Sunday, September 12, 2010

Opa!

This weekend Matthew and I went to the Greek Festival with his parents. We have been wanting to go for the last few years, but for some reason we kept planning the Timp Hike the same weekend.

Upon our arrival we decide to first take a tour of the Holy Trinity Cathedral which is one of several Greek Orthodox churches in Salt Lake. It is a beautiful church with stained glass windows of the life of Christ. It was also nice to read about some of the important items in the church and to walk through the museum downstairs and see all the history of the church. There were many pictures of weddings and of leadership on the walls. Matthew and I even found a couple of photos of the leadership of the Greek Orthodox Church meeting with leaders from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

After taking the tour and wandering through the museum we decided to move on to what is really the main event for most people...the wonderful food! And it was soooo good. When we got in line and saw all the choices we were worried we wouldn't have enough room, but after careful planning and teamwork we were able to try a little bit of everything, as far as the entrees go. My favorites were the Gyro, calamari and the chicken Souvlaki. As for Matthew, he really enjoyed everything, including the Dolmathes. After finishing our entrees we decided to also split some desserts. Ever since coming to the Greek festival several years ago, I had been wanting the Greek Scones or Loukoumades I had been introduced to, so we got an order of those as well as a Tyropita, which is a cheesy pastry. They were both great!


After stuffing our faces we watched some Greek dancers. They were amazing and you could tell that it took great effort, energy and strength to be able to dance like they did. After the dancing we decided to wander about the festival and look at all of the beautiful items for sale. There were many tables with elegant jewelry, clothes and bags. Before leaving, Matthew, Cynda and Steve had to have some Baklava and of course when they saw all the assorted pastries available they had to try a few extras as well (luckily these pastries were smaller in size then our 1st desserts).

We decided to sit outside in the warm sun to eat our little treats and as we did we were able to observe a small group of children sit and eat their treats. The adult with them gave the children instructions to stay seated while he took one of the other children to the bathroom. They behaved so well, none of them fought with each other, they did exactly as they were told and they seem to be enjoying their treats. That is until one of the little boys dropped his treat on the ground. The poor little guy just started crying, so trying to be a good citizen and save the day, I walked up to the little boy, picked up his cookie from the ground, brushed the dirt off it and said, "It's okay, here's your cookie." He took it, smiled and resumed eating it. When I went and sat back down by Cynda, she leaned over and said, "Good job, I was about to do the same, but you beat me to it."

After finishing our treats, Matthew and I headed home for a mid-afternoon nap before heading to a family reunion of Cynda's mother's siblings (the Otto Hansen Reunion). It was nice to meet some more of the family, even if I don't know them well. For that matter, I think now I may know them almost as well as Matthew does! Cynda was great at trying to help me remember names. There was one aunt (Matthew's Great Aunt) in particular that Cynda continued to repeat a nickname for. Her aunt's name is Gladys and she kept telling me that they call her Happy Bottom. All I could think was, "That's strange" and then I would continue to forget her aunt's name so she would repeat the same thing over and over again. Well, it wasn't until about a month later that I realized why they called her Happy Bottom...her name is Gladys. I won't say anymore about it. If you don't understand, try breaking down her name and if you still don't get it ask someone! Oh, I love my family!

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