Spring is a time of renewal and rebirth as tree branches fill with blooms of white and fuchsia, and flowers happily salute the warm sun. It’s no wonder that this season has become the most popular for weddings, ushering in celebrations that extend into the fall. In Karpathos, the preparations are now underway for a summer-long wedding season that rejoices in not only the natives’ nuptials, but those of the prodigal sons and daughters who return to their ancestral home for the customs and traditions with family, the breathtaking scenic backdrop, and the lush-yet-affordable reception…plus it’s convenient since most Karpathian families vacation on the island during the summer, allowing them to bypass the travel expense of this destination wedding.

One memorable summer, we experienced that celebratory lifestyle firsthand while vacationing in Karpathos with Kukla, our mom. As we gathered for breakfast one morning, our cousins told us to get ready, we were going to a wedding. We turned to our mom and the look on our faces pretty much said it all. We weren’t invited and we didn’t know the people getting married, so are we crashing the wedding? She said that, first, we are cousins to the bride and groom (as we were to most of the island…surprise, surprise!), and second, a wedding in Karpathos means an open invitation to everyone on the island. 

Weddings are a particularly festive island event in Karpathos where everyone, including visitors, is invited to partake not only in the couple’s joyous ceremony but also in the food event to follow, seating up to 900 people in a barnlike structure standing in as a hall.

The bride wore the traditional Karpathos dress, and crowns were exchanged during the ceremony. Immediately following the mass, the close family of the couple pinned large gold pieces on the lapel of the groom’s jacket and on a bib worn over the bride’s gown. This centuries-old custom of giving gold is meant to sustain the couple in times of financial hardship (gold pieces such as these were saved by our grandmother and used to feed the family during the Great Depression and WW2). 

After the church service it was time to eat. We never saw anything like this. People lined up outside and were ushered into the hall in large groups for the wedding meal. When one group finished, the next came in to eat. This continued until everyone (yes, all 900) dined, and dined well!

The tables were set with individual servings of sousamomelo (a sesame-and-honey confection served at weddings, symbolizing fertility and sweetness), and baskets of peanuts, candy, and, our favorite, psilokouloura (thin, sesame-covered, olive-oil breadsticks)—seriously irresistible!

Friends and family joined in to prepare the feast—caterers were replaced by cousins in aprons, and it was no surprise to find Uncle Demetri pouring the wine! Lemon-oregano marinated lamb was roasted outdoors on a spit, trays of vegetable-laden moussaka and béchamel-layered pastitsio were passed around, and delicate heart-shaped, powdered-sugar-coated shortbread cookies, kourambiedes, were shared and devoured. Also offered was this island’s most excellent version of baklava. Unlike mainland baklava, mbaklavas Karpathikos (Karpathian baklava) is made with an olive oil-based pastry dough that is rolled into a spiral of thin layers, then sliced, and deep fried. Once drained and cooled, the diamond-shaped, flaky slices are drenched in a fragrant, spiced honey syrup and sprinkled with walnuts. Made for special celebrations such as this, these extraordinary treats are piled high on trays, wrapped in colorful cellophane and tied with elaborate bows. 

After the eating came the mantinades (μαντινάδες), each a melding of folk song and rhymes. Mantinades are the true spirit of the people of Karpathos, written by the parents and close family of the bride and groom. These lyrical poems, read by the authors, contain heartfelt wishes and blessings for the couple, as well as reflect on their lives as children, while conveying the love felt for each of them. This is all followed by tears of joy, hugs, and the final phase of the evening, dancing!

As the area was cleared to make room, local musicians on the lyra (a fiddle-like instrument), tsambouna (bagpipe), and laouto (similar to a bouzouki) took their places in the center of the floor. With everyone joining in, music for the sousta, kalamatiano, and hasapiko dances carried the festivities into the wee hours of the morning while the bride and groom snuck off to their elaborately-decorated krevati.

I hope you enjoyed this behind-the-scenes look at Karpathian weddings and how it all comes together to create a truly unique and loving occasion. Check out our blog Karpathiko Spiti (Karpathian House) to learn more about our lifestyle customs.

Sign up for our e-newsletter (if you haven’t already) and stay connected on social media for cooking tips and recipes, as well as for all Kukla's Kouzina updates and news.

Thanks for following us and we’ll see you next Monday!

