My Big Fat Greek ...Dinner!

Ben, Jon Jon, Mrs. Athena, Mom, Cleo, and Me.

Ben, Mr. George, Mrs. Athena, Jon Jon, Poppy and Me.

Well tonight I was in for a treat. My family and I were invited to have supper over at George and Athena Pappas' house. As we walked in the front door we were greeted with kisses from Mrs. Athena. :) They opened their home to us like it was our own. She had prepared a tradition and old fashioned Greek meal. ((They both are from Greece))((There even was a stitching of the Acropolis on the wall)) haha. Anyways our first stop in the house was Mr. Pappas' office. His headquarters of operation for "Protected Harbor". The office also doubled as a well, sorta like a museum. He had many old pictures of him and his family and even a certificate of when his father passed through Ellis Island. Then i turned around and saw three guns hanging above the entrance of the office. (really big guns)! The kitchen is directly across from the office so Mrs. Athena called us in to prepare ourselves some drinks. (Non-traditional Greek drinks though) hmm. So dinner was ready and wow did she have a bunch prepared! We all first started off with some hordsoiurs (is that how you spell it?) There was string green beans (a little crunchy for my liking) a greek salad with all the trimmings and these little spinach things.... umm ya I don't know what there were called but it had spinach and cheese and the baklava bread like stuff that encased it. Yum! :) Just look at the picture! Its the stuff at the top of the picture. Oh ya and there was bread too. 

So then after we got through we the "first course" she had us grab our plates to

 get some of the good stuff... the "main course" it is called pasticcio. Ch

eck out the link for more info on it! It was so good though!. Basic

ally its lasagna but so so so much better (( i think)). And I

 love my dad's lasagna (Hi Dad!) Back to the story.... I had that with those green beans and some bread! MmMMmmMm!

Here's a picture of my plate before I started eating (Because it is proper to wait for the lady of the house take her first bite first) 

And here is a picture after I was finished eating  (Notice the green beans are still there)

well after we were finished eating and had quite interesting conversations Mrs. Athena popped up and was like is anyone ready for dessert? Yes was

 the unanimous answer around the 

dinning room table. Her and her husband scurried to the kitc

hen (they are really short people) (you can see the picture at the top) lol.. scurried to the kitchen and brought out two pies and baklava 

AND Breyers "Carb Smart" Vanilla ice cream! Now wait a min. and let me explain to you what baklava is.... Yum is what it is! Each piece is comprised of tens maby even hundreds of layers of "phyllo dough" (thin paper like sheets of dough), crushed nuts (pecans to be exact) and the best part honey! Yummy Good as my Poppy (Head side of the family) would say. :D Mrs. Athena has been asked how many calories are in her baklava and this was her an

swer and I quote "If someone asks me how many calories are in this I just tell them before I make it I pray to the Lord and He takes them all out!" HAHA!!! Anyways..... We had a very enjoyable time listening to all the stories that they had to share with us about l

iving in Greece all the way to training their daughter Cleo (who is mentally handicapped) to walk, talk and write... well basically every life elemen

t that you would need to be able to function. It was very interesting and touching at the same time... Well that's all for now... OH wait I almost forgot.... After the dessert time was done she brought out this massive loaf of bread tat she had made from scratch and we all partic

ipated in a New Years Day Greek tradition... The tradition is well first of all she bakes a "gold coin" (she just used a quarter) lol .. into the br

ead and we all cut 

a piece from the mass loaf. First you cut a piece for God... (Mrs. Athena was like I hope God doesn't get it... lol she just wanted one of us (her guests) to get it... when God didn't get it she was like "Oop well God didn't get it .. No luck for him) You see whoever cuts the piece with the coin in it will have good luck or blessings for the whole year. So once you cut a piece for God then you continue to cut a piece starting from the oldest at the table following through until you re

ached to youngest. Ok.., well to make things short my Mom got it! :) 

All in all we had a pleasurable evening at the 

Pappas' house! 

It really was My (first) Big Fat Greek .... Dinner! :)

Below are a few pictures of the meal...

Thank You Mr. and Mrs. Pappas for such a great evening and such great food! 

God Bless!