Dec 22, 2010

Dec 20, 2010

Mikis Theodorakis 1000 songs. Free.

By Monday, December 20, 2010 ,
A group of friends of Mikis Theodorakis' music chose 1000 songs from the composer's works and proposed they be freely propagated hand to hand. They made 50 CDs and suggested that anyone who received Mikis' music, make 5 copies and distribute it to friends and so forth. The proposal was accepted with pleasure by Mikis, himself, through the NET telecast "Stin Ygeia Sas".


Then the idea went even further when Mikis agreed to allow his work to be distributed freely on the Internet. The result is http://mikis1000songs.blogspot.com, where you can download 1000 songs by Mikis Theodorakis.

From the blog:

In this blog, you can find 1000 songs of Mikis Theodorakis available for free sharing with the permission and encouragement of the composer:
"For my songs to reach all places of the greek land, all aspects of the greek soul."

The banner from mikis1000songs.blogspot.com
A big thank you to all the people who decided and worked to spread Mikis' grand work.

And, of course, an even bigger thank you to Mikis Theodorakis, the giant man in black I saw for the first time up close in the mid seventies in Chicago and whose music imprinted on my soul from that first concert when I was 10. Once again, he leads the way, allowing his work to be freely distributed on the Internet.

Dec 19, 2010

Melomakarona, the greek cookie that says Christmas is here

By Sunday, December 19, 2010 ,
My family keeps complimenting me today that our house smells Christmasy because I made melomakarona to get the holiday season in gear here at Flubberwinkle home. It's been a few years since I made this traditional Greek recipe and tough times call for heartier and merrier homemade holidays. 

This recipe is definitely Greek because it requires a lot of olive oil and honey. Daughter#1 informs me that each cookie has about 150-180 calories. The upsides: (1) it's a VERY simple recipe, (2) after kneading with such an oily dough you have soft hands all day, (3) they keep for about a month without refrigeration, at room temperature in a container, (4) I almost forgot: They're delicious!

Ingredients
2 cups olive oil
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup brandy
2 teaspoons orange zest
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
8 cups all purpose flour

For the syrup
2 cups honey
2 cups sugar
2 cups water

For garnish
1 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Makes: 40-50 melomakarona

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Directions:

Blend the first 6 ingredients in blender for 4' at high speed.
Sift flour with soda and baking powder into a large mixing bowl.
Open a hole in the center of dry ingredients and pour in the mixture of liquid materials.
Take a little bit of flour around the edges of the bowl as you mix it with the wet ingredients and knead gently.

To roll melomakarona, pinch a portion of dough off about the size of a walnut.
Shape in your palms into a smooth oblong shape, almost like a small egg.
Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Shape and roll cookies until the sheet is filled.
Bake at 175C (350F) for about 25-30 minutes, or until lightly or well browned (note: they will get even darker when submerged in the syrup).

Prepare the syrup by boiling all the ingredients together for 5 minutes. Remove any foam.
Carefully submerge melomakarona in the syrup and allow them to absorb syrup on both sides.
Remove melomakarona with a spatula and place on platter.
Mix ground walnuts and cinammon together and sprinkle on melomakarona.

Do not refrigerate melomakarona as they will harden. Store in an airtight container at room temperature. They will keep for one month at room temerature.

Credits: This recipe is based on Ms.Vefa Alexiadou's recipe found in her book "Greek Pastry Kitchen", but like most cooks I have tweaked a couple of things for my taste (replaced 1/2 cup shortening with 1/2 cup olive oil and did not add 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves for garnish).

Dec 9, 2010