Until then~
Kali orexi! Good appetite!

Kelly

Copyright © Kukla's Kouzina: A Gourmet Journey~Greek Island Style / The Naked Truth About...Greek Cooking!    

Web design by Kelly Salonica Staikopoulos

by Jackie Marzella, Joanne Staikopoulos Marzella & Kelly Salonica Staikopoulos

Christos Anesti!  Χριστός ἀνέστη! Christ is Risen!

Are you full yet??? No? …well you will be because it's Bright Week and that means it's a fast-free week. It’s the week right after Holy Week and Pascha, and that also means that Lent is over—so we're putting out the bacon, the filet mignon, the hamburgers, and the pizza. That’s right, we're eating all of the foods we couldn’t have during Lent. 

In the Christian Orthodox Church, Bright Week is also referred to as Renewal Week, a week that is completely fast-free, having just come off of 50 days of fasting during Lent and Holy Week. So what does that mean? You guessed it…meat, meat, and more meat for a glorious seven full days. During this time we reflect on our spiritual journey through Lent, Holy Week, and the Resurrection. We also reflect on the foods we haven’t been able to eat, like meat and dairy. 

Bright Week begins on Easter Sunday when we feast on magiritsa (a creamy Greek soup made with a lamb’s head) and/or chicken-based avgolemono soup (for those who don’t care for magiritsa…or lamb’s head), followed by a main course of lamb with tzatziki—in our house we like to make two different versions: leg of lamb roasted in the oven with potatoes, and grilled lamb chops riganata (with oregano)…mmm, don’t you just want to lick your chops? The lamb is joined by spanakopita, moussaka, or pastitsio, and we close out the meal with delicious tsoureki (braided sweet bread) and a customary custard dessert (like pasta flora or galaktomboureko). Check out last week’s blog, Greek Holy Week & Pascha~Easter Foods, for a slideshow of our Pascha menu. The festivities include dancing, especially in Karpathos, where the colorful traditional dress takes center stage.

As we continue to celebrate our Lord’s Resurrection, we focus on this greatest and most important feast, the celebratory “Feast of Feasts.” Thus, we do not abstain from any foods, but remain in a state of rejoicing for the entire week, emphasizing the glory of the Resurrection or Pascha, our Lord’s “New Passover” from death to life!

It’s no coincidence that our spiritual life and foods are somehow intertwined. Our spiritual life lends itself to a proper diet, sometimes through fasting and discipline. Once we have celebrated the Resurrection, it’s time to be merry and, yes, eat.

Some of the foods we enjoy this week (following Pascha Sunday’s feast at home) include Monday’s juicy hamburgers (sometimes we make lamb-burgers stuffed with feta cheese and topped with tzatziki), Wednesday’s glorious roasted chicken (our lemon-oregano recipe is the family favorite), Friday’s papoutsakia (meaning “little shoes” that are meat-stuffed baby eggplants topped with béchamel), and of course leftover “lamb and potatoes" in between (that’s the best of all...mmm leftovers!). 

Following Bright Week, we resume our normal fast on Wednesdays (the day Jesus was betrayed) and Fridays (the day Jesus was crucified). Our next spiritual celebration will be Pentecost.

We hope you enjoyed Bright Week Kouzina. The recipes for the foods we talked about here will be featured in our upcoming cookbook. Stay tuned for more uniquely Greek and Karpathian food ideas that you can add to your kouzina pantry.

Sign up for our e-newsletter (if you haven’t already) and stay connected on social media for cooking tips and recipes, as well as for all Kukla's Kouzina updates and news​.

Thanks for following us and we’ll see you next Monday for a special Happy Birthday to Kukla’s Kouzina!  We’re turning 6, so join us for a celebratory blog dedicated to you, our loyal followers, who have helped make us a success!    

Until then~
Kali orexi!  Good appetite!

Kelly, Joanne & Jackie (the girls in Kukla’s Kouzina)

Sources
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America (Pascha)
Greek Orthodox dictionary (Paschal Week~Bright Week)

Copyright © 2019 Kukla's Kouzina: A Gourmet Journey~Greek Island Style / The Naked Truth About...Greek Cooking!    

