BJ&J Week 1: It's all Greek to me...

Thursday I wrote a blog about a few goals to do weekly. See blog here. Goal 1 reads "I am Greek, but I rarely cook Greek foods-it would be awesome to cook something Greek, learn some of the Greek language, or learn something new about my Greek ancestors every week." I thought a good start for week 1 would be to throw out some of my Greek knowledge and let you all comment and throw in your 2 cents as well. So, here is goes...

My mom's mom, my XiaXia (pronounced yi ya)is full Greek. Both her parents were born in Greece and I believe they only spoke Greek even after they moved to the USA. XiaXia sent my mom and her sisters (at least the oldest ones-maybe all?) to Greek school when they were little so they learned Greek at least a bit. I remember as a child going to parties at th Greek church and with Greek family members. My main memory of those is eating rice pilaf (Mmmmm) and having all my relatives pull me aside to tell me what a cute littl Greek-a girl I was and even as a small child telling me they had to find a good Greek-a boy for me.

My family still does many Greek traditions. We make New Years bread with coins in it for luck and try to be the first to call XiaXia at the stroke of midnight for the New Year to get the money! You have to say something which I will phonetically type out what I think it is "Meghea k efta hea tonato etos." I do not know what he real words are nor am I quite sure what it means...maybe that what I should learn this week...

On easter we make sweet bread with a blod red egg cooked into it and say "Christos anesti" (Again-phonetic) Which means "Christ has Risen." You are supposed to respon with something that means "Indead He has." I always have to ask my mom how to say that one...maybe another thing to learn this week..

There are other Greek tradtions, but those a the 2 main ons I can think of right now offth top of my head. But if I am being honest, my favorite part about being Greek is the FOOD!!! Mmmmm...I already mentioned Rice pilaf, some of my other favorites include, but are not limited to Pasticio (a creamy lasagna-type dish), Tiropetes (Cheese fille phillo dough-Mmmmm) Spanikopita (like Tiropetes but with Spinach),Souvlaki (meat on a stick), Dilpes (Phillo dough rolled in honey and nuts) Baklava (But only homemade by a family member-never have I liked any other kind). Also, I love Kasseri (yummiest geek cheese-the stronger the better) and of course a goodGreek salad!

Now, I should note that while the Olympics were in my hometown in 2002, I was in the home of te Olympics with my husband, parents, XiaXia, & sister, Melanie. I learned there that the "Greek food" I have been eating all my life is pretty authentic, but that our Greek diet lacke some of the food staples from Greece. Namely, the most disgusting food I have ever tried, dandilion greens. Gross! Also, there is a lot of fish in the diet in Geece-calamari is a huge thing there. And reguardless of th fact that we are all Mormon and do not drink alcohol at all, the family in Greec obviously felt that we should have been downing uzo to make any meal complete (we did not drink any fyi).

I have so, so many more things to share with any of you that care, but I will leave it at that for now. So, here is your homework, comment on this with your Greek thoughts and knowledge (Mom, XiaXia, Aunts, I am sure you have a lot to correct me on here-feel free!) Tell me what you know or love about any and every thing Greek. And for heavens sake, if you have no idea what I am talking about rent "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" watch it and get back to me with any comments or questions.