Cali Anthropology Girl: spring

Monday, 6 May 2013

My Big Fat Greek Easter- Sunday the celebration day

The gory image above, of a young goat and its intestines chilling in an air-conditioned room, are somewhat of a specialty of Greek cuisine and provide a feast on Greek Orthodox Easter Sunday. Especially after fasting from meat over the Lent period, the meal of katziki and kokoretsi (goat and its intestines) is very traditional. Lamb may be cooked as well.

Hors d'oeuvres

On the day, the preparation of the goat and fire start at 9am, because the goat has to cook for 5 hours with constant tending to the flames. While this is going on, there are plenty of snacks of eggs (the loser eggs of the red-egg game), cucumbers, feta, and olives. Tsipro, an anise-flavored aperitif is also drunk throughout the day.

Men tending the fire

The Sunday is a day for families to come together and celebrate, so it becomes a good chance to see people you haven’t seen, catch up with friends, and have guests over most of the day. The main star of the show though is the roasted meat as it is finished and served for Easter lunch.

Goat done and heading to the serving pan

Monday, 4 March 2013

CAG on travel: Paris in the springtime

Since living in the UK, I’ve been to Paris three times and I realized the other night that all of my visits have been in spring. I’m starting to really crave another Paris trip, and I have been trying to organize it to coincide with a visit to the Pacific collections of the Musée du quai Branly.

Crocodile figure Porapora, Papua New Guinea, Musée du quai Branly

I don’t even know what Paris is like in any other season, but springtime is such a beautiful time to visit. Sitting in the Jardin des Tuileries, eating too many macarons, and enjoying the general vibe of Paris is such a privilege (although I still think Paris is not the city of romance- just a cool city).