Salud! at Whole Foods - Greek Mezes

You know how I enjoy cooking classes. Himself is a pretty good cook too and enjoys hearing about my classes. So I signed us up for a couple class at Whole Foods.

The class taught the preparation of Greek “mezes” – finger foods. Very similar to Spanish tapas. As you’ve probably figured out by now (since this is my third Greek foods class!) we are very fond of this cuisine.

We did 8 dishes – Manitaria Yemista (Stuffed Mushrooms), Lakerda Politili (Marinated Ahi Tuna with Olive Oil), Favakeftedes Me Kapari Yakhni (Lentil Rissoles with Caper & Tomato Sauce), Eggplant spread, Khaloumi Cheese with Olive Oil, Keftedakia (Small Meatballs), Spanakotiropota (Spinach & Cheese Pie), Loukoumades (Honey Doughnuts).

The recipes were pretty straight-forward, though one gave Himself pause… the marinated tuna was a ceviche (raw ‘cooked’ using the acid of citrus). ‘Cooked’ is a loose term, as it still has the look and texture of raw. I, who likes sashimi, looked forward to trying it. Ahi is one of the raw sushi I like. Himself however, was not so eager. Gotta give him credit though. When it was served up, he ate his portion.

It was on the night of the start of rain that flooded Nashville. There’s usually about 5 ‘helpers’ working with the instructor… that night, only 2 could make it in and one of them left a house that was close to being flooded. He said he’d rather be out having fun than sitting at home being miserable since there was nothing he could do about it. (From the phone pics he showed us and knowing how bad it got, I just know his house was lost.) Because there were fewer assistants, we all pitched in and did the things that needed to be done. It was one of the more fun classes I’ve taken, as everyone was interacting and talking more.

Each couple did a different recipe and we all floated around to take a look at what the others were preparing.

Here are a few photos from the evening and one of the recipes (it’s the one we put together).

Busy in the kitchen.

Khaloumi Cheese with Olive Oil

Me plating the Khaloumi.

Preparing the mushrooms for stuffing.

Ready to go in the oven.

Stuffed Mushrooms.

Eggplant Spread

The Ahi marinating in lemon juice.

The Ahi after it has been flattened.

Sauteing the meatballs.

Himself helping to mash the lentils.

Each person fried some of the doughnuts.

Instructor Merijoy taking one of the spanakotiropota out of the oven.

Spanakotiropota.

Doughnuts just starting to cook.

Hot and yummy!

Glazing the doughnuts.

KHALOUMI CHEESE WITH OLIVE OIL

½ pound Khaloumi (or Halloumi) cheese, cut into ½ inch strips long ways

2 Tablespoons fresh oregano leaves (chopped/torn to small fingernail size pieces)

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (preferably Greek – which is stronger in flavor than Italian or Australian), plus more for serving

1 lemon, halved

Pita bread, warmed and sliced into strips.

Arrange pita on serving tray so it’s ready for the cheese.

Brush cheese with olive oil and place onto a medium hot coated sauté pan for 2 minutes on each side OR until lightly browned. (Don’t have too hot or will brown before getting ‘melty’.) Do only about 4-6 strips at a time because it can quickly get away from you.

Transfer hot, browned cheese onto pitas. Sprinkle with oregano, lemon juice and a bit of additional olive oil.

Enjoy while still hot!

OPA!!

Learning to Build a Dry Stack Wall

While in Missouri for Mother’s Day, Himself and I took on a project for my Dad. We learned to build a dry stack stone wall. 

Dad had hired someone who said they had experience in building stone walls. Yeah right. It didn’t take too long before a section fell down. Dad has just recently had heart surgery so he couldn’t fix it himself as he normally would.  That is where we jumped in. Building a dry stack wall is on my “to do” list for our house, so being able to have Dad teach us was a great opportunity!

It didn’t take too long after we started to see why the section had fallen...the base stones were all slanted – and even worse, slanted to the outside. As Himself poked around on the stones it was obvious that more areas were going to come down. And soon!

Next thing Dad knew, Himself was ripping down more and more areas. Then he started digging in a new base. After watching a bit, Dad decided the best thing would be to pour a concrete footer to set the base stones on (the yard has a pretty decent slope). So now I learned out to mix up ‘Quickcrete’. Easy!

Over the next few days we worked on the wall. Himself did the heavy work of digging and moving stones. I selected each stone to be placed in and put the small ‘chinks’ in place to fill gaps.

We didn’t get the whole wall done (having no idea it would evolve into such a large job we hadn’t allotted enough time), but we did fix the areas that would have fallen (about half of the wall). Another quarter of the wall is low and I will do that when I go home sometime in June. The final 25% is a higher area that you can’t see from the road and Himself will finish that when he gets home from his next trip.

Now I’m looking around MY yard for places I might want to put in a wall…

I don’t have a lot of photos, as it’s not a good place for a camera to be where big rocks are being flung about!

Before AND After!  Left is the portion we'll redo later and the right is what we did.

Building supplies.

Placing a cap stone.

Close up of the wall.  This one isn't going anywhere!

