Taste of Greece 2009

My knowledge of the Greek language may be very limited, but I can certainly appreciate a huge variety of Greek food. Before dating M, I never knew much about this unique and fascinating culture aside from what I learned by watching My Big Fat Greek Wedding (which now, in hindsight, is eerily accurate). I knew nothing about the food.

We had the rehearsal dinner for our wedding at The Parthenon, the humorously-named Chicago restaurant that purports to be the birthplace of the flaming saganaki (cheese) that is portrayed so often in pop culture references to Greek food. I'm not sure if that claim is true or not, but nonetheless, the night was full of family, fun and great food!

At our rehearsal dinner, looking a wee bit nervous

I hadn't had Greek food in almost a year, so we were both very excited about the afternoon that lay before us.


Behold, Taste of Greece, which is held every year on Halstead Street outside the long row of Greek restaurants in Greek Town. It has tent after blue-and-white tent of food, music, retail vendors, food, loud Greek singers, food and other interesting sights.


We could hardly even decide which restaurant to choose, as there must have been about 30+ food vendors offering the best of Greek cuisine. Gyros, mousaka, dolmades, lamb/chicken/pork souvlaki (kebobs), baklava, Greek yogurt, Greek beer, Greek wine, avgolemono, spanakopita, Greek salads ... basically anything you could want. (If you don't know what most of that list was, don't feel bad ... I didn't either until I started getting to know M's family!)

We had come to the festival with the intent of just "stopping by" for lunch, but once we realized the variety of foods that were being offered there, we knew we were in for a full afternoon.


I decided on the Greek seafood platter. You can't really tell from this picture, but this plate includes lobster meat, crab meat, squid and shrimp on a bed of rice, marinated with seasonal peppers and topped with a Greek Salad with tsatsiki sauce. On the side was some flat bread and a dolmade.

Now I'm not one of those people who has issues with their food touching other foods, but I was admittedly a little overwhelmed by mountain of grub. And for good reason. As it turns out, the food was such a huge portion that I actually left lobster meat on the plate.

::hangs head in shame::

Yes, my friends, in case you missed that, I DIDN'T FINISH ALL THE LOBSTER MEAT THAT WAS GIVEN TO ME. Considering I only eat lobster maybe once or twice a year, even non-seafood-eater M agreed that this was a tragic waste - but I just couldn't eat anymore because everything on the plate was so delicious! I was beyond stuffed.


M chose some beef and lamb souvlaki with some pita bread on the side, and went to town on the scrumptous red meat he usually only eats in moderation! He made more progress on his plate than I did, but neither of us could finish ours completely. We got way more than we bargained for when we thought we were "stopping by" for a "quick lunch."

After surely sending our poor digestive systems into a tailspin, we decided to go take a long walk around the festival to check out the different Greek vendors and music. Just for old times sake, we had to take this picture:

In front of The Parthenon! Notice how the food isn't out yet, even
though the festival started an hour ago. (They're on Greek time.)

And at last, later in the afternoon, we gave a nod to my heritage and sat outside a nearby Irish pub on Halstead street, watching the crowds go by and enjoy the live music.

Yes Yiamas! (Cheers!)

Movin' On Up!

Yes, we have arrived in Chicago, and are kinda-sorta-not-really settled in to our new apartment. We left Georgia in a whirlwind during the last week of July, and I arrived to Chicago just in time for one of my good friend B's bachleorette parties.

Me and the beautiful bride-to-be.

The whole gang!

After the festivities of the weekend, it was time to get settled in. We were incredibly lucky to have one of my brothers, my parents, M's brother and M's good friend help us move our boxes. It was funny because a task that took us two more than 24 hours to complete took our whole "moving crew" less than two hours.

One thing we didn't realize was how much downsizing this move would entail. Our loft space in Georgia was incredible: soaring 17-foot ceilings, endless storage space in the basement, drawers and cabinets in every nook and cranny and a spacious closet and bathroom for EACH of us.

Just in case you need a reminder:

Open space galore!

The kitchen and dining area

Us at our dining room table on Christmas Eve in Georgia, toasting with Pointsettas!

We spent HOURS in this kitchen together, making every sort of recipe you could imagine. And it was plenty big enough to strike a pose ;)

M monitoring his first-ever turkey, in our stove that was brand new when we moved in.

MY (yes, I didn't share) walk-in closet

Spare office

Our bedroom, connected with M's bathroom

So, M and I have had it pretty good for the last two years in terms of living space. And when we made the move to our new place, we kind of underestimated the amount of storage space we would need. Not the end of the world by any means, but it has required us to reshuffle the way we used to store our things and has made us very appreciative of the space we do have. (M said many of the places he checked out didn't even have half the space we have here.)

Now, on to the (first round of) pictures.

My favorite part of the house - the front room with stained-glass windows. We have ordered a swivel chair to sit in the front window so I can read and use our laptop while gazing out into the street!

M using his makeshift desk, composed of two camping chairs and a tupperware storage container! Now if our dang couch would just be delivered, you can see the walls and the rest of the room is ready for them.

Our kitchen - by far the most spacious room of the house. You can see the right-hand door that leads out into the backyard and the door on the left that goes into my office. No microwave. And the stove? Let's not get me started.

Table for two! We didn't have enough room to bring along our glass dining room table so we had to downgrade. Are you loving our Christmas snowflake wall art or what?

A picture of the Newberry Library, where we were married those nine short months ago! :)

My office, which is the perfect size for me. I love having my own enclave where I can let all my papers spill everywhere, and I enjoy gazing into the backyard and at a church steeple viewable from my window.


Pretty. Still haven't figured out the name of the church, though.

This room isn't even close to being finished, but will eventually serve as the game room with pinball, board games and darts! Right now it would be more accurately described as "The Craigslist Room" because almost everything in there is waiting to be sold or given away.

All in all our new place is ... cozy. We really feel like newlyweds in this place, not only because of our apartment but because of the fun neighborhood as well! We have been taking walks every day around lunch time (always in non-work clothes) and are pretty certain that we have become that couple who people pass and say, "How does this couple just have time to walk around together during the middle of the day?"

Hi, I'm "Works From Home," and here is my husband, "Unemployed." :)

In all seriousness, we are so happy with this new chapter in our lives ... it's different for sure, but being surrounded by so many of our close friends and family in a great neighborhood makes it all the better.

Next time: All the details about our new neighborhood!