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Living a Village-ish Life in Suburban California

Category: Water Plants

Watercress (Nasturtium officinale)

May 1, 2018September 25, 2019 by Mostly Greek (Dorie)

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Greek mom and yiayia (grandma), living the suburban life with my family in the heart of California like it’s a Greek village!

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Sometimes I envy those who can grow blue hydrangeas without trying, sometimes I'm quite okay with being pretty in pink! Happy Friday, everyone!! I hope your weekend is a good one. 😊

If you were to look for one universal condiment in Greece, it would be this one. Tzatziki (Greek cucumber and yogurt sauce) is served with nearly every meal throughout the country, especially in summer. Traditionally this is when both fresh milk and sun-ripened cucumbers would be available in abundance. It's cool, creamy, has a little zing from the yogurt and garlic, and packs a lot of flavor for something made with just a few simple ingredients. It's slathered on meats and vegetables alike. Once you try it, you'll understand why! It's also a heck of a lot healthier than a lot of other things people dump on their food! 😁 The recipe is just a click away so come on over for a visit and feel free to tag a friend and to share!

The good thing about the internet is that there's a wealth of information to be gathered. The trick is knowing whether the information is worth gathering in the first place. Chances are good that you've at least heard of the classic Greek sandwich known as Gyro. What you probably don't know is that much of what's served here in the States is a bad knock off of the real thing, and that most people pronounce it wrong. So if you were to use that internet to find out how to make one, you'll likely find a wealth of really really really bad information. There's no meat paste, there's thin slivers of delightfully seasoned and roasted pork. There's no soggy salad or tizaytizaykay, instead there's fresh tomato, onion, and tangy tzatziki (Greek yogurt and cucumber sauce). And it's pronounced YEE-roh, though you'll be excused for calling it ji-roh because that's how it looks like based on the Anglicized spelling. A shout out has to go to @excusemeareyougreek for traumatizing me so much with horrendous versions of this that I was motivated to get a proper recipe posted! 🤣🤣 Check him out for some good laughs! The recipe for a real deal pita gyro is up on my blog, so come on over for a visit and be sure to tag a friend and to share!

If you checked out my stories, you know that we had a busy weekend. We have a Morello cherry tree in our mini fruit orchard, and when the fruits ripen, they do so all at once. Blink, and they're done! The tree is naturally small, ours being no more than 6 or 7 feet tall, but it sure does a lot of work with what it has. This year we harvested almost two gallons of cherries! The biggest task is pitting them so you can eat them in things like pie without cracking your teeth. Generally not fun, but what's also not fun is losing a chunk of each of these prized fruits when it sticks to the stone. There is a solution! There's an easy way to pit the cherry, loseing only the seed and nothing else, so you keep all the delightful fruit intact. I have the info for the technique on my blog, so come on over to learn how!!

Figs coming soon!! In Greek they are called σύκo (SEE-koh) and if the tree is in reach of passersby, the fruit is fair game! That's why mine is in the backyard!🤣

Wooohooo!! Super excited to share that my blog has a feature in the newest issue of TML (The Mediterranean Lifestyle) magazine!! It is seriously one of the most beautiful publications I have seen, with pictures and stories curated from around the world that focus on various aspects of the Mediterranean region and way of life. My article featured our beloved Kalamata olive tree and some of my family's history with olives in Greece. You can find it on page 18😉. Check out TML's instagram page, it's really a beautiful collection of images. You can access the link to this and other issues from there!

The Old Man's family (that would be my husband's 😊) comes primarily from Chile with a little Syrian thrown in for good measure. Add in my Greek and Scottish/Irish family, and you've got a lot of food regions to draw on for culinary inspiration! One of my favorite foods I've been introduced to from the Chilean side is empanadas. They are baked or fried and filled with a variety of ingredients. This recipe draws on a more American combination of ham and cheese, while having the traditional style of Chilean empanada dough. It's a great alternative to a grilled ham and cheese sandwich, perfect for eating any time of the day! Of course there's a recipe waiting for you, because I'm that kind of a nice person!😁 So come on over for a visit and feel free to tag a friend and to share!

I currently have a forest of hollyhocks growing in my garden, but I don't mind. These flowers bring to mind a classic cottage garden scene one might expect to find in an English country village, but they are perfectly comfortable in my hot, dry Central California garden. Very comfortable. I'm not joking about having a forest of them right now!🤣 I love their tall spires of hibiscus shaped blooms in shades ranging from hot fuschia to pale pink blush, and so do the bees. And when I say tall, I mean upwards of 15 feet or more! They also put on a repeat show of blooms and return for far more seasons than what is often reported they will. I clearly love them, and some incredibly sweet neighbors that walk past our house regularly gush about them, too. In fact one told me it would be criminal to get rid of them!😁 I have tips for growing your own hollyhocks, so come on over and visit me in the garden!😊

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