athens news and stirfry

Here lately we have had some interesting news, maybe you’ve heard about it.. but probably not…

first of all, and MOST importantly, my dad and mimi are coming for a visit in mid-feb.. i am just toooo excited!

The cotton farmers of thessaloniki and/or makedonia are blocking interstate traffic with their tractors everyday, in protest of their loss of major govt subsidies.. And the Soccer fans here are nutso.

But the BIG news here is this church scandal. This priest has had several lawsuits brought against him over the past decade or so, and has managed to get off scot-free every time.. surprise, surprise he’s been bribing judges! The story’s really pretty incredible really. His name is Iakovos Giosakis, if anyone wants to look it up.. the article I read is in www.athensnews.gr.. They called him Greece’s Rasputin, hehe/.

Okay enough news. Let’s get back to real life… in houston I had a can of soup and a piece of toast for lunch virtually everyday for YEARS (I am a huge soup fan in case you didn’t know already)… but sadly they don’t sell cans of soup here, I did find a couple of flavors of soup-in-envelopes by the bullions and sauces that are okay, but in the end, I’m making lunch for one more often. Turkey sandwich with avocado and cheese is up there… but my new discovery is pad-thai.. it’s not REAL pad-thai …but it’s much easier to make! Hehe.

Here it is: boil rice vermicelli (with any bullion cube) for 5 mins…
In a saucepan melt a hunka butter with a glob of chunky peanutbutter..
Pour on top of drained noodles, garnish with bean sprouts if you got’em.
Eat with chopsticks… very important… ;)

While we’er on the subject of asian food (a craving for me lately).. I made up a great sauce for stir fry vegetables. As a side note, every week I simmer down a big pkg of chicken breasts until they’re guud and juicy, and shred easily with a wooden spoon.. I keep it in the fridge for use through the week, reheating it when needed.

Bb sauce for stir fry
(for stirfry itself I like chicken, babycorn, bambooshoots, red bell peppers, carrots and broccoli)

In a saucepan over med-low heat
Melt A hunka butter (that’s about 3-4 tablespoons)
Add a small chopped onion (or half of a normal -sized one)
Add a chopped clove of garlic (or more!)
Add a bullion cube, it will melt
Add a generous knifeful of mustard (we like Maille Dijon)
Add a small can of mushrooms

Stir & Cook until mushrooms are warm, or until garlic’s soft, or whatev… it should be kindof warm, brown & lumpy. then Add 2 small spoons of flour, STIR WELL.. if you’re not sure, stir more.

Then add about a cup of water – a little at a time… give it a minute to soak up the flour before you add more . keep stirring, adding water until you like the consistency. ----WHATEVER YOU DO--- DO NOT ADD FLOUR AGAIN AFTER YOU PUT IN THE WATER!!!! It will feel like sand in your mouth. If you made it too thin, cook & stir it a little longer, so some water can evaporate out.