Alexandra's 4th Birthday & Name Day

Today is our little Alexandra's 4th birthday and Name Day.  We celebrated her birthday at home on Saturday  night, she had a wonderful time. 

Alexandra chose this cake. Originally, she wanted something with unicorns & monkeys...and grass on it. I'm really glad she took the time to look through the catalog and settle for the Dalmatians. 

When came time to blow out the candles she went for the challenge and tried to blow out the sparklers! 

What was on the table this year?

Tiropita

Spanikopita

Loukanopita

Olives

Melanzanosalata

Greek Potato Salad 

Tomato-Basil Bruschetta

Feta cheese squares...

Peanut butter & Jelly minis for the kids...

Sausage, crackers, Kalamata olive tampanade

and my favorite this year-tomato/basil/mozzarella  hor d'oeuvres. I couldn't stop eating these! 

We had a lot of leftovers so I didn't have to cook on Sunday which was fantastic since we were away all morning having coffee with very special visitors. 

It was a wonderful weekend full of celebration that we shared with our very special friends and family. 

Happy Birthday & Happy Name Day my sweet Alexandra! 

χρόνια πολλά!

A Whole Lot of Nothing...

I realize it's been a while since my last post, almost 3 weeks. Sometimes there's so much going on that it seems overwhelming which leaves me feeling like there's nothing to say, but then again, there's a whole lot of nothing. May is always a busy month for our family. We start with a BBQ on May 1st to celebrate "Protomagia". Usually I take a few days to prepare for that and a few days to recover.  Mix in national holidays,  general strikes (teachers included), my birthday, Kosta's name day, weekend outings and a few illnesses--(ok, basically just life)-- and I'm pretty much exhausted by the time I have the urge to write, leaving me with just enough energy to do some mandatory online socializing and read some news, that is, if I haven't fallen asleep first. 

So this week I have a whole lot of nothing coming up. But before I start bringing you up to speed,  I'll share a big happy smile from our newest resident,  Lobo. He's settled in nicely and I think he's pretty happy with us, he hasn't attempted to flee yet! 

Enjoy the remainder of the weekend! 

Where have I been?

As the holidays pass for most families our season continues for a week longer which keeps all of us busy.So, once again life has led me to neglect my blog. Sure I've been present online, but not here. I've spent a lot of time reading, commenting and responding to email; but  not blogging. I can tweet with my kids running around but I can't concentrate on anything else since they usually protest whenever I sit near the laptop. Either they want to use it or they stick books or papers in front of my screen to get my attention. I remember using the same techniques while my parents read the newspaper. I can't really blame them.

 - A little of what I've been doing-

January 6th

Foti's name day. His full name is Fotios, named after my late father-in-law. Although I didn't expect too many guests, I had to be prepared if anyone decided to show up.I spent the day in the kitchen baking and making some of his favorite foods.  Foti was excited and loved receiving phone calls. I made him pizza for lunch and let him watch a movie later that afternoon.  At the end of the day we only had two guests and it was perfect. What was even better is that I had a lot of food left over and didn't have to cook the next day.

January 8th- Izabella's birthday.

Rushing to the bakery early that morning I  decided that although an already prepared cake might be fantastic; a homemade cake would be even better. And even better than that, a homemade cake in which the birthday girl could help make and decorate. So, after I picked Iza up from school we went straight to the store so that she could choose the toppings for her cake. We used this chocolate cake recipe. It was fantastic!

The actual birthday party will take place this weekend and we ordered another chocolate cake for the day. She chose a cake with Dalmations on it, not the Disney Dalmations, just regular Dalmations.

 Izabella had a great birthday and she was so pleased with everything. I still can't believe that she's seven.

and in between celebrations...

We had a play date with friends which allowed me to enjoy coffee & great conversation.

