friday fixations: b.c. edition

Sometimes the best pictures are the blurred ones.

The pixelated whale. Was it part of the Olympic stuff? I only think that because the torch thing was close by.

I love barnacles!

Sorry; he's dead.

I tried to eat seafood as much as possible and these fish and chips (or fish and shrimp chips) were so delicious. There's no sense ordering steak in Vancouver as there's no sense ordering fish and chips in Edmonton. This was our hotel and we splurged on room service. The views (and the bed!) were amazing!

We quite literally stumbled on this community garden downtown! It was so amazing. I wish we had more green spaces like this.

At The Templeton, I had the Hakai omelette with smoked salmon and we shared a vanilla milkshake. All were delicious. Also, the waitress was so great!

The best saganaki we've ever had at Panos, a Greek restaurant we just happened to notice.

wish list

It's my birthday tomorrow!

birthday wish list by idlewife on polyvore.com

Clockwise from top left: Tiny budgie necklace from Lulubug Jewelry (the most perfect signature necklace for me, even if I get it later than my birthday -- hint hint!; macarons from Duchess Bakeshop (and maybe a cheese pie for breakfast since we'll be in the area); I finally got the paint mixed for the main floor living room and I'm really anxious to get after it! I'm painting it manta grey from Debbie Travis's paint; the only movies that are kind of interesting me are Friends with Kids and The Hunger Games but I don't know if I'm interested enough for $30. Maybe something on Netflix instead; petrie sofa from Crate and Barrel (we'll be doing a sit and compare test on our final two choices, but I kinda hope this one wins -- I also hope those cushions are removable); a day out visiting all of my favourite thrift shops (I've already done the south end Value Village this week, so I'd like to visit Find and the west end Goodwill);  More Rayman Origins. This is the prettiest, funnest, two player game we've played in a long time.

IHOP Restaurant

I've been using a copycat recipe for IHOP pancakes for over a year now. Not because I really love their pancakes, but because it was the easiest and best tasting recipe I'd found. I'd actually never been to an IHOP, and it never really interested me until I found that recipe. I figured it would be a long time before I ever tasted the real deal until I happened to spot a small sign on Calgary Trail announcing IHOP's grand opening. We decided we'd try it for brunch.

It was so busy, and they obviously planned for it as they have two rather large waiting areas set up. When we first arrived, there was a 15 minute wait to get a table, so we left thinking we'd come back some other time, but we changed our minds and went back in.

There's really nothing much to say about atmosphere and service. It's definitely loud in there just due to the amount of tables. I didn't think it was that hard to have a conversation, but thank goodness they opted not to pipe music in on top of the table chatter. The service is pretty fast, but I think it's mostly just to get you in and out as quickly as possible. Although it did seem like a long wait for the food and drinks.

I would normally order a breakfast item I can't make at home, but I specifically wanted to try their regular buttermilk pancakes, so I ordered the plain buttermilk pancakes with bacon (I didn't want to sully the flavour of the pancakes with a mound of strawberry puree). The pancakes are really good. I don't think the copycat recipe is that close to the original, but it's a fine home replacement (their method must be different in some way. Maybe they separate the egg and whip the whites and I think there's more sugar in theirs).

Idle Husband got the Rooty Tooty Fresh and Fruity combo (the most terrible name for a menu item ever. He looked at me, scrunched up his face and asked if he really had to say the whole thing). The sausages were pretty good, not too overwhelming on either the salty or greasy side but the eggs were terrible. If I make scrambled eggs at home, I use the Gordon Ramsay method (try this recipe, it's so good) and maybe I've spoiled myself, but the IHOP eggs were really rubbery, dry, and completely boring.

As we looked around the restaurant, it honestly didn't seem like many people were ordering plain pancakes like I did. Most had what looked like the stuffed french toast combo or the pancake combo. I thought these were too much for me, but it looked like everyone ate the savory items first and then had the french toast or pancakes last as a dessert (now I've completely exposed my snoopy nature. What can I say? They have glass panels between booths instead of a wall, so you really don't have much privacy while eating).

I also ordered their Splashberry drink after seeing another table with it. It was definitely good, but nothing special. It tasted like orange juice with some 7-up or Sprite and sliced sugared strawberries on the bottom. The strawberries made it really hard to drink with a straw and kind of ruined it for me. Thicker straw or strawberry syrup. Choose one.

