Fun in the Kitchen!

 Hi!

How are you?

Over the years I've noticed that when you ask a Greek person "how are you?" most of the time they're going to tell you they're fine. They will NEVER say that they're not fine, but sometimes they'll say

"I'm trying."

You're trying? You're trying to what? Find a new job? Invent the perfect cake recipe? Lay an egg? What?

WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO SAY?!

It's very confusing. 

But my guess is that since they don't like to say they're not fine, then maybe that's what "I'm trying" actually means. It's like they're putting a positive twist on what seems to be a negative connotation. 

Why does it seem to be a negative connotation? It's the way they say it! 

It's like they just stuffed all the depression 

from every country & western song ever written 

into 1 word!

(it's one word in Greek...)

I'm trying - TRANSLATION: "I'm trying my absolute best to put on a happy face right now, when really I hate the world, I'm completely surrounded by crap, everyone sucks, you suck for starting this stupid conversation in your stupid 'la la la everything is perfect' voice and I'M HAVING THE WORST HAIR DAY OF MY LIFE! ANYTHING ELSE YOU WANT TO ASK?? BECAUSE I'M TRYING, I'M REALLY TRYING TO HAVE THIS CONVERSATION WITH YOU INSTEAD OF RUNNING THROUGH THE STREETS SMASHING THINGS AND SCREAMING LIKE A LUNATIC, ALRIGHT?!"

It's possible I'm getting a little carried away with this but my point is, IF the objective is to give the impression that all is good when really it isn't...

then "I'm trying" actually ends up sounding a lot worse then if you just came out with it and said, 

"I'm shit today, but thanks for asking."

So that was just a little thought that's been rolling around in my brain for a few years now....no big deal....

I'm doing great today, thanks very much! So I guess that means I'm not trying at all!! Nope, no that really does not work in the opposite direction.....

Ok, so Fun in the Kitchen is our topic today. Lets move onto that shall we? 

Last week we had a lovely group of ladies from Finland in the restaurant for a cooking class! 

Olympia showed them how to make stuffed calamari...

...they were a little freaked out about touching raw squid but as you can see, they were all good sports

Spanikopita was also on the agenda

Lefteris showed them a few things too, here he's frying the spinach and cheese pies

They also learned how to make Gigantes, the giant white beans in tomato sauce

And the students were very attentive...until I showed up with our little Eleni of course

I'm going to ruin this photo for Antonis and tell you that even though you can't see her, he's holding Eleni in front of him 

and that's why an entire room of women are staring his way with dreamy eyes and huge smiles...

Sorry babe, no matter how gorgeous you may be Eleni will ALWAYS steal the spotlight

 ...I promise I won't tell anyone else what's really going on here....

Mmmmmm! Fresh spanikopita and tiropita!

And finally after a job well done it was time to open the wine and dig in!

Today we were in another kitchen, but still having fun.....

Eleni has made it very clear over the last couple of days, that she's completely bored with her toys

So we made a new one

1 muffin tin + flour + oatmeal + a giant metal spoon + a plastic mat + 1 toddler = 1 hour of very messy fun!

examining what happens when you mix the flour with the oats....

testing what happens when you throw this mixture at mommy....

letting it run through her fingers....

doing a little dance with the spoon, because that's fun too...

now it's time to take a closer look.....

while deeply concentrating, it helps to stick one's tongue out

Mommy this is really fun!

yes of course she put some in her mouth....but she wasn't a fan

taste test #2....nope, still don't like it....

"Look Mommy, there's none left in the pan! I put it everywhere else! Did I win?"

Yes baby, you did. Now lets clean up and get ready for a nap....

After all that excitement, now we're nice and clean and reading a story before nap time

And she slept for 2 whole hours after that! 

We'll definitely be doing this again. Half way through Eleni got up, walked over to the baking cupboard where I keep the flour and oatmeal, pointed at it and yelled "MORE! MAMA MORE!" 

So cute!

Try to have a great day everyone! 

And if you're not, just throw some flour around the room and try not too smile about it...

