Cooking Club #12 -- It's all Greek to Me!

As you might have noticed--I am pretty absent on the blog lately ... and, I have a feeling it might be a permanent thing--this posting few and far between.

I'll still keep posting my Friday Friend Cookbook Countdown tho... and I have about 4 Cooking Club posts to put up and who knows?  I could be back with a vengeance sometime soon. 😁

I LOVE my cooking friends!

That's a given!

My favorite thing to do is to share food with friends.

We share stories about our theme-- I call it going down Memory Lane-- we laugh, we eat, and sometimes we learn something new -- in how we cook a dish, in how we taste a dish and in the traditions of the country we are spotlighting. 

Back in November we got together for Cooking Club after a few months hiatus.

Greek Cooking was our theme--OhPah!

Opa! (Greek: Ώπα), is a common Greek verbal emotional expression used frequently during celebrations or dancing in Greece. In the Greek culture, the expression sometimes accompanies plate smashing (purposeful or unintentional).

I'm going on record here to state: There was no plate smashing-- either unintentional or purposeful.

April had the luck of being in California a few days before we met for cooking club and she visited a Greek Market. She reported that she had the best time discussing appetizers with the owners of the market -- and she came back with a nice little appetizer. 

Oh--did I say Little?

LOOK!  Look at this board of appetizers!!  

Greek Olives 

Fruit

Cheese

Crackers

Nuts

Stuffed pepperoncini

A Hummus dip

Goat Cheese

And the best--Spanakopita! 

(spinach and feta turnovers) with date jam

Did we need more food than this? No, we did not.

And yet...we were still able to partake of more.

April explained how Greeks do appetizers.

Spanakopita! 

(spinach and feta turnovers) with date jam

We did some serious discussion!

Some serious contemplating...

And of course, no one could leave the appetizers alone!

Then we got down to some serious courses!

First course---soup and salad.

Sally and Paul had just gotten back from a Greek Orthodox Wedding where they had this soup at the wedding dinner.

Greek Lemon Chicken Soup.

OMG--it was so good!!

Paul looks kind of mad-- but he isn't. (maybe he was---he wanted to eat, not talk about it!)

Sally also made a Greek Salad which I did not get a better photo of than this.  It had lettuce and tomatoes and purple onion and feta cheese, Kalamata olives.

2nd course--

I whipped out a couple more side dishes --

some chickpea/garbanzo beans with ground lamb  and a orzo pasta with seafood.  Both were a bit spicy.

Lamb is a staple in Greek Cooking and since they are 'islands' Seafood is plentiful. 

The main dish is coming up and Sally looks very excited!  The Handyman?  Not so much--- he is suspicious of the Moussaka.

Paul's just after my seafood orzo. 

The Main Course:

Moussaka!

Moussaka is an eggplant- or potato-based dish, often including ground meat, in the Levant, Middle East, and Balkans, with many local and regional variations.

This one was eggplant-- very traditional -- and very good.

Gina did a great job on creating an international dish!

The Handyman was still suspicious of it tho--- there was eggplant in it after all.

More visiting took place -- and Paul put on some Greek music--just in case anyone wanted to dance and smash some dishes!

As I reported earlier, no one smashed any dishes.

Ahhhh -- the dessert course.

Pumpkin Pie.

BUT---this wasn't just any pumpkin pie.

Debbie cooked a whole pumpkin, pureed it and made it with olive oil.  It tasted really good, but had a very different texture than we were all used to.

Oh...and the crust was a filo dough crust. 

So...there you have it--our Greek Night.

I won't show the pictures of the Toga Party which took place later on in the evening...  Shelly and Lorin were sorely missed for that, as they were absent from this Cooking Club get-together.

Oh...okay, okay... we wouldn't have actually done a Toga-party without them, so that really didn't happen.  (sigh)

But I want to know something--- most of the couples when I said, 'hey I need a photo of each of  us' leaned in towards each other and smiled....

Sally and Paul

Debbie and Charlie

Gina and Mark

But when it comes to these two couples??? 

Myself and the Handyman?

April and Doug?

The Handyman would not smile, so I was going to make him!!

And April and Doug?  I said  "act like you like her" and he said,

"I don't"

I think he's kidding of course!

Cooking Club #12 was the best one yet!

And these cooking club meals were all good too... just click on the link to see.

Cooking Club #1 -Meals your mom used to make

Cooking Club #2- Cajun Cooking

Cooking Club #3 - Let's all go to Hawaii

Cooking Club #4 - American Regional Cooking --Great Lakes Region, featuring: SUPPER CLUBS!

Cooking Club #5 - Famous Chefs  (long post with other stuff mixed in, but just trust me)

Cooking Club #6 -Meatball Madness -- or something round  (long post combined with Famous Chef's.  Scroll thru some stuff to get there)

Cooking Club #7 - Breakfast for dinner

Cooking Club #8 - Slow Cooking

Cooking Club #9 - Mexican Street Food

Cooking Club #10- Your Christmas Cookie Heritage

Cooking Club #11 - Cooking from labels/back of box, can, or carton

Cooking Club #12 - It's all Greek to Me!

Coming Soon -- Christmas Surprise!

Happy Eating Everybody!

See you next time.