Category: food

Greek Food

Daphne Psaledakis2 Comments

I am part Greek, and I have grown up knowing that hummus, pita, tzatziki, and spanakopita are only a small portion of a wide array of Greek food, and that they are all delicious. Strangely enough, most of my friends don’t seem to know what Greek food actually is.

I even had a friend argue with me that hummus was in fact Jewish.

So for those of you who don’t know, Greek food is absolutely delicious. The appetizers, which could arguably be the best part, are amazing. Spanakopita, one of  the most famous ones, consists of fill dough wrapped around spinach and feta cheese. Similarly, and if not even better, tiropita is spanakopita without the spinach. My family has been eating dolmades since we were real little, which are stuffed grape leaves. Often they are stuffed with a rice of sorts, but sometimes a bit of ground lamb is added in as well.

And then, of course, there is the famous pita bread and dips. You can’t go wrong with pita bread, especially when it is fresh out of the oven and perfectly seasoned. But when you dip it in hummus, or tzatziki, yogurt mixed with cucumber, garlic, and other herbs, the pita becomes even more heavenly.

As for the entrees, the Greeks cook with a lot of seafood, octopus in particular, and lamb. My favorite dish is lamb souvlaki, skewers of lamb often accompanied by potatoes or vegetables. Contrary to the more American way of cooking lamb, which tastes rather gamey, the Greeks smother the tender meat in lemon and garlic, making it irresistibly delicious.

And then the desserts. Baklava is my favorite. It’s wonderfully messy, and is made of chopped nuts wrapped in fill dough, and coated in either honey or syrup. Another all time favorite are kourabiedes, which are similar to what we most often know as mexican wedding cookies. They are butter cookies with walnuts in them, and disguised by a generous coating of powdered sugar.

Caution: when eating, do not inhale.

Greek food is possibly one of the most hidden and underrated forms of cooking in America. I have decided to drag my friends to try Greek food, and I encourage you to find a local Greek restaurant near you and give it a try. It’s definitely worth it, and I can promise you won’t leave without feeling like you need to unbutton the top button of your pants, it’s that good.

Gingerbread Houses

Daphne Psaledakis1 Comment

One of my all time favorite things to do in the Holiday season is to make a gingerbread house. This weekend, I made my first gingerbread house in years. It was so much fun.

Making gingerbread houses is a good way to celebrate the Holidays. It’s creative, fun, and delicious. You can do the simple out of the box gingerbread houses, or go way over the top and make your own crazy creation.

Gingerbread houses are a fun group activity to do with kids of any age. Young kids, especially, love it, but even older kids will enjoy the activity and take the chance to be creative.

It’s also a not-so-healthy way of snacking. When I was little we would always eat our gingerbread houses after making them. I’m proud to say that wasn’t the case this year.

So if you’re looking for a fun activity to do this Holiday season, I highly recommend decorating a gingerbread house.

Thanksgiving Pie

Daphne PsaledakisLeave a comment

Let’s be honest. The best thing about Thanksgiving is the food. Particularly, the traditional pumpkin and pecan pie. Personally, these are my two favorite kind of pies. So when Thanksgiving rolls around and I have an excuse to eat pumpkin and pecan pie everyday for a week straight, I’m pretty happy.

Pumpkin pie though can be tricky. The stuff you buy at the supermarket is terrible. You’ve got to go either with homemade pumpkin pie, or buy it from a bakery not situated next to the deli and cheese sections. This Thanksgiving I had the best pumpkin pie I’ve had, well, ever. It was made by a friend of ours, who runs a small local bakery in Boulder, Colorado. Her pumpkin pie was absolutely amazing. It practically melted in my mouth. The crust was perfectly flaky. And she topped it off by sprinkling streusel on top of it.

It was perfect.

Now to pecan pie. It’s so good. Perfectly sweet, with a little bit of crunch to it. My family has always made pecan pie for thanksgiving. We have a family recipe that never seems to fail. This year, my dad and I made four pies. I don’t know why we made that many, but we did. Unfortunately we burnt two. We ate one by ourselves, and I brought the fourth pecan pie back to school with me to share with my roommate.

