Tag Archives: flowers

Blogiversary: Greeks Beat Kerouac in 2012

10 Jan

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January 1 marked the anniversary of my blog! Thank you all for your support and encouragement of my writing and blogging. It means so much to me that you take the time to read and comment on my blog entries.

I just reviewed a report of my year in blogging, and it’s been a good year!

Here’s a recap of my most viewed posts of 2012:

Notice anything interesting? They all have to do with Greece, and four out of five of them have to do with Greek beauty and fashion. Despite the fact that most of my blogging efforts this past year were about Jack Kerouac, not a single Kerouac-related entry made it into the top 5.

Two out of the above-mentioned blog posts didn’t receive any comments, despite being popular views. My most commented on post of the year was:

That just goes to show you that comments and views aren’t necessarily correlated.

What were your favorite posts from 2012?

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Perks of Being a Wallflower

13 Jun

An author dropped by my office the other day with flowers! Aren’t they gorgeous?!

 

 

 

 

In case you missed them, here are some flower-related posts on Protomayia and the Feast of Flowers.

Feast of the Flowers

2 May

Greece’s Feast of the Flowers is not a literal feasting on flowers.  It’s a celebration of springtime, the hearth’s rebirth.  If you are interested in actually dining on flowers, though, there are a surprising number of options.

Gardenias, hibiscuses, jasmines, lavender, pansies, roses, and violets are among popular flowers that can be eaten and enjoyed.  Some may be an acquired taste, but the ones just mentioned tend to be the least offensive varieties.  About.com’s home cooking site offers some great introductory descriptions of edible flowers.  Please, please, please keep in mind though that some flowers don’t just taste bad—they’re toxic.  So be careful what you not only put in your mouth, but what you use to garnish your plates.

Edible flowers can be used in teas, liquors, and punches as well as in salads and on cakes and other pastries.

Diana Henry talks about the ancient uses of flowers and the contemporary use of cooking with flowers in Middle Eastern cooking in her article “Heaven scent: cooking with flowers” for the Telegraph.

You might be interested to know that many Greek pastries, such as kourabiedes, call for orange flower water.

Groundhogs Agree: We Will Be Sprung from Winter Soon

3 Feb

Today is Groundhog Day.  Today is Groundhog Day.  Today is Groundhog Day. Yesterday was Groundhog Day.  Apparently both Punxsutawney Phil and Staten Island Chuck agree: spring is on the way!

With all the thundersnow and ice NYC’s been hit with, spring can’t come soon enough.  I thought it might be a nice time to share some spring images with you that I took last year at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden Cherry Blossom Festival.