Coronavirus Pandemic 2020- A tribute to mom

Cyprus Flaounes

As mom lies alone in her sickbed at the nursing home, I roam the house feeling helpless.
I'm thinking of what I could do for the woman who left her small village at twenty years old, bore four children in a foreign country without her mother, fed, clothed, washed, changed, educated, loved all of them the best she could.

On this blog, I have mom's recipes for some of the most beloved traditional foods.
One of them is Eftyhia's Cyprus Flaounes, which I see is one of the most viewed blog posts on this blog. Also, her Mom's Cyprus Eliopites, Olive Breads, are also very much viewed and  hopefully baked. As we are facing this crisis and cannot bake our traditional Easter Breads, the only thing I can do is write a tribute to my Mother and all mothers around the world.

Mom returned to Cyprus in 1960, only to flee with her family back to New York  in 1964,
when the Turks bombed the island. In 1967 she returned to Cyprus where we lived until the Turkish army invaded on July 20, 1974. This time, there was no return. Turkey still occupies the one third of the island they took during the invasion, and expanded during a cease fire.

The small hotel, Casablanca, that she and my father built and completed in 1974,
has been used since as a hotel for Turkish Army Officers to take their R&R.

With all that adversity, she and dad continued raising their family and lived for the past 46 years in New York.

This past November, she fell and ended up in a nursing home. Just as we got used
to that idea, the coronavirus hit the world worse than a meteor. Nursing homes, of course, are very vulnerable. We found out two days ago that mom has been running a fever and coughing. She is getting tested for the virus. We haven't even been able to contact the staff to find out about her vitals and her fever.

The world is in such crisis that for days no one has been answering the phones on the floor.
How do I know what's happening with my mother?

Just got word that she's alert, talking and eating! We have hope.

Hope that we will see each other again, speak to each other and tell the stories of our ancestors.
Hope that we will share our traditional breads, whose  recipes have been preserved here, because mom can no longer remember them.

Hope for humanity and an end to this cruel Pandemic.

Maria

Mom's Bellapais Olive Bread - Eftyhia's traditional Cyprus eliopites

One of the things I remember fondly from the years I spent growing up in Cyprus was the baking. Mom would wake up super early on those days, get everything ready and cover her hair with a scarf. She would make her dough in a wooden trough set over the backs of two chairs. We were a family of six and then there were neighbors and relatives she liked to treat so she made a lot! Or at least that's the way I remember it.
Here is one of her recipes that I managed to write down. Mom cooks and bakes old school. A little of this and a little of that and let it sit 'till it rises. When I asked her how long I should leave them in the oven, "until they're done," she replied. So I baked a batch based on her instructions and recorded the measurements and time for posterity.
Ingredients

2 lbs all purpose unbleached white flour
1/2 lb white whole wheat or whole wheat flour
2 large onions grated in food processor
1 bunch fresh mint leaves minced(1 cup packed)
1lb pitted black morocco, Thasou  or Cyprus or other pruned olives
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons yeast dissolved in 1/2 cup warm water and 1 tsp sugar
1/2 cup warm water

Directions

Preheat oven to 170 degrees. Turn off oven.

Mix white and whole wheat flour in a very large bowl.

Add onion and mint and mix well with flour.

Add the yeast mixture, Olive oil and the remaining 1/2 cup warm water.

Mix well and work until you have a soft, loose dough.

Knead the dough and sprinkle a handful of the olives on the flat surface.

Fold dough over the olives and knead gently. Repeat sprinkling of olives and folding over until you have incorporated all the olives into the dough. Take care not to completely crush the olives. 

 

Prepare two cookie sheets by brushing the bottoms lightly with olive oil . In Cyprus where we had lemon trees mom used to put lemon leaves under each of the breads. If you are lucky to live in a place with lemon trees, try it. It gives a special fragrance to the breads. Divide the dough into two large pieces. Then divide each piece into two. Now divide the four pieces into three each. You will have 12 equal pieces of dough. Shape each one into a small round loaf and place on the cookie sheets leaving enough space between the breads for the rise. You should have six olive breads on each sheet. Brush the tops lightly with olive oil.

Place the cookie sheets in the warm oven. Make sure the oven is turned off. Let the breads rise to approximately double the size about an hour.

Remove cookie sheets from the oven.

Arrange the two oven racks in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Place both cookie sheets in the preheated oven. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the breads rise.

Lower the oven to 375 and rotate the cookie sheets. Bake until golden  for about 20 more minutes. Breads are ready when there is a hollow sound when you tap them in the back. Remove from oven  and let cool on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

 

Maria