Heads &Tales: Astoria By day and Molyvos at Night
After my big night on the town in New York with a long-awaited arrival in my bed at 4:30am, Sunday greeted me all too quickly and despite the lack of sleep (early riser here) I was determined to continue my tour of New York. One of my curiosities was to visit Astoria. It’s known as […]
Artichoke Pie (αγκιναρόπιτα-της-Τήνου)
Another island in the Cyclades of Greece is Tinos. Tinos is the island just before reaching party-central Mykonos. The contrast in vacationers that attend both islands is that of the late nights of Mykonos, loud thumping Techno & House and all-nighters and the more normal Tinos with vacationers seeking the beach, idlyllic town life, a […]
Mezedes at the Greek Table
Mezedes are Greek appetizers and there are two approaches when approaching the Greek “trapezi” or table. One is to offer up several little bites and tastes to your guests throughout the night. This type of evening has no 1st, 2nd or main course…just meze after meze after meze with conversation and drink to accompany the […]
Grilled Smoked Mackerel (Ψητά-καπνιστό-σκουμπρί)
The other night I finally played catch-up with one of my cousins as we hadn’t seen each other since before my trip to Greece. I showed her my pictures, relayed the good and bad parts (what bad parts?) of my trip and enthused about the wonderful food I ate. If you’re a regular reader of […]
Chickpea Fritters From Sifnos
This past summer I had the pleasure of visiting the Greek island of Sifnos for the first time. It lies in the middle of the Cyclades between Serifos, Kimolos and Antiparos and is about 80 nautical miles from Piraeus. Sifnos is also known for it’s contribution to the sciences and the Greek literary tradition. The […]
Keftedes With Pligouri, Fresh Herbs and a Lemon Verbena Yogurt Sauce
Each time I visit Greece (count 20 times), I come back to Canada just a little more Greek, a little less “Canadian”. Don’t get me wrong, Canada is the best place in the world to live but the climate here sucks and that’s a big BUT. Otherwise, why wouldn’t the world’s second largest country have […]
Fresh Salad
During this past vacation in Greece I again returned to the warm embrace of Athens. I visited some old friends, made some new ones and I also had to cook and film a pilot to promote the concept of “Kalofagas” as a TV show. If you would like a sense of where I’m coming from […]
Calamari Souvlaki (Καλαμάρια-Σουβλάκι)
Yesterday in Naxos, today back at my homebase of Halkidiki, where our summer home is. No worries, we’re still be the sea. For years (since 1980), my family has been coming to Nea Kallikratia for our summer vacations. Here in Toronto, people head north to their cottages to spend the summers but us…we just go […]
Postcard From Naxos
One of the stops I made during my recent trip to Greece was visiting the large island of Naxos. I had no intent on visiting this island until one of my readers extended an invite to witness and be a part of a traditional Greek island wedding. I thought long and hard but after some […]
Greeked-Up Jalapeño Poppers
Today, I’m introducing you to a new ingredient called Pastourma. Pastourma, it is said, is where the origins of pastrami came from. Pastourma is stronger than pastrami and upon tasting this thin sliced cured beef, one immediately tastes garlic, paprika and notes of cumin and fenugreek. The origins of pastourma come from the Ottoman/Armenian cuisine […]