The prices aren't bad when you just look at them on their own (I didn't immediately see anything over $10), but we're still talking about three pancakes and 4 pieces of bacon. Our meal came to about $25 (including drinks).

The stuffed french toast really does look quite delicious, so we might go back to try it; but otherwise, it wasn't really worth it when I can make all of these things at home (just as good and definitely cheaper). I honestly feel like the traffic was only due to the novelty of it (which is why we went), because what they serve can certainly be found at any breakfast restaurant (Denny's, Smitty's, etc) at the same level of quality.

If you want to try them out for yourself, I can't give you their address (their website doesn't have this restaurant on it yet) but I can tell you it's right across from the Zellers on Calgary Trail (3931 Calgary Trail Northwest).

bacon waffles

So I feel like I've been gone this whole week and honestly, it's like this week didn't even happen. It feels like years ago when I cooked dinner at home or was home, for that matter.

Technically, we enjoyed a lovely Thanksgiving Monday, had some nice pumpkin pancakes on Tuesday, and then... Well, then I had to run to Red Deer on Wednesday and rather unexpectedly, I ended up having to stay overnight and Thursday. So technically I've only been gone two days this week. I'm such a home-body and I'm so not afraid to admit it.

Anyhoo, I have a ton of pictures and fun stuff to share (I scored some major thrift store loot in Red Deer), but I just wanted to start out with this.

Thursday morning, mom and I decided to go out for breakfast at Phil's. I like to think they're a pretty popular breakfast spot in Red Deer. We've been there several times and they've never disappointed us.

Before even cracking the menu open, I had my heart set on waffles. The one thing I still can't make at home = the perfect breakfast out. I definitely knew Phil's could deliver a good waffle. Their waffles are huge and crispy, thick and delicious.

Immediately, I spotted 'bacon waffle' and had to have it. When it arrived, I couldn't help but laugh:

This is seriously not what I was thinking when I thought 'bacon waffle.'

Someone needs to tell them that the bacon should be in bits, inside the waffle. Don't they know that people put bacon in everything these days? Oh, Phil's. Thanks for the laugh (and the delicious waffle).

stupid camera, stupid meal

When we went to our first house meeting, we received a gift certificate from the home builders for dinner at The Sawmill or Tom Goodchild's Moose Factory. We've been saving it for a while, and we only just got around to using it this weekend.

Idle Husband had been to the Moose Factory for lunch many times before, so that's where we decided to go. I'd never been before, but let me tell you, it's a pretty classy (read: expensive) place.

As usual, if there's calamari on the menu, that's always what we start with.

The calamari was delicious. It wasn't at all chewy and it was seasoned perfectly. The tzatziki dipping sauce, on the other hand, was like...milk...no. Not like milk. It was milk. With herbs floating in it. So it was impossible to really dip the calamari into it without the tzatziki dripping off all over the place. Somebody needs a lesson in tzatziki making.

I don't know what was wrong with my camera (the one I keep in my purse at all times), but after the calamari, it just did not want to focus on anything. We had skipped lunch specifically because we'd be eating out, and after taking three pictures of Idle Husband's steak, it just wasn't fixing itself. So even though I realized it wasn't focusing, I didn't bother taking another 30 pictures per plate because we were starving. Sadly, blurriness is one problem I can't fix after the fact, so sorry for the lame pictures.

Idle Husband heard about filet mignon from some Gordon Ramsay show and has wanted to try it ever since. He finally got his chance. As promised, the meat was so delicious and so tender. It was really good. I'm so thankful he shared with me! I also got to eat his asparagus and carrots which were cooked perfectly, and honestly, right up there with the steak in deliciousness (yuck to peppers).

(ugh. terrible)

He also ordered a side of mushrooms for his steak which came all hot and sizzling in the cutest little cast iron pan (I need a set of these in my life!). They were really good, too, and slightly onion-y. I had some serious mushroom overload afterwards!

(sigh)

I ordered the chicken scallopini (which sounded so good on the menu), and I'm so bummed that I did. The chicken was all right, but bordering on overcooked and kinda flavourless; the angel hair pasta...who does this to angel hair pasta?! Someone actually thought, I'm going to take the most delicate, thin, beautiful pasta and dump way too much of the thickest, creamiest, most gelatinous sauce on it, and that will be perfection? Well, guess what? It wasn't perfection. It was kinda terrible, actually. I tried eating it (cuz I paid my damn money), but I ended up just picking out the mushrooms and calling it a day. It also looked like it had been sitting out for a while, you know? It had that weird film on it. I don't know how to explain it, but it just didn't look fresh (I think despite the blurriness, you can tell in the photo). Again, thank goodness for the carrots and asparagus. Best thing on that plate, hands down.

