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
You are allowed a rant - some people know how to mentor othersand some just tear down the efforts of others (it's insecurity in the later group - the problem is theirs and nothing to do wirh you or your contributions). I hope the festival goes really well and I'm sure you will sell out of everything. (Between you and me my experience of tsoureki was that it was dry and difficult to eat so maybe yours wasn't sufficiently unpalatable🤣)
ReplyDeleteLol, thank you for your last words, I had to laugh. When we bake, we always ALWAYS taste it. Everyone says it's good, or great, or whatever verb they like to use. I am sorry yours was so stale. It should be pillowy inside, and have a soft crust. The woman I was talking about was at the funeral we attended today, and she seemed happy to see me. Maybe she is regretting her words last week. I suppose it's easy to be snarky on the phone.
DeleteWe rarely have pastries left over from the festival (although we did have some cookies left last year). But never the bread ~ it is very popular.
I wish we got all the tennis on our TV. It's football and more football.
ReplyDeleteYou really are Greek lol. You make all those marvellous goodies. I bet your Yiayia is jealous. She sounds like my M-in-law, always ready to put me down. You've probably made as many of those loaves as she has. It's very hard work, I've never made them successfully. Bravo koritsi mou!! Keep as far away as you can from those toxic people!
I did subscribe to the tennis channel (remember when they would have it free on one of the channels?), but you have to subscribe to ESPN to get the US Open and Wimbledon. I subscribed for a month ~ it cost $32!!! I just cancelled it today.
DeleteUgh, I am really not looking forward to Friday. Thursday I will go to buy all the stuff I need to make two recipes of tsoureki (which should make about 180 loaves). Luckily I have a volunteer to come early and help crack all the eggs, heat up milk, melt butter and so on. I felt a little bit guilty asking, but I tried to handle it all myself, and it took forever. Plus, I was exhausted before it even began. I am one of those people that has trouble asking for help....
What a busy stretch ahead with the Greek Fest, and how frustrating that you're getting so little appreciation for all the work you put into the tsoureki, that would get to me too! Hopefully Ben Shelton can still pull off a great comeback. And happy early birthday to Zoe turning three!
ReplyDeleteGreetz from Sicily!
https://canalsandcitrus.blogspot.com
What a beautiful country you live in! I hope to visit someday...
DeleteI felt so bad for Shelton, he was not having his best day. For a bit it looked like he was going to get there! I still think he has many opportunities to win, he is such a great player.