Alpha

We had a busy day planned for our first full day in Sydney. First, though, we required breakfast, and we chose a Greek restaurant, Alpha, since it was so close to the sights we had wanted to see.

My husband had the strapatsada: scrambled eggs, roast tomato
saltsa, sheep's milk feta, and olives.

I had the bacon and egg pita roll, which was
missing the wilted spinach, but which included
house-made ketchup.

Aristo's Greek Cuisine

It's taken years, but I finally earned enough points using OpenTable to get a gift card. There was a decent selection of restaurants from which I could choose, so I chose Aristo's Greek Cuisine, a place my husband and I had heard about but never managed to go to. (This was mostly due to laziness.) However, one of my colleagues got married this evening, and invited my husband and I to the reception, after which my husband and I decided we needed some dinner, so off to Aristo's we went.

We shared a starter of Orektika, a sampler of three spreads:
skordalia (a velvety dish of garlic, garlic, and more garlic),
hummus, and taramasalata (a creamy dip of roe, olive oil,
and potato).

My husband also ordered gyro sliders, one each of lamb
and beef, chicken, and pork. (I couldn't get a good picture
with all three gyros.)

My husband ordered the kokkinisto (lamb shank braised in
red wine tomato sauce, served with orzo pasta and
Myzithra).

I ordered a few small plates - spanakopita and marines (crunchy fried smelt fish) - and a side of lemon rice.

Salt Lake Greek Festival 2016

This was the fifth year my husband and I attended the Salt Lake Greek Festival. We didn't stick around as long as we had in years past - we had some lunch, and admired the dancing and the items for sale in the little shop - but once again, there were no cooking demos to observe, nor did we take in a tour of the church or listen to a choral performance. The dancing was lovely, of course, and the food was, as usual, good (although we noticed a slight decline in the quality of the gyros). 

I had a gyro, spanakopita, pilaf, keftedes (meatballs), and
chicken souvlaki.

We both brought home some lamb, which came with an
excellent salad and feta, for dinner.

We had to get some desserts, too, of course: baklava,
baklava cheesecake, and galotoptia (custard).

The pasta flora (jam tart) and almond cookies were excellent.

Apollo Burger

Today was the second day of a two-day workshop I needed to take for my ESL teaching endorsement.  We had an hour for lunch, so a group of us (teachers) walked over to Apollo Burger for lunch.

I started out with mozzarella sticks.

I also had the fried mushrooms. This was not turning out to be
a healthy lunch.

Since this place is apparently known for its
burgers, I ordered a bacon cheeseburger,
which came with a lot of bacon, and was
pretty good.

Salt Lake Greek Festival 2015

This weekend was the 40th anniversary of the Salt Lake Greek Festival; this is the fourth year in a row my husband and I have attended. We primarily go to the food but the festival features dancing from various Greek troupes; tours of Holy Trinity Cathedral and performances from the cathedral choir; and the Hellenic Cultural Museum of Salt Lake City.

This year we happened to go between dancing sets, so we didn't stay as long; we also didn't go on a tour of the church or listen to a choral performance. (And it's been a few years since we went to the Hellenic Cultural Museum.)

We noticed a few changes this year: There were fewer vendors - we remembered that last year, there were also many fewer than in previous years; for the second year in a row, we didn't see any art for sale. This year, for the first time, we didn't see the cooking demo stand set up. And the tchotchke shop - where we scored some feta and Greek coffee - had many fewer items than last year. There were also fewer food stands outside the food line; the sausage-and-fries stand had sold out, and there was no second gyro stand. Since both this year and last we went on a Sunday, we weren't sure if our timing had something to do with these differences.

But still - Greek food!

I did not eat all of this in one sitting: pilafi, spanakopita,
souvlaki, gyro, and calamari.

Some of the desserts we took home galaktoboureko,
galatopita, poutika, and a macaroon.

If we could have bought all the baklava,
we would have. We also brought home a
bag of koulourakia and some baklava cake.

We also took some loukoumades home.

Salt Lake Greek Festival 2014

This weekend was the 39th annual Salt Lake Greek Festival, hosted by the Greek Orthodox Churches of Greater Salt Lake; my husband and I have managed to attend the past three years (the first festival I could have attended, four years ago, I hadn't known about; I had been living in Utah for less than a week at that point). Last year, we discovered that Sunday afternoon was a good time for us to attend; the food lines are much shorter, which suits us better.

In any case, we saw some wonderful dancing; saw a cooking demo, in which fried feta was prepared and shared; and heard the Holy Trinity Cathedral Choir perform.

We also ate a lot of great food.

