Celebration of Greek cuisine in New York City October 16, 2006
Posted by grhomeboy in Greek Diaspora Festivals.comments closed
“A Taste of Greece by New York’s Top Restaurants” a celebration of Greek gastronomy, starts October 16 at 25 Manhattan restaurants. The festival, organized by the Hellenic Foreign Trade Board (HEPO) in cooperation with the Greek National Tourism Organization, runs through November 18th.
In addition to well-known Greek restaurants, the festival includes some of the most innovative and well-respected American and Mediterranean eating establishments throughout Manhattan.
Chefs from each restaurant have created special dishes that are a fascinating potpourri of contemporary Greek cuisine, Greek-inspired cuisine, and modern renditions of the classics. The dishes highlight the simplicity and healthfulness of Greece’s traditional ingredients but also, they manifest the adaptability of Greek cuisine and food products to American tastes. More than anything else, A Taste of Greece shows not only how unique, but also how universal are Greek flavors.
Many ingredients, such as extra-virgin olive oil, Kalamata and other olives, Greek yogurt, and feta cheese, are familiar to American diners, while others, such as Chios Mastiha, offer diners the opportunity to discover something new and delightful. Chios Mastiha, produced from the resinous “tears” of a tree related to the pistachio tree, is widely used by Greek chefs in baked goods, ice cream, and sauces. Greek honey, Kozani red saffron, sun-baked herbs, succulent tiny pasta and other grain products, a whole range of delicious preserved fruits, fish, botargo, wine, and ouzo will also make appearances in dishes at participating restaurants.
Diners at each restaurant will be presented with a Passport to A Taste of Greece, a pocket-sized dining guide incorporating a restaurant directory and glossary of Greek food and wine. Recipes from each chef will be featured online at www.kerasma.gr.
Author and program coordinator Diane Kochilas, an expert in Greek cuisine based in the U.S. and in Greece, remarks, “It was exciting to see American chefs take so wholeheartedly to the idea of working with Greek ingredients and equally exciting to see Greek chefs take what they have always known and fly with it in new ways. In coordinating all their recipes I often felt like I was holding a prism to ingredients I have known my whole life but seeing them in a totally new way through the eyes of other chefs. The balance between traditional dishes reinterpreted and thoroughly modern Greek food is what makes the event so seductive. Chefs had carte blanche to work with whatever Greek ingredients they found most suitable. The spate of dishes, from bar food to desserts, is really impressive.”
The “Taste of Greece” festival is part of a larger worldwide campaign called Kerasma, which means treat in Greek, something savory and tasty to offer a guest. These treats, a whole range of plates big and small, are the Greek way of conveying friendship and hospitality. The Kerasma campaign (www.kerasma.gr) in New York commences with activities at the U.N. including The Greek Chef’s Table and the Greek Food Festival at the U.N. Delegates Dining Room from October 9 to October 20 organized by HEPO, the Permanent Mission of Greece to the United Nations and the Greek National Tourism Organization.
Says Panagiotis Drossos, CEO of the Hellenic Foreign Trade Board in Athens, “Through Kerasma, we share the exquisite quality and simplicity of the traditional ingredients that flourish in our temperate Greek-Mediterranean climate. We hope to promote and stimulate interest among Americans not only in these products but in Greece and Greek culture.” Mr. Drossos continues, “Our hope is that after experiencing Kerasma at New York’s finest restaurants, Americans will be enticed to visit us, strengthening the longstanding economic and cultural ties that bind our two nations.”
The participating restaurants are as follow > (more…)
Onassis Foundation announces winners of 2006 awards October 16, 2006
Posted by grhomeboy in Arts Events Greece, Greece News.comments closed
Onassis Foundation on Monday announced the four winners of the 2006 Onassis International Awards for cultural or environmental achievements.
Greek President Karolos Papoulias will present the awards, each worth US$200,000 (€160,000) in Athens on Wednesday.
