Greek Tsiknopempti

 Today is Tsiknopempti in Greece. A loose translation would be 'Burnt Thursday' or 'Barbecue Thursday' - tsikno means the smell of burnt and grilled meat and pempti means Thursday.

Tsiknopempti is traditionally held on the Thursday which is 11 days before Clean Monday, the beginning of Lent. As you will have gathered, it is a day of meat eating and wherever you go you will smell the smoke and meat from barbecue being held in all the households.

Here in Corfu we have an additional tradition on Tsiknopempti. It is called Corfiot Petegoletsia or 'gossip'. It's a kind of street theatre held in the centre of the old town with amateurs taking the part of women from old Corfu on the small balconies of the old buildings and gossiping to each other in the local dialect. At the end of the performance songs are sung in the street.

Read Articles By 'Foodies' Every Day In Our 'Newspaper'

If you look further down this blog on the right side-bar, you'll see The Food-Tweaters Daily. This is a new 'newspaper' I have set up which is updated every day with articles from my Twitter Food-Tweaters list. I don't know about you, but I think it's a neat idea and a good way to see in one place what these food tweeters are saying.

You can visit The Food-Tweaters Daily by following the link. If you aren't already on my Food-Tweaters list, then follow me on Twitter - symposio - and if you're a 'foodie' I'll add you to the list.

I don't select the articles that are published every day - this is done by paper.li.

12 Greek Seafood Dishes

The sea is everywhere in Greece, so it's not surprising that there are so many seafood dishes. Below are some popular ones - just click on the links to go to the recipes.

Prawn (Garides) Saganaki

If you like seafood and/or prawns, then you'll love this dish! It can be served as a starter or a side dish and is actually quite filling. The Greek drink ouzo is used as is Greek feta cheese, but you should be able to obtain both of these quite easily wherever you live. It is served in the individual ceramic bowls you can see in the photos and the bowls are placed in front of the guests piping hot! This recipe is for 4 of these bowls or servings.

New Greek Recipe Book - 20% Discount To Our Readers!

I mentioned in a previous post that we were working on a printed book - well, it was Maria's birthday yesterday and we celebrated by making the book available! As part of the launch we are also offering our readers here a 20% discount for the first week! This discount is available until February 10. Just click on the image above and when you order the book you will see a space where you can enter the discount code. The code is BB4KYVTG. When you enter that you will get your 20% discount. But remember - this will only be available until February 10!

The book contains 150 pages of delicious, traditional Greek dishes from recipes used in the home by local mothers and grandmothers, with colour photos. You'll find well-known dishes here as well as others that are perhaps not known outside Greece. All of them simple and delicious! The book also includes a step-by-step guide to making your own filo pastry as well as a Greek Food & Drink Glossary.

Maria comes from a family of chefs and her recipes combine know-how with the simplicity of local, traditional Greek cooking.

Read and Enjoy!