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

I've been on Pinterest again.....

As I write to you, I have a concoction of yogurt, honey and lemon juice on my face..

Apparently this face mask, 

"heals, exfoliates, brightens and moisturizes skin. It refines pores, fades acne marks and prevents blemishes from coming up"

I'm supposed to keep it on for 20 minutes, wash it off and prepare to be amazed.

Right.

Anyway, I'll fill you in on what's happening lately and after that I'll go wash my face and tell you how amazed I am. I did change the recipe a bit though so if this doesn't work miracles it may not be fair to say it's a stupid recipe. I was supposed to use sour cream, but as usual I found a way to cut calories and used yogurt instead. And while it seems more disgusting to slather sour cream on your face than yogurt, I didn't have any sour cream anyway. So that was that. I also cut the recipe in half because it seemed a bit excessive:

2 tbsp sour cream

2 tbsp honey

1 tbsp lemon juice or apple cider vinegar

First of all, honey is expensive here so I'm not about to waste 2 tbsp of it on my face. 

Second of all...I just don't think I have that big of a face. Seriously, 5 tablespoons of stuff?? For one face??? It seemed like a bit much, so I made half that and I had a massive amount left over. And I don't imagine this keeps very well to use another time, so unless you have a giant head you should probably 1/2 or even 1/4 this recipe.

So yeah, I'll let you know how it turns out in a few minutes. Lets hope Eleni doesn't wake up before I wash it off, she'll be terrified. Although the smell of it alone could wake her up........

Did I ever post these pictures of Eleni in her bunny robe? 

I don't think I did but I could be wrong.

Anyhoo, I found these hidden away and couldn't stop going "awwwwwwwww" so I thought I'd share...even if it's for the second time. 

We'll call these a flash back if you've already seen them

These were from April, so she was 8 months old

Just out of the bath, hanging out in the bunny robe

Look at those little rosy cheeks! 

The weather has changed over here finally and we've been getting some windy, rainy days.

So of course this is was the perfect opportunity to try some fun indoor activities.

We did this!

Finger paint, zipped inside a ziplock freezer bag, and taped to the floor!

Eleni LOVES her finger paints but of course she puts them absolutely everywhere and not just on her fingers, so this is usually an outdoor activity.

I was so excited when I found a way to make them an indoor activity! 

Yes. I really, honestly was excited. I'm a mom, stop rolling your eyes!

I set this all up while she took a nap and it was like Christmas eve waiting for her to wake up and find them on the kitchen floor!

Well she found them.......

here we're still waiting for the squeals of excitement (from Eleni)

I didn't get much of a reaction from her but I thought, that's ok, once she starts playing with them she's going to love it!

First thing she tried to do, instead of squishing all the paint around....

she tried to rip them off the floor of course!

And she succeeded......

But Mommy intervened because even though I told you these were ziplock bags, and the finger paint was "zipped" inside....

I lied. 

These are actually the cheap, no-name brand freeze bags that don't have a zip at all.

They have a twist tie.

I couldn't figure out how to incorporate the twist tie so I decided to just tape open bags of paint to the floor and hope for the best.

Brilliant idea.

Luckily we didn't end up with finger paint all over the floor, walls, couch or cat (we don't have a cat but I'm sure she'd find one and paint it if she was given the opportunity), Eleni was a good little listener...sort of. 

When I asked her not to take the tape off the floor, she kept doing it but she just didn't try as hard.

Good enough.

Overall, this activity was a fail. And a waste of finger paint.

Maybe when she gets a little older she'll be able to envision the creative possibilities 

of bags of paint taped to the floor

Later on she decided to read books...

But she can't read just one....

she has to read them all...

and she needs to have every single toy thrown around the room in the messiest possible way...

and the tv has to be on...

But can you see how long her pony tail is getting????

So it's just about time to go wash this smelly, sticky, crap face mask off, but first.....I have news!

WE'RE COMING HOME SOON!!!!

