Opa!

Chris's folks are in from D.C. this weekend. It's always very nice to see them--pretty cool thing when you dig your in-laws. The girls are in Grandparent Paradise this summer: two weeks with Gramma in July, now hanging out with Papou and Yiayia. Makes you wonder how much spoiling kids can take. Anyway, John and Alice are of course here to see the family but one specific occasion that brings them out here is the annual Greek Festival, held at the Saints Helen and Constantine Greek Orthodox church in Cleveland Heights. It's quite the blowout. They've been to a number of Greek festivals over the years, what with John actually being from Greece and all. And they're pretty adamant that this one boasts the best food.

So last night we went, along with the girls' best buddy Lily from down the street and her mom Rachel. Rachel, being the game lass that she is, had a glass of retsina. I always warn people that it's an acquired taste, but she didn't hate it at all--though I'll say that the pine flavor on the bottle we had was pretty darn mild. (Side note: the linked article claims that the Greeks "pined up" their wine to protect it from the pillaging Romans--the version I heard substitutes marauding Turks.)

For those of you reading who are in the Cleveland Heights area who are looking for something to do this weekend, you should absolutely go. It's a great time. There are cooking and dancing demos, booths selling all kinds of stuff, a band, bounce-houses for the kids. But by far the main attraction is the food and it is fabulous. Last night we did the outside tent thing--meatballs, gyros, fried calamari, smelts, fries. Today we'll probably try to eat inside and sample more dinner-like fare. If you go, be sure to head inside the church and wander downstairs to hit my favorite spot, the pastry area: baklava, kataifi, koulourakia, and the girls' favorite are available in abundance.

One of the things I really like about this festival is how relatively well-organized it is. They enlist the help of the kids at Heights High to work alongside the church folks, and when you go you're likely to see smiling teens serving your food or clearing your table, sporting uniform tees: soccer, football, cheerleading, what have you. No getting around the fact that if you go and try to eat at peak times it's going to be pretty crowded and you're going to wait in line for a while, but given the very large number of people who attend every year it's really run very well. Be patient; it's worth the wait.

As we were wandering out of the building last night with our loukoumades, Rachel and I saw the spousal unit out in the middle of the dancing area with all three of the girls, channeling his inner Zorba. Very adorable--I wished I'd had the camera with me. Unfortunately, as we were waiting for the shuttle bus to leave, child #1 prevailed on him to hoist her over his head for a seat on his shoulders. Poor guy really strained something in his neck and he's not too mobile this morning as a result. So Zorba's probably going to be taking a rest when we go back today.

Anyway, we're all definitely enjoying our time this weekend hanging out with Papou and Yiayia. Looking forward to heading back today and getting our Greek on.