Kaldi was a shepherd in the mountains of Ethiopia. One day he observed that when his goats were eating the seeds of a bush nearby they were becoming more vivid. He picked some of them and took them to a monk. The monk boiled them and drunk the beverage. He realized that it gave him...
These days all kids in this country are studying for the end of year final exams. For those who are in high school, they must sit for exams in four lessons; mathematics, physics, Greek language and history. These grades along with their all year grades will pass them to next year. For those who sit...
Although Greek kitchen is very rich in savory dishes with high nutritional value, this does not apply for desserts. Why is that? I don’t really know. Perhaps the fact that from 1453 when Constantinople was conquered by the Ottomans and consequently the whole of Greece, until 1821 when we started our fight for liberation, we...
When I was below 30 and met someone, who was close to 50’s I, shamefully, confess that I thought of his as oldie. It is perhaps the arrogance of youth or the fact that you feel invincible at this age or maybe you believe that only your portrait will acquire all these ageing marks such...
Once upon a time in the exotic land of Far East, Ali Baba, a poor logger, discovered a cave that was filled with gold and precious stones, a treasure that was stolen and gathered there by the 40 thieves. All he had to do was to shout at the cave’s door: “Open Sesame”. And just...
Atalanta was the daughter of Iasus (or Mainalos or Schoeneus, according to Hyginus), a Boeotian, or an Arcadian princess. Her childhood was pretty dramatic according to myth. When she was born, her father was so disappointed for having a girl instead of a boy, that took the infant and left it in the woods. One...
In Greece, it used to be a custom, children to take the names of their paternal grandparents. For example, my name is Katerina just like my father’s mother and my brother’s name is John just like my father’s father. They did it mostly to keep the generation’s name alive and out of respect for the...
Greek pastries were very limited before 1922 when the Greeks of Asia Minor came as refugees in Greece. The country was very poor and the sweets people had, were based on simple ingredients they could find in nature. Some pastry shops that existed in big cities had French inspired sweets that could be enjoyed only...
A few days ago, was my Name Day. You can check all about this custom of ours here. I am crazy busy these last couple of months and so a celebration was out of the question. I was assigned a very challenging and demanding project, to relaunch a brand that has been to the Greek...
Santorini island is basically what has remained after a massive volcanic eruption that destroyed all previous settlements, and created the current geological caldera. This enormous volcanic eruption has become the most famous single event in the Aegean before the fall of Troy. It may have been one of the largest volcanic eruptions on Earth in...
