Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Greek cookies - Moustokouloura

In Greek: μουστοκούλουρα, say: moo-stoh-KOO-loo-rah

An Authentic Greek Recipe




These cookies are a tasty accompaniment for your coffee or tea. They have the distinctive taste of must - which is taken from the pressed grapes before it is made into wine - and a hint of cinnamon. You can make them either soft or crispy, depending on your preference.


Ingredients
250g sugar
170g grape must
150g extra virgin olive oil
200g water
9g ammonium bicarbonate
9g cinnamon
1 kg soft flour
4g baking powder
4g soda powder

 Preparation
Combine all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl to form a pliable dough, without over handling the dough.
Cover it with cling film and leave in the fridge to rest for 30 minutes.
On a slightly floured surface shape the dough into circular cookies (see photo) and place them in a shallow buttered oven dish.
If you want the moustokouloura to be soft, cover them with aluminium foil, making a few holes in the foil with a fork and keep them covered for 10 minutes after they have been baked.
If you want them to be crispy, then leave them uncovered.
In both cases bake them in a pre heated oven at 200 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes.

I found the recipe on http://realgreekrecipes.blogspot.gr/2008/10/greek-must-cookies-moustokouloura.html. You can find more greek recipes there.

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Sunday, January 20, 2013

Decoding the Antecythera Mechanism - National Archeological Museum of Athens

One of the highlights of the national museum is the antecythera mechanism. It is considered the first computer in the man's history.

The Antikythera mechanism is displayed at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, accompanied by a reconstruction made and donated to the museum by Derek de Solla Price. Our apartment is 1,6 km away from the national archaeological museum. It usually takes me 20 minutes to go there on foot.

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Our Kitchen



Our kitchen is 12 square metres. It's a big room and there is a cooker with the oven, a fridge and a washing machine. In the middle of the room there is a table of four seats which is extended to 6-8 seats if you want.  There are all kinds of saucepans you can use, and a variety of cutlery. There are also plenty of recipes for traditional greek food if you want to try some.

In the area you can find a big super market 7 min walking and two mini markets 3-4 minutes walking distance. There is also a butcher's, a chemist's and a bakery in 2 minutes walking distance. Next to them there is a petrol station in case you rent a car. In that case you can find plenty of free parking space.


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Saturday, January 19, 2013

Greek breakfrast

Greek diet is considered one of the best diets in the world according to UNESCO and having brought up with a mother coming from a village I can assure you that all Greek meals are extremely healthy. One main reason is that the climate helps for the cultivation of highly nutritious agricultural products. Most Greeks who live in cities have some relatives or their own fields in villages therefore they have access to some kind of vegetables, fruit or olives/olive oil which I can assure you is the best in the world. Our relatives often send us oranges and olive oil but we also make marmelades from fruit of my mother's garden.

Greek breakfast is usually very simple but very nutritious. Ours contain milk or greek coffee, bread with honey -a family friend has beehives and we get some excellent honey from Igoumenitsa- Sometimes we eat yoghurt with honey and some dry fruit and some other times we eat cheese.There are times that we prefer greek cookies. My favourite are moustokoyloura. I will find the recipe and I will post it later.



We like bread in the morning or fryganies (rusks.) Home made sandwiches with ham cheese (I prefer graviera) and vegetables are very common. Cheesepie and Spinachpie is another option or if you want something sweet bougatsa (cream pie) is delicious and perfectly combined with greek coffee.



For those who are going to stay in our apartment we can give a list of shops or producers where they can buy local products from. We can also show them where we usually buy food from near our house so that they can get a local taste.

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Sunday, January 13, 2013

Bathroom

There is one bathroom in our apartment. It was rennovated in 2004. There is the wash basin, the toilet and a shower.  
The photos have been taken with a mobile phone so the quality is not that good but you can get an idea.






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Thursday, January 3, 2013

Thission

One of our favourite strolls is in Thission area. The metro station there is old and it reminds me of my childhood.

Thission is the area around the Temple of Hephaestus. On the one side you can go to Monastiraki  and the Agora of Athens but if you go up the hill you can stroll on a pedestrian route along Apostolou Pavlou. Both walks are very enjoyable. In summers we usually go to the open summer cinema called Thission which is unique in Athens, but in winter we usually walk up to one cafe of the so many in the area.

You can read more about the cinema Cine Thission best in the world by CNN.



There is a nice site wih walks around Athens you might find useful http://www.athensinfoguide.com/walk3.htm

The cafes around the Acropolis are quite expensive but if you choose one further away you will find better prices.

When we go around the area we go down Iraklidon Rd which leads to a nice pedestrian area with cafes and we usually drink rakomelo a warm mixed alcoholic drink. If you don't like alcohol do not try it, as it is quite strong.



After that we head for Agia Marina church. The view is very nice.



Our apartment is 5 stops to Thission by line 1 metro. If you take a taxi it might cost 4-5 euros.

Metro Map


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Ready for coffee?


What we usually like doing after a good meal is a strong espresso. There is a coffee maker for cappuccino and espresso, a coffee maker for american coffee as well as a "briki" for making greek coffee. If you don't know how we can leave instructions on how to make it.

Although the rest of the house is rennovated the kitchen has been kept in the original plan. By looking at the tiles in the kitchen you can get an idea of what the design was in Athens in the late 60s.

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Our Christmas Tree

We wish you happy holidays. Let's hope that 2013 will be full of joy and health.

Our Christmas Tree is in the living room next to the balcony door. The one wall of the living room is yellowish and the curtains are in white and light blue colours.

Next to the Christmas Tree you can see the TV. It's a TV with decoder that means that we can see MP4 channels.

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