While waiting in line, we bought and ate Tyropita, a cheese
triangle wrapped and baked in phyllo.

My husband had the Keftedes (meatballs); a gyro; pilafi (rice
 boiled in lemon and chicken broth); pork souvlaki; and
Pastitsio (baked pasta with a filling of ground meat and a
béchamel sauce on top). He also had a salad and feta.

I had some spanikopita; a gyro; some feta; some Keftedes;
and chicken souvlaki. 

I also had Stifado, a beef stew with pearl onions, vinegar,
red wine, and cinnamon.

While I wasn't able to eat everything, before we left we
stopped off for another gyro and Greek fries to take home. 

Among the things we took home were the Loukoumades, which
are similar to donuts; they're fried balls of dough coated with
honey and sprinkled with cinnamon.

Many treats were bought; some was eaten, but some was
taken home. We ate some baklava and melomakarona
(cookies soaked in syrup of diluted honey, then sprinkled with
crushed walnuts).

Baklava is one of our favorites, but we also ate or brought home
a galotopita (custard pudding baked in phyllo) and some
flogeres (walnuts, butter, and spices baked in phyllo and topped
with chocolate syrup).

Pizza Palace

On our last day in Massachusetts visiting my husband's father and assorted cousins, we had lunch at Pizza Palace, the family-owned and family-run restaurant.

We shared a whole lot of mozzarella sticks.

This was really excellent: a beef kebob with American cheese
on Syrian bread.

Olympia Restaurant

On our last night in Massachusetts, my husband, father-in-law, and I had dinner at the Olympia Restaurant.

appetizer: feta cheese

appetizer: charbroiled Greek meatballs

appetizer: grilled garlic pita bread

entree: roast lamb

side dish: Zorba fries

dessert: baklava

Pizza Palace

My husband and I are up in Massachusetts visiting my father-in-law, who bought a house in the area over a year ago, but which we haven't yet managed to see. We rectified that and are in town for about five days to visit with my father-in-law, admire his house, and visit some family and friends who live in the area (or who happen to be in town at the same time - a rare occurrence).

We left this morning after nearly two weeks visiting my parents in eastern Pennsylvania, and had an easy drive, arriving shortly before dinner time. Ed's cousin owns and operates Pizza Palace, so we drove over, visited with some cousins, and had dinner.

I had the meaty chicken wrap, which came with
grilled chicken, ham, bacon, blue cheese, lettuce,
and tomatoes

Allentown Fairgrounds Farmers Market

It's been years since I went to the Allentown Fairgrounds Farmers Market, and I somehow managed never to take my husband, so we planned a visit during lunch this afternoon, and made special stops at Foods of the Mediterranean, Dan's Bar-B-Que, Gdynia Polish Market, the Kiffle Kitchen Bakery, and the Country Cottage Bake Shop.

My husband had a gyro from Foods of the Mediterranean.

pierogies and onions from Dan's Bar-B-Que

a corn pie from Dan's Bar-B-Que

meat pies & spanikopita swirls from Foods of the Mediterranean

spinach and feta pies from Foods of the Mediterranean

one of the huge pitas from Foods of the Mediterranean

two of the sausages from Gdynia Polish Market; I wish I
knew what types they were, but all the signs were in Polish

part of a nutroll, also called a kolach, 
with English walnut filling, from Country Cottage Bake Shop

kiffles with Lekvar (prune) filling and walnut filling, and
walnut tossies from the Kiffle Kitchen

strawberry kiffles and different tossies (I wish I remembered
which flavor!) from the Kiffle Kitchen

Salt Lake Greek Festival 2013

The weekend after Labor Day, the Greek Orthodox Church of Greater Salt Lake throws a big festival: the Salt Lake Greek Festival. It's a four-day event that starts on Thursday afternoon and goes until Sunday night, and it's monstrous. My husband and I went this afternoon, which was a great time to have gone; the food lines were quick (in years past we've waited up to an hour or more).

We had some great food, trying much of the food I know little old Greek church ladies had spent a lot of time preparing. We even saw a whole lamb cooking on a spit, which I wish I had gotten a picture of.

My husband had a Greek salad, gyro, calamari,
pork souvlaki, and Keftedes (baked meatballs) 

I got a lot of the same things my husband did (although I
got spanikopita instead of salad, and didn't get an order of
calamari), but we both got an extra gyro.

I also ordered Loukaniko, pork sausage flavored with
fennel seeds and orage peel).

And aside from a tray of pastries we took home with us,
we had fresh Loukourmades, fried balls of dough coated
with honey and sprinkled with cinnamon.