The recipients will be the Hellenic Institute for Byzantine and Postbyzantine Studies in Venice; Harvard University’s Center for Hellenic Studies in Boston; the National Center for Hellenic Studies and Research at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia, and Greek theoretical physicist Dimitri Nanopoulos.
The foundation said the recipients were being honored for their work in advancing knowledge of Greece worldwide, and for Nanopoulos’ general contribution to science.
The public benefit Alexander S. Onassis Foundation was set up under the will of Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis (1906-1975).
Duran Duran Live in Athens October 16, 2006
Posted by grhomeboy in Music Life Live Gigs.comments closed
Duran Duran will perform on October 22nd, at the Hellinikon Fencing Hall in Athens, Greece
After their triumphant show in 2005, Duran Duran are coming back to Greece for one concert on Sunday the 22nd of October 2006.
It must be noted that on their previous visit, although they were scheduled to appear in the Lycabetus theatre, they appeared at the Terra Vibe, because of the unforeseen demand for the concert’s tickets.
Sunday October 22nd, 2006 > Hellinikon Fencing Hall > Athens, Greece
+ opening dee jay set by Petros Floorfiller
Gates open at 18.30 hrs
Tickets 60 euro for Pitch A and 45 euro for Pitch B
Tickets are available through www.ticketpro.gr
Related Links > http://www.duranduran.com and http://www.duranduranmusic.com
Play golf in the Mediterranean sun October 16, 2006
Posted by grhomeboy in Cyprus Paphos.comments closed
The temperate climate of Cyprus in the autumn and spring is ideal weather for going on a golf holiday. You can enjoy walking the fairways in the Mediterranean sun on two of the island’s golf courses located near the top tourist destination of Paphos.
The Tsada Golf Club is 15 minutes’ drive from Paphos and is located in the hills above the town, not far from the Tsadha village.
The nine-hole course, designed by English golf architect Donald Steel who has created courses all over the world, is varied and fairly easy-going. As it is in an elevated position it also benefits from the sea breeze coming in off the coast.
For those looking for more of a challenge there is another course 25 minutes’ drive from Paphos, near Aphrodite’s Rock, which legend has it was where the Greek goddess Aphrodite was born.
The golf course was recently made part of the luxury Aphrodite Hills resort, which opened in 2003, and has its own shops, boutiques, several restaurants and golf academy. There are bed and breakfast, half board and full board options available.
Alternatively, if you want to combine your golfing with the beach, then the recently refurbished five-star Amathus Beach Hotel may be a good place to stay. The hotel is right by the palm trees of the beach, two kilometres from the Paphos harbour.
It has several restaurants, gifts for guests on arrival and departure, and ties with three of the island’s golf clubs. All rooms have balconies and optional extras include a sauna, hammam, hydro-massage pool, jacuzzi and massage.
For additional information >
Visit sunny Cyprus October 16, 2006
Posted by grhomeboy in Cyprus.comments closed
Cyprus is astonishingly popular with the UK’s holidaymakers, with the small island finding room for one and a half million Brits every year.
With such high visitor numbers, finding a holiday away from the crowds can be difficult, but there are companies offering new experiences.
In its 2007 brochure for Cyprus, Sunvil is offering new self-catering holidays, villas and mini-cruises, many of which are reaching out to less touristy areas of the island.
Launching the 2007 holidays Noel Josephides of Sunvil said: “The focus of our programme to this island remains on intimate village inns, houses and small hotels that are often owner-managed.”
Holidays for the new season include foodie trips to harvest olives and learn how to make halloumi cheese, as well as adventure holiday activities such as horse-riding in the mountains and diving lessons.
New holiday accommodation for 2007 includes a recently renovated stone house near the ruins of the Khirokitia World Heritage Site (appropriately named the House of Achilles) and the Kiniras Traditional House Hotel in Paphos’ old town, which serves home-made Cypriot food from its restaurant.