I wasn't planning on saying anything until I had our tickets but I just couldn't wait anymore! So as for details, I have absolutely nothing to tell you. The only thing I can say is that Eleni and I are coming. I don't know exactly when, I don't know for how long, I don't know if Antonis is coming, nothing. But I do know that we will definitely be having a Canadian Christmas this year! YAY!! Everyone keep your fingers crossed for a white Christmas for us please!!! 

So, as soon as I have details, tickets, anything that could be of interest, I'll update you!

Ok, time to wash this stuff off my face....it might be my imagination but I think it's starting to itch.....

It just occurred to me that I really should have taken a before and after shot...sigh. Next time!

So, the result of putting salad dressing yogurt, honey and lemon juice on your face is..........not a heck of a lot! I don't see any visible difference whatsoever! But, my skin is definitely softer which is quite nice. Unfortunately I got a big hunk of honey stuck in my hair just above my left ear which is rather irritating....sigh again. Oh well, I can't be bothered to do anything about it now so I guess I'll be waking up tomorrow with my pillow stuck to the side of my head. Overall this activity was also a fail. And a waste of food.

Baby Talk

"It's 1am. SHUT THE COMPUTER OFF AND GO TO BED!"

I've been having this same conversation with myself almost every night for the past 3 or 4 weeks. It's getting to the point where I think I may need to take away my own computer privileges or put myself in time out or something. This is ridiculous.

But actually I haven't been sleeping well the last 3 or 4 weeks because Eleni's been teething again. Poor little thing never gets just one at a time. This is our second round of teething, so far 3 have popped out this time around bringing us to a total of 9 teeth (finally) and they're all big molars. We'll see if there are still more to follow.

Not a fun time for our little munchkin.

Also not such a fun time for Mommy, but only because Eleni's decided she really likes sleeping in bed with us lately. 

I'm not a big fan of this arrangement. She's a wiggler. And a furnace. 

It think it's already crap that I have to share the bed with her father who is also a furnace, and a snorer....snoring? No this is more like the sound of a dull chainsaw hacking through a thousand year old tree....

So yeah, a wiggler, a chainsaw and all at the comfy, cozy temperature of 10,000 degrees. Good times!

I'm really hoping this is a temporary situation and she's just doing this because she's wanting some extra cuddles while all these massive teeth make their appearance. But I guess we'll see.....

And not only do we have some new teeth but we also have some new words! Actually, not just some. She says over 30 words now!! Here's the list:

1. Baba
2. Daddy
3. Mama
4. Mom
5. Mommy
6. Papa (for Grandpa)
7. Yiayia ('Grandma' in Greek)
8. Papou (Grandpa in Greek)
9. Nonos ('Godfather in Greek)
10. Nonai (also 'Godfather' in Greek)
11. Yianni (the name of a lot of men)
12. Baby
13. Babi (a friend's name)
14. Hi
15. Bye bye
16. Ya (for 'hi' and 'bye' in Greek)
17. Yeah
18. Yes
19. Nai ('yes' in Greek)
20. No
21. Uh-oh
22. Cheese
23. Cookie 
24. Tickle tickle
25. Tick tock
26. Shoes
27. Ball
28. Happy
29. Ti ('what' in Greek)
30. Pou ('where' in Greek)
31. Kako ('bad' in Greek)
32. Kaka ('poo' in Greek...yep)
33. Poo (yep, thanks for that Katrine)
34. Pee 
35. Kitty
36. Cat
37. Mooo (for a cow noise)

She's chatty! And Mommy is SO proud because this is just amazing considering she's only 14 months old and she's learning 2 languages at the same time. Oh, she also said her first sentence last week....."Mommy NO!" Good girl!

And now after all this bragging I'm realizing that I don't actually have any news about anything other than my child......and that's probably why my parents are the only people that bother reading this blog....

Anyway, I'll try to be a bit more social in the next few days so I have some non-baby-related material to entertain you with. Until then, I'm not quite done with the bragging....she's also learning how to use a fork and a spoon!