I'm so sad about this meal (especially because it was a gift certificate meal -- although the amount didn't cover dinner completely). They had a buffet which looked ok, but because I was starving, I had a feeling I would go overboard if I went that route. Now I'm super sad I didn't. At least then I could have tried a little of everything, and something probably would have worked out to be more delicious than what I ended up having.

Sigh. What a sad little meal. I definitely won't be going back.

Note: I would like to make my own chicken scallopini now. Just so I can see how it's supposed to taste. I betcha it's really quite delicious.

OPM

Whoa. Don't get excited, but I think we've finally found an asian restaurant Idle Husband wants to eat at. On Friday (like most Fridays), he went out for lunch with some of his work colleagues. Each week, one of them has a choice as to where they go and this week, they chose OPM. We kinda joked about how they'd have nothing to offer him and that was that. Until Friday evening when he proclaimed OPM to be the best place ever!! And since I had fawned over their menu the night before (trying to convince him that there were tons of great things he could order), he decided he wanted to take me there Saturday for dinner.

He wanted to go back the next day. I was floored.

I've actually been to OPM before. In fact it was my choice of restaurant when I was getting together with some friends as per our yearly catching up ritual. But I was there for lunch, so I got one of their Buddha's lunch boxes. I can't really remember much about it. I don't think I was that impressed? I'm starting to think we shared the caramel banana spring rolls? I dunno. My memory is junk at the best of times.

After I returned from the bathroom (I'm a girl. I have to check every bathroom out in every store and every restaurant. It's the rules), I found Idle Husband had already ordered some appetizers.

The wok fried squid was really delicious and slightly spicy. I still prefer the Greek method. Calamari just goes really well with tzatziki, what can I say? I wish they would have had some dipping sauce with this. Actually, maybe I should just be that person who carries around condiments in her purse. Little tupperware of tzatziki. I think it would have gone nicely with their spices.

We came for the hibachi wings. It was something Idle Husband tried on Friday, and he raved about it all Friday night and Satur-DAY. I wouldn't normally pick something like this in a restaurant. It's entirely too messy and fiddly and attention-drawy for me. Oh hi! I have sticky chicken fingers and I'm smoking up the joint and one napkin isn't enough! *Smack smack* Ok, I really loved it. Don't order it on a date. Order it with your husband or some friends who've seen worse from you. The wings come cooked so don't worry, you're not sitting there forever waiting for them to reach a safe temperature. You're just crisping them up a little all while trying not to catch your sleeve or hand in the blue flames and/or start a grease fire. It's fun, interesting, and kinda dangerous. (Also, can I be that person who brings marshmallows to this party?) The parmesan sauce was really nice with them, too, albeit kinda hard to dunk the meat in. Especially since they were pretty friggin' hot after their minute on the grill. And I know their menu says a POUND of chicken wings, but there wasn't that much and they weren't the normal, greasy fried wings you'd expect. It was actually a really nice light appetizer.

We always share appetizers, but here you share your main as well. I like that style. I can pretend I'm eating at home and not in a restaurant. Plus, if you're there with a bunch of people, you'd get to sample a lot of dishes at one time and I love that. Everyone has to order something different in these restaurants. That's the rule. You have to discuss your choices beforehand. It's very important. No one wants to have two of the same main. Gah. What's the point in that? They also brought a side of rice which was a little dry and flavourless, but you know what? I like my rice dry and rice tasting. And I liked eating it between bites of each main. It was kind of like a palate cleanser.

Idle Husband's choice main dish was the mongolian beef. I know he picked it because of the name and it's relation to his other favourite "asian" restaurant, Mongolie Grill (I hate that place. The meat is frozen. You have to try to squish shitty old vegetables and slimy noodles into a tiny bowl. There's no sneeze guard. They dump far too much sauce in your bowl and then weigh it. Everything gets quickly stir fried to ensure the meat is tough and the vegetables are so thoroughly saturated with sauce they can't even be called vegetables anymore. And for all of that, it's entirely too expensive. I'm the one who refuses to eat there. I suffered through it twice. I will not suffer again). This beef, on the other hand, was good. It was tender. It was flavourful. It wasn't soaked with sauce. I liked the onions and scallions a lot (I started to pick those out for myself). I don't understand the bed of styrofoam it was served on. It didn't add anything special. I also wouldn't order it for myself. I wasn't keen on the sauce which tasted less sweet and more soy sauce to me (but I liked it so much better the next day). Whatever. Who cares about me? Idle Husband loved it, still loves it, and will probably eat it every time he goes.

