In a large bowl, mix the walnuts, sugar, cinnamon and cloves. Melt the butter. Brush the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch pan with melted butter. Open the kataifi dough, divide into 5 parts. Take one part, loosen the dough and fluff. Spread on bottom of pan. Sprinkle with walnut mixture. Repeat this three more times. Spread kataifi on top. Pour butter with a spoon evenly over whole pan. Cut into pieces. Sprinkle a few drops of cold water on top. Bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes until golden light brown. Let cool for 10 minutes. Slowly pour hot syrup over the kataifi letting it soak in before pouring more. Cover tightly.
Syrup preparation
Combine all ingredients and boil gently for about 15 or 20 minutes.
Source: From Bruce and Helen's recipes (http://www.mindspring.com/~pavlos/recipes/index2.htm
I am, generally, very interested in other people's culture and beliefs. I think we can all learn a lot from other people's culture and civilisation. Thanksgiving isn't celebrated in my country but I wish it were. Not because we should be thankful on one particular day only, but because Thanksgiving conveys a message of universal love and peace. I accidentally came across the following Thanksgiving story by Nora Smith and I thought I'd share it with you for the following two reasons:
1. It's a good reminder for Americans who should never forget how it all started. Thanksgiving is not just the turkey and the pumkin cake I think? But it's way beyond that.
2. Other people, from other countries can learn a lot about the culture and civilisation of a great nation like the USA.
So here goes!
The First Thanksgiving
by Nora Smith
Nearly four hundred years ago, a great many of the people in England were very unhappy because their king would not let them pray to God as they liked. The king said they must use the same prayers that he did; and if they would not do this, they were often thrown into prison, or perhaps driven away from home.
"Let us go away from this country," said the unhappy Englishmen to each other; and so they left their homes, and went far off to a country called Holland. It was about this time that they began to call themselves "Pilgrims." Pilgrims, you know, are people who are always traveling to find something they love, or to find a land where they can be happier; and these English men and women were journeying, they said, "from place to place, toward heaven, their dearest country."
In Holland, the Pilgrims were quiet and happy for a while, but they were very poor; and when the children began to grow up, they were not like English children, but talked Dutch, like the little ones of Holland, and some grew naughty and did not want to go to church any more.
"This will never do," said the Pilgrim fathers and mothers; so after much talking and thinking and writing they made up their minds to come here to America. They hired two vessels, called the Mayflower and the Speedwell, to take them across the sea; but the Speedwell was not a strong ship, and the captain had to take her home again before she had gone very far.
The Mayflower went back, too. Part of the Speedwell's passengers were given to her, and then she started alone across the great ocean.
There were one hundred people on board - mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters and little children. They were very crowded; it was cold and uncomfortable; the sea was rough, and pitched the Mayflower about, and they were two months sailing over the water.
The children cried many times on the journey, and wished they had never come on the tiresome ship that rocked them so hard, and would not let them keep still a minute.
But they had one pretty plaything to amuse them, for in the middle of the great ocean a Pilgrim baby was born, and they called him "Oceanus," for his birthplace. When the children grew so tired that they were cross and fretful, Oceanus' mother let them come and play with him, and that always brought smiles and happy faces back again.
At last the Mayflower came in sight of land; but if the children had been thinking of grass and flowers and birds, they must have been very much disappointed, for the month was cold November, and there was nothing to be seen but rocks and sand and hard bare ground.
Some of the Pilgrim fathers, with brave Captain Myles Standish at their head, went on shore to see if they could find any houses or white people. But they only saw some wild Indians, who ran away from them, and found some Indian huts and some corn buried in holes in the ground. They went to and fro from the ship three times, till by and by they found a pretty place to live, where there were "fields and little running brooks."
Then at last all the tired Pilgrims landed from the ship on a spot now called Plymouth Rock, and the first house was begun on Christmas Day. But when I tell you how sick they were and how much they suffered that first winter, you will be very sad and sorry for them. The weather was cold, the snow fell fast and thick, the wind was icy, and the Pilgrim fathers had no one to help them cut down the trees and build their church and their houses.
The Pilgrim mothers helped all they could; but they were tired with the long journey, and cold, and hungry too, for no one had the right kind of food to eat, nor even enough of it.
So first one was taken sick, and then another, till half of them were in bed at the same time, Brave Myles Standish and the other soldiers nursed them as well as they knew how; but before spring came half of the people died and had gone at last to "heaven, their dearest country."
