Week 9: Greece

This week I had a fabulous Greek picnic in. . .

ZION'S NATIONAL PARK!!!

It was great. We wanted to go to the Grand Canyon but it turns out that the North side (the side that's only a 2 hour drive) doesn't open until May. So instead of driving 8 hours, we went to Zion. And we (as in Justin, Spence, and me) did all of this because my little brother Eric's class is doing "Flat Stanley." They send this little drawing of a boy to their friends and family that live in other places and everyone takes pictures and it's really cute so yes.

Because we were going to be outside this Sunday, I decided a picnic would be best so I made Greek food. My favorite! At least my favorite this week. I love gyros! Always have, always will, so that is what I made. I looked for lamb but it doesn't seem to be available in St. George, so we had chicken. I cooked the chicken in olive oil, made a cucumber yogurt sauce (yum!) and chopped some onions and tomatoes and bought some shredded lettuce. All we had to do was pack this in a cooler and assemble it in pita pockets when we were ready to eat. They were delicious! Except that the pitas got soggy in the cooler because I was dumb and put them on a plate in plastic wrap instead of leaving them in the bag. Yeah, I'm slow. We devoured them so quickly that I didn't have time to take a picture so you must use your imagination. I loved them, but I am biased because I love gyros.

Now for dessert, I made a combination of two things. I wanted to make baklava because I love it! But Justin hates nuts, so I didn't. But I wanted some sort of fillo dough dessert. I found a recipe for Myzithropita which is a fillo dough and sweet soft cheese fried dumpling but it required making my own fillo dough which was not happening. And also I needed a fryer. Then I found a recipe for Galaktoboureko rolla which is a custard filled fillo roll. But we had custard last week and I did not want it again. So I made the sweet cheese filling (ricotta, yogurt, cinnamon, sugar, lemon juice) and rolled it in fillo dough and drowned it in cinnamon infused honey. And life was good. Love love love love love. I'm planning on making variations of this dessert with pumpkin, custard, maybe even chocolate. I just love fillo!

I love Greece. I hope to go there someday. Mediterraneans are so beautiful. And all the relics and art and brown skin and azul oceans and white sand. And gyros. And fillo desserts. Yes, Greece should be expecting me.