Beware, people, V-Day is upon us, with all its red and pink over the top cheesiness and ridiculousness. And honestly, I couldn’t be happier. Because for me, first and foremost, Valentine’s day is the perfect day for a crazy delicious dessert. Like this cheesecake. But let me explain. [READ MORE]
One of the greatest pleasures I had over the past holidays was spending time with my Zoe. Zoe is one of my closest friends; she is a force of nature, a gorgeous teeny tiny ball of energy, charming and sweet, ballsy and witty. She studied History, she works at LSE and her cooking game is seriously strong. She can ace pretty much any traditional Greek recipe, knows her ingredients, techniques and history and, most impressively for me, she has the most balanced diet of anyone I know. [READ MORE]
Coming back after the holidays, in a slight haze after days filled with too much romance, wine, friends and cheese, I couldn’t help but notice all the many healthy recipes all around. I mean, all those smoothies and fruit and veggie bowls and scrumptious salads and oh my! Getting back into shape seemed almost as appealing as this New Year’s cake: absolutely delicious, beautiful and very inspiring. And I really need that air of freshness, those beautiful colours. Βut I also need me some butter & chocolate. [READ MORE]
This year I’ll be spending the holidays in London. It’s the first time I won’t be in Greece with my family and I’m feeling pretty bittersweet about it. See, I really love my loud, overbearing, inspiring, always-in-your-face family. I love and miss them constantly. Plus, they really know how to do Christmas. There’s always beautiful decorations all around the house, tons of hugs, tons of energy (I mean, tons of energy, which translates to heated debates on just about anything, arguments, long embraces, lots of frantic running around), tons of delicious food and presents. I know I’ll miss out on all these- but then again, I’ve been living in London for over ten years now and I’ve never spent the holidays here. It’s about time I gave it a try and created some new traditions, don’t you think? [READ MORE]
The past couple of days have been filled with shopping, organising dinners, decorating the house, wrapping presents and writing cards. I already have pine needles on my carpet, enough fairy lights to give me a dizzy spell and a freezer filled with more smoked salmon I know what to do with. And in between all this, I’m also testing recipes like crazy. Just this morning I had a glorious failure, involving a cinnamon & clove orange cake, filled with crunchy nuts and glazed with too much butter and honey. It came out of the oven all messy, crumbled and disastrous-looking, yet was so delicious, I’ve already devoured half of it. [READ MORE]
I’m crazy about Halloween; seriously, it’s the holiday I mostly look forward to, with Christmas being a close second. Even though I didn’t grow up celebrating it, once I moved to London, I was hooked. I think the reasons behind it are quite simple: I absolutely love dressing up (I almost always go for a gory theme- which is kind of the point, I think) and spookily decorating the house. I love watching moderately scary movies (as much as I hate to admit it, I’m such a big woosh- I only managed to watch all Scream films last year) and, my favourite, enthusiastically carving pumpkins of all sizes. At the same time, I really like the idea of honouring the dead. No matter how commercial Halloween is, for me, that’s the core of the whole celebration and the main reason I’m behind it. [READ MORE]
For someone that loves chocolate as much as I do (a lot!), the fact that hot chocolate leaves me quite indifferent is a little surprising. Every time I’m at a café with friends and one of them orders hot chocolate, I’m always shocked- of all the coffee and tea varieties available, why would you choose hot chocolate instead? [READ MORE]
Stone fruits are my go-to, especially towards the end of the summer. They’re not as striking as watermelon and melon, not even as fancy as grapes or figs. But they’re just as pretty, just as tasty and around late August, when I’ve had way way too much of the above, I start attacking peaches, nectarines and apricots. I prefer them when they’re just ripe, still holding a little bite and just the right amount of juice. [READ MORE]
I love our summer house more than words. I think it’s the prettiest place on earth and most of my happy childhood memories are from there. I’m also well aware that it’s not perfect; one of it’s imperfections is it’s oven: sure, it’s working, but only when it feels like it. And when it does, it’s temperamental and full of surprises. [READ MORE]
Spoon desserts are quite the Greek tradition. They’re also very popular, very sweet and can be made using almost any kind of fruit boiled with sugar and oftentimes added herbs and/or spices. When I was a kid and a teenager I considered them unbearably uncool, boring and tasteless; I mean, it was just cooked fruit in a sugary syrup. There was no texture, no fluffiness, no layers and, most importantly, no chocolate or even butter! I snubbed them and thought I was so right to do so. [READ MORE]