Better Greek

OdIsseas ElItis

'Because I love those people who love life.
Those whose their sorrow is their power.
Those whose eyes are looking without guile and guiltiness,
even if the passage of time was relentless to them.
Those who know that they do not know eveything,
because everything is not learned.
Those who drain from nothing, eveything.
For themselves and all the other people they love.
And they do not get tired, seeking out each day's beauty,
in people's smiles, in hugging animals,
in a black and white photo, in a colourful laundry.'

Odysseas Elytis - Greek Poet

Music of Epirus

The music of Epirus (Greek: Μουσική της Ηπείρου), in the northwest of Greece (present to varying degree in the rest of Greece and the islands^[1] ) contains folk songs that are mostly pentatonic and polyphonic, sung by both male and female singers. Distinctive songs^[2] include lament songs (mirolóyia), shepherd's songs (skáros) and drinking songs (tis távlas). The clarinet is the most prominent folk instrument in Epirus, used to accompany dances, mostly slow and heavy, like the menousis, fisouni, podhia, sta dio, sta tria, zagorisios, kentimeni, koftos, yiatros and tsamikos.

CHANIA Harbour Old Town.

Τι λάθος κάνω - Χαρούλης

Clean Monday (Καθαρή Δευτέρα)

Clean Monday is a public holiday in Greece and Cyprus, where it is celebrated with outdoor excursions, the consumption of shellfish and other fastingfood,^[2] a special kind of azyme bread, baked only on that day, named "lagana" (Greek: λαγάνα) and the widespread custom of flying kites. Eating meat, eggs and dairy products is traditionally forbidden to Orthodox Christians throughout Lent, with fish being eaten only on major feast days, but shellfish is permitted in European denominations. This has created the tradition of eating elaborate dishes based on seafood (shellfish, molluscs, fish roe etc.).

Άσχημο φύλλο

Socrates advice

A touch of madness

Greek Frappe

I miss you

Greek Christmas small honey cakes

This dessert is traditional for greece during christmas time. We call them "melomakarona" and they are absolutely delicious!!

Ingredients:
For the cakes
530 gr. sunflower oil
400 gr. orange juice
1.200 gr. flour
30 gr. confectioner's sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp grounded cinammon
1/6 tsp grounded cloves
50 gr. butter melted
zest of one orange
roughly smashed walnuts

For the syrup
500 gr. water
700 gr. sugar
1 orange cut in half
2 cinammon bars
100 gr. honey

Preparation:
We prepare the syrup first. We put the water, the sugar, the orange and the cinammon bars in a pot and let them boil for a minute. We withdraw, add the honey and let the syrup cool.
Then we start making the honey cakes. In a deep bowl we add all the fluids and the butter. We add the sugar, the soda, the cinammon, the cloves and the zest.

We mould and add the flour. We keep moulding lightly from the center towards outside. Be careful not to mould a lot because your mixture is going to tighten. We shape the cakes in little ovals and press one of their sides to a grater.

We put them on baking paper and bake in preheated oven at 180 C for about 30 mins until they have a golden brown color. As soon as we take them out of the oven and while they are still hot we deepen them in the cold syrup. We turn them for almost 1 minute. We take them out and let them to a rail to drain. In a large plate we put some honey and a few walnuts. We add the cakes in a pile. Among each line we add honey and walnuts.

Hope you enjoy them!!
Good luck!!

http://landoffairytales.blogspot.gr/2010_11_01_archive.html

Being Happy!

Creamy Custard Pie (Γαλακτομπούρεκο)

For the cream

fine semolina	1 cup
whole milk	5 cups
egg yolks	4
eggs	2
sugar	¾ cup
vanilla extract	1 ½ teaspoons
orange rind	½
clarified unslated butter	1 cup
phyllo pastry sheets	1 package (12 sheets)

For the syrup

water	4 ½ cups
sugar	2 ½ cups
greek honey	3 tablespoons
cinnamon stick	1
lemon	½

VIEW MORE RECIPES FOR DECEMBER

How to cook

A. Preheat oven at 350F(175C).

B. For the Cream:

1. In a heavy pot, on a medium heat, add the milk and orange peel.

2. In a bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar together.

3. Slowly add the fine semolina to the milk continually stirring with a wooden spoon until it thickens.

4. Turn off the heat. Stirring, slowly add the egg mixture into the cream. Be careful that the eggs don’t cook.

5. Add the vanilla and 1 tablespoon butter and stir. Cover and set aside.

6. In a buttered glass baking dish, add 10 phyllo sheets, making sure to butter each one with a pastry brush. When laying each phyllo sheet, change the direction every time (crosswise). Carefully press in the phyllo with your hands to fit all around the dish leaving the edges of the phyllo to hang over the sides of the dish.