But by and by the sun shone more brightly, the snow melted, the leaves began to grow, and sweet spring had come again.
Some friendly Indians had visited the Pilgrims during the winter, and Captain Myles Standish, with several of his men, had returned the visit.
One of the kind Indians was called Squanto, and he came to stay with the Pilgrims, and showed them how to plant their corn, and their pease and wheat and barley.
When the summer came and the days were long and bright, the Pilgrim children were very happy, and they thought Plymouth a lovely place indeed. All kinds of beautiful wild flowers grew at their doors, there were hundreds of birds and butterflies, and the great pine woods were always cool and shady when the sun was too bright.
When it was autumn the fathers gathered the barley and wheat and corn that they had planted, and found that it had grown so well that they would have quite enough for the long winter that was coming.
"Let us thank God for it all," they said. "It is He who has made the sun shine and the rain fall and the corn grow." So they thanked God in their homes and in their little church; the fathers and the mothers and the children thanked Him.
"Then," said the Pilgrim mothers, "let us have a great Thanksgiving party, and invite the friendly Indians, and all rejoice together."
So they had the first Thanksgiving party, and a grand one it was! Four men went out shooting one whole day, and brought back so many wild ducks and geese and great wild turkeys that there was enough for almost a week. There was deer meat also, of course, for there were plenty of fine deer in the forest. Then the Pilgrim mothers made the corn and wheat into bread and cakes, and they had fish and clams from the sea besides.
The friendly Indians all came with their chief Massasoit. Every one came that was invited, and more, I dare say, for there were ninety of them altogether.
They brought five deer with them, that they gave to the Pilgrims; and they must have liked the party very much, for they stayed three days.
Kind as the Indians were, you would have been very much frightened if you had seen them; and the baby Oceanus, who was a year old then, began to cry at first whenever they came near him.
They were dressed in deerskins, and some of them had the furry coat of a wild cat hanging on their arms. Their long black hair fell loose on their shoulders, and was trimmed with feathers or fox-tails. They had their faces painted in all kinds of strange ways, some with black stripes as broad as your finger all up and down them. But whatever they wore, it was their very best, and they had put it on for the Thanksgiving party.
Each meal, before they ate anything, the Pilgrims and the Indians thanked God together for all his goodness. The Indians sang and danced in the evenings, and every day they ran races and played all kinds of games with the children.
Then sometimes the Pilgrims with their guns, and the Indians with their bows and arrows, would see who could shoot farthest and best. So they were glad and merry and thankful for three whole days.
The Pilgrim mothers and fathers had been sick and sad many times since they landed from the Mayflower; they had worked very hard, often had not had enough to eat, and were mournful indeed when their friends died and left them. But now they tried to forget all this, and think only of how good God had been to them; and so they all were happy together at the first Thanksgiving party.
All this happened nearly four hundred years ago, and ever since that time Thanksgiving has been kept in our country.
Every year our fathers and grandfathers and great-grandfathers have "rejoiced together" like the Pilgrims, and have had something to be thankful for each time.
Every year some father has told the story of the brave Pilgrims to his little sons and daughters, and has taught them to be very glad and proud that the Mayflower came sailing to our country so many years ago.
I wish our great TypePad Team and all my American friewnds a very Happy Thanksgiving. Don't burn the turkey!
Greece is sinking under a deluge of books. With more than 35,000 new titles published last year and unit sales going up every year, it seems as if our appetite for printed matter is becoming more and more voracious year by year. Greek bookshops now have a market worth in excess of €1.2 million, and that doesn't include the numerous book clubs, author clubs and the public libraries.
Yet, amidst this boom in book production a nagging question has arisen - who is actually reading these books? Recent surveys have revealed that the average Greek purchases 4.7 books a year and reads 6.2; but 40% of people never buy books, and of book buyers, 1 in 10 never reads a book.Clearly a discrepancy exists, so how has it come about? Pundits point to several factors, for instance "the gift book" phenomenon and the "me too" mentality.
It appears that a large number of people have discovered that books make the ideal birthday or Christmas gift - they are relatively cheap, easy to find, and are culturally and socially acceptable to all levels and sectors of society. Understandably, few recipients of such gifts feel obliged, actually, to read the books they have been given, especially when they would much rather have had the latest computer game or X-Box or whatever other electronic device.
Similarly, the value of books as symbols of "culture" and literacy have led to a spate of keeping up with the Joneses. The phenomenal success of Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time.- Download StephenHawking-ABriefHistoryOfTime - is a case in point. After many years at the top of the British and American bestseller charts, I have yet to meet anyone who has either finished it or understood it. It is simply a cultural accessory which every self-respecting "educated" person has to have on their shelf.