Strawberry Fields

Yesterday morning Himself and I, Best Friend and son (Pirate 2) all headed out to pick some strawberries. Mmmmmmm…

We do this every year. This year was what I consider perfect picking weather… cool, overcast and slightly breezy. We got a lot in a short amount of time. I brought home 3 gallons (1 gallon will go to my neighbors up the hill) and I gave Best Friend 3 gallons (on top of the 5 gallons she picked). She makes the BEST strawberry jam and is always giving me some. She also gives me some for my Dad (yes Dad… you’ll have some fresh jam soon). And she keeps her elderly neighbors in good supply too.

Don’t you think I have some great looking strawberries?

Best Friend with some of her berries.

Mutant strawberry!

Starting a new bucket.

Quality control tester.

Junior QC.

Certain buckets didn’t get filled very quickly…

H&S Strawberry barn.

My bounty.

And Best Friend’s…minus 2 boxes that were in her back seat.

Grilled Wild Alaska Salmon with Strawberry-Cucumber Salsa

The strawberry-cucumber salsa that tops these moist, flavorful salmon fillets is delicious served on its own, too, with a few tortilla chips for dipping. For the marinade, substitute cranberry juice for the strawberry juice, if you like.

Ingredients

Salmon

1/2 cup strawberry juice from concentrate

1/4 cup lime juice

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons sugar

1/2 tablespoon roughly chopped ginger

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Zest of 1 orange

4 (6-ounce) skinless salmon fillets



Salsa

1/2 cucumber, finely chopped

1/4 cup finely chopped red onion

2 tablespoons finely chopped yellow bell pepper

2 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons lime juice

1 tablespoon canola oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/8 teaspoon finely chopped ginger

4 large ripe strawberries, hulled and finely chopped

Method

For the salmon, whisk together strawberry juice, lime juice, vinegar, sugar, ginger, salt, pepper, and zest in a wide, shallow dish to make a marinade. Add salmon and turn to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 2 hours. Meanwhile, put cucumbers, onions, bell peppers, honey, lime juice, oil, salt, black pepper, ginger, and strawberries into a medium bowl and toss to make a salsa. Set aside. Prepare a charcoal grill.

When charcoal is hot and has a coat of ash, spread the coals to create an even heat source. Grill salmon fillets, flipping once, to desired doneness, 10 to 12 minutes each. Top each fillet with some of the strawberry-cucumber salsa and serve.

Flood Clean Up in Clarksville, TN

We left for MO on the 6th, as the flood waters were still coming down. Riverside Drive (where many of the earlier photos I posted were taken) reopened to traffic on Sunday night.

We drove downtown a couple days ago to see what had happened to our city. It was amazing.

Himself pointing to the crest levels of Clarksville’s two great floods. His top hand is pointing to the 1937 mark and his bottom hand is pointing to the high water mark of 2010.

When we were downtown on the 3rd, the water was just touching the tires of this truck. Himself is showing the high water mark.

High water mark on a Riverside Drive building.

A flooded bank doing business out of this RV.

High water marks on a local restaurant.

Cleaning up.

Washed away river bank.

Hardware City was hard hit. This is the type of store that was CRAMMED full of every sort of thing you could ever want. They are asking for volunteers to help empty the store and sort the merchandise.

Himself and I will be going down next week to help

The river crested above the dark band on the bridge support.

High water mark on a truck at the Two Rivers office complex. Himself said it was about 9’. Parked next to it was someone’s Jaguar.

Restaurant cleaning out at the complex.

High water mark is just below the red band near the top of the ATM.

Coin and jewelry shop cleaning up.

Shoney’s hauling out their ruined furniture.

Andy’s Pharmacy doing business out of the building’s garage while they clean up the shop portion.

Everyone is trying to help with the clean up. Here is a farmer’s water tank being used to wash out a parking lot.

And the fire department is using one of their tankers.

A Special Mother's Day

My absense from blogging was because I made a trip to my family’s home in Missouri for the Mother’s Day weekend. This Mother’s Day was a special one because of Little Bird… my sister’s first child and my mother’s first grandchild.

We all got together at my Mom’s house for supper. Little Bird is big enough to sit at the table with us, tho not big enough to join in the meal – Mexican Stack-Ups. Her dinner came from a jar. (Bleh!) I guess by next year she’ll be able to handle spicier foods.

Here’s a few pictures of our day.

Little Bird

Watching Grandma open her presents.

She loves to look at EVERYTHING!

Little Bird and her Mommy.

Three generations.

Shed Update (April Goal)

The shed is nowhere near being finished. Three quarters of April I was with my family in Missouri and Himself did not get back to TN until 24 April to help with the heavy stuff. That just didn't leave much time to get a lot of work done.

And now the flood has hit and we will be helping with clean up in town.  That is more important than a messy shed.

But we are progressing on it. Thru the month of May I'll work in the shed when I can.

But it sure looks better than it did the beginning of April!!

One more flood photo -our land.

This shot shows our area.  The wooded area at the bottom left is our propery.  The water at the end of the road to the right is normally a field.  The road ends in the cul-de-sac I showed earlier.  The row of trees in the water is the western boundery of the river.