Well as it turns out, my roommate doesn’t like pie. Of course, she’d never actually tried it before (we all do that). So last night I forced her to try the pecan pie I had brought back to school with me. Well it turned out she hadn’t even tried pie crust before, which she thought was pretty. Then she tried a bite of the actual pie.

The only thing she said for the next couple minutes was “Oh my God.”

And she kept eating.

That just proves my point that pecan pie is one of the best. And Thanksgiving is a pretty good excuse to make a lot of them.

Sweeeeeet

enternity1030Leave a comment

Speaking of desert, my favorite would definitely be a “macaron.”

A macaron is a French sweet meringue-based confection made with eggs, icing sugar,  almond powder or ground almond, and food colouring. The macaron is commonly filled with ganache, buttercream or jam filling and sandwiched between two biscuits. The name is derived from the Italian word “macarone.”

Macarons are usually really small. It is mildly moist and easily melts in the mouth. There are numerous flavors and each has different colors. The traditional flavors are raspberry and chocolate to the new ones such as matcha, lemon, green tea and rose.The fillings also range from jams to ganache to buttercream.

Macarons are more and more popular these days. In Paris, the Ladurée chain of pastry shops has been known for its macarons for about 150 years, and even McDonalds sell macarons from McCafé. Outside of Europe, the French-style macaron can be found in all over the world, not only in U.S, but other nations like Australia, Korean, Japan.

I’ve not tried all the flavors of macarons yet, but my goal is to try all colors of them and then decide which one is my favorite, right now it’s rose.

But if you are not a “sweetness” lover, you probably will not enjoy macarons that much, because to be honest, they are really really really sweet!

Oh, btw (to my dear friend Emmy), they are not hamburgers!!

The Apple Pie that could?

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gg4g4

One day the woman made a pie. Not just any pie but an apple pie. The pie was quite happy how his life had turned out. Although he had not yet been baked he was filled with the most delicious apples in all the land.His crust was made from the finest dough.

The woman walked out of the room forgetting the pie had not been baked. He screamed, “bake me!”  No one seemed to care. What to do? he thought. He knew what must be done.  He dragged himself closer and closer to the edge of the counter wishing to slide into the oven.

The pie, halfway off the counter, hesitated, wondering if he should go over the edge. He thought he could make it so he jumped and completely missed the oven.  Instead, falling top-down onto the kitchen the floor. The woman, hearing the sound, screamed, “the pie is ruined!” She grabbed the pie.

The pie thought himself safe. She opened the trash and that’s when the pie realized he was finished. The lid shut on the pie.  He now would live in despair for the remainder of his life. The pie was the apple pie that could not.

Bubba Gump.

enternity10301 Comment

Speaking of restaurants in the United States, “The Bubba Gump Shrimp Company” stands out as one of my favorite. I love it not only because I am a seafood lover, but also is because of the interesting background. The “Bubba Gump Shrimp Company” is a seafood restaurant chain inspired by the 1994 film, also my favorite movie – “Forrest Gump.”

The first Bubba Gump restaurantt opened in 1996 in Monterey, California by Viacom Consumer Products. The Bubba Gump restaurant is named after the film’s characters Benjamin Buford “Bubba” Blue. In the film, Bubba suggested the shrimping business and ultimately Forrest pursued the idea after Bubba’s death in the Vietnam War.

The restaurants are fairly popular throughout the nation. And by September 2010, thirty-two Bubba Gump restaurants operate worldwide. I am not sure about people’s motivations of going to Bubba Gump, but as for me, I mistakenly thought that the restaurant was the real one in the movie.

The menu at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. is primarily associated with shrimp dishes, but also offers a variety of other seafood. One main focus of the culinary style is Southern and Cajun cuisine, as the main characters in the film came from Alabama.

The atmosphere in the restaurant was really thematic – full of the quotes and posters from the movie. The waiters also ask questions about the movie.

I enjoy the restaurants with certain themes. They provide the customers various feelings and experiences besides just eating their meals. Such restaurants can always easily build profound impressions and make people want to return. This is actually a great strategy!

Russia’s Slim Future

infamousdolphinLeave a comment

The Russians have found what seems to be the way of solving at least one of America’s problems.

In the subway station of Vystavochnaya in western Moscow, the people are allowed to pay their fare by doing 30 squats. They are placed in front of a machine that counts the squats and makes sure you are in a correct position.