Web design by Kelly Salonica Staikopoulos

Flour, or as we say alevri (αλεύρι, ah-LEH-vree), goes beyond the all-purpose category in the Greek/Karpathian kouzina. The flours we use include many varieties and textures that create everything from breads to rusks to cookies to custards. The protein content in flour can range from 5 to 15 percent, resulting in two basic types of flour, soft and hard. Soft flour has less protein, making it ideal for pastries, cookies, and cakes, while hard flour is higher in protein and gluten, which produces an elastic dough, making it perfect for yeast breads. Organic/unbleached is recommended for all flours whenever possible. We prefer Greek flours for their smooth texture (yielding supple instead of tight results), and exceptional taste. Once the package is opened, all flours will remain fresh for about one month, particularly in warm climates (always check the date on the package to make sure it’s fresh). After one month it would be best to store flour in the freezer in a heavy-duty resealable plastic bag. To keep flour fresh when at room temperature, store in a cool, dry place in an airtight container with a couple of bay leaves—this works beautifully to keep flour bug-free. 

If you’ve ever been in a Greek market’s baking section and were not familiar with the labels and numbering system on the packages, you probably just kept going. Greek and European flours are similarly labeled and are worth getting to know. Following are the basic types of flours we use and how we use them:

We have had the wonderful privilege of learning from two gifted teachers, our mom (Kukla) and Aunt Francis (her sister), when it came to all things cooking and baking (and life!)—the added bonus was having our yiayia’s recipes and lessons passed on to us. Sometimes we take it for granted that our knowledge of simple elements (like flour) in the Greek kouzina is common when sometimes it’s not. We hope that this installment of Greek ingredients has helped demystify what all of these different flours are used for and how you can experiment in your own kouzina to get the results you want. 

We encourage you to cook and bake with your family and friends, and enjoy the process. Engage your kids to help and learn. The memories, lessons, and laughter that result from your time together will last a lifetime, for them and for you. These are the moments that will forever be cherished…they are for us!

The following in-store and online options will have you saying “YES”!

If you’re in the New York City area you can find these Greek flours (and more) at the following markets (they do phone orders and ship as well):

Titan Foods
25-56 31st Street
LIC, N.Y, 11102
718-626-7771

Mediterranean Foods (2 locations)
30-12 34th Street
Astoria, NY 11103
718-728-6166

22-78 35th Street
Astoria, NY 11105
718-721-0266

If you don’t live near these markets but have a Greek Orthodox Church nearby, chances are they know of a Greek/Mediterranean shop in the area.

Online shopping is the next best thing but you won’t find the selection that’s available in-store. Here’s where you can purchase Greek flour, as well as other foods and items:

Titan Foods
Recipiada

King Arthur Flour has a comparable organic line as well as European-style varieties.

I hope you enjoyed Flour Kouzina. The recipes for the foods pictured here will be featured in our upcoming cookbook. Stay tuned for more uniquely Greek and Karpathian ingredients that you can add to your kouzina pantry.

Sign up for our e-newsletter (if you haven’t already) and stay connected on social media for cooking tips and recipes, as well as for all Kukla's Kouzina updates and news.

Thanks for following us and we’ll see you next Monday!

Until then~
Kali orexi! Good appetite!

Kelly

Copyright © 2018 Kukla's Kouzina: A Gourmet Journey~Greek Island Style / The Naked Truth About...Greek Cooking!    

Web design by Kelly Salonica Staikopoulos

As you leaf through the pages and recipes of your favorite cookbooks, have you ever wondered about the process behind it getting published (besides the actual writing of it)? There are a number of elements and stages an author (especially a first-time one like me) goes through to get a cookbook into your hands. And not just any cookbook but a family one rich in a culture that I never deeply cherished or understood…until I began working on this project. I was thinking about my journey over the past five years and had a series of “Aha!” moments, revelations about where that process has ultimately taken me. The road hasn’t always been straight…in fact, I think crooked and uphill seems more like it…but it did lead me back to a familiar place that has been waiting patiently for me to return and embrace it.

This week we celebrate our website’s ​5-Year Anniversary by reflecting on the road that led us to the launch of Kukla’s Kouzina—beginning with inspiration from the woman at the heart of it all (Kukla herself, our mom), followed by the involved process of writing her legacy, and a vision of the magic that awaits us on the road ahead. 

