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Bravo for Writing a Greek-American Memoir

9 Apr

On my lunch break one afternoon I met a man from Greece at a coffee shop.  He had been born in Greece, but currently resides in New York.  He didn’t have the thick Greek accent that would’ve indicated a recent move, and yet like so many Greek people I’ve met, he was still very much hung up on Greece.

After some rather dull conversation he perked up when I told him the memoir I’m writing is about growing up Greek American.  It made me kind of hate him.  I know that’s a terrible, overdramatic reaction, but his reaction gave me the distinct sense that in his eyes my ethnic heritage played a role in my worth.

The Greek American community is incredibly proud of its Greek heritage.  As we should be.  We have a beautiful culture with a rich and fascinating history.  I often feel I don’t live up to Greek ideals.  I know the reason I inwardly cringed when the man expressed interest in my heritage above all else is because I feel like I fall short of the standards of Greek American identity.  I don’t speak the Greek language, I don’t look particularly Greek, and I’m not 100% Greek.  Culturally, I’m not very Greek.

In fact, those who know me well are surprised when I say I’m writing a memoir about growing up Greek American.  Spoiler alert!  The memoir isn’t really about being Greek.  It’s about being American.  It’s about growing up American but going through an experience as an adult that ties me back to Greece.

Life is too complex for anyone to be categorized or valued based on just one aspect of their identity.

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Happy Greek Independence Day!

25 Mar

 

I’m trapped inside, working on my book today so it doesn’t look like I’ll be able to make it to the Greek parade today.  It looks rather grey out, but at least it will be cool for all the people marching in the parade.  My favorite are all the children dressed up in traditional Greek costume.  Too cute!  You can see my photos from last year here.

What’s the Greek parade for, you ask?  To celebrate Greek Independence Day, of course!  March 25 is Greek Independence Day.  Here’s a little history in case you’re new to my blog and missed it last year:

Greece was a strong empire, impacting language and culture around the world for much of ancient history.  Even after Greece fell to Roman rule, Greek thought and influence remained strong.  However, in 1453 the Byzantine Empire fell to the Ottoman Empire.

On March 25, 1821, Metropolitan Germanos of Patras raised a revolutionary flag under a tree outside of Agia Lavra, a monastery in the Peloponnese.  This wasn’t the first clash between the Greeks and the Ottoman Empire in those 400 years.  The Turks had burned monastery, which was built in AD 961, to the ground in 1585.  The Greeks rebuilt it in 1600 but then the Ottoman Empire armies of Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt destroyed the church in 1715.  The Greeks rebuilt it again, and in 1821 Germanos gave an oath to the Greek fighters and raised the flag.  Pasha’s army destroyed Agia Lavra again in 1826.

The War for Independence lasted nine years.  Finally, on 1829, a small part of Greece was liberated.  Slowly, other parts of Greece were liberated.  On July 21, 1832, the Treaty of Constantinople, which put the Greek borders in writing, was signed, and on August 30, 1832, it was ratified.  Still, it wasn’t until after World War II that other Greek lands were returned to Greece.

You can read my full article on Agia Lavra, the church where the revolution began, in my Church Hopping column on Burnside Writers Collective.

Victory Hellas!

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Ancient Greek Pottery at the Met

23 Mar

Ancient Greek pottery on view at the Met.

Each bowl, vase, and urn tells a story….

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

17 Mar

Everyone’s Irish on Saint Patrick’s Day!  Actually, my mom and I often get mistaken for Irish.  It must be our fair Swedish skin and eyes.  I even once got a letter addressed to Nik O’Lopoulos.  Yep.

