Your Dreams Coming True In The Kitchen

Ok that's it! This posting is the last of the Mohecans! Four hundred and sixteen postings of every kind with pictures by somebody who had no idea at all what Blogging meant, is not bad. As from tomorrow I will start enjoying the holidays ....what holidays??....I am always on holiday, I am retired!! Now I don't even have to think myself to sleep every night thinking of what I am going to be cooking next day.  It was just like counting sheep!! However... in a few days you will be getting my Haxe with, beer, and sauerkraut boiled potatoes recipe. Haxe is the pig's hock in German which are presently being cured and should be ready in about a week. In another 5 gallon plastic container I have two pork boneless hams also being cured which should be ready in about 8 days.  Then there is the smoking which will take 1 day then our Holiday treats will be ready!...

A s I am proceeding towards the end of my Odessy and finally reaching my Ithaka .  An Ancient Greek proverb says that every person on this Earth is a Ulysses searching for Ithaka " and when this man succeeds in life, is content and happy, he can say that he has finally reached 'his' Ithaka ." I find this saying so romantic!! I am proposing easy recipes so I will be remembered as the "Guy with the hot food but easy recipes". This Tappas, finger food, appetizers, meze, whatever you would like to call it is easy, quick, and inexpensive....

Y ep! Today is Final Countdown No. 3.  The global economy is not helping the entertainment industry very much. The various cuts in salaries, benefits etc. is making everybody "tighten their belts" to the point of asphyxiation.  Therefore restaurant and catering owners have to come up with different ways of preparing tasty, presentable dishes with the strictest minimum cost so as to come out ahead at the end of the day....

C ountdown number 4. Oh yes one year's blogging is slowly coming to an end. I will not forget the help of a fellow blogger who took me by the hand through the very first steps. I cannot mention her name for obvious reasons.  God bless E.M.S.! I prepared a bit of a gigantic mirepoix using the left over button onions of yesterday, sliced carrots, and celery sticks....

O k everybody the Final Countdown Has Arrived. Today we start counting from 5 going to 4 tomorrow, to 3 after tomorrow and so on till we arrive to Zero and that will be the end of my daily posting. After that I will write at my leisure. This is one unbelievably delicious dish which goes very well with braised Pork Tenderloin (filet) with its wine porcini mushrooms and mashed potatoes....

Kayseri or Caesarea is the capital of Cappadocia pronounced (Kappadokia) in Antalia region of Turkey. The word Caesarea comes from the Roman Emperor, Julius Caesar, who was born by Caesarian Section (non natural way to deliver a baby). During his reign many areas of the Roman Empire were named after him including Caeserea in Israel. It is known that all that region was once Byzantine, then fell under the Ottoman Empire which later became Turkey. And to think all that all these places might still have been Greek if the Byzantines knew how to take better care of their affairs and not try to stab each others backs as the Greeks do now. Kayseri was well known for its culinary delights such as the Pastirma (dried meat) not Pastrami which is a totally different food, and Socuk (sausage). Today we are going to make a Kayseri Pie similar to the Basterma pie made on August 7th 2011 but with a difference : this one contains tomatoes....

A fter nearly a year of daily posting I sort of feel close to my readers and would like to believe that they are close to me. What would blogging be anyway if we cannot express our feeling, sentiments, ideas, mess-ups, successes etc. Today all three of us, (by now you guys should know that we are three in the family). Barbara was in Piraeus, Maria and I were running after three important meetings where both of us had to attend together. This meant there was no food at home for lunch. So here's what we did...