As most of my friends know, I'm a Louis Vuitton freak! Or more accurately I'm a Louis Vuitton lover! I am now the happy owner of Sunset Boulevard Red - LV's latest evening bag hubby could afford! It was his surprise gift for no reason at all. And I have fallen in love with that bag!
But who is Louis Vuitton?
Louis Vuitton was born in 1821 in France. At the age of 14 he travelled over 200 miles on foot to Paris. When he was sixteen, he became apprenticed to the skilled luggage maker Merachal, who worked for the wife of Napoleon III, Empress Eugenie. The skills Vuitton acquired under Merachal's teaching would later enable him to go into business for himself and set the stage for the creation of one of the most desired brands in the world.
In 1854 Louis Vuitton opened his own shop in Paris, selling high-end luggage. His designs were unique in that they were flat-topped and able to be stacked, making them very efficient for travel by ship or train. The luggage of the time was rounded and much less efficient when it came to saving space. Louis Vuitton luggage was of the highest quality and became very desirable.
In 1885 Vuitton opened a store in London. It was around this time the Damier Canvas was introduced marked with an L- a rough trademark of sorts. Louis Vuitton died in 1892. His son Georges carried on in his footsteps. One of his greatest accomplishments was to release the signature monogram canvas just before the turn of the centery. This was an attempt to stump the growing number of Vuitton counterfeiters.
During the next thirty years Georges made Louis Vuitton known world wide, continuing to create timeless products, gain exposure through such venues as the Chicago world fair, and open more stores in Europe and the US.
Louis Vuitton continues to be a pinnacle of luxury and fashion. In 1987 the Louis Vuitton Company merged with Moet Hennessey, a top spirits manufacturer, to form LVMH, a massive luxury goods conglomerate. Louis Vuitton is currently creatively headed by Marc Jacobs. It was under his direction that Stephen Sprouse was brought on board, helping to create the limited graffiti bags. Jacobs also collaborated with Takashi Murakami to give us the Monogram Multicolore line of bags, which were an immediate sensation.
Reading on Sunday afternoons while listening to my favourite concert for piano number 2 by Rachmaninov has almost become a habit. Even when we are away for the weekend, I always carry a much-loved book with me - usually poetry. Costas Montis is regarded as one of the greatest Greek poets of the 20th century and he is also one of my most favourites. There's something magic in his poems most of which have been translated into English.
Costas Montis was born on February 18, 1914 in Famagusta, and died on March 1, 2004 in his house in Nicosia, surrounded by his family. He has received numerous honors and awards throughout his life, and his books have been translated into several languages. Costas Montis has received honorary doctorates from both the University of Cyprus and the University of Athens. He has been nominated for the Nobel Prize, and in 2000 he was declared Corresponding Member of the Academy of Athens, the highest honor conferred upon intellectual creators living outside Greece. In support of his proposal to the Academy of Athens, Professor Nicholas Konomis included the following: "Costas Montis is one of the greatest living Greek poets, and certainly one who renewed in a unique way modernistic lyric poetry, and enriched modern Greek poetry from the point of view of Cyprus. With his uninterrupted literary creation of 70 years, he has been able to depict artistically the authentic rhythms, the temperature, and the action of the deepest historical and emotional fluctuations of the soul and breath of Cyprus and her people. In his extremely powerful work he has recorded every vibration of the island (erotic, social, political), and all the thoughts of the people of Cyprus have been set down..... He has made use of the whole wealth of the linguistic, historical, and cultural tradition of greater Hellenism, and entrenched in his work, with unprecedented poetic force, the indelible character of the deep-rooted values of the Greek nation."
His official website created by his daughter contains information about his life and work but also video clips of him reciting his poems
COSTAS MONTIS: Excerpts from MOMENTS
The first vowel of my heart was yours, its last consonant will be yours.
I'm afraid that I see how small I am mirrored in your eyes, I'm afraid that I see how distant I am mirrored in your eyes.
This Sunday which combed its hair and sat unsuspecting by our side, this Sunday which looks us in the eyes like this!
How far do you think death is distant from this power, how far do you think death is distant from this beauty?
Always we think that we are utterly ready, and always, when the curtain rises and it's too late by then, we see that something was left behind.
One more step and the human being begins. Have your cameras ready.
