Inspiration for the Cookbook

Food

Food was a way of life when we were growing up and that was the inspiration for writing our book. There was always a meal of the day - a grand production - planned early in the morning and served with love later in the day.  The entire day was spent collecting the ingredients and preparing the beautiful creation. The Greek diet is naturally healthy: olive oil, feta cheese, garlic, yogurt, oregano, lamb, fish, lentils, and vegetables upon vegetables all of which abounded at our house.

Health

Daddy always said it’s better to pay the grocer than the doctor, so we were taught that good health is based on good eating. Everything we ate was made from scratch with very few processed foods. Our most common dessert was yogurt - plain and simple. No wonder we had wonderful digestion! The most important gift our parents gave us, however, was the fact that food in our home was prepared and served with love, nourishing our bodies and souls.

Philosophy of Life

Humor was an important part of our lives. Our parents had fun with life. Not that they weren’t reverent. They honored God and His presence in our lives, but an underlying humor was always there to diffuse a difficult situation or ease the pain. They joked with each other and joked with us, especially when we were taking life a little too seriously. In addition, our parents were always philosophizing in the Greek tradition, questioning and discussing everything from our small realm of friends and family around us to the wider global perspective. We were taught a broad social responsibility from a very personal level.

Lifestyle

The formula for living our lives was pretty straight-forward and elemental: everyone in the family was to love one another. If resentments arose, you were supposed to apologize and move on. Forgiveness was a value we were taught to practice. You respected others, you respected yourself and you respected life itself. You knew that God created you, and you were expected to use all the skills and abilities He had bestowed on you to do His will. One of Daddy’s favorite expressions was, “Just do your best, Honey!” Mother and Daddy expected us to excel. They encouraged us to be open to learning new things, to learn in school and out of school, and they supported us completely in all our endeavors. They taught us never to forget our roots. We were Greek-American, not Greek, not just American, but compelled us always to honor both cultures. Finally, because our parents always owned and operated their own businesses, they imparted to us all a strong business acumen.