Among the villas added for 2007 are Villa Andreas, located in the countryside high above Latchi. Villa Achilleas, situated in a small, hillside village overlooking the Akamas Peninsula, and two stone villas in Milou, surrounded by vineyards and orange groves.
Related Links > www.sunvil.co.uk
Relax or get wet in Cyprus October 16, 2006
Posted by grhomeboy in Cyprus Limassol.comments closed
Cyprus is perfect for the active or passive holidaymaker, providing opportunities to lounge or get stuck in by the sandy bucket-load.
The thrill-seeking among you will be pleased to hear that the water-sports season is now officially open at the newly refurbished Columbia Beach Hotel in Cyprus’s Pissouri Bay.
Pissouri Bay is pleasingly unpopulated yet more than adequately catered for tourism-wise. Two hotels, including the Columbia, sit on the two kilometre beach at Pissouri Bay, providing a plush backdrop to an adrenaline-filled day out on the waves.
Among the water-sports on offer at Pissouri Bay is the rapidly-growing discipline of kite surfing, which advanced adrenalin junkies can throw themselves into, or there are Surf Cyprus instructors on hand to show beginners the ropes to the sport.
Kite surfing is a fusion of windsurfing, wake boarding, surf boarding and kite flying, and sees surfers on small boards skim across the waves as they are pulled along by large yet manoeuvrable kites. Other sports on offer in the bay, for all of which training is available, include kayaking, water-skiing, Hobie-Cat sailing and windsurfing.
Once you have had your fill of crashing through the waves and soaking up the sun on Pissouri’s beach, it is time to head back to the hotel.
At the Columbia, guests can look forward to being pampered, with a diverse range of massages and treatments on offer, including an ‘orange peeling’ scrub, an aromatherapy or shiatsu massage. Afterwards you can retire to your room, complete with a panoramic view of the bay.
If however you want a holiday where you are entertained and relaxed from start to finish, then perhaps the Londa in Limassol is for you. The contemporary boutique hotel is laden with haute designs and trendy rooms, and the concierge service here will guarantee that your stay is a breeze.
While you relax by the pool or explore the local Cypriot delights, the hotel PA can book you restaurants, theatre tickets, and give you ideas about where to shop.
If you are travelling with a family and need a little adult time together, perhaps to visit the recommended shops, the PA will book you a nanny to take care of your children so you can stroll round Limassol in peace.
In the evening, the hotel’s trendy bar-cum-restaurant serves cocktails to the latest sounds from a DJ.
For more information about the Hotels Columbia and Londa > www.columbia-hotels.com and www.londahotel.com
Hiking heaven in Cyprus October 16, 2006
Posted by grhomeboy in Cyprus.comments closed
Ramblers and hikers have been given more reason to travel to the mountainous ranges of Cyprus after the Path E4 was extended to the country.
The massive walking path, which has already been a hit throughout Europe, now covers 539 km of Cyprus, running between Larnaka and Pafos.
Before Cyprus was added to the path, it started at Gibraltar, passed through Spain, France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, mainland Greece and Crete. Now it has been extended to Cyprus, at the recommendation of the Greek Ramblers Association, and the total path distance has been extended to 10,450 km.
Hikers who make the journey to Cyprus can take the Path E4 across Troodos mountain range, Akamas peninsula and long stretches of Cyprus rural areas. The route also takes in areas of high ecological, archaeological, cultural and scientific value.
However, the massive path should not represent all that Cyprus has to offer the avid rambler, as the path was primarily designed as a cross-country route. There are 48 well-signposted walking trails across the island, covering a total distance of 200 km.
Around Troodos mountains, there are plenty of paths such as the Artemis Trail, which takes the hiker through the lush vegetation that includes flora such as the Cyprus crocus, orchids and black pines.
Or around Pafos ramblers can take the trails to the east and north-east of Panagia, where they can experience the Xeros River Valley and perhaps catch a glimpse of the reclusive moufflon, a wild sheep.
For more information on the Path E4 > www.era-ewv-ferp.com
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