My choice main was sweet and sour chicken. I know. It's not very adventurous. We all know what that tastes like, but it came with "cool cucumbers", and I wondered how cucumbers intermixed with sweet and sour sauce would work. Guess what? They were so good lightly warmed and with the sauce! So good, in fact, the next time I make sweet and sour chicken, I'm going to put cucumbers in, too (and then I'll call it my own ingenius creation! mwhahaha). The chicken was really good and the sauce was sweet and tangy and those crispy weird chip things it was served on went really well with everything, too. Soft chicken, almost still crisp cucumbers, crunchy chip things. It was a pyramid of textures!

So there you have it. I think we've found a new restaurant for our special occasion meals. The entire cost of this meal was literally half what we would have paid at Koutouki's (that makes cheap me happy) and we came home with a box of leftovers (that makes breakfast me happy). And did I mention? I'll be able to have good ginger beef again (that makes craving me extra happy)! You should go and get happy, too.

a handy printable guide to eating in Alberta!

It was brought to my attention that we don't, in fact, eat like college students. We eat like a married couple, fat and happy. Which, I conceeded, makes a lot of sense. Back in our bachelor days, we were both considerably...uh smaller, and that probably had a lot to do with the fact that both of us would forget to eat. Well, maybe I'm just speaking for myself here. I highly doubt Idle Husband would ever forget to eat.

A normal week would see me eating a very sparse breakfast (like a granola bar), yogurt and an apple for lunch (if I remembered to bring it), and usually I would get working on assignments or practicing at night and all of a sudden, it'd be 9 p.m. and I'd think, oh. I forgot about supper. Oh well, I'll eat tomorrow. Seriously. It's not exactly healthy per se, but it was a really good way to lose weight. From what I know of Idle Husband's diet, he would usually buy a lot of takeout, mostly pizza, that he'd eat throughout the week coupled with whatever he could scrounge up from the kitchen at work. And that's it.

Perhaps we should go on our previous bachelor diets instead of this new fangled idea of eating healthy meals every day and having homemade baked goods in the house.

Things that irritated me today that I wanted to write an entire blog post about but then decided not to because that would be mean and fight-inducing and catty and bitchy and eye-rolly and oh-no-you-didn'ty and...well, you get the point. Unfortunately for you, I still can't seem to let it go enough to write a completely different post, so I'll just quickly mention it now:

- people who are snobby about restaurant seafood quality when they live on the prairies.

Just so you know (and feel free to print it off as a handy guide), here's what we can grow rather successfully on the prairies (in alphabetical order and italicized for what we're most famous for):

• beef
• buffalo
• chicken
• ostrich
• pork
• sheep

Here's what we can't grow on the prairies:

• pretty much everything that lives in the ocean.

So in conclusion, if you want to guarantee you get the best meal possible from the majority of restaurants (shitty or otherwise) in this province, you should probably pick the meal we're well known for growing. Otherwise, you can pack your things and move to B.C. or the maritimes, thankyouverymuch and spare me the continual "oh this seafood is too small!" and "oh this seafood isn't fresh!" and (my personal favourite) "oh this seafood is terrible AND it cost me $17.99 AND just LOOK at this measly portion!" posts because I've really had it up to here with it.

Writing this ended with me laughing my ass off, actually. I just thought of something. He's originally FROM B.C. or the maritimes, isn't he?! ISN'T HE?! ahahaha! I know it. You are. It explains everything. It. Explains. Everything.

a tasty saturday morning

Last week, I stumbled on an article detailing the 25 best things to eat in Edmonton, and honestly, I thought, I'll just give this a quick read-through. There's probably not going to be anything of interest for me (like usual).

First find:
Hellas Foods (12407 109 Ave., 780-455-8168)
I started reading this one because I'd never heard of Hellas Foods. It's got the best spanakopita in Edmonton, apparently. But what? What. Wait a minute. At the end of the blurb, it quickly says that they also have tyropita. Someone sells tyropita in Edmonton?! We had NO  idea. This is by far bigger and more exciting news than the stupid spanakopita, people! You can get spanakopita anywhere. Tyropita, on the other hand, seemed to be something we could only get if I decided to make it or if we flew back to Greece.