7. Pour in the cream and spread evenly with a spatula.

8. Carefully fold over the hanging phyllo sheets, buttering each time.

9. Lay 3 phyllo sheets on the top, folding them in half and tucking in the sides. Make sure to butter all the sheets.

10. With a sharp knife, carefully cut on the top the phyllo sheets vertically and horizontally making 3 columns by 5 rows. Make sure to not cut all the way through to the cream, just the phyllo.

11. With a spoon, drizzle the remaining butter in the edges and within the cuts of the rows and columns.

12. With your hands, lightly sprinkle water all over the top of the phyllo, Bake, on the bottoms rack, for 1 hour or until golden brown.

C. For the syrup:

1. In a pot, add all the ingredients, except the honey, stir until it comes to a boil. Then let it simmer for 5 minutes. Turn of the heat, add the honey, stir and remove the cinnamon stick and lemon. Cool before pouring.

2. Once the cream custard is ready, let it cool for 10 minutes and then pour all over the top the warm/ room temperature syrup.

3. The Galaktobouriko needs to cool for 4-5 hours before cutting/serving.

http://www.greekrecipes.tv/

National Library of Greece

The Positive Greek Language Page

Greek Bouzouki

The bouzouki (Greek: μπουζούκι; pronounced [buˈzuki]; plural: μπουζούκια) is a Greek musical instrument that was brought to Greece in the 1900s by immigrants from Asia Minor, and quickly became the central instrument to the rebetika genre and its music branches. ^[1] A mainstay of modern Greek music, the front of the body is flat and is usually heavily inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The instrument is played with a plectrum and has a sharp metallic sound, reminiscent of a mandolin but pitched lower. There are two main types of bouzouki. The trichordo (three-course) has three pairs of strings (known as courses), and the tetrachordo (four-course) has four pairs of strings.

Old Vs New

You speak Greek.. You just don't know it

Greece in a glass...

Τα λέμε ρε!

The birthplace of Olympic Games! Ancient Olympia, Peloponesse

Άσπρο πάτο

άσπρο πάτο[áspro páto] white bottom

Phrase used to encourage a person to drink the whole glass of a drink in one go.

Παράδειγμα
Cheers! White bottom!
Στην υγειά μας κι άσπρο πάτο!

http://www.odigosalaellinika.gr/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=facebook-post&utm_campaign=odigos+a+la+ellinika

Άκου να δεις

άκου να δεις[ákou ná δis]listen to see

A phrase used to draw one's attention or to show surprise.

Παράδειγμα

I’ll try to explain this to you. Listen to see…
Θα σου εξηγήσω. Άκου να δεις…

http://www.odigosalaellinika.gr/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=facebook-post&utm_campaign=odigos+a+la+ellinika

Souvlaki pita

Souvlaki-pita

Souvlaki sandwich
A difference between southern and northern Greece is that "souvlaki ap'ola" (souvlaki "with everything") typically includes tzatziki sauce in Athens, unlike Thessaloniki.

This course consists of souvlaki meat garnished with sliced tomatoes and onions, sauced with tzatziki, and wrapped in a lightly grilled pita. When chicken is used instead of pork meat, tzatziki and onions are replaced with a special sauce and lettuce to be compatible with its taste; Various other garnishes and sauces are possible, including shredded lettuce, paprika, fried potatoes, ketchup, andmustard, though these are considered heretical by purists. In Athens and southern Greece it is called pita-kalamaki. Any of these components may not be included, at the request of the customer. Hungry customers may occasionally request a two-pita wrapping (diplopito) and/or a double meat serving (dikalamo).

In Corfu, a special tomato sauce is added to souvlaki, plainly called "red sauce" (κόκκινη σάλτσα).

Έτσι είναι η ζωή!

Mykonos windmills

The Mykonos windmills are iconic feature of the Greek island of the Mykonos. The island is one of the Cyclades islands, which neighbour Delos in the Agean Sea. The windmills can be seen from every point of the village of Mykonos, the island's principal village, which is frequently called the Chora (which translates to "Country" in Greek, but refers to an island's "Town") on Greek islands. The windmills are the first thing seen when coming into the harbour of Alefkandra, as they stand on a hill overlooking the area. Most windmills face towards the North where the island's climate sources its strongest winds over the largest part of the year. There are currently 16 windmills on Mykonos of which seven are positioned on the famous landmak hill in Chora. Most of them were built by the Venetians in the 16th century, but construction continued into the early 20th century. They were primarily used to mill wheat. They were an important source of income for the inhabitants. Their use gradually declined until they ceased production in the middle of the 20th century. Their architecture is similar. They all have a round shape, white colour and a pointed roof and very small windows. Such windmills are found in almost allCyclades islands. One of these windmills has been transformed into a museum.