I made a few homemade pizzas. Honestly, I'd never attempted to make my own pizza dough until now, I don't know why. But I decided try my hand at it and  I was pleased with the results. I used Ivy's recipe for basic homemade pizza dough and made my own sauce. I topped one pizza with mozzarella cheese and the others with green peppers, onions, tomatoes and of course, mozzarella.  I have to say that they were a few of the better pizzas I've had in a while. I won't say the best because I still believe that Lisa's Pizzeria in my other neighborhood has the best pizza I've ever eaten.  But the kids loved my pizzas and they're particular about pizza so I'll believe them when they say that they were delicious.

I was able to spend quality time with Adriane. This is her favorite photo of us.

We went to the city to visit friends and along the way we stopped to watch ice skaters. It was too late for us to skate and we were dressed well so we couldn't...

but Foti  really wished that he could have. The kids  also enjoyed looking at the Ancient Agora as we passed by, but since it was dark I couldn't get a good photo.

And in the midst of our adventures in living I got very sick and it took about 5 days for me to feel better. Nasty flu!

But as soon as I recovered I was out taking photos again. These photos of the girls in the wheat field are significant because it's just outside  of our gate and  we've just learned that someone bought this stretch of land and will probably be building a house soon. I hope it's a house and not an apartment building because we love our view, not to mention the serenity.  Let's hope for the best!