Ok, so, the entire point of our trip was for the tyropita, but when we got there we found a larger, better selection of Greek foods than we had at the "other" store. We ended up leaving with an armful of goodies along with our tyropitas.

The tyropita

It was...good enough. We were really sad it was cold. They're not normally kept cold, so we had to wait until we got home to heat it up in the toaster oven. Now, remember, I've had tyropita many times in Greece, Idle Husband has eaten it all his life -- we're a little biased. This wasn't exactly a tyropita that we'd rush out to get every weekend. But considering this may be the only place that sells it, we'd definitely go again just to have another taste. A little longer in the toaster oven would solve the mostly temperature-related problem and there wasn't as much feta as we would expect to find (though, I don't mind it being easy on the cheese). That being said, the crust was light and flakey and it made for a yummy breakfast.

Other Greek things to get if you happen to wanna go there: 7 Days croissants, Petite Beurre (cookies), Elite wheat rusks (crackers), Krinos tea in bunches, Papadopoulos biscuits (cookies), Spicy feta dip, roasted red pepper and feta dip, and Greek yogurt. The prices were a little steep, but it was kinda worth it as a treat since we haven't seen most of these anywhere else. We'll probably go back to try their tzatziki dip (we didn't buy any this time cuz I'd already made a fresh batch on Friday), and IH was super excited by the honey so maybe that, too. And by that time, we'd probably be ready for another tyropita.

Second Find:

Duchess Bake Shop (10720 124 St., 780-488-4999)

Amazingly not far from Hellas Foods, is this cute little bake shop. Apparently, they sell the best macarons and you know what? I've never had a macaron. I keep seeing them in all their splendid colours on every blog imaginable, right down to recipes and detailed how-tos. I've been keeping an eye out for them, but I was getting so frustrated at not being able to find them that I was about thisclose to blindly attempting to bake them just so I could taste them (even though they're supposed to be really tricky to make correctly the first time). I had to have them. I've been obsessed. Now, I'd forgotten the name when we walked from Hellas Foods, and we ended up walking right past the store at first. There were a couple people standing beside it, but I honestly didn't think anything of it. I thought maybe there was a bus stop there. Whatever. On our second time by, we'd figured it out and by then, there were about 5 more people milling around waiting for it to open (and about 4 more people coming up the street). This was 5 minutes before opening on a Saturday. This place must get super busy.

First impressions: I loved how quaint the shop was. So cute with little cafe tables. I went to the counter to scope things out and I spotted the lovely macarons all lined up and ready. Except I was not expecting them to be so small. Are they normally small everywhere else? I kinda expected them to be about the size of a regular cookie, but instead they were maybe the size of a toonie. Maybe slightly larger, but not by much. That was kind of a let-down, honestly. Especially for the price. I had discussed it previously, and since neither of us knew what we were getting into, I decided I would buy one of each flavour they had. On hindsight, I wish I would have bought two of each. While I decided to delicately take a little nibble to sample each flavour, I handed the first one over to IH for a delicate nibble, too. Well, "delicate nibble" equates to popping the whole thing in his mouth and with that, the first cookie disappeared. Sadness for me as I'd just had a tiny, barely tasteable bite of the salted caramel (the flavour I've decided was probably my favourite). Anyway. Situation rectified, we tried the rest and they were all very delicious. The only flavour I didn't truly enjoy was lavender. It was good, don't get me wrong, but there's just something about lavender that makes for a soapy taste. It wasn't hugely soapy, but there was that aftertaste. I know it's edible, but it's really hard to seperate it from it's lotion and soap usage. Checking out their website, I see they have more flavours that weren't being offered to us on Saturday. Like strawberry, rose, and cafe. I'll definitely be going back in the future for these tiny treats because I really did love those little cookies. Besides, Idle Husband has promised to buy me more to make up for his huge man-nibbles.

Bienvenue Chez McDonald's!