Here’s a couple of St. Patrick’s Day-related links for you:::

  • On my last trip to Ireland, I got to visit St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin.  Fun facts: Benjamin Guinness — yes, of beer fame — funded the reconstruction of the cathedral and Jonathan Swift (author of Gulliver’s Travels) was dean here.  Find out more in my Church Hopping article.
  • Then, this summer I took a group Church Hopping to St. Patrick’s Cathedral here in New York City.  You can read about that fun experience here.
  • One of my colleagues at Burnside, wrote this interesting article about the meaning of hair when Sinéad O’Connor tweeted that she hated Ireland.
  • Here’s a review of Irish author Colum McCann’s Dancer, also from a colleague on Burnside.
  • You know how four-leaf clovers are supposed to be lucky?  Well, someone in Japan found a 56-leaf clover.
  • This is a pretty four-leaf clover necklace.
  • Have you ever heard this Irish blessing?  It’s so beautiful, and it always reminds me of the Rebecca St. James song “Abba Father.”
  • Going back to Guinness, the beer company is aiming to set a record for the world’s biggest St. Patrick’s Day party. Sounds fun!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day, everyone!!

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Gripster: Tina Fey Ate “Old Balls”

23 Feb

While writing for Saturday Night Live, everyone’s favorite Gripster Tina Fey ate a lot of disgusting food in the wee hours of the night, according to Grub Street.  The grossest?  Old meatballs from Carmines.

The Grub Street article points to the obvious fact that those of us who stay up late, writing at our desks, probably eat pretty poorly.  I’ve never been to Carmines, and I don’t eat meatballs anymore, but my sister makes fun of me because I often eat leftover pasta without bothering to heat it up.

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Tasty Tuesday: Georgetown Cupcake SoHo

21 Feb

 

Remember those insanely delicious cupcakes I wrote about after tasting them at the Gabby Awards?  The ones that I was willing to bus it all the way to DC for?  Well, it turns out all I have to do now is hop on the subway.  On February 11, Sisters Sophie LaMontagne and Katherine Kallinis opened up Georgetown Cupcake SoHo at 111 Mercer St.

They’ve even whipped up special New York-themed cupcakes to mark the occasion:::

  • Apple Crumble
  • B&W Cookie
  • New York Cheesecake

They’re decorated with fondants in the shape of subway stops and taxi cabs.  Too, too cute.

Shhhh!  Can I let you in on a secret?  I’ve been Facebook stalking them and they always reveal their “secret” menu flavors on their social media accounts.  The first 100 to “guess” their not-so-secret-secret flavor get a free cupcake!

Can’t wait to try them all!

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Happy Tsiknopempti!

16 Feb

Happy Tsiknopempti!  You’ve heard of Fat Tuesday, the French holiday associated with Mardi Gras.  Well, today is Fat Thursday, ten days before the beginning of Great Lent.

Tsiknopempti means Barbecue Thursday, Charred Meat Thursday, or Burnt Thursday.  It’s the evening Greek Orthodox believers consume massive amounts of meat because they start fasting from meat even a week before Great Lent, the forty days leading up to Pascha (Easter), begins.

I’ve been fasting from meat for six years.  I guess that means BBQ tofu and grilled veggies for me.

It’s my sister’s favorite holiday.  She’s such a carnivore!  I’d never even heard of the holiday til my family moved to Greece.  Then my sister told me all about a day where the sweet smell of charred meat wafts through the dusty roads of ancient villages.

What’s your favorite food to barbecue?

Here are a few recipe ideas:::

Skewered Grilled Fruit with Minted Yogurt Honey Sauce

Grilled Fruit Skewers with Spicy Maple Cumin Glaze

Coffee-Rubbed Cheeseburgers with Texas Barbecue Sauce

Lamb Chops with Lemon

 

You might also like these articles:::

Hello, Carnival; Good-bye Meat

Tasty Tuesday: Dinner at Souvlaki GR

Clip: Paintings of the Crucifixion

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Profile of the Greek Cupid

14 Feb

 

Out of the opposites-attract romance of the goddess of love and the god of war sprang forth Eros.  It comes as no surprise that his genes of love and war make him the god of passion!

Early depictions of Eros show him as a stunningly handsome man, but today he’s portrayed as a winged boy.  He is the Greek Cupid.  He has a bow and arrows, which he seems to shoot at random.

