Take the Three Greek Sisters Home (Giveaway)
Dec 15th, 2009 | By Peter Minakis | Category: Book Review, Giveaway, Greek, Recipes
Last week I had the pleasure of meeting the Three Greek Sisters. Born & raised in Toronto’s Greektown (The Danforth), these ladies have just released a self-published cookbook, “Around the Greek Table”.
Betty, Eleni and Samantha Bakopoulos share family recipes with the reader with one eye on on tradition and the other with plating traditional Greek dishes with panache, flair and that “lady’s touch”.
pictured left to right - Samantha, myself, Betty and Eleni
I gladly accepted their offer to join them as they gave a cooking class to some Canadian military wives here in Toronto. The Three Greek Sisters (or as I call them, Trio Belle Greca) instructed the ladies on how to make their own Baklava (rolled) cigars.
All the ingredients were provided, instruction was given, a watchful eye overlooked some of the ladies who were timid with phyllo pastry but in the end…the military wives took to the ease of instruction from Trio Belle Greca and all participants took home their assembled Baklava Cigars for baking (and a quick vanishing act from the dessert table).
Christmas is upon us and “Around the Greek Table” would make for a wonderful Christmas gift. The book can be purchased from the Three Greek Sisters Website or at Amazon.
Why should you buy the book? Not because it’s self-published, or that the three sisters are like you and I, or that these women assumed a “take charge” attitude and recipe-tested, photographed, funded and self-published this book.
The cookbook contains:
112 photos,
105 easy to read recipes,
60 vegetarian dishes,
22 delicious dinners,
18 impressive appetizers,
13 desserts and,
12 menu suggestions.
The photography is excellent, the recipes work and the sisters even thrown in some clever techniques and plating ideas that I’m excited to try out too!
The Three Greek Sisters were kind enough to give me an autographed copy to me for a giveaway promotion. All you have to do is leave a comment ON THE BLOG (only one comment will count in the draw) and a winner will be chosen by this Friday, December 18th at 6PM EST.
For your comment to qualify, please share with us all a special memory, be it funny, sentimental, touching you have about a sibling (or close relative for those only children). When I met the Three Greek Sisters, I could definitely sense a strong blond amongst them…almost telepathy and I want to see if anyone else has such a strong family bond.
The giveaway is open to all readers and the winner will be contacted via email.
Καλή τύχη (good luck)!
If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://kalofagas.ca then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at truenorth67 AT gmail DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author.
© 2007-2009 Peter Minakis
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the book sounds really great!! i want it
My daughter and I have always been very close and now that she is 22 we are in the kitchen together more often. She teaches me how to make thai, curries and shushi and I teach her how to make my favourites like perogies, spanakopita and dolmades.Those are the moments I cherish.
I do have 2 brothers and 3 sisters.
So , our dinner table was always very crowded and fun.
Just the fact that there are so many vegetarian recipe in the book makes it appealing to me!
Some of my most favorite memories of times with my brother Stephen are of him and I together in the kitchen. We were together there just a year ago also – the times we get to cook together though are far and few between anymore because we live so far away from each other.
My sisters and I are from a Lebanese family. Every year when we travel to Kentucky to be together as a family we always cook Lebanese food one day. The whole family is there! We make this dish that consists of Lima Beans, Tomatoes and spices, notably cinnamon. It’s a very subtle taste. One year each of us “added” the spices to the dish. As you can imagine tomato sauce with a lot of Cinnamon isn’t very tasty! The parents made remarks about the younger generation cooking Lebanese food & the dogs wouldn’t eat it. We laugh now, but at the time it was uncomfortable.
Hi Peter thanks for all the wonderful recipes and stories that you share with us daily. My fondest memory is of my cousin and I. We were like sisters, so close. She always spent Christmas Eve at my house..we used to help my mother bake a huge amount of cookies and then the family would enjoy them while we watched White Christmas. Now she lives in BC with her own Family..and oddly enough the tradition of baking cookies and watching White Christmas has carried through to both our families…with an added phone call during it from across the country. Happy Holdiays Peter!…
In love with greek food and the greek kitchen. do I need to say more …
Great post, Peter! My favourite sibling memory is the day I baked for the very first time. I made an apple pie from scratch while my family out. When my brothers came back, both refused to believe that I had actually made it because it looked and tasted so go. I still tease them about it!
My eldest brother has a talent for languages and did from an early age. I remember him coming home from french classes aged 9 and teaching me aged five what he had learned! Who would have thought then that we would both end up learning Greek? He lived here for a while and I’ve lived here for years now! BTW He now knows at lest 8 languages but I’m glad he didn’t teach them all to me!
I absolutely cannot choose a favorite memory…way too many favorites! With Christmas coming up, I will say that this is a funny memory we always tease about. Every Christmas morning when my brother and sister would wake me saying “Santa was here, hurry so we can open presents!!!” I, not being much of a morning person, would swing my arms and legs to get them to leave me alone. They were always so mad because I would hit them! And it hurt. Finally, I would get out of be. I did outgrow this!!! LOL.