I finished my portion of T's photo project yesterday and I just have to say, I'm so happy with the way the pictures turned out! Honestly, as we were hunkered down in McDonald's on Tuesday, shooting away and constantly touching and mangling that hamburger, the pictures seemed to be getting more and more unappetizing as the morning wore on. I can safely say, however, after editing the pictures yesterday, that the entire time, my mouth was watering and I needed to keep snacking on cereal and rice cakes just to keep myself from going for a fry run. Here are some of my favourite pics:

Did you know? It's really hard to make a McDonald's hamburger look *artistic*

The Angus bacon & cheese burger

more to come!

Rant

Hate: juice crystal singles. Who the hell thought this environmentally-retarded idea up?
Love: juice crystal packages -- the large ones for making a whole jug. Please make them with all the flavours at some point in time, companies -- you know who you are. The fact that all the good flavours are in the singles ticks me right off.

On an unrelated note:
I tasted the Chinese food from The Lingnan over the weekend. I was so engrossed with this family during the last season of Family Restaurant that I just had to try them out. We ordered in since it's so far away from us, but because of our distance, we had to order at least $70 worth of food in order for them to deliver. Great. And I only really wanted to try three dishes max. Good thing my mom was there and was super excited to try other stuff out. I was super excited when I found myself ordering from Amy herself. She's too funny and super great to talk to, actually. I can see why she's got such a devoted following.

The food was kind of...unimpressive. I mean, it was typical Chinese food fare and when I realized that, my enthusiasm dropped dramatically. When we ordered, we ordered things like Sum Gum Goo Lo Pork and Singapore Noodles which turned out to be sweet and sour pork and those thin yellow noodles you find everywhere. Ho hum. These were all items I wouldn't choose for myself at a buffet-style Chinese restaurant. Two dishes I felt like I had to try were the Dry Spicy Chicken and the Kung Pao Chicken. The DS Chicken wasn't spicy at all, but salty instead. It was still good, crispy and golden. Not as exciting as the show lead me to believe, though. The KP Chicken was spicy. Not super spicy, but it did have you grabbing for something to drink (Amy sent the regular KP since she knew it was my "first time"). I liked it, but the vegetables (boo to sliced celery over and over again) weren't very interesting.

Anyway, we probably won't do it again but mostly because of their distance from us and because Idle Husband does not like Chinese food at all. I knew he wasn't fond of it, but I also knew he hadn't really had it before, so I tried to choose things he might like. He picked around and ate a little of the meat, a lot of the dry spicy chicken, but otherwise, I ended up being stuck with enough leftovers to feed a small village. Le sigh. As the only leftover eater in the house, there's only so much sauced vegetables I can take in a week, you know?

Greek Food

We did a lot of unusual sight seeing around Athens this trip. Unusual mostly because we did a lot of free stuff that just involved walking around the city. I'm sure Idle Husband had some idea, but when we arrived (on the 24th), everything was closed for Christmas until Monday. Everything. Good thing we had already been to all the museums last time, hey?

We spent a week at his family's house where we...ate. Ate and slept and that was about it, because by then it was New Year's and again everything had completely shut down until Monday. I think there was only a few days scattered here and there where things were open!

Anyway, because all we did was eat, I decided to take a lot of food pictures. That and because it's kinda interesting to see what other people are eating. Well, to me it is. And this isn't like, oh here we are eating a Greek salad in Greece! which is such a typical Greek vacation photo. This is like actual home cooked meals (and some take-out) from the home of a typical Greek family. Which makes it more interesting, no?

Our first "light" meal when we arrived.

Ok, my favourite meal IH's mom makes is stuffed tomatoes (and now stuffed eggplant -- or "little shoes" as they were called -- but I didn't get a pic of that cuz it was too delicious to stop to find my camera). It's such a simple dish, but the taste is divine. It's probably because of all the olive oil (as you can see there), but if I had been able to, I would have eaten both of those tomatoes plus IH's (he's not a fan). I also learned of another lesser known Greek salad. Even better than the first? Maybe! It's also super easy (most Greek food tends to be) as it was made up of only shredded lettuce, chopped green onions, olive oil, and a ton of lemon juice. So good! I'll be making that in the near future. Anyway, this meal was just to tide us over until dinner time which is crazy because to me that WAS dinner and it was at dinner time -- well, our dinner time of about 6. The actual dinner was to be served at 10:30 or 11.

Another light meal.

Let's see...there's tzatziki (natch), greek salad (obivously), feta and mozzarella, terrokafteri (which is like feta ground up with spices used as a dip), crepes filled with ham and cheese, moussaka, and mini cheese pies.

Pasticio. It's like lasagna only it's made with a macaroni-type noodle and it has a thick layer of bechamel sauce on top.

