Friday-Sunday
Feta, lamb, souvlaki, spanakopita, and don’t forget the koulourakia, diples, and bougatsa!
The last big festival of the Summer/Fall is also one of the best: Greek Festival 2007.
Those last three Greek items above were a mystery to me too, but fortunately the festival website provides a handy Guide to Greek Pastries:
Koulourakia
An all butter and egg braided cookie. Not overly sweet and good with coffee.Diples
A delicate butter and egg pastry deep-fried and dipped in honey. Sprinkled with spices and nuts.Bougatsa
A custard type filling in filo. Topped with honey, cinnamon and powdered sugar.
That sounds about right to me.
Saturday
I’ll be at the farmers market at PSU Saturday to experience The Wedge: Portland Celebrates Cheese.
Meet cheesemakers, cheesemongers, cheese experts, and taste a huge variety of cheeses. Events include workshops, presentations, and activities for kids.
From the press release:
More than 25 artisanal cheesemakers who hone their craft tucked away in rural and not-so-rural corners of Washington, Oregon, Northern California, Idaho and Utah will gather in Portland for The Wedge: Portland Celebrates Cheese . . .
Participants can taste some of the nation’s finest handcrafted goat, sheep and cow’s milk varieties and meet award-winning cheese makers and cheese pros who will share their handmade cheeses, recipes and stories about their craft.
I so want to love the Greek festival. I haven’t been in years, so I can’t say for sure. But to me it’s been a victim of its own success. Just packed to the gills. The Orthodox Church where it’s been held is gorgeous, the outfits are great, the dancing is fun, all that, but good luck sitting, getting a beer, or lamb without a huge wait. And no dolmas!?
Hopefully they’ve addressed this last since I was last there.
Yeah beerick, me too; my last attempt to go was thwarted by the crowds . . . it’s a case of “no one goes there anymore, it’s too crowded.”