Now I have a daughter who is 4 and she does the same thing. My son gets so mad and I just have to laugh!
Great book! I love Greek food. My husband is actually Greek, so I have a lot of family gatherings with wonderful greek food.
I am one of those only children. So, my best sibling memories are of my children. I have seen them love and care for each other in a way I never understood before. There are too many good memories I have of them. Just last night, our eldest son held out his arms to his baby sister and kept her in his lap while he comforted her from a fall she took. I don’t think they would learn this empathy and concern so easily without each other.
My fondest memory of my sister was the time we were eating spaghetti together as children, and the bowl moved on the table. I’m sure that there was condensation under the base, and the the table wasn’t entirely flat, but for weeks we were convinced we had a poltergeist!
Sounds like a great occasion and a great group of sisters. I don’t have siblings, but I do have a cousin I am very close to – we are 4 months apart in age. My fondest memories are spending holidays with her, and playing pranks on my grandparents! She was always the instigator, of course!
When my sister Eleni and I were little, we would have tickling contests. We’d take turns tickling one another and see who could go the longest without having to burst out laughing.
I was always the one who “played” in the kitchen when I was a child – my sister was out with the horses, my brother working on projects – and I was reading cookbooks for inspiration and fun – and to experiment on my family (my mother was very glad to hand over the reins a few times a week).
One night I cooked “steak au poivre” (because I was all about spices and foreign words that month) and set it before my brother, as the rest of my family were going to be home late.
He swooned at the aroma but I asked him to wait for grace before tasting – so he licked it instead. 1/4 inch of crushed peppercorns encrusted the steak – and he was duly admonished!!
I don’t think that was telepathy in action, though…
I’m the sibling who was most interested in cooking. My sister once made a cake that called for buttermilk, which we were out of. My mother told her she could substitute regular milk mixed with a little vinegar. Unfortunately, she used tarragon vinegar. After that very strange tasting chocolate cake, my sister pretty much stayed out of the kitchen!
I’ve recently been welcomed into a Greek family through my husband, and I have to say they are the most giving and passionate people I’ve ever met. I’ve only met them once in person, but I instantly felt a connection to their spirit and culture. They’re very loving and very accepting and that’s something I’ve had very little of with my own family. We’re going back to Greece for Christmas and I’m really looking forward to bonding more with his mother in the kitchen. We may not speak the same language, but we both have a passion for cooking so I’m sure we’ll figure it out!
Family Memory…
How do I choose just one?! Eating homemade buttermilk ice cream every time we visited my grand and great-grand parents; making homemade chocolate chip cookies with my mom every weekend growing up; the fact that my mom never knew fudge could harden into squares because she grew up eating it with a spoon from the bowl with all her siblings before it cooled and hardened; making the most delicious homemade cinnamon rolls with my family every winter; learning to cook delicious Greek food from my in-laws…so many wonderful memories of family and food!!! Happy holidays!!
I love my family. We have so many great memories. I have an older brother who lived in Italy for two years. He wrote me every week-via snail mail, we became really close during those two years. I learned a lot about him and some important life lessons. He is the best…and yes, he took me back to Italy for a vacation:)
What a great way to share sisterly love and a fondness of food.
One of my many favorite sibling memories, and there are many, as there are 4 siblings, is the 2 week trip I took with my sister to HK and singapore last year. It was the first time we spent considerable time together as adults and we really got to know each other.
I used to dare my brother to ride his bike off the roof and into the pool. He’d do it every time with out an incident. GREG
That’s beautiful, I admire their perseverance and their strength and hope to some day accomplish the same.
There is no one I feel more at ease with than my THREE sisters. I know many people that cannot say the same about their siblings, but we have been as close as can be from children and adore each other just the same as adults. And I hope and pray that we continue as such for many, many, many years to come.
Yes, please. I would like the three sisters. Thanks Peter!
My fondest childhood memory is when i was fishing by a lake with my brother when i had the good idea to push him into the water. I got two black eyes as a result. Fun!
Many, many years ago my little sister, father and I were driving aross Iowa and Illinois to visit my dad’s family. In the middle of “No-where” Illinois, my little sister had to go to the bathroom…and bad. She was probably about 6 or 7 and the time, and waiting was not an option. So my father pulled off on an exit, only to find that the gas station we saw from the interstate was closed. We kept driving in hopes of finding another one, but unfortunately we just found ourselves lost. My dad was of course angry and frustrated, I had to pee now too and my poor little sister was just in tears because she thought we were lost for ever and it was all her fault. Finally we found civilization and my 6 year old sister said “We’re going to look back at this many years from now and we’ll realize it brought us closer together.” It’s just one of those moments that I remember and it makes me smile and my eyes tear up a little.
