Three weeks from now I will be working at the Greek Fest...I signed up to volunteer to work at the pastry booth Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I am going to get my olive oil soap on Friday, because they always sell out of my favorite scents. I will probably eat pastitsio this year, I need to try something new. Have a beer. Enjoy watching the Greek dancers.
At some point in time I volunteered to chair the tsoureki baking. I did not quite know what I was signing up for. It is a slog ~ getting there around 7:15 am, so the dough will be ready at 10:30 for other volunteers to come and braid the bread, put on the egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Then it needs another 45 minutes or so to rise. Then bake. Then wait for it to cool down to a minimum of 90 F so we can put it in bags. I probably won't get home until 4:30 or 5. It's a long day.
One of our yiayia's (Greek name for Grandmother) used to do this job. But her health began to fail, mostly her knees and back. There might be other issues I'm unaware of. She is a true yiayia ~ takes no prisoners. She went to Greece for 3 months this summer (I believe for medical care since it is somewhat free there) so I made the first 3 batches without her. I am now wishing I had done them all without her. She criticizes my efforts. I called her last week to schedule the last batch, and she asked me to take one of the frozen loaves out of the freezer so that she could taste it! Last year she told me that some of her friends said my loaves were not cooked. Bullshit, I say. I used an instant read thermometer to make certain that every pan of bread reached 200 F. If she says anything negative about my bread this time, it will be the last time I chair it. I am done with not being appreciated, when it is so much work. And I know how to make bread, dammit, I've been making it for 50 years.
The biggest problem? I'm not Greek. If I were, I don't think she would act this way. I try, I really do, to understand where she's coming from. She has a problem with letting it go, and her friends tell her she needs to be in charge. But none of them know how, or don't want to put in that much effort. So, we'll see what happens.
********sorry, sort of went on a tangent there.
I haven't put any mouse traps out for a month, and haven't seen any evidence of any ~ until a yesterday. So, I guess I'm back to putting them out again. My tomatoes look terrible, but there are still tomatoes on them, so I guess I'll keep going until the first frost (unless they up and die). There is one plant that hasn't really done well all summer, and I might yank that one. But I still have 2 more that are ok. I am ready to plant lettuce and spinach, but I'm waiting for the weather to cool a bit more. All the recommendations say mid Sept., but it's still too hot. I am excited to try it though, I've never tried lettuce before.
Zoe is having her 3rd birthday on Tuesday!
Love, 365
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