Your Dreams Coming True In The Kitchen

 M aria's second delicious dish was also part of my festive birthday dinner party.  This is the first birthday in a long time that I am not laboring in the kitchen to produce something special....and I really enjoyed it! To make these mini rolls Maria used the following:

 T he word pastitsio sounds Italian...and it is. It literally means "to make a mess of things".  Now how it came about to be used in this typically festive Greek dish I couldn't tell you. All I know is that I love it and I will eat it only when Maria (my wife) makes it because she learned it from her aunt Anna twin sister to her mother Stavroula (Loula). In a few words it is a large oven proof dish with two thick layers penne rigate (pasta) with a layer of ground beef sauce in the middle, topped with a layer of béchamel sauce and baked in the oven. On July 30th was my birthday and by the way I thank everybody from Greece, Facebook, AUC, Egypt, The English School Heliopolis, The Guezira Sporting Club in Zamalek, Cairo, France, Canada, Zimbabwe, Zoo-loo land, and of course U.S.A. who wished me a "Happy Birthday". I had a blast. Plus didn't have to cook a thing that day because Maria did everything.  I washed everything up afterwards though!! So here goes...

Something went wrong and I erased all pictures taken for the Tuna Fish Dip and for this dish. I will make it up to you guys very soon. I am sorry.... S o....I would like to share with you (with no illustrations) this simple but very Greek dish called Fried Calamari. Please note that the Calamari are whole and not in rings as usually served in taverns. You could have seen the size in the pictures. These are very small, and have their teeny weeny tentacles attached to them.

D ips are handy when you are entertaining and don't feel like cooking anything fancy. As long as you have lots of toasted pita bread, poppadums, crackers, chips etc. you're fine.  And...may I add that hotter the dip the more everybody will drink and be merry!! This tuna fish dip recipe I would like to share with you today was given to me by Marathon Oil Company manager down in Sfax, Tunisia a few decades ago!

S pinach with rice is a very common everyday dish for Greeks.  It is cheap, quick, healthy and can be eaten hot or cold with feta and/or olives on the side.

H ere is a fantastic recipe directed only to men. With all due respect to the ladies who are excluded this time.

"N N o red meat everybody says!! So we stick to white.  Chicken, turkey and fish. I enjoy one recipe which is liked by most of my friends so I would like to share it with you.