As our first cookbook nears publication, we dedicate this week’s blog to all of you, our family and the remarkable friends we’ve made along the way, who supported us and became an important part of our journey! 

You’re seven years old, sitting at the dinner table in your Greek-American home, thinking there's way more food on your plate than you can eat, and your mom starts telling you (for the 487th time) that you should appreciate where you came from, followed by a smooth segue into a tale about your heritage (not just Greek but specifically Karpathian) and how it was in the Old Country—the antiquated customs, how her mom used to scrub clothes on a washboard, how the women and little girls dressed with the beaded mantili (μαντήλι, pronounced mahn-TEE-lee) on their heads, how they baked bread in the communal ovens—you roll your eyes thinking Here we go again, wondering if you’ll have to listen to these stories over and over for the rest of your life. You were fine speaking your ancestral language until you were about five, but then you learned how to speak English, and Greek just wasn’t cool anymore. Of course that doesn’t stop your family from speaking it…to you…in front of your friends. It’s official, you’re now the dorkiest kid on the block and will be scarred for life. Climbing under the covers and staying there until you’re 30 doesn’t seem like such a bad idea. 

The things we appreciate as adults are not always what matter to us as children, and sometimes they even mortified us. It’s probably the result of having things seemingly shoved down your throat so often as a child (when you could only cringe), that later resulted in your teen-self rebelling so you could march to the beat of your own drum. As a young adult you were relieved it was out of your system for good…or so you wanted to believe!

We somehow made it to adulthood and became busy with our lives, pursuits, and ambitions, putting aside (and sometimes forgetting) all the Greek “stuff.” Our mom spoke to us in Greek and we answered in English. We chose a California vacation over a Greek one. We even dated guys who weren’t Greek. Remember that scene in my Big Fat Greek Wedding when Toula’s father, Gus, lost it after he found out about her American boyfriend and called him a xeno (ξένος, stranger)? That was our mom…freaking out while reupholstering our couch. I blurted it out one night, then quickly took cover on the other side of the room. You don’t mess with a Greek woman with a staple gun in her hand. The scene is burned into my memory! I tried to snap her out of it by telling her that if she wanted us to marry Greeks she should have stayed in Greece. My sister Joanne (and partner in [cookbook] crime) looked at me like, Really?!  Talk about adding fuel to the fire! 

Though she eventually came around, to her it must have seemed like we were washing our hands of all things Greek and Karpathian. Much to our mom’s credit, her disappointment with our turning away from our heritage never stopped her from trying. She thought (or knew) that one day we would appreciate where we came from (a.k.a. it would come back and bite us in the butt).

When the journey to write this cookbook began, I had no idea what a tremendous undertaking it would be. It started with us wanting to honor and share our mom’s legacy of incredible food and the amazing example she set for us. This led me to translating over 150 recipes into English that were in our mom’s Greek script and our grandmother’s run-on words—talk about a crash course in Reintroduction to Greek Language 101. Once I rewrote and edited the recipes, it was time for us to get into the kitchen and start testing them. Some of these recipes we only heard about and had no experience making them—welcome to Family Cooking 101, with a handful of this and a little plastic cup of that! I researched Karpathos and it’s foods to get a better understanding of what we basically fell into, as well as tapped cousins on the island for some guidance. A sense of déjà vu set in as I realized I was being drawn into the world our mom told us about as children, but this time, through what felt like the eyes of a child, I viewed it with wonder and delight. I was coming home and knew this was a home worth sharing.

I eventually discovered that there was more to sharing that home than I bargained for. Some things were a no-brainer, and others fell into the learn-as-you-go category. Here are just a few of the self-publishing elements we needed to turn a cookbook dream into a page-turning reality.

★The seed was planted with our passion for the subject (Kukla’s cooking)—you need passion to spark ideas and keep you going when the road goes sideways or all uphill.

★Knowledge about what you’re writing about is really important and we had first-hand food knowledge by cooking with our mom, plus we had all of her recipes. Knowledge about Karpathos has been an illuminating work in progress.

★Then you have to ask yourself, is it a subject that will appeal to others? Since everyone always raved about Kukla’s cooking and baking, including celebrities and the New York City Seventh-Avenue designers she worked with, we knew this was a shoe-in. 

★Drive and determination are key to making it happen. I’ve been at this for over 10 years, so I think I’ve got that one covered!

