Michigan Archives - Kitoula's Greek Food Journal

All the Greek Festivals!

If you like Greek food and you’d like to take your family for a bit of fun, Greek Festivals are just the ticket. Here I have listed some, but not all the Greek festivals that I know and love.

Early in the summer in Bloomfield Hills Michigan, St. George’s had its Ya’ssoo Greek Festival!

St George Yassoo Fest, All the Greek Festivals — Photo by George Dzahristos

St. Nick’s Opa! Fest in Troy is the largest on-going Greek festival in the metro Detroit area. This is one of my favorites. My friend, blogger, cookbook author, and Chef, Peter Minaki of Kalofagas has given cooking demonstrations at this festival for the last few years.

St .Nicks Opa Fest, All the Greek Festivals — Photo by HOUR Detroit

This weekend, Holy Trinity in Grand Rapids Michigan hosts Yassou! Greek Cultural Festival. I wrote about this festival, and my Greek cousins, in 2011.

Souvlakia, All the Greek Festivals — Photo by Kitoula

Their motto is Eat! Dance! Be Greek!

Yassou! Fest, All the Greek Festivals — Photo by Kitoula

And because Greece is one of the oldest wine producing regions in the world, you might add, Drink!

Opa Kitoula! All the Greek Festivals

Yamas!

Garden for Bees & Butterflies

Most of us are aware of the importance of bees in our natural world, and are anxious to do our part to help them. The most important thing that bees do is pollinate. Why not try to give them lots of opportunities to do just that? And who doesn’t love to see butterflies in their garden? So, in lieu of vegetables, that have become increasingly more difficult for me to grow, I am creating a garden for bees & butterflies.

Herb gardens are a haven for bees. I already grow several perennial herbs and I want to provide bees with even more “food”. I have a big patch of mint, oregano, horseradish, lemon balm and chives that I let flower. I also have a good size raspberry patch. These are all big bee attracting plants.

Bees are drawn to plants with open or flat flowers with lots of pollen and nectar. The scent of a flower can have particular appeal to bees, and bright colors may also attract them. Avoiding herbicides or pesticides is very important, both of which are not good for bees.

To attract even more bees, I added phlox, coneflowers (echinacea), and bee balm (monarda) where I use to grow tomatoes and squash.

Did you know that there are over 200 species of butterflies in Michigan? They are attracted to red, pink, and purple flowers that grow in the sun. From over 100 different kinds of plants in the Midwest that attract butterflies, nearly 50 of them are also excellent for attracting bees. It’s nature’s win-win scenario!

Every Spring I plan to add more perennial plants that will attract bees and butterflies. You can create a bee and butterfly garden too. Try to plant at least 3 different types of flowers to have blooms through early spring and late summer. Join me and together let’s make our gardens, and our world a healthier place for bees.

Freelance food writing

I did some freelance food writing work recently and contributed to “In Good Taste” magazine for Spring. Check out page 9 for the article: “How to Make Your Life More Fruitful”. It was a fun experience and I hope to do more writing for this local publishing agency that focuses on custom food marketing for many high-end grocery stores and markets.

Are you looking for a food writer? I have quite a few articles that have been published online. I would love to write for you. Ping me! I’ll send you links to the work I have done.

Freelance food writing for In Good Taste Spring 2015

My Garden in Autumn

Earlier this year I posted photos of My Garden in Spring. What a difference a few months make. Here’s what my garden looked like then…
Garden then

Here’s what it looks like now…
Garden now The Swiss chard is monstrous. The Buddha statue’s head barely peeks out over the squash.

Tomatoes are everywhere. Tomato plants

Zucchini, squash and cucumber vines are spreading out and crawling up the critter fence. Squash vines

Here’s the Buddha back in Spring… Buddha then

Find him now… Buddha now We have had lots of hot sun and frequent rain this summer so my garden is abundant. It is also my first year flying the prayer flags. Coincidence? No apparent causal connection?
I think not.

“I bow low before the Exalted Garden Buddha”.