Pláka (Greek: Πλάκα)

Pláka (Greek: Πλάκα)

is the old historical neighborhood of Athens, clustered around the northern and eastern slopes of the Acropolis, and incorporating labyrinthine streets and neoclassical architecture.

Plaka is built on top of the residential areas of the ancient town of Athens.

It is known as the "Neighbourhood of the Gods" due to its proximity to the Acropolis and its many archaeological sites.

House in Mitilini Island

Chairs in Taverna - Retro Styled

Monument of the Unknown Soldier on Syntagma Square in Athens

Two quotations by Thucydides, from Pericles' Funeral Oration, are inscribed on the retaining wall:
Μία κλίνη κενὴ φέρεται ἐστρωμένη τῶν ἀφανῶν ("... and one bed is carried empty, made for the unknown ones"), and
Ἀνδρῶν ἐπιφανῶν πᾶσα γῆ τάφος ("For eminent men, every place is (worthy) burial ground").
The inscriptions flank a central sculpture in low relief, depicting a dying hoplite. The monument is guarded round the clock by the Evzones of the Presidential Guard.

We are all Greeks!

Mpougatsa (Greek: Μπουγάτσα)

Μπουγάτσα Θεσσαλονίκης με Κρέμα

Mpougatsa is one of the most famous Greek breakfast pastries in Northern Greece. It comes with different fillings creme, cheese, meat, spinach. It has somewhat made its way to the Southern parts of Greece but the Southerners don’t seem to understand how it is different to their ‘normal’ and ‘usual’ cheese pastries.

History claims that ancients Greeks used to make pies with every kind of fealing called “placountas”. Years went by and mpougatsa stayed popular in Constantinoupolis and Smyrna. Mpougatsa in Turkish means pie fealed with cream and topped with sugar powder and cinnamon powder. After the destroyal of Smyrna and the exchange of the Greek-Turkish colonies, mpougatsa became extremely popular in north Greece and especially Thessaloniki.

Best Crepes in Greece

Best Crepes in Greece (Thessaloniki - Navarinou Square)

Κρέπα με Οδηγίες Χρήσης
1. Πατάς
2. Ρουφάς
3. Δαγκώνεις
Αλλιώς...Λερώνεις

Καλά μπάνια!

The National Library of Greece

The National Library of Greece (Greek: Εθνική Βιβλιοθήκη) is situated near the center of city of Athens. It was designed by the Danish architect Theophil Freiherr von Hansen, as part of his famous Trilogy of neo-classical buildings including the Academy of Athens and the original building of the Athens University. It was founded by Ioannis Kapodistrias.

Greek Traditional Καλτσούνια (Kaltsunia)

Greek Traditional Καλτσούνια (Kaltsunia) - Cream Cheese Cookies

They are mainly produced on the island of Crete.

Kaseri Cheese

Kaseri Cheese : A traditional Greek semi-hard cheese, Kaseri cheese is a famous alternative to mozzarella. Historically, it is one of the top two oldest cheeses in the world. While not as well-known outside of Greece, it is used extensively in local Greek dishes and it's called for in a number of Greek recipes.

The Greek White Color

Laouto (Greek: Λαούτο)

The laouto (Greek: λαούτο)
is a long-neck fretted instrument of the lute family, found in Greece, and similar in appearance to the oud. The role of the laouto in Greek traditional music is primarily that of accompaniment. The laouto is often played in a duo with the Cretan lyra

Τι μου κάνεις;;

Easter Saturday, the night of the balloons

Easter Saturday: the night of the balloons

During Eastertime in Leonidio devoutness and excitement go hand in hand, thanks to the spectacular custom of the balloons that is more than one century old. Although its origin is unknown, it is believed that the custom is a revival of a similar one that the seamen of the area had seen practiced in some Asian country.
It all boils down to the competition among the five parishes of the village. For six weeks until Easter, after every Friday evening’s service, the kids raise money to make as many balloons as possible. It is estimated that every Easter Saturday night five to six hundred balloons fill the sky with their sparkling light, and that is about one balloon per house.

http://www.visitgreece.gr/en/culture/easter_saturday_the_night_of_the_balloons_

Ikaria Island!

Ikaria Island!
It derived its name from Icarus, the son of Daedalus in Greek mythology. Today, Ikaria is considered one of the world's five "Blue Zones" – places where the population regularly lives to an advanced age (one in three make it to their 90s). This is due to healthy diets and lifestyles.