Eros is so handsome that he must shield his beauty from his own wife.  Go Greece tells the story:

Problems ensue when Eros (called Cupid in this story) falls in love with Psyche. His radiance is such that for her own safety, he insists that she must never look upon his face, and he only visits her at night. At first, she’s cool with this, but her sisters and family insist that her husband must be a grotesque and dangerous monster. Finally, to shut them up, one night she lights a lamp and sees his glorious beauty, which doesn’t blast her but does make her tremble so hard she shakes the lamp. A few drops of hot oil dribble on her beloved, burning him, and he flies away from her in physical pain compounded by the pain of knowing she doubted him.

The doomed romance of Eros and Psyche reminds me in some ways of the Japanese legend of the Crane Wife, which inspired the eponymous heartbreaking song by the Decemberists.

Provincial wisdom often says love makes you blind.  Too often that rings true.  However, these stories speak toward another type of love that is beautiful and sacrificial, and that sometimes we need to have more trust and more faith in the person we love.

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Chocolate Tasting at Chocolat Moderne

13 Feb

On Saturday, I went to an open house at Chocolat Moderne!!  Swoon!

You may remember the name Chocolat Moderne from my Gabby Awards post.  I was kind of obsessed.  That’s why I was so excited to take a little tour of the chocolate factory and meet the founder, Joan Coukos.  The Greek American chocolatier was so sweet.  We exchanged stories of where in Greece we’re from and chatted about other Greek Americans living in New York City.

 

I got to sample the many delectable chocolates Chocolat Moderne has to offer.  One of my favorites was the Cocoa Casbah Hot Chocolate ~ Kama Sutra, an exotic blend of cardamom, clove, and coconut.  It’s chai tea making love to hot chocolate.

 

I also sampled the champagne truffles, which I think would make for a romantic Valentine’s Day gesture.  This special chocolate has “rare collector’s Marc de Bourgogne pressed from chardonnay grapes and a layer of dark ganache scented with a mellow aged Pierre Ferrand 1er Cru de Cognac from the Grande Champagne appellation.”

As lovely as the champagne truffles were, I have to say I loved the Moderne ~ Red Fruits bar.  This bar is a “blend of fine dark chocolates from Valrhona, is a fresh breeze of red berries and red stone fruits.  The crunchy toffee nuggets sprinkled throughout the bar release the unique and fragrant essences of cherries, strawberries and raspberries.”  The dark chocolate was intense and the raspberry tart.

 

 

Chocolat Moderne has special Valentine assortments that would go lovely with a nice bottle of red wine or champagne.

 

 

The factory is located at 27 West 20th Street, Suite 904, and is open every day from noon to 6pm.  It’s definitely worth dropping by to see the chocolate-making action and to pick up some artisnal chocolates.  You can also inquire about chocolate tastings held at the factory … something I intend to get in on!

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Happy Birthday, Betty White!

17 Jan

Did you know Golden Girl Betty White is a Greek American?  (Her mother’s maiden name was Cachikis.)  Did you know she was the first woman to win an Emmy for game show hosting?  Did you know she’s the oldest person to ever host Saturday Night Live?  She’s more than just a comedienne, she’s someone who pushes the boundaries, working tirelessly.

Betty White’s been having a bit of a heyday recently with hysterical cameos and starring roles.  But I love what Alex Pattakos writes about her in his Huffington Post article “Betty White: Proving It’s Never to Late to Live.”  Betty White turns ninety today.  Last year, Pattakos wrote:

I’ve found that people who take the time to find meaning are happier — they’re more joyful, more passionate and more fulfilled. They are more resilient to the stresses of life. And, in effect, they become the “light,” much like Betty White, for others. And they help to demonstrate and remind us that until we take our very last breath, it’s never too late to pursue our dreams and discover meaning in our lives.

No matter who you are, no matter your age, no matter your ethnicity, no matter your gender, you can still pursue your dreams!

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