Greece - Our 24th Meal

For our 24th meal, we dined in Greece! (Officially, the Hellenic Republic.) And were joined by our parents and dear friends Sue and Rob. 

Dolmathes! These were a labor of love to make, for sure -- very time-consuming to wrap each individual leaf. I bet it would be relaxing if I weren't in a hurry. They turned out delicious though, very tender and lemony.

Grape leaf with stem snipped... ready for filling!

The moussaka, before it was covered in Bechamel. I really liked this!

Chicken souvlaki, cooked on the grill and served with the veggies you see here. 

Homemade pita bread. We've also had pita at our Iran, Egypt, and Morocco meals, all different recipes.

A widespread love of pita

The dessert, galaktoboureko, a lovely custard pie baked in phyllo dough, and soaked in a cinammon-lemon syrup.

Imported Greek wine

Tsipouro, a Greek brandy. This was a hit. 

After dinner, we watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002). (We considered Zorba the Greek, but the crowd voted the other way.) In this scene, the main character gets teased by the whitebread girls for her Greek lunch -- moussaka!!

When? August 28, 2022

Who cooked? Lauren 

What's for dinner? (Recipe links) 

Dolmathes, Moussaka, Souvlaki with tzatziki sauce, pita bread, galaktoboureko 

Greece Stats

• Population: 10.72 million (the state of Georgia has 10.5)
• GDP: 55th in the world 
• Life Expectancy: 25th in the world, way better than US (54th)
• Founding Date/Age in 2022: Greece is one of the oldest civilizations and the cradle of Western civilization, but in its current form, was only founded in 1821. 201 years old 
• Official Language: Greek.
• Random fact, 93% of Greeks are Christian
• Rankings:
• Highest consumption of olive oil per capita (26.1 kg or 57.5 lb / year!!!)
• Largest merchant marine fleet by deadweight tonnage
• Highest consumption of tobacco per capita (4,313 cigarettes / year -- that works out to 12 per day!)