The Best Greek Chickpea Soup

While I was in Greece in the winter of 2014, I had a bowl of chickpea soup that knocked my socks off.

A simple dish, yet full of complex flavor and texture.

I've been thinking about that soup ever since. I scoured the internet for a Greek Chickpea soup recipe but nothing I found satisfied me. Until this week when I came upon this fabulous recipe that comes pretty close to the one I had in Greece.

 

Chickpea Soup From Sifnos (Ρεβιθάδα Σιφνέικη)

(serves 6)

2 cups of dry chick peas
1/2 cup of olive oil
2 large onions, diced
3-4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 carrot, finely diced
1 stalk of celery, finely diced

3 bay leaves

1 tsp. paprika

1/2 lemon, sliced

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
8 cups of chicken or vegetable stock
salt and pepper to taste
wedge of lemon and dried Greek oregano for garnish

1. The night before, place your dried chickpeas in a bowl with the baking soda and enough water to cover the chickpeas by about 2 inches. The next morning, strain and rinse your chickpeas and reserve.
2. Into a large pot, add your olive oil over medium heat and throw in your onions, celery, carrots, bay leaves, thyme and paprika and parsley and simmer on medium low for about 15 minutes for the vegetables to soften.
3. Now add your chickpeas, parsley, stock and slices of lemon bring to a boil and simmer medium-low heat with the lid slightly ajar for 2-3 hours or until thick the chickpeas are fork-tender.. By this time you should have a thick, chunky chick pea soup with some liquid still evident.

Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper, serve in bowls. Add some dried Greek oregano and serve with a wedge of lemon.

Enjoy!

Maria

Jacqueline De Ribes - The Art of Style- Metropolitan Museum of Art

Last month I was lucky to be asked by a friend if I wanted to visit the new Costume exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Met is one of my all time favorite places to go and I jumped at the chance to see this unique exhibit.

I had never heard of Jacqueline De Ribes before, but this exhibit was a delight, especially when I discovered that she is still alive today and still glamorous in her late 80's.

 Flower arrangement at the Metropolitan Museum Great Hall Entrance.

Below I present photos from the exhibition. All of these dresses belong to Countess De Ribes and many are of her own creation.

Jacqueline had a very full and eventful life, traveled in high society circles and her outfits reflect that haute couture world.

She was a very creative woman and such a muse to designers that people like Lanvin, Galliano, Armani  put at her disposal their studios so she could customize their creations for herself.

 

 The exhibit showcases ensembles dating from 1962 to the present time.

 She ran her own studio from 1986 to 1995.

She is an aristocratic, elegant woman who impressed me with her daring creativity in fashion.

Enjoy!

Maria

Porterhouse steak with grilled vegetables

Sometimes nothing will do but a big juicy steak. Yes, most of you know by now that I mostly seek vegetarian dishes, and Stelios and I are happy to have meatless Mondays, Tuesday, Wednesdays...you get the picture!

When that yearning hits, though, nothing, but nothing else will do but a grilled hunk of prime beef!

That was the case a couple of days ago when I came home from the store with a huge porterhouse steak.  The porterhouse is the steak with a T-bone in the middle and on one side has the filet and the other side  the New York Strip steak. It's essentially a T-bone and I read somewhere that it's called the King of T-Bones! And, boy, is it!

Meat and potatoes is great but, meat, potatoes and grilled vegetables is even better!

So it was, that we grilled that baby to a perfect medium rare. But before we did that I cut up some red peppers, sprinkled salt and pepper and slathered them in olive oil and put those on the grill first. I like them to get nice and charred so they are sweet and smoky.

Then I quartered some roasting potatoes and put them on wooden skewers. I salted and peppered them as well and I doused them with olive oil. Those went on the grill next. Be careful with the olive oil because if it's dripping too much you might get a grill fire. 

Finally, I salt and peppered asparagus and rolled them in olive oil and put them on the grill.

We removed the vegetables to a platter and then we were ready for the steak to go on the grill. I believe that if you have a really good piece of meat you should never add anything to it except a little bit of sea salt and some freshly ground pepper.

That night, Stelios and I feasted on this simple, yet delicious dinner. We added a glass of red wine and a side salad.

And I raise a glass to you, dear readers!

Enjoy!

Maria

On Writing-Picking Up the thread

It's been a fantastic two years since I published Archangel and one year since I published the Greek translation, Arxaggelos. The experience has been a blast and the reception of both books by readers has exceeded my expectations.

Yet, the way to keep readers interested in your work is to keep writing and publishing. I confess that it's been hard getting back into writing and especially picking up where I left off the beginnings of a new novel.

This week I have been dipping my toe back into the waters of that novel that has been sitting in the metaphorical drawer.

Here's some tips for writers who may be facing similar struggles about the steps I've been taking to get back to writing.

I'm most productive earlier in the day, so I promised myself to write for at least an hour before I begin to do other things. The first day,  this was harder than I thought. All of the sudden I felt compelled to bake a cake!! wash all the dishes and pots in the sink and wipe down the counters.

Sit down I did, though, and opened those long ago written chapters. By just going over old writing, reading and correcting, I found myself getting slowly back into the story. The exercise made me less fearful of the writing and familiarized me with my words and ideas.

I set a doable limit to how long I would write. I find that if I promise myself to write for an hour I can usually exceed that timeframe. I walk away feeling that a sense of accomplishment.

Hide your smartphone, close your door and, DO NOT TURN ON YOUR INTERNET BROWSER. This tip has been very important to keeping me on track with writing. I tell myself that I can surf all I want when my writing hour is up. While I'm writing I think of all kinds of things I need to be Googling, like what to make with that leftover squash, where the latest movie we want to see is playing, how the primaries are going... you get the picture. Don't go down that rabbit hole until your writing hour is up!

The last tip for keeping me writing is to write with abandon. Get lost in what you're doing! Before you know it you'll be looking up and not one, but several hours will have gone by while you have been engrossed in your writing. Just like a reader engrossed in a story can't wait to get back to it to find out what's happened, so does the writer want to get back to writing to discover in his or her imagination what happens next.

If you have any writing tips please feel free to share them. I'd love to know some of your tricks!

Enjoy!

Maria

Penguin Colony-Patagonia

Penguins are aquatic, flightless birds living almost exclusively in the Southern hemisphere and especially in Antarctica.

On our recent trip to Patagonia we were lucky to land on a penguin colony. It took a few tries but the captain of the Stella Australis was successful in securing the ship and allowing us to disembark safely on the island colony.

 There were hundreds of penguins on the island freely walking around.

The young ones were learning to swim safely in the ocean under the tutelage of the parents.

The male penguins build their nests in the ground and try to entice the females to mate with them by how well the nest has been created.

 Two young penguins mistaking Stelios for their parent!

 SO cute!!!

 Yes, it was cold!

 A couple in the entrance to their nest.

I was not prepared by how small the penguins are. They really are tiny. Even though I'm crouching here, the penguin next to me is still pretty small.

I don't know what it is about animals and especially wildlife but they always put a smile on my face. It was a very exciting adventure, and even though it was pretty cold and windy out there, I wouldn't have missed it for the world!

Enjoy!

Maria