We have fixed the verbs to begin with the first person, we have fixed the grammars to begin with the personal pronouns.
An inscribed polygon in a circle we are. At our best moments at the very most we touch the circle.
Curious thing the heart. The more you squander it, the more you have.
How close we are to what we thought was so far away!
We may laugh at hotel notices like "Our wines leave you nothing to hope for" (Switzerland) or "Please leave your values at the front desk" (France), but Britain is more closely linked to Europe than many people realise. The country's mother tongue is fast becoming the universal foreign language of Europeans. Part of the reasons for its popularity is that English is the "pop-speak": many European artists and groups make recordings in English or besprinkle their lyrics with catchy English words like baby, maybe, happy.
In the early 1980s, the French Minister of Culture, Jacques Lang I think, wanted to restrict the number of British and American records that radio stations and discos could play, but had to abandon the idea because they would all have gone bankrupt. Not surprisingly,many words to do with an Anglo-American youth-culture have passed into the languages of Europe. Russians play their diski and Italians listen to long playings. Russian teenagers put on their shoozy (trainers) to joggen (German) or to watch hoki (Hungarian = ice-hockey) .
Another strain of Eurospeak arises,indirectly, from the motivation of many young Europeans to improve thair job prospects - since learning English is a passport to wider horizons or higher status. Career ads in many European newspapers are often formulated in English and often demand ..."a working knowledge of English"! I was surprised to read in a French newspaper - La Libération - that English is the official language in Spain. When I visited Spain a couple of years ago, no one at the hotel spoke or understood English! It seems that French, though traditionally influential there, is fast declining in prestige. In Germany, Greece and Cyprus English is big business, whether in boom or crash. At street level, we can see fastfood, cocktail bar and check-outs.
Although there are seven other official languages in the EU, English is by far the most commonly used. , and English Euro-jargon abounds among the Eurocrats and Euro-MPs in their Euro-quangos. Wittingly or unwittingly, the French and Swedish, Germans , Greeks and Dutch are being exposed to English in all aspects of their lives, in all media, and are fast becoming sort of ..bilingual!
Not everyone sees Euro English as a welcome development. Most aggressive have been the tactics at a high level of the French government. There are vigilant committees which actively recommend the replacement of English words by purer, native forms : jumbo-jet by gros-porteur, fast food by prêt-à-manger download by télécharger etc. Some effort to exclude English words from the native language has also been made in Greece. Ταχυφαγεία instead of fast food, Ιστιολόγιο instead of blog. Κυκλικός κόμβος instead of round-about, σταμάτα instead of STOP (on the road).
For many years, the British banned the Irish from using their own language (Gaelic). There are now very few people who speak Gaelic as their mother tongue. To my mind this was one of the worst forms of crime - linguistic imperialism. And I applaud the effort of European governments to try and protect the purity of their national language.
10. Chocolate contains tryptophan, a chemical in the brain that is used to produce the neurotransmitter, serotonin. High levels of serotonin stimulate the secretion of endorphins, and produce feelings of elation. Serotonin is found in the antidepressant Prozac, and the designer drug “ecstasy” produces its effects by increasing serotonin levels in the brain. So… antidepressants, illegal drugs, or a Cadburry bar. You pick.
9. Chocolate also contains a chemical called phenylethylamine. High levels of this neurotransmitter help promote feelings of attraction, excitement, and giddiness. Phenylethylamine works by stimulating the brain's pleasure centres and reaches peak levels during orgasm. Guys, THIS is why you should always give a girl chocolates on a first date. Can’t hurt, right?
8. Chocolate might help fight heart disease. Chocolate contains chemicals called flavinoids, which thin the blood, helping to prevent clotting. All these wonderful pleasurable feelings, and good for your heart too? Wow… this just gets better and better.
7. Chocolate is structurally sound. The World’s Tallest Chocolate Structure was unveiled in October 2006 at NYC’s FAO Schwarz. It was over 20 feet tall, and made of 2285 pounds of chocolate. Try doing that with a potato chip, you salty-snack fans!
6. A chocolate craving during pregnancy may indicate mild anemia. Call it an early warning system. Chocolate contains iron, and this may be the pregnant body’s way of signaling that iron levels are low. So eat that chocolate bar! It’s for the good of the baby.
5. Chocolate contains magnesium, which is known to ease symptoms of PMS. Calcium does too, which of course can be found in milk. So, if your girlfriend, or wife, or woman-in-your-life-that-you-are-close-enough-to-that-you-are-even-aware-of-such-things is having a bad time of it, bring her a piece of chocolate cake and a big glass of milk. Not only will she think you’re a sweetheart, but maybe her mood will improve enough that she’ll relinquish the remote and let you turn off Lifetime and watch the game.
