Greek American Heritage Month

 It's Greek American Heritage Month! A time to celebrate the Greek culture, history and contributions of Greek Americans.

Greek American Heritage Month, also known as Hellenic Heritage Month, takes place in March which aligns with Greece's declaration of independence from the Ottoman Empire on March 25, 1821.The observance highlights the enduring legacy of Greek ideals like democracy, philosophy, arts and civic responsibility.

Greek immigration into the US began in the late 1800's. Today over 2.5 million Americans trace their ancestry to Greece. 

In 1987, President Reagan officially recognized Greek American Heritage month, establishing it as a time to honor the past and to celebrate the ongoing contributions of Greek culture.

How to celebrate this month:

Donate to the Hellenic American Project. This is a non-profit organization dedicated to documenting the existence of Greek Americans in the United States.

Watch Films, videos and read books about Greek Americans.

Prepare authentic Greek cuisine. 

Attend a service at a Greek Orthodox Church.

Explore Greek history, language or mythology.

Don't forget to tag your posts on social media #GreekHeritageMonth

How will you celebrate this month?

Thermos Bottle Day

 It's Thermos Bottle Day! The day we celebrate that insulated bottle that holds our coffee or water when we are out in the wild. 

The thermos was invented in 1892 by James Dewar but patented in 1904 by the Thermos brand. Dewar tried suing the Thermos brand but lost the court case. Thermos became a household name and faced similar problems when manufacturers started referring to their items in a generic sense (think Kleenex, Xerox, etc.). In 1962 a judge deemed Thermos, with a capital "T" as the brand while thermos with the lowercase "t" can be used as the generic term.

When Dewar invented the thermos, I wonder if he ever expected one day everyone would be carrying one around with them?  He probably didn't expect them to come in different styles and colors or that some people (the youngest child) would be hoarders and have hundreds in their "collection." 

How to celebrate the day:

How about treating yourself to a new thermos?  So many different styles and colors!

If you already have a thermos, how about pulling it out and using it today for water, coffee or tea?

And, of course, let others know by posting on social media using #thermosbottleday

How many different thermos bottles do you own? 

International Real Bread Week

 Hey everyone! It's International Real Bread Week!  

This is a great time to get your brother to make a loaf or three of his REAL sourdough bread for you!  

Real Bread week is a real thing, believe it or not. The main goal is to get people to eat real bread and the real bread makers. Real bread is bread without any additives and preservatives. Everyone should have access to real bread either by baking it yourself or visiting a local bakery. And, you can definitely taste the difference between homemade and store bought bread.

 

How to participate? 

How about making a fresh loaf of bread? It's not as hard as you think. There are several bread recipes here on the blog (just search "bread" on the search bar to the right).

If you do make fresh bread, how about sharing a loaf with a friend or neighbor?

Don't have to patience to make your own bread? Visit a local bakery and purchase a loaf or two (sharing is caring).  

Don't forget to share your homemade bread making with others on social media using #RealBreadWeek

We all know that "your brother" is not going to make bread for me, so, I guess I will have to make my own this week.  

Cheers to real, homemade fresh bread!

Vegan and Vegetarian Options at Restaurants

 When deciding on a place to eat, we (really, me) have to take a glance at the menu to make sure there are vegan options available for me.

I'm not sure what vegans and vegetarians did thirty or forty years ago. It's hard to believe they cooked every meal. Surely they ventured out for a meal or two.

Vegetarians and vegans have been around forever. It's not something new or a passing fad or the "in thing" that's happening now. In fact, vegetarians date back as early as 6th century BC.  Today there are roughly 16 million vegans in the US (that's about 1/5th of the US population). I think having a vegan option on your menu won't hurt your business. Vegans go out to eat, sometimes they are with their carnivore friends or family members. 

I have to say that the worst feeling is when you FINALLY find a restaurant, arrive and place your order for the one and only vegan option, they tell you, "Oh, we're out of that." And there is nothing else on the menu for you to eat. Some places have either a vegetarian option or a dish that I can ask them not to add the meat portion to the dish.  If they do not have an alternative, we have to find another option. That's when I'm thankful I can search for restaurants on Google Maps.

Have you ever left a restaurant after sitting down and taking a look at their menu? 

Wash Your Face

 My grandmother used to tell me the secret to having nice skin when you are older (no wrinkles) is to wash your face in cold water. So, I washed my face in cold water. I never gave it much thought, until we moved.

