails like the one named after Helen of Troy. Between Hera, goddess of marriage, this queen of Sparta, chose Aphrodite, goddess of love. I very much feel for her!

Do let me know when you visit Athens! 

I'll be glad to show you around the best unseen spots of us locals, at a very reasonable fee. 

xoxo

Great Lent

Dame Lent: Seven feet for seven weeks of fasting , and no mouth to keep food out!

The Great Fast or Lent is the period of preparation leading up to Holy Week and Pascha. 

Observance of Great Lent is characterized by abstention from many foods, intensified private and public prayer, personal improvement, and almsgiving. The foods traditionally abstained from are meat and dairy products, fish, wine and oil. Since strict fasting is canonically forbidden on the Sabbath and the Lord's Day, wine and oil are permitted on Saturdays and Sundays. If the Feast of the Annunciation falls during Great Lent, then fish, wine and oil are permitted on that day.

However, in our household we only manage to abstain from meat during the Great Lent. We do eat dairy but we abstain from it on Wednesday and Friday. 

Today is "Clean Monday" , the beginning of fasting.

 Here is what we had for breakfast/lunch/dinner

"lagana" bread

fried aubergines, black eyed peas 

homemade olives in brine with oregano and vine leaves stuffed with rice

octopus in wine, fresh garlic and onion

Halva with sesame

We did not fly a kite, as it was raining

via

Happy Lent and let us welcome the Resurraction with our families and friends.

Poetry and Food: The Late Seamus Heaney's Poems About Food

Seamus Heaney, the Nobel Prize-winning Irish poet, died today at 74. He was one of the few poets in the 21st century to bridge the gap between critical success and popular appeal, and he did it by writing poems filled with fleshy physicality. It’s no surprise, then, that he could write about food like the best of them.

From Sonnets From Hellas

We gaelicized new names for Poetry Hill
As we wolfed down horta, tarama and houmos
At sunset in the farmyard, drinking ouzos,
Pretending not to hear the Delphic squeal
Of the streel-haired cailleach in the scullery.
Then it was time to head into Desfina
To allow them to sedate her. And so retsina,
Anchovies, squid, dolmades, french fries even.

Source



A Greek cook+writer's summer home

This pistachio-and-pink coloured house, 

is the summer home of Greek TV cook presenter and writer Eleni Psychoulis.

Built by her late father in 1966, it was transformed by the spirited writer and cook, into a welcoming, quirky, happy place. 

Tellingly, she calls it a "successful psychoanalysis" that helped her make her peace with the past.

Don't you just love it when healing happens?

See more of  Ms. Psychoulis' one-of-a-kind house here.

Read her lovely blog (with mouthwatering recipes) here.

If you\d like to give a recipe a try, but don't read Greek, leave me a comment or e-mail me, and I'll translate it for you.

xoxo

Goodness of the Land

We took to the farmsteads of our friends. 

The olive groves.

The little home industries drying figs.

We took of the land's goodness home.

Honey.

Dry figs.

Mountain tea.

Bliss.