Tag: cookbook

Recipe of the week: Skordalia

Do you like garlic? This dip is for the serious garlic lover.

6 cloves of garlic
2 cups cold mash potatoes (instant work fine)
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup of vinegar
1/4 cup of water (optional – for consistency)
Salt and pepper to taste

Peel the cloves of garlic and grate/mash/pound/food process (your favorite method) into pulp. Add garlic to a mixing bowl. Add the mashed potatoes and blend thoroughly.  Add the olive oil, vinegar and water (if needed) alternately, a little at a time and stir. Continue mixing, stirring briskly until smooth. Salt and pepper to taste and stir again until well blended. Cover and stir in refrigerator until serving. Great on bread, as a dip for vegetables or bread sticks.

This recipe is from Hellenic Cuisine by Sts. Constantine and Helen Ladies Society, Detroit MI 1956

Have you ever been to a Twitter Party?

I participated in my very first Twitter party on Tuesday, May 25th. It was intense. I had been to many #Tweetea events. So, I thought I would be a natural. OMG was I ever wrong. First of all it was totally virtual. And there were tough questions that were asked about hot topics on blogging. Also, there were several giveaways that participates could win by tweeting a specific #hashtag.

I signed up first on the Savvy Blogging website. Then they followed me back on Twitter.  At the time of the event I followed along via Tweet Grid / Tweet Chat. I couldn’t decide which one I preferred. 200 Bloggers participated. 30 or more tweets would be posted in response to a question or give-away simultaneously at any time. Try following a conversation of that volume and tweeting at the same time! Yikes! I thought my laptop was going to explode!

But I started to have fun when some friends I had met at GleekRetreat, who were also participating, noticed me via the #SavvyBlogger hashtag and started having side tweets with me. Then the giggle fest started. I relaxed and it all became easier.

If you have the chance to participate in a Twitter party, do it. It’s an experience you won’t forget.

Gleek Retreat was truly a retreat…

I had so much fun I don’t know how or where to begin to tell you about this experience. Was it an informative conference? Yes. Did I meet a whole group of  kewl bloggers IRL that I would not have met otherwise? Yes. Was I inspired and motivated to give my little niche blog (the “shoemaker’s daughter” of all my other work in social media) more attention and TLC? Absolutely!

But the best part was the relaxation, the food, the drink, being surrounded by nature and how comfortable everyone felt just hanging out with one another…

The drive up and back with Courtney and Melissa? Hilarious…laughing ’till we cried.

Look for the convo on Twitter by following the hashtag #GleekRetreat and #GleekRetreat10. Here’s the conference info and here’s where we stayed. Thanks Stacey and JodiMichelle. I will proudly display the badge on my site and will be counting the days until next year.

http://intothewoodsretreat.com/

Crema Caramela (Custard)

At a recent #Tweetea meetup an introductory question was asked of discussion participants, “What is your favorite pudding?” I knew instantly that I would confess my guilty pleasure is Crema Caramela.

When I was a little girl, my YiaYia made Crema Caramela for me. It was my all time favorite dessert and still is. I looked in my Greek cookbooks for a recipe and I found this one in Hellenic Cuisine by Sts. Constantine and Helen Ladies Society of Detroit.

1 qt scalded milk
12 eggs
1 – 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla

Combine eggs, salt and one cup of sugar. Add milk slowly, stirring constantly. Add vanilla and mix well. Melt or caramelize 1/2 cup of sugar in a heavy skillet and glaze the bottom of a large Pyrex tube pan. Pour custard mixture over caramelized sugar glaze and bake in a water bath at 350 degrees for one hour or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean.  Important: Place tube pan in pan of hot water to bake. Unmold upside down so that caramel glaze frosts custard.