Last fall we took a trip to Manistee forest in north-west Michigan to enjoy the fall colors. I have made a few short videos while driving through the forest. I stitched them together and thought to share. Unfortunately we have not seen any wild animals. It was a guided tour in Jeep Wrangler.
If you traveled to Cyprus, or even if you went to a Cypriot restaurant here in the States, you definitely heard of Souvla. It is the most famous and popular dish in Cyprus.
Souvla is big chunks of meat, put on a skewer and slowly cooked over charcoal. It differs from the Greek Souvlaki in terms of size, taste and how it is eaten. It does not go in the pitta, but you can have pitta on the side.
How to prepare and cook souvla is debatable among the masters. And every household has its own master with aces up his sleeve to amaze and yield wonder to their guests. In my experience it takes practice to make perfect. It all depends on the quality of the meat and the rate of cooking. Some people go the extra distance to use herbs or marinate the meat, but eating souvlas prepared in different ways for a lifetime now, I believe that all those are obsolete. There is nothing like fresh meat just sprinkled with some salt.
To master the making of souvla you have to learn your foukou (they Cypriot barbeque grill) and adjust the height to expect cooking times of 40 minutes. And definitely know your butcher. How do you know it is done? You have to wait until you hear the meat sizzling (listen to it in the video below).
Like halloumi, souvla differs from region to region. And of course, in Lysi, we have our infamous Lysiotiki souvla. Lysiotiki souvla is strictly made of lamb. But you can have souvla also with pork or chicken.
On my last trip to Cyprus I made a video of souvla being cooked. Enjoy!
In my previous post about Guy, I promised that when the snow would melt and the grass would turn green, I would treat Guy to some halloumi. That time was here last weekend, well… except the green grass, but I was getting impatient! Maybe it was the abundance of sun after a long winter, maybe it was the warmth of the spring morning and the birds singing, or maybe it was just the curiosity of how would Guy react to the taste of halloumi. Let’s see how he likes it… I gave him a whole aged Lysiotiko Halloumi.
And he loved it! And he would have liked more… but at a later stage, as halloumi is relatively too salty compared to his regular diet. Look how he flirts with it at the beginning, and then he looses no seconds to eat it, making sure he leaves no crumbles behind.
Who is Guy, you may wonder! Guy is an Alabai, also know as Central Asian Shepherd Dog or Central Asian Ovtcharka. See him a cracking a bone here…
I love dogs… And here’s my favorite dog… An Alabai, also know as Central Asian Shepherd. His name is Guy.
Admire him cracking a bone for breakfast on a fall morning… When the snow melts, and the grass turns green again, I will treat him to a Lysiotiko Halloumi, and see if he eats it with the same passion…
Here are some pictures of him that same day…
If you have been either to Cyprus or Greece, you must have tried the Frape! Did you wonder how it is made? Your quest for how to make a frape is over. This article presents a detailed video of all the steps necessary to make a frape, Cyprus style. Well, it goes a step beyond, and instead of using the conventional off-the-shelf milk, I am using fresh goat milk. I call it, being bold!. In Greece it is customary to use saturated milk. Here it goes…
A couple of things to keep in mind:
Do not mind the Lipton glasses. They are big and they do the job.
The video states that it is necessary to use Nescafe manufactured in Greece. Yes, this is a necessity in order to make the real Frape. Nescafe, manufactured in other parts of the world, is not optimized for frape making. As it is to my knowledge, (do not quote me on this), the dehydration process of the coffee in making Nescafe, varies from region to region in order to meet its intended use. For example, I tried to use Nescafe, manufactured in Mexico. The foam would not hold, as the Mexican Nescafe is intended to make frapiccino.
The fresh goat milk is not a necessity. The milk of your preference should suffice. Also the quantity of milk depends on your taste.
Finally, if you take your coffee with sugar, make sure you add the necessary amount with the dry Nescafe, before the mixing process.
Following these simple steps, will result in a refreshing frape… to cool you down in the hot summer days, or wake you up in the morning.
Refresh yourself… and while you are at it… top it with some halloumi!
Split Goat Head with a Touch of Snails on the Skewer
One delicacy from the traditional table of Cyprus… Split roasted goat head with a touch of snails on the skewer… This can be usually found at some specialized traditional taverns that serve “meze”…
split goat head with a touch of snails on the skewer
Here is a picture, unfortunately from a cell phone, of the sushi we enjoyed last week at One World Market in Novi. This is the freshest and best sushi in Michigan, and I bet one of the leaders in North America…
Salmon, Fatty tuna, Futomaki, Toro with onion.
Sushi plate at One World Market