Yes, it's Mt. Olympus in the background.

~~~

A few of my friends in the blogosphere inquired about my absence and I'm thankful. I'm back and not leaving blog land anytime soon. Thank you.

So, my year is off to a good start (well, minus the flu) and I'm optimistic to see how the rest of it unfolds.

Alexandra's Birthday/Name day...

Our fairy princess...the princess of all things sweet and all things girlish...is three years old today.

She was born on August 30th, which is also why we named her Alexandra, she was born on the day in which Greeks celebrate the name Alexander, Alexandra etc...which made choosing her name easy.

We threw her party yesterday, on the 29th, since it usually works out better for most guests to attend a party on a Saturday. She was thrilled. She's been excited for a while but she has been extremely anxious since last week, when I took her to the bakery to pick out her own cake. I sat her on the counter and we browsed through the pages of cakes available for order. She liked all of them that had princesses, but it didn't take her long to come to a final decision.

Here's a picture of her with her princess cake...

What else did we eat? Of course, I made arroz con gandules...it's a staple at any of my family occasions. Yia Yia made cheese pies (τυρόπιτες) and coconut cookies. I made chocolate chip cookies for the kids and then we had chips and other munchies since we weren't having dinner, our guests were invited for cake & ice cream. The cake was out of this world! Alexandra chose the chocolate/creme (σοκολάτα με κρέμα) combination and it was incredibly fresh. There wasn't a piece left at the end of the night.

Consumed by the song & sparklers...

Making a wish...

Pleased that the princesses are now hers to play with...

Yes, we're very proud of our fairy princess!

Since we celebrated a day early, we spent a quiet Sunday at home. Our day was so quiet that we enjoyed a nap on our balcony during mesi meri. That doesn't happen very often, especially on name days. So, we thoroughly enjoyed Alexandra's birthday/name day. She had a blast too!

A few photos from the last three years...

Four months old...

About 2 weeks old...

Her first birthday shown above,

& her second birthday below...

Just a few weeks ago...we're so happy together.

Thessaloniki, turkey & tree...

So I mentioned that I don't like to let more than a week lapse between posts and then 2 weeks slide by...

The main reason?

My laptop crashed. I was out of commission for a few days.

Now that everything is working again I'll share some pictures from last week...


Wednesday

We went into the city to take care some things and Alexandra loved visiting the pigeons.


Before leaving, we enjoyed coffee at Starbucks while Alexandra indulged in a giant cookie.
That evening, we listened to an amazing woman speak about working with children in Africa.

Thursday

Thanksgiving!!! I hope that all of you that celebrated had a nice one! Although it was a regular weekday I still made a turkey & some fixings. I didn't go overboard though. This year's Thanksgiving was much nicer since I had myself together and shopped earlier. I bought the turkey a few months ago so all that I had to do is remember to take it out of the freezer on time.

The kids helped by helping mash the potatoes and also setting the table. It's not a formal setting by any means but we love our Fiestaware. My friends Beth & Linda turned me on to it years ago. I think of them each time I use any of it, which is daily. Thanks you two!



Kosta's plate-turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn and stuffing.

Saturday

We put up our Christmas tree.

That's last week! This week has been a sick week. Iza & Foti came down with a nasty virus and have been home from school since Tuesday. Actually, Iza went to school today. Foti will more than likely go back tomorrow. Iza is excited to go to school tomorrow because she'll be bringing a cake and treats in order to celebrate her name day, which is Saturday. Her middle name is "Victoria"-a version of my mother-in-law's name-"Niki"- which is what we celebrate. She's been announcing it to everyone a week. So, I hope that she enjoys herself tomorrow.

Alexandra's Birthday

Well, our baby is now 2 years old and I can't believe it. Her birthday and name day landed on a Saturday this year so we had a party that evening. The weather wasn't bad. It was still hot but there was a very comfortable wind. It was definitely a wind, not a breeze. But anyway I had expected around thirty people to show up and only four did. A few weddings, an illness, a very pregnant woman and a couple on vacation were all very legitimate reasons for missing Alexandra's celebration. We had a great time nevertheless.

We had a great variety of foods. Here's the a picture of the table. I took it after we started to eat so things got a little messy.
I used my last can of gandules that I brought with me from home for this very special day. No celebration in my family would be complete without arroz con gandules-or as we refer to it as "the rice". It's missing a few key ingredients that I don't have available right now but it was still acceptable. I'm missing fresh cilantro and alcaparrado. Here's the pot of rice...

I need my husband to buy me new a caldero...the best Puerto Rican rice is always cooked in a caldero. I remember the calderos that belonged to all of my female relatives were always on the stove top...never taken from their position for family gatherings. The rice is in the kitchen...you know where to get it. Always. To this day, I can visit an aunt of mine and she doesn't serve us, she just says "there are plates on the counter and you know where the food is". I really miss that and I really miss my mom's rice-the rice of all rice. I never mentioned it, but last year my mom sent some of her rice home with Kosta and we were able to enjoy it here. She made it the night before he left and filled a gallon sized Ziploc bag...(double bagged) and we ate rice for two days. (Kosta traveled in the winter so heat wasn't an issue-the rice was safe)The kids were so excited and so was I.

Back to the party-

I also made guacamole...

This was the hit of the night! Everyone had their fair share and if I would have made more it would have been devoured. Even MIL loved it. We've turned her on to Mexican food so she's had this before and really enjoys it. This recipe was inspired by our trip to Puerto Vallarta when I was just 6 weeks pregnant with Izabella. The waiter at a local restaurant made the guacamole fresh at the table so I watched carefully as he assembled our order. Here's the recipe for Saturday's guacamole. (I change the recipe all of the time).

Saturday's guacamole

4 large ripe avocados

1 small onion-diced

1 small tomato-diced

1 lime

1 tsp dried cilantro

Salt to taste

Mash the avocados in a bowl using a fork. After you have a smooth/lumpy consistency add the onions and tomato. Mix to combine the ingredients. Cut the lime in half and squeeze the juice of the lime into the mixture. Add the salt. Add the cilantro. Mix and let stand for at least ten minutes.

That's it-it's that simple. But again, a handful of fresh cilantro(chopped) is preferred so if you have it use that instead of dried cilantro. It makes a world of difference.

After we ate there was an evening walk in our "woods". With nothing more than a flashlight and the light of my video camera we took a dark, almost scary walk through our olive trees. The kids loved it! I had fun too, I just didn't like pulling all of the burs from my skirt afterward. So, after our walk we cut the cake. As I was scooping ice cream onto a plate with the cake my koubara's daughter asked, " we get ice cream with our cake?" I said, " of course you do, it wouldn't be a birthday without ice cream & cake served on a plate together". In Greece, typically, ice cream is only eaten in the summer(which it technically is) and on its own. So, little Irene was thrilled to have both ice cream and cake on her plate. Her brother, Nick, was so thrilled he ate 2 servings of ice cream. Everyone had so much fun.