The Kids & Me
All of my kids (from left to right: Evan, Anthony, Anna, Christina-me, the Mid-Med, as partially coined by Lexi-and Lexi) are compassionate and loving individuals. Evan enjoys his electronics, watching all kinds of movies, although Disney are his favorite, and loves to be around family, especially his brother Anthony. Evan also happens to have Down syndrome. Anthony enjoys hanging out with his friends, playing around with his car and is always making sure that his brother, Evan, is involved in the same experiences as any other young adult his age. Anthony will be the one that takes care of me when I get REAL old! Anna is a free spirit and an adamant do it yourself-er! She is the one that has given me my 3 beautiful grand children. She is a single mother and has made it a priority to work from home so she can be with her kids as they grow. She has a kind heart and is always there for family and friends. Lexi is my youngest. She is one of the most intelligent kids I know, and one of the most sarcastic! She is an excellent student, artist and an excellent young chef! She is following in the footsteps of her grandmother and mother in her love for cooking and creating anything and everything!
As for me, what can I say…I dream of cooking, baking, creating, and traveling. Send me to a beach ANYWHERE and bring me food! I love to be around family and love to entertain! I have two sisters and a brother. My mom is Greek and came to America with my dad (who was Bulgarian) in the 1950’s. We primarily grew up with the Greek cultural influences but my dad always shared fond memories of the beauty and food of Bulgaria. Greek was my first language and the language we spoke at home. It was always nice to know another language because I could say stuff to my teachers and they wouldn’t understand me :).
My mother was an EXCELLENT cook…although at almost 91 now she doesn’t cook much any more. My parents had Greek restaurants in the Kansas City area the whole time I was growing up. I have so many fond memories of working in the coat room, helping to prep food, dancing on the dance floor and washing dishes when the dish washer would call in sick…and I started doing all this at around 5 years old…maybe earlier…I’m sure that the child labor laws were much different back then, ha, ha. Customers would come take pictures of me standing on a step stool trying to put dishes into the HUGE commercial dish washer saying “oh, look at that, that is so cute.” Those were the good old days! Later on, I was part owner of a Greek restaurant, but my priority at the time was to finish my college education, so working at the restaurant was a part time job for me, then came kids and more kids and many changes in life so I somehow got out of the restaurant business. I should have stayed in it, that is my calling, to cook and create through food! It’s never too late :).
I remember all the wonderful food and beauty of visiting Greece every summer at a very young age (for the WHOLE summer! How lucky was I??? I wish I could still do that every year!). My mother made a lot of the traditional Greek dishes throughout my life, such as pastichio, mousaka, dolmathes, tiropital, spanakopita, etc…I know you’ve heard of some of those :). I remember when she would get together with the other ladies in the area at my aunts house and they would all make homemade noodles (hilopites and traxana). I tell you, the freshness and taste of the ingredients in Greece are unbelievable, as are the beautiful beaches and towns. I haven’t visited Bulgaria yet, but that is on my bucket list.
I hope you enjoy this site as much as I will enjoy creating it. I can’t wait to share my culinary experiences with you as I journey into this new blogging territory along with new cultures and food. Maybe something I post on this site will encourage you to try new things and to experience new worlds and cultures, or more importantly bring to you a joy for cooking!
The Grandkids
My beautifully head strong grandchildren are amazing. Niko loves anything dinosaur and anything electronic, he is also a wonderful artist! His favorite food is peanut butter and jelly! He is a good helper and because he is the oldest also knows more than the other two 🙂 . Keira, and also my namesake since her middle name is “Christina”, enjoy’s dancing and engaging you in rough housing. You better watch out, she will kick your behind! Artemis is our little singer. She will sing to anything and make any conversation a song. Her voice is the sweetest thing you have ever heard. They are ALL cutie pies.
Hubby
Phil is a network engineer. He loves his job and is very good at it, and he will tell you that too:). He is also our family’s comedian. He always entertains us and makes us laugh with his sarcasm and take on the world. His hobbies include playing guitar, video games and reading…the news, books, anything. He also is an avid animal lover…he even takes bugs and spiders outside to set them free if they are in the house. He loves to hang out with close friends and he definitely does not like to have his picture taken :). We have been married for 16 years and he has been a wonderful provider and step-father to my adult kids (who call him Philicer) and a wonderful father to Lexi. Lexi gets most of her sarcasm and stubbornness from him, definitely!
Our Animals
Princess and PJ are mother and daughter. PJ is twice as big as Princess, yes I know, “ouch”. Princess had four puppies. We kept PJ and the rest, Winky, Walter and Lola, went to wonderful families. Kiwi and Nala are sisters. Both kittens love to throw anything they play with in their water bowl, then they try to fetch it out. They make a complete mess! The dogs, they just want to eat everything and are HUGE beggars! They ALL are the most loving animals and they all enjoy hanging out together, as well as annoying each other!
Recent Comments