Mmmm fireplace meat. Honestly, I have no idea what kind of meat this was. I'm going to guess it was pork, but I have no idea. They had this twirling around in the fireplace pretty much nonstop since we arrived.

Saganaki. Breaded, fried cheese with lemon. You can make this with any hard white cheese and it's super easy, though I have one thing to say about it. It tastes so much better when it's burning hot right out of the pan. If you let it get even a touch cold, it's just like eating a block of cheese and it loses it's magic. Weird, that.

Pretty standard breakfasts included:

Greek pancakes. Like our pancakes but smaller, with no sugar and "deep fried" in olive oil (well duh). IH ate them with honey, but I preferred them with jam.

Pomegranite seeds. I did this once at home in Canada and hated it immensely. So much work, so much mess, and then they tasted awful. I loved them there. They were so much sweeter and tastier! Of course they were probably getting them from some tree in the village, I'm sure.

Greek yogurt. Oh how I wish we had proper greek yogurt here! I can't properly describe to you how good this is. Because I've been spoiled for having tasted the good stuff, I can't eat that runny crap they call yogurt here anymore.

And his mom would squeeze us fresh orange and blood orange juice every day. They had trees in their backyard. And orange trees lined every Athen's street. It's what I noticed most this trip. It kinda blew my mind though because no one picks the ones in Athens. They just grow, fall off, and rot in the streets. IH said it's because they're not very good. But I'm still like, "but they're free!"

Sweets were also served after dinner and again for breakfast

I don't know what this one was called, but it's IH's favourite cake. I wasn't that keen on it, it was too strange. I thought it was trying to be too many things at once. Jello, fruit salad, mousse, cake -- choose an option and stick with it, dessert!

Melomakarna. A traditional Greek Christmas cookie. It tasted very much like gingerbread (very nutmeg-y) but it was soaked in honey so it was very soft and sweet, but strangely not that sweet. We ate a lot of these.

Vassilopita. Greek New Year's cake. They bake a coin inside and whoever finds it has good luck for the new year. I really loved this cake. I would knock off all the icing sugar and eat it plain. It wasn't very sweet, but it had a really nice flavour all the same. I like how most of their desserts fall in the not-too-sweet category.

This was special just for us. They ordered a wedding cake so we could do that whole wedding-cake tradition and everyone could take pictures. It wasn't awkward at all. Nope. The cake was really good, though. Creamy, with cookie bits...pretty standard, I think.

IH told me these were the cookies I had last time on the ship. Remember those? Anyway, they were not the cookies I remember. We both had one of these and that was it. They were really dry and flavourless. I think my ship cookies are but a distant memory...

Some of our take-out meals included:

Authentic gyro. This is how it's done people: Warm pita, gyro meat, lots of tzatziki, tomatoes, purple onions, french fries. The end. They have those "Greek gyro" places here but they're not doing it right.

Cheese pie. It's actually really easy to make at home. Feta mashed with egg, add some seasoning if you like (I've added nutmeg), then pop it into some sort of pastry. There it's puff (I believe), I've used a standard hand-pie dough here. Whatever you like!

Gyro meat, this time minus the pita.

They have a fast food restaurant called Goody's and it's everywhere you go. This meal consisted of a chicky sandwich (chicken nuggets in a bun), a bowl of french fries, and the Goody's grill (three types of meat with salad and potato wedges). What I find fascinating about this fast food is the fact that they serve it on proper plates with forks and knives.

Mallioras' souvlaki, one of the best take-out meals we had, honestly. For our last meal there, this is what we ordered. IH wanted to get burgers from a new burger place there, but I was like, "burgers?! We can get a damn mushroom burger anywhere we want when we get home. I want Mallioras!" It's just so good.

And that's just a sampling of what we ate. There were lots of other foods I didn't manage to take pictures of. More desserts that I either loved so much I didn't take the time to capture it, or that I didn't like and it never got past the single bite stage, or that I ate while around IH's entire family and just couldn't find the opportunity. There was a pork chop the size of my head that I made a fair attempt at finishing. Some eggplant with mozzarella and tomato sauce, breaded chicken filets, crackers with jam, chestnuts (not what I expected at all). And some dining out with IH's friends where in one instance I forgot my camera and the other we ate at a traditional Italian restaurant and I just had a salad.

I'll post pics from around Athens and the activities we did soon!