Animal Noises Translated

Today I was thinking about children’s toys. Do you remember that one where you pull the handle and an arrow spins around in a circle, in the circle are a bunch of animals and when the arrow lands on one it makes the animal noise for that animal? I don’t remember what it was called, a Speak and Say or something like that? Anyway I had one of these as a kid and I loved it. 

But then I got to thinking….what’s the Greek one like?

Yes even though it's clear that animals within the same species speak the same language, us humans have taken it upon ourselves to butt in and mess everything up with our own culturally specific interpretations. In other words: animals in Canada speak English while animals in Greece speak Greek. There are a few exceptions where an animal noise is the same in both of our countries....but I'm sure if you ask a Greek they'll tell you that's because that animal noise originated in Greece and we stole it from them... 

Now I don’t even know if this toy exists in Greece but if it did, it would sound like this:

Cat: Niaou-niaou

Dog: Guv-guv

Bird: this depends on the size of the bird, a small one: tsiou tsiou; a big one: kra kra

Rooster: Kikiriku (get a Greek person to make this noise…it’ll make your day)

Cow: Moo (yay, we agree on this one!! But I guess this means "moo" isn't technically an English word???)

Horse: they don’t imitate the horse apparently…yeah I’m skeptical too so I’m still looking into it

Sheep: Mae-eee

Pig: I couldn't get a straight answer about this one either but that might be because they were thrown by my oinking....

Frog: Quak-quak (I’m serious)

Duck: Pa-pa-pa

Turkey: Glou-glou

So apparently Greek cows can carry on conversation with English speaking cows no problem, and Greek frogs can chat up Canadian ducks....

I know. 

This is important stuff. 

You're welcome.

But before we go ahead and roll our eyes at how weird the Greeks are, remember that we think a rooster says "cock-a-doodle-doo"......

Antonis took Eleni for a walk the other morning so I could get some things done around the house. 

So after 30 minutes of completely uninterrupted house cleaning

...which was bliss by the way...

Eleni brought me this

The most beautiful flower I've ever gotten!

I also made pizza buns this week

Both my taste testers approved so they'll be making a regular appearance in the Mallis house

Here's the recipe:

http://www.eat-yourself-skinny.com/2013/10/veggie-pizza-rolls.html

But I made my own pizza dough, it's a recipe I use all the time and it always turns out light and fluffy and perfect.

Here's that recipe:

http://www.bystephanielynn.com/2010/08/make-your-own-pizza-dough-recipe.html

I put feta cheese, peppers, onions, olives, tomatoes and shredded zucchini inside. 

So yummy!

They're perfect for little ones because it's all contained in a bun which makes it easy to hold and less messy.

And Eleni loved dipping them into the pizza sauce...but of course, that's when things got messy.

This is before the dipping extravaganza...obviously

Wednesday night I went out with these losers.

Yes. They are ALL on their stupid fancy phones.

And yes, someone did message someone else from across the table 

because this is a highly amusing joke in this day and age.

I'm not hip with the times. 

I don't even have a cell phone. 

So I proceeded to drink a ridiculous amount of red wine.

I may need some teeth whitening after this

...or possibly an iPhone

Baby Food, Bubbles, Baptisms and a Big Night Out

I realize I put a lot of pictures on here of Eleni eating. Why do I do this? Because I love watching her eat! For one I know I'm giving her healthy foods that will keep her healthy and make her grow, so when she's really enjoying the food I make for her I just get a warm fuzzy feeling all over. But also....she's just so funny! She gets it everywhere! And she doesn't care. I'm a bit envious of that actually....imagine sitting down to eat and just enjoying your food so much that you rub it all over your face and in your hair, maybe you throw a little around, and to have no one judge you or think it's weird in any way? How awesome that would be! 

I promise if you invite me over for dinner I will absolutely follow protocol and use my manners at all times. 

Eleni however....not gonna happen. You're just going to have to find a way to enjoy the show, like I do.

I made her tortellini with 

SUPER VEGGIE SAUCE

The tortellini was store bought and white, which I don't normally like to give her but once in a while we can break the rules a bit. 