4. Chocolate contains sugar and caffeine. Um, what else is there to say? Told you… Perfect.
3. Chocolate may help people live longer. In a Harvard University study conducted in 1999, researchers tracked 8,000 men and found those who ate chocolate lived almost a year longer than those who didn't. Although scientists don't know why the men lived longer, they speculate it has to do with the antioxidants found in chocolate. I speculate that it’s because these same men had enough chocolate around their house that they had no shortage of woman willing to come around and cook them healthy meals and clean their bathroom once in a while. But that’s just a theory.
2. Chocolate is a viable alternative energy source. Researchers at the UK’s University of Birmingham fed Escherichia coli bacteria a feast of waste caramel and nougat from a chocolate candy bar. The bacteria subsequently burped out hydrogen gas, which was harnessed via a fuel cell to power an electric fan. Holy cocoa, Robin! The world’s energy needs can be met with stale Snickers bars!
And the Top Scientific Reason why Chocolate is the World’s Most Perfect Food…
1. Cocoa butter melts at 36*C / 97*F. That’s right, just below body temperature. So it actually does melt in your mouth. That also means if you put a Thornton Kiss on your sweetie’s stomach, it will slowly melt into a little pool of chocolate. Uh oh... you’d better clean that up. And who knows where things will go from there…
When I came back home after a long day at work yesterday, I found a parcel from the USA on my desk. Before I even looked to see who it was from, Alkis called out : "You've got mail from America." I was very intrigued as I really did not expect anything from America. When I opened the parcel, I was speechless! My friend Lizzie from Michigan, USA sent me a gorgeous cape she had knitted herself for me! It was such a wonderful surprise! Lizzie and I have been online friends for about four years now but we've never met in person.
Our friendship, however, has always been so special. I was profoundly touched. I am quite wreckless at handiwork, so I've always admired people who can knit, sew or crochet. I'm sure it must have taken Lizzie a long time to knit this cape. It's warm and fluffy and you can wear it over almost anything. However, not even in my wildest dreams have I ever imagined a friend knitting me a cape and sending it to me from so far away. Now it just so happens that last week, I bought a new jumper in almost the same blue as the cape! What a perfect match!
What's more, wrapped in the cape there was another surprise: a movie - Love Story with Ryan O'Neil and Ali MacGraw. I first saw that film at the cinema about 32 years ago on my first date with Alkis, so it's of great sentimental value to us. Thirty-two years later, we're going to enjoy it again at the weekend, sitting by the fireplace and sipping some wine. The temperature has dropped considerably since yesterday - a stormy day - and I can't wait to put on my brand new cape from America.
Thank you, Lizzie, so much. It's been a lovely surprise!
I admit to neglecting you quite a lot recently and it's been a while I haven't had time to open your electronic yet paper-oriented pages. The truth is I was a bit tired of you. You are forever grumbling about being electronic, you refuse to move with the times, and, on top of it all you don't appreciate the fact that I pay a fee to provide for you the best blogging site. Considering our special bond, however, I was even tempted to get us a notebook, made of real paper, like in the good old times! But then I thought that the new times are much better than the old ones, so why would I downgrade you? I love you too much to do that to you! On the new TypePad - that's our host - you appear on the dashboard which means that all my followers can see you. And just one click is enough to add video to your shiny electronic pages. Isn't that wonderful?
At least, I hope you like the song - it's one of my most favourites. I had a great weekend, by the way. On Saturday night Alkis and I invited some friends over. No, I didn't cook. I had Indian food delivered from Mr Delivery. I was glad the food arrived timely and sizzling hot. Also my Biryani chicken couldn't have been milder. I hate hot Indian dishes and I can still not understand how Alkis and one of our friends could eat lamb Kadai! While eating we watched football - Greece playing Ukraine! I couldn't be bothered really. Only men are naive enough to run after a round rubber mass-called football! The score was 0-0 which I gathered was good for Greece. So I cheered along!
Finally, today, Alkis and I had a very romantic lunch at Pervolia - a small village near Larnaca. We visited that village a couple of weeks ago and loved it so much that we promised to visit it again soon. We had lunch at the very same taverna as last time and we really enjoyed our meal in the open air. After yesterday's grey skies, we loved the sunshine and the long walk at the beach.
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