Our "new" house (which is really a 125 year old house) has some weird plumbing issues. The upstairs bathroom, where I wash my face, always has cold water available. I think I would have to run the hot water for five or ten minutes to get the water to turn "warm." In the winter, the cold water is like ice because we live so close to Lake Michigan. Apparently, there is a direct line from the lake to our faucet. So, basically, I use ice cold water to wash my face.

Thinking back, my grandmother grew up in Greece. I don't think they had hot water, unless they boiled it, so it was probably pretty easy to use cold water to wash your face. 

I'm not sure if I believe the cold water theory but I will still wash my face using cold water. I'm wondering if the rest of my body will benefit since my shower doesn't get too warm?

Do you use cold water to wash your face?

Getting ready for the National Holiday

It's February!  A time for love, hearts and all things red!  Oh, and it's also time for my favorite holiday, Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day, also known in our house as The National Holiday, is coming up and I thought I would put links to some crafts we have done here on A Scary Journey Inside My Life to get you ready for the big day. Some of these crafts are pretty easy and would be great to do with your Girl Scout Troop!  These are also great ideas for an indoor activity on those cold winter days.

Valentine's Placemat (children's craft)

Valentine's Day Bookmarks

Pallet (he)art

Homemade Valentine's Day cards

Felt Heart Pin or Barrette

Felt Heart Ornaments 

Valentine Photo Book

Valentine Love Picture

Valentine Love Frame

Looking for more fun things to do in February?  How about warming up the house (and some hearts) with some baking?  Check out the Recipes page to try something new!

Sourdough Bread

An easy to make sourdough bread recipe.  Well, easy to make, but about a nine hour process.  Result is a delicious loaf of bread.

Here's the recipe:

Sourdough Bread

ingredients:

 1 cup active sourdough starter

1 1/2 cups water *

1 1/2 tsp salt

3 1/4 cups of bread flour*

directions:

In large bowl, combine starter and lukewarm water. Mix (or whisk) until starter dissolves into a milky like mixture. 

Add the flour and salt to the bowl and stir until the dough comes together. The dough will be rough (shaggy) and you might have to use your hands when working in the flour.

Cover bowl and let it rest for 30 minutes. (this allows the ingredients to come together and form a smooth, elastic dough which gives it a better oven spring).

Knead dough for 5 minutes (by hand or mixer with a dough hook) until dough becomes smooth and elastic.

Return dough to bowl, cover with either plastic wrap or damp towel and let it sit for 30 minutes. 

After 30 minutes, begin a series of stretch and folds. You will do this for about 5 minutes every 30 minutes (over a 2 hour span)(a total of 4 stretch and folds in that 2 hours).

 After the final set of stretch and folds, cover the bowl and let it rest (about 2-4 hours) until it doubles in size.*

Transfer dough to lightly floured surface and do a set of stretch and folds and bring dough into a round boule shape. Make sure seam side down, can move dough around to tighten the shape. 

Place piece of parchment paper inside the bowl.* Place dough onto parchment paper in bowl, towel over top for a final rise (about hour) The dough is ready when slightly puffy.

Preheat oven 425F with dutch oven inside. You want the dutch oven to be in there for about thirty minutes.

Carefully place dough (with parchment paper) into dutch oven. Don't forget to flour/score the loaf).

Bake for 40 minutes with the lid on (important, otherwise loaf will burn). Remove lid and bake for another 10 minutes (or until crust is golden brown).*

Remove loaf from oven and cool on wire rack before slicing.

* * * **  * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

*I use 1 cup of warm water and it works perfectly for my starter (my starter is a little on the runny side).

*I have used unbleached all purpose flour and have had no problem with this recipe.

*You can do this as a bulk rise over night in the refrigerator. To do this, after the final set of stretch and folds, just cover the bowl and place it in the refrigerator. Pull the bowl out in the morning and let it rest for an hour (it needs to be at room temperature). Turn in onto a lightly flours surface and let it rest another 20 minutes. The dough will start to relax. Once it has relaxed, do the final shaping and let rise for another 30 minutes to 1 hour. Then bake.

*The use of parchment paper makes the transfer from bowl to dutch oven go smoothly. Trust me on this one. I have learned from my mistakes. The bowl also helps the dough retain it's shape.  Again, learned this lesson the hard way...

*You can bake bread longer than the extra 10 minutes without the lid for a crisper crust

Have you hopped onto the sourdough bread train yet?

Let me know your feelings about sourdough in the comments. 

Enjoy!