Twitter Petition To British Museum To Return Parthenon Marbles To Greece

This post is a bit of a deviation from the normal posts, but is still of interest to anyone interested in Greece and anything Greek.

I have just started a Twitter petition for the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece. I have tweeted the petition directly to the British Museum and they will be updated regularly with the number of tweets and also have the opportunity to respond.

The Parthenon Marbles were removed by Lord Elgin in the early 19th century (which is why some people call them the Elgin Marbles) and then sold to the British Museum. Over the years, the British Museum claimed that there wasn't a suitable venue for them to be displayed, but that argument no longer holds since the opening of the much-acclaimed new Acropolis Museum, below the Acropolis, last month.

So now all we can say to the British Museum is - time to return the stolen goods to their rightful owner so that they can be displayed in their rightful setting - next to the Parthenon - for all the visitors to enjoy.

If you are on Twitter and agree that the Parthenon Marbles should now be returned to Greece and put on display in the new Acropolis Museum, then please just tweet below. It's set up so that I auto-follow anyone who tweets. You can also embed the code in your site, so that the petition can go viral.



For more information on the Marbles and their return to Greece, you can visit The British Committee for the Restitution of the Parthenon Marbles and you can also sign a web petition, if you so wish, at Return The Marbles.com

S Is For ...

Continuing the Greek food and drink glossary. The letters in bold italics show where the accent goes.


salmon - solomos

salt - alati

sardine - sardella (soft d)

sauce - saltsa

sausage - lookaniko

seafood - thalassina

sesame - soosami

shrimp - garida (soft g)

skate - salahi

snapper - leethreeni

soup - soopa

spice - bahariko

spicy - peekantiko

spinach - spanaki

squash - kollokeetha

squid - kalamari

starter - orektiko

sugar - zahari

sweet - gleeko

Greek Fresh Green Beans (Fasolakia)

This is another easy to make Greek recipe. It's a delicious lunchtime meal, especially when accompanied by a slice of Feta cheese.

Ingredients

1 kg fresh green beans

3 medium potatoes sliced

1 large onion grated

½ kg ripe fresh tomatoes pureed

1 clove garlic chopped

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

100 ml olive oil

100 ml water

Salt and pepper

Preparation

Cur off the two ends on the beans and remove the thread(s) along the side(s) if there are any.

Gently fry the grated onion in the olive oil in a pan for 2 minutes.

Add the chopped garlic and fry for another minute.

Add the green beans and potatoes and stir for another minute.

Add the tomato puree, water and seasoning, cover the pan and simmer for 1 hour.

If the liquid hasn’t been absorbed by this time, uncover the pan and bring to the boil for a short time.

Add the parsley and boil for 2 – 3 minutes.


If you've tried this recipe please rate it!

Eat and Enjoy!

Greek Briam

Another easily prepared dish. This can be eaten hot or cold and is delicious when accompanied by a large slice of Feta cheese.

Ingredients

½ kg potatoes

½ kg courgettes

½ kg eggplants

2 green peppers

1 medium onion sliced

2 large ripe tomatoes pureed

2 cloves garlic chopped

2 tablespoons roughly chopped parsley

100 ml olive oil

Salt and pepper

500 ml water

Preparation

Cut all the vegetables into round slices approx. ½ cm thick.

Place all the ingredients in a large shallow oven dish, making sure they are well mixed and evenly spread.

Bake in a pre heated oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 1 hour or until no water remains, only the oil.


If you've tried this recipe please rate it!

Eat and Enjoy!

Greek Soutzoukakia

Another variation on meatballs. This is a recipe for soutzoukakia from Smirni - Smirnaika Soutzoukakia. They are ideally served with rice and are very easy to prepare - you'll notice from the photo that the sauce can be added on top of the rice as well as on the soutzoukakia. Another favourite with kids, we have found.

Ingredients

For the Soutzoukakia

½ kg beef mincemeat

1 egg lightly beaten

2 tablespoons fine breadcrumbs

50 ml red wine

2 cloves crushed garlic

½ teaspoon cumin powder

Salt and pepper

150g all purpose flour

250 ml sunflower oil

For the Sauce

½ kg fresh ripe tomatoes

2 cloves crushed garlic

1 tablespoon butter

Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

Soutzoukakia

Put all the ingredients - apart from the flour and the sunflower oil - in a mixing bowl.

Knead well with your hands.

Form the oval-shaped soutzoukakia (see photo) and arrange them on a floured tray. Lightly cover them with flour.

In a heavy bottomed pan, fry the soutzoukakia in the sunflower oil, a few at a time.

Sauce

Puree the tomatoes.

In a pan, add the other ingredients to the tomato puree, bring to the boil and then simmer for 15 minutes.

Arrange the fried soutzoukakia in a shallow oven dish and spread the sauce over them.

Bake in a pre heated oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes.


If you've tried this recipe please rate it!

Eat And Enjoy!

Greek Spetsofai

This is a traditional 'country' dish and is very easy to prepare. It's a speciality from the Pelion region and, although we've included eggplants here, is very often prepared without them.

Ingredients

250g country sausages

½ kg eggplants

½ kg green peppers – long or round

½ kg tomatoes

1 hot red pepper

1 tablespoon salt

100 ml olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

Cut the eggplants into 1 ½ cm slices and soak them for 1 hour in water with the tablespoon of salt.

Drain them well.

Discard the seeds from the peppers and cut them into lengthwise slices.

Discard the skins from the tomatoes and slice them.

Fry the eggplants and peppers in the olive oil.

Add the tomatoes and keep on the heat for another 30 minutes.

Cut the sausages into 1 ½ cm slices and add to the mixture.

Simmer for another 10 minutes.


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Eat And Enjoy!

Greek Fava (Yellow Lentils)

A tasty and simple accompanying dish. It is similar in some ways to Indian dahl, but it is not spicy. This dish is easy and cheap to make, and so is very common in simple Greek households.

Ingredients

½ kg fava (yellow lentils)

1 large onion quartered

1 small onion finely chopped

Juice from ½ lemon

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

120 ml olive oil

Salt to taste

Preparation

Rinse the fava well under cold water.

Boil the fava in 1200 ml water in a heavy bottomed pan.

Before it starts boiling, remove the froth that comes to the surface with a wooden spoon.

When it comes to the boil, add the quartered large onion and simmer for 1 hour, making sure that at least 2/3 of the water has been absorbed.

Transfer it to a food processor and blend roughly.

Transfer back to the pan and add salt and ¾ of the olive oil.

Boil for another 5 minutes.

Serve the fava in individual portions in small shallow dishes, sprinkling the parsley and chopped onion on top and adding lemon juice and olive oil.


If you've tried this recipe please rate it!

Eat And Enjoy!