I don’t have sisters or brothers but as a young child I spent a great deal of time with cousins. My fondest memory is at Christmas when yiayia would make up boxes of Greek cookies for us to take home (only my mother made Greek cookies out of all her family and not very often). Grammie kept the cookies on the front porch to keep them cool and fresh. One year there were six cousins (all girls) spending time together. She went to the front porch to get the cookies and there weren’t quite as many there as she had baked and fried. She was quick with a “that’s okay, I’ll make more”, our mothers weren’t so kind!
A couple of weeks after my father had fixed up our previously-unfinished basement, my brother and I were engaged in one of our frequent “wrestling matches” (TV wrestling, not real wrestling). At one point we were facing each other, grabbing onto each other’s arms the way the TV wrestlers do. As we were grappling, I gave him a shove and pushed him into the wall. He suddenly had a horrified look on his face – his butt had hit the wall and left a huge dent in it – about 30cm wide, 20 cm high, and 3 cm deep. We had neither the equipment nor skills to do a proper repair job (we were about 13-14 at the time), so the best we could do was fill the huge hole with drywall “mud”. We then took turns sitting in front of the repair with a blow dryer, trying to get it to dry enough so that we could paint it so that, hopefully, my dad wouldn’t notice. Well, he figured it out the next day when he saw the lawn chair with the two cushions we had balanced on the back of the chair so that the hole/repair couldn’t be seen. Needless to say, we were grounded for that little stunt, but we’re reminded of it every time one of us does a home repair – it’s always good for a laugh.
Great work by the three of them. I wish them every success.
Unfortunately I am an only child, so I can’t add anything for the competition…
I have so many memories of my siblings (5) but I will never, ever forget how my sister Lynn took it upon herself to help care for my father in his last days with cancer. Not only did she move from her out-of-state home for awhile, she also took a leave of absence from her job. My mother desperately needed her and she stepped up to the plate so I could be home with my children. Amazing woman!
I feel connected to the three sisters as I am also one of three girls (I also have two brothers) and my father is Greek. My sisters are my best friends and we talk or see each other daily. One of my favoite memories is of my dad making me hot lemon soup when I had a sore throat, just as his dad had done for him.
I also am a family of 3 Greek Sisters Vicky, Soula & Georgia. Soula & I are twins and Georgia is our younger sister. I love to cook when I have time and the other 2 sisters are the cleaning staff after meals……I have many fond memories of growing up in a greek household especially the wonderful smells on Christmas morning.
K I wasn’t going to do this, but the sibling thing got to me. Mamitsamou was in Greece (papous funeral), Babie had a chance to work over-time, so he didn’t pass that up. I was 11 my pasha was 4. We were hungry, soooo big sis made pasghetti with ketchup. For meat? We ran to Mickey Dee’s bought 2 hamburgers and cut the meat up, and put it into the pasghetti with ketchup. Not even close to the food my Mom used to make, but when babie came home, he ate it too just to make his pringepisa happy
Okay, I’m in under the wire. My husband is Greek but I’m not. (Although I could pass for a gal in the horio any day.) I have a cute story to share about my sister-in-law. (If you’re easily offended, don’t read on.) My SIL came to visit from Greece and it was her first time in Canada. She fell in love with the snow and after a day of playing in it, we headed to (where else?) Tim Horton’s for hot drinks and treats. I bought some Timbits (known in some parts as donut holes) for us to eat. Trying to impress her with my Greek and my politeness, I asked: Thelete arxidia? (Would you like some balls?) Well, in English the word “ball” can be used in many ways, but in Greek there’s only one meaning for the word I chose. My sister looked at me in horror but soon laughed when she realized what I was saying. Now when I visit her in Greece, we can’t stop smiling when we order loukoumades! Thanks Peter and 3 sisters for a fun giveaway!
This cookbook brings back memories of some of my fondest moments. I married a man from Greece when I was 19 years old. At the time I didn’t speak any Greek and he didn’t speak any English. We were married about 2 months when we left the US to go to Greece so he could complete his stay in the Greek Navy. I was totally culture shocked. I had never been outside the US, let alone Texas except for a few short vacations. I stayed for 3 months, and was treated with love by every one I met. I always worried that they wouldn’t accept me because I was the only American in his side of the family. My fondest memories are of my mother-in-law. She always treated me like a daughter, and over the years we became very close. She passed away 3 yrs ago this January, and I still miss her very much. When I think of Christmas, I think of her kourambiedes. She always made them especially for me. Then she would tease me when she caught me with powdered sugar on my clothes or face, evidence that I was sneaking her cookies!
This is great! I love to see them carrying on the tradition and adding their own special flavor.
One of my fondest memories is when my adult brother, 17 years my senior, moved back into the family home for a short time and he and I got to live the childhood we never experienced under the same roof. We were like kids again and it was a load of fun!
[...] I would like to announce the winner of the draw for “Three Greek Sisters” cookbook. Many of you took the time to enter a comment which had to include a fond, fun or memorable story [...]