Athens Olympics 2004: let the games begin!

[helenas]

Real Greek Food by Theodore Kyriakou

Yes, it's a good book, and his new one The Real Greek at Home(unfortunately, available only through UK Amazon), is even better.

And since the food media these days is full of splendid greek themed articles/recipes, let me contirbute the link below, from australian Gourmet Traveller (great magazine, btw, and seems to have started to appear in some B&Ns).

Moussaka recipe by Andy Harris (excellent author on greek food), as well as the lamb shanks baked in paper (has this technique been just discussed on vine leaves thread?) , that i'm definitely making tonight.

[RebeccaT]

I ate my way through the Cyclades last September - the food was incredible. Fresh feta, capers the size of my head, tomatoes that turned me from a tomato-hater into a tomato-lover, fresh fish hot off the grill...

My favorite dishes:

- Lamb Kleftiko (a lamb casserole-type thing in phyllo)

- Ghalatoboureko (Greek Milk-pie - custardy filling in phyllo with lemon syrup)

- Saganaki (lightly breaded Greek cheese that's fried and then flamed with brandy and squirted with lemon juice)

- Greek Salad (specifically, the one served at a little oceanfront taverna on Red Beach on the southern tip of Santorini. It had the best feta I tried anywhere - must be what they feed their sheep. It also had these capers that were the size of marbles, that almost had an anise flavor to them... they were amazing. That type of caper is a Santorini specialty.)

- Keftedes (tomato croquettes)

My favorite drinks:

- Kitron

- Vinsanto (dessert wine) from Santorini

- Ouzo, of course.

For an EXCELLENT description of the foods and culinary traditions of Greece, check out this book: Lonely Planet World Food: Greece

It was my bible while I was there.

[Busboy]

A tasty irony? or just clueless execs?

If you've seen Fast Food Nation, you know that one of the main props the guy uses is a small device that measures the number of steps he takes each day, as he attempts to approximate the exercize habits of the average American (walking being the main form of exercize for most people).

Guess what goodie McDonald's slipped into the computer bag/press kit all the accredited Olympic reporters get handed when they register for their credentials?

That's right -- a "GO ACTIVE!" footstep-measurer with a McDo's logo on top.

Pretty funny.

[ludja]

grilled lamb chops with oregano and lemon; roasted potatoes to go with.

Make the above and avgolemono a lot at home. For the latter especially when I have some extra egg yolks left after baking. Very quick and nice for a light meal.

Thanks all for the links to the Greek cookbooks above.