Although paprika is mostly known as Hungarian, truth is that its homeland is south America. In several vessels that were found in Incas tombs dated thousand years ago there were pictured capsicum plants. Incas also buried their dead as mummies with capsicum plants with them. Some historians believe that a doctor traveling with Christopher Columbus...
In many of my posts I have described several of Hercules’ Labors in order to be forgiven for the deaths of his wife and children after Hera’s spell that made him lose his mind. When Hercules completed the cycle of the labors he planted an olive tree outside Hera’s temple in ancient Olympia. Olympia was...
One of the five basic elements of ancient Greek diet was wine. Although the origin of vineyards and viticulture comes from Asia, ancient Greeks because of trade started cultivating vineyards since Neolithic Age. Homer, Plato and Xenophon in their written documents make an extensive mention to all their contemporary wines from several parts of Greece....
Athens along with its suburbs counts for about 4 million people which is almost half of Greece’s population. During the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s because of the lack of works in the province, people moved from villages to the big city to find a job. Initially and up to the 80’s downtown Athens was the...
The fourth out of the twelve labors, that Eurystheus of Mycenae obliged Hercules to perform, was the catching of the Boar of Erimanthus. Erimanthus was a place in Peloponnese peninsula and goddess Artemis has offered that huge animal to the area. Nevertheless, the boar raided a vast area killing other animals and causing damages to...
The Copts are one of the oldest Christian communities in the Middle East. Although integrated in the larger Egyptian nation state, the Copts have survived as a distinct religious community forming around 10 to 20 percent of the population though estimates vary. They pride themselves on the apostolicity of the Egyptian Church whose founder was...
Greens especially during summer play a very important role to Greek diet. There are several varieties and their taste vary from bitter to sweet. Usually, we wash them thoroughly and boil them enough to soften and we consume them as a salad with olive oil and vinegar. Sometimes we eat them as a side dish...
“Pasta filata (Italian: “spun paste”) is a technique in the manufacture of a family of Italian cheeses also known in English as stretched-curd, pulled-curd, and plastic-curd cheeses. Stretched curd cheeses manufactured from the pasta filata technique undergo a plasticizing and kneading treatment of the fresh curd in hot water, which gives the cheese its fibrous...
Weekdays are quite busy for me trying to balance between heavy work schedule and home. Every day I wake up at 6:30 in the morning. For half an hour, I go around the world checking the news, my mail and whatever happens in social media. At 7:00 I start preparing breakfast for my son and...
On Saturday as we were eating lunch, my son asked about the first days of our relationship with my husband. You know, kids are always curious and want to learn how their parents were met and eventually got married. So, we both started telling him the story of our getting together. Unavoidably, the story arrived...