The sauce is homemade though and really easy, I just sauteed a tomato, bit of onion, 

garlic, spinach, carrot and some peas until everything was really soft, added some basil and oregano, a little bit of feta cheese, and then whizzed the whole thing up with a hand blender. Done!

That's my Super Veggie Sauce.

I never use tomato sauce from a jar anymore. Eleni's not really a picky eater but there are a few vegetables that are not really her favourite so if I can hide them in something, like a sauce, she'll eat them. 

The hidden veggie here was spinach. You probably guessed that though.

I like to make it really thick, I just use a bit olive oil for sauteing. Sometimes I'll add some water if it's come out too thick and chunky but usually I spoon feed her the left over sauce anyway so it's better if it has some texture....she's not a big fan of runny 'baby' food since she's a big girl now. 

You can use whatever vegetables you want, it really doesn't matter. Eleni's eaten every version of Super Veggie Sauce I've ever put in front of her, with or without the cheese, and she's always happy.

She also has some apple and banana juice in her sippy cup (homemade again, she rarely gets store bought juice), normally if I give her the juice I have to wait until the end of the meal or else she won't bother with eating, she just wants the juice. Not when there's pasta on the menu though! 

Last Saturday we went for a walk in the morning. We had some gifts to buy (2 weddings, a baptism and a birthday...I think we're going to have to drop some of our friends, they're getting too expensive). We also bought some bubbles for Eleni so we stopped to have a break and blow some bubbles.

She thought they were magical

So here are some pictures from the wedding/baptism from last Saturday.

Our friends Tsaki and Kasia were married and their daughter Danae was baptized at the same time.

We were too late to see the wedding unfortunately...I've been dying to get some video of the old ladies whipping rice at the married couple, it's hysterical. They're hysterical. It's painful, trust me I've been there, but so funny to watch them wind up like pro baseball players and double over laughing when they smoke the poor couple. When Antonis and I were married it took me 2 days to get all the rice out of my hair and we didn't even have a church wedding. They get even more into it when it's a church wedding.

Anyway. Next time.

We made it for the whole baptism though, so this is little Danae with her beautiful mommy Kasia

Stavros is her Godfather.

He's so serious right now. A rare moment for our Stavro.

A little video of the baptism. 

Danae started to cry and it made me want to cry so I decided to go on a little adventure. 

I found a secret door.

Behind that secret door was a secret staircase.

I went up the secret staircase and what did I find? 

A secret balcony!

There was a beautiful after party arranged at Panselianos Hotel. We were working that night though so we missed the dinner and dancing unfortunately.

Actually what's even more unfortunate is that we had a group of 40 Turkish people booked to come into the taverna that night at 8:30.

They arrived at 9:30.

We didn't have live Greek music.

They were told by the travel agent that we would have live Greek music even though we told the travel agent we couldn't book musicians because there were none available that night.

The travel agent told us the group was fine with that.

But they were not.

They were never even given that message.

So they left.

We had food ready for 40 people but because the travel agent told everyone what they wanted to hear about the live music situation, all 40 people got back on the bus and left. 

It was devastating.

To the travel agent: Katerina Whoeveryouare in Petra....bad karma is coming your way.

Anyway, since we didn't have 40 Turkish people to feed and clean up after, we were out of the restaurant early enough to catch the tail end of the wedding reception...the very tail end of it. Actually we were there in time to get the message that everyone was ready to go into Molyvos for a drink.

So off we went to Manta Bar

Joseph and Joseph

Lefteris and Joseph

(sorry some of these are dark and/or blurry...I over indulged in the wine that night and couldn't figure out how to use my camera like a normal person)

Cute seating area outside Manta. 

There's a few tables under the tree, and also pillows on the steps for seating as well. 

Very laid back and cozy.

My dates for the night.

Antonis, Vangelis, Joseph, Joseph and Lefteris.

Vangelis and I dancing to Spanish music, at a Polish/Greek wedding in Greece

Joseph and Antonis...I really don't know what's going on here. 

Antonis will kill me for putting this one up.

Good thing he never reads my blog anyway.....

Have a great day everyone!