Quite the weekend in DC. Artomatic, yoga on the Mall, dragon boat races… there seemed to be an interesting event going on at every turn.
Up in my neck of the woods, there was the Greek Festival at Saint Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral. Saw the signs for it last year and made a mental note not to miss it this time around, especially after several people told me about all the food and pastries.
Saturday was just a perfect spring day. Stunning weather. The crowds turned out for the festival, but they were extremely manageable. My group and I got on the food line and it moved surprisingly quickly.
Behind these guys manning the grills were two carcasses roasting on spits. Looked like lamb.
Mmm, the smell of roasted meats.
My gyro sandwich. You can’t see it, but under the tzatziki was very tender and flavorful sliced beef and lamb.
We managed to work out way into the cathedral itself (when in doubt, knock on locked doors) to catch the tail end of a tour. Very beautiful inside. I’m glad we got to see it.
In the cafeteria was a whole other area of food, being served buffet style. I sort of screwed up because I think this is where the real authentic stuff was. I had dinner plans in a few hours, otherwise I would have sampled the moussaka and other home-cooked specialties. Oh well, next year.
However, there is always room for dessert. The variety of Greek pastries being displayed made me woozy. Had to rely on the menu on the wall to decipher what was what.
This is a diples, a flaky pastry dipped in honey and sprinkled with nuts and cinnamon. Reminded me of a cannoli without the filling.
It was the loukoumades though, being sold outside at a stand, that almost brought me to my knees.
What are loukoumades, you ask?
They’re little fried dough balls of goodness that Pete Schweddy himself would be proud to hawk on NPR. The outside is crispy and the balls themselves aren’t terribly sweet — good thing because they arrive swimming in a honey syrup.
A small order was six loukoumades. Unless I planned on rolling myself home, I wasn’t eating six. Two of us split a small order, and then I shared some of my portion.
A perfectly sweet end to a sweet time spent at the Greek Festival.
Get Him to the Greek (Festival)
Quite the weekend in DC. Artomatic, yoga on the Mall, dragon boat races… there seemed to be an interesting event going on at every turn.
Up in my neck of the woods, there was the Greek Festival at Saint Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral. Saw the signs for it last year and made a mental note not to miss it this time around, especially after several people told me about all the food and pastries.
Saturday was just a perfect spring day. Stunning weather. The crowds turned out for the festival, but they were extremely manageable. My group and I got on the food line and it moved surprisingly quickly.
Behind these guys manning the grills were two carcasses roasting on spits. Looked like lamb.
Mmm, the smell of roasted meats.
My gyro sandwich. You can’t see it, but under the tzatziki was very tender and flavorful sliced beef and lamb.
We managed to work out way into the cathedral itself (when in doubt, knock on locked doors) to catch the tail end of a tour. Very beautiful inside. I’m glad we got to see it.
In the cafeteria was a whole other area of food, being served buffet style. I sort of screwed up because I think this is where the real authentic stuff was. I had dinner plans in a few hours, otherwise I would have sampled the moussaka and other home-cooked specialties. Oh well, next year.
However, there is always room for dessert. The variety of Greek pastries being displayed made me woozy. Had to rely on the menu on the wall to decipher what was what.
This is a diples, a flaky pastry dipped in honey and sprinkled with nuts and cinnamon. Reminded me of a cannoli without the filling.
It was the loukoumades though, being sold outside at a stand, that almost brought me to my knees.
What are loukoumades, you ask?
They’re little fried dough balls of goodness that Pete Schweddy himself would be proud to hawk on NPR. The outside is crispy and the balls themselves aren’t terribly sweet — good thing because they arrive swimming in a honey syrup.
A small order was six loukoumades. Unless I planned on rolling myself home, I wasn’t eating six. Two of us split a small order, and then I shared some of my portion.
A perfectly sweet end to a sweet time spent at the Greek Festival.
Saint Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral
36th St. & Mass Ave. NW
Washington, DC
202-333-4730