This was implemented to promote a healthy and sporty life style in honor of the Olympic games that will take place in Russia.

If this system was to be implemented in the US, not only in the subway but in a lot of public services, America would benefit from a healthier population and a great decrease in obesity.

Sources: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57611796-1/to-ride-the-moscow-subway-for-free-do-30-squats/

Farmers Markets

Daphne PsaledakisLeave a comment

One of the underrated aspects of American culture is the farmers market. Most towns or cities have one, and most often they sell things like organic fruit, handmade soaps or clothing, and delicious  desserts. In my opinion at least, they’re all pretty good, and definitely affordable.

Most everybody these days has realized that the healthier the food is that you buy, the more expensive it is. Example #1: Whole Foods. While it’s delicious, and unquestionable healthy, it can cost up to 200 dollars for a single bag of food.

That’s ridiculous.

As a result, many people forsake healthy food and decide instead to go with the cheaper, more filled-with-preservatives option. What they don’t realize, is that they could get the organic veggies and homemade natural goods at a much cheaper price – and much fresher. Enter farmers markets.

Farmers markets generally take up a block or two, and are crammed full of different sorts of stands. Many of them sell fresh produce. Others include homemade gelato, honey, soap, clothing, and the ever-important desserts. What’s especially nice about it, besides the fact that it’s all delicious, is that it’s affordable. Prices aren’t marked up to the jaw-dropping expense you would find the same items for at Whole Foods.

For those looking for a healthy alternative, of the less expensive variety, I highly recommend you visit your weekly farmers market. You might be surprised at what your hometown locals can offer you.

Pasta

Daphne PsaledakisLeave a comment

One of my all time favorite foods is pasta. I realize that it’s not very exciting, or gourmet. But it’s just so good, and there’s so many different things you can do with it.

Ravioli, one of my favorites, is best with a tomato sauce. Tortellini is best with Alfredo sauce. Gnocchi goes perfectly with either. And then there is every other kind of pasta that you just can’t go wrong with.

Living in the dorms, pretty much all I eat on weekends is pasta. We don’t have to check in at the cafeteria, so I like to make my own food instead. One of my go-to’s is the Annie’s Mac and Cheese. It’s a lot healthier than the Kraft stuff, and it’s way better. I also like to make just regular penne or rigatoni with vodka or tomato sauce.

When I’m home though, my dad gets a little bit more creative. When he has plenty of time before dinner, he’ll make his own tomato sauce starting from scratch. He boils the tomatoes, then cuts them up and adds them into a pan with garlic, onion and basil. He then generously pours it over bow-tie pasta. It is so good.

A lot of my friends say pasta is all I eat. While they’re exaggerating a little, they’re not far off base. It’s easy to make, delicious, filling and there are so many different variations possible. Pasta is definitely one of my favorite foods.

Mr. Noodles.

eternity1030Leave a comment

People do love food. After I came to OVS, i discovered that students do love noodles, I mean instant noodles, which can be cooked in short period of time, usually with good flavors.

Instant noodles are for “lazy” people mostly but to be honest, I personally regard them invention as a smart stuff and they indeed change our lives a lot. Then I did some research on the instant noodles and discovered more about them.

Instant noodle was invented by a Janpanese. In 1958, Momofuku Ando invented “CHICKEN RAMEN ™”, the world’s first instant noodle product. His achievement brought a revolution in culinary culture. In 1971, he developed “CUP NOODLE ®”, the world’s first cup-type noodle product. In the editorial in its January 9, 2007 edition, the New York Times expressed appreciation for the achievements of “Mr. Noodles,” who it said deserved an eternal place in the pantheon of human achievement.

“The technology of “CHICKEN RAMEN ™” developed by Momofuku in a humble shed behind his home involved rapidly drying noodles through flash-frying in oil.” This method became the basis for all instant noodle production.

Later, his revolutionary “CUP NOODLE ®” concept in which a single container serves as packaging, cooking vessel and serving dish was the basis for cup-type instant noodles.

Nowadays, the instant noodles have numerous types from different countries. Even though hey are not really healthy, they can be fairly helpful and save your life when you are lazy to cook and when you want to try something different.