★A photo shoot (or two…or ten) for the covers of the cookbooks. First, we must choose a few of the foods from our cookbooks that would make each cover say, “You have to buy me!” Then we need to shop for props (table linens, silverware, dishes, glassware, etc.) and food, make the foods (sometimes more than once), style them, and set up the props for the shoot. Then we need to shoot foods for the inside pages of the books. It’s our good fortune that we have a couple of seriously talented friends, an art director (Nancy Karamarkos) and food photographer (Anastassios Mentis), who graciously offered their time and expertise.

★Editing – Proofing – Editing – more Proofing leads to a seemingly endless loop of making sure our content is correct and consistent. This is the grueling time-consuming stage where attention must be given to each and every detail while fitting it all into the design layout. We are ever conscious that the finished product must be perfect for our readers.

★Promotion is a necessary evil to let people know about the cookbook, otherwise your book will sit on a shelf, or an eBook cloud, overshadowed by books that were promoted. About five years ago I approached a couple of agents about getting our book published and one told me that I should start a blog and develop a huge following first. So I started a blog…and built an entire website around it…and anticipated tens of thousands of followers…which may not happen until the book is released (a Catch-22). To get the word out I had to climb onto all of the social media platforms (yes, it was a climb!)…enter Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, Instagram, and YouTube (some of this was nothing short of frustrating with HTMLs and widgets I had to figure out…I was a babe in the woods!).

Once the book is out we’ll need to get a publicist to arrange spots on shows like Today and Food Network. Plus Greek celeb endorsements wouldn’t be a bad idea either. In fact they would be a really good idea! Picture having Rita Wilson, Nia Vardalos, and John Stamos tweeting about your book…SWEET!

★Then there’s marketing and advertising to get it sold to those people you just promoted it to. This includes a book tour, cooking workshops, a culinary-group trip to Karpathos, maybe a sweepstakes.

That’s a lot to wrap your spatula around!

Now think about starting with the passion and finding out waaay down the road about all of the other things you have to do in order to make your cookbook a reality. As a novice author, this is how I started. I think that if I had an inkling as to what I was in for, I would have stopped at the first recipe I had to translate. So it’s a good thing I didn’t have a clue or else we wouldn’t be here right now, I wouldn’t be writing this blog, and we wouldn’t be commemorating five years of blogs this week (did I mention it's our anniversary?!). God works in mysterious ways!

As luck (or Mom) would have it, today I’m writing a Greek cookbook about my family’s recipes, while blogging about my ancestral Karpathian culture and customs, and writing in Greek. I’m discovering fascinating things about my heritage in the process that has expanded my horizons…horizons our mom was already well versed in. My sister’s daughter, Jackie, cooks with us, voluntarily goes to Greek dance classes and performs with her church group, and tells us that she’ll marry a Greek one day so she can preserve her family traditions. Our Kukla is perched on a cloud high above us thinking Finally! All my hard work is paying off!!!

It’s paying off and then some. This journey brought me full circle to my mom’s and grandparents’ roots. The things I ran away from as a child have now fallen into my lap in a stunning and awe-inspiring way. If anyone would have told me when I was in high school that I’d be doing this today I would have said they had one too many shots of ouzo. I learned that no matter how much you try to run away from something, if you’re meant to do it, it will find you. My discoveries are something I value greatly, for myself and for what they contribute to our cookbook. Today I continue to blog while finalizing our first cookbook (coming soon!), working on the next cookbook, and preparing for more upcoming photo shoots. My plate is full…and often overflowing!

I hope you enjoyed Kukla’s Kouzina: Coming Full Circle. Our circle has been full with all of you in it! I’ll be sharing more of our cookbook’s behind-the-scenes with you in upcoming blogs so check back to see what’s cooking at Kukla’s. For photos of our foods, Kukla, us, and our next generation, visit our Gallery page.

Sign up for our e-newsletter (if you haven’t already) and stay connected on social media for cooking tips and recipes, as well as for all Kukla's Kouzina updates and news.

Thanks for following us and we’ll see you next Monday!

Until then~
Kali orexi! Good appetite!

Kelly

Copyright © 2018 Kukla's Kouzina: A Gourmet Journey~Greek Island Style / The Naked Truth About...Greek Cooking!    

Web design by Kelly Salonica Staikopoulos