Florida 3.0 - Jupiter Edition - David & Mariam's Adventures

Well, here we are again…… On January 7, 2023 we left for Florida, this time Jupiter. My sister has a condo that she lived in for many years. It is currently unoccupied so we are staying rent free in exchange for helping with renovations. I couldn’t be more thankful! David is using my sister’s office set up and is loving his new work environment. He has a huge desk with two gigantic monitors in addition to his uber powerful laptop. Yep, he’s geeking out big time.

I’ve set up downstairs on a smaller desk, but I too have an extra monitor. Everything is neat, tidy and working out wonderfully. It’s blissfully quiet here, even in the evenings.

Our first order of business was to visit my Thea Juana, our last remaining national treasure. As per custom, we went to her house after church and had a fabulous meal. While I didn’t get any photos (this time), I did capture something amazing on our way home. I had forgotten that you can sometimes see take offs from Cocoa Beach this far south. This was no exception. I captured these images of the SpaceX Heavy Falcon launch that occurred at 5:55pm EST on Sunday, Jan 15. We were driving back to Jupiter on the Turnpike.

After a week of intense scanning and shredding of files in my sisters office, David and I took Saturday afternoon off to unwind. My sister recommended a place next to the Jupiter inlet and it did not disappoint. It was a beautiful sunny day and Square Grouper Tiki Bar offered a laid back outdoor experience. We found a spot overlooking the water and started off with some adult beverages. David had an old fashioned and I had Macallan Scotch, neat. We were feeling like lightweights on just one drink so David ordered us some food. Way too much food, but we had a wonderful time anyway.

It seems like every weekend there is something to do. On this weekend, the local Greek Orthodox Church (where my sister is choir director) had a “Mount Olympus” night benefitting their Greek School. Apparently it’s a big deal dress up as Greek Gods evening, with dinner and dancing. You must remember that David and I are living out of suitcases so it’s not like we could go in our closet and find something. I’ve got to also say that David and I don’t do costume parties, but this was for a good cause so, Amazon to the rescue……

On Super Bowl Sunday, we were supposed to host my sister and Pantelis at her condo. We had decided to make a bunch of mezes (appetizers), and then make our mother’s famous Ravani recipe. Unfortunately, I caught some sort of bug so our get together was postponed. However, I was well enough to make a few things…

The biggest success was the Kolokithokeftedes, which are basically zucchini patties. I used almond flour instead of regular flour and baked them instead of frying. Shredded zucchini (drained), fresh mint, dill, parsley, 1 egg, feta cheese, and sauteed onion/garlic along with the almond flour. They turned out quite tasty. The pita chips are whole wheat. To be honest, I like the regular white better, but we’re trying to be good. I ended up throwing out the roasted red pepper hummus because the tahini from Publix grocery store was awful. Will look for something better on Amazon. The mushrooms were ready made from Aldis and were “meh”. Not in the picture is Tzatziki, which is always a keeper.

Another weekend and another something to do. After 20+ years of enduring the heat and working my hiney off at Greek Festivals, I thought we were done. I didn’t think far enough in the future to be at some Airbnb far away from anybody we know. Years ago I started with the kids section, then moved to Gyros and then for the last 10 years or so, head cashier at St. John’s. Austin didn’t have a Greek Festival so what did I stupidly do? I made a presentation to the Parish Council (I was PC secretary) on how a Greek Fest could benefit gaining funds for a new/larger church hall. 2019 marked Austin’s first Greek Festival. For that festival, I worked on permitting (food, fire marshal/tents, liquor, etc.) and other various infrastructure things. Three years with Austin. I thought I was done. I didn’t think there would be a festival in February, but duh, this is Florida. Yes, my sister volunteered us to work the Greek Festival at St. Catherine’s. This time at least it was something new – Parking Lot. It was a hot and sunny February weekend. Hopefully our next Greek “Festival” will be the real thing, in Rhodes.

Saw this big guy soaking up the sun while working the parking lot. He seemed friendly enough.

Residing temporarily in Jupiter means Spring Training! Our first event was at Roger Dean Stadium which is the Cardinals home park. Cardinals vs. Astros at 1:05pm EST on March 2nd. Adam Wainwright in his first start of the season. I can’t believe I didn’t get any photos of him on the mound! I guess I was too enthralled with the moment.

Our second Spring Training game was on March 11th. This time at the BallPark of the Palm Beaches in West Palm Beach. It’s the home of the Astros and a much newer ballpark. To be honest, I LOVE everything about this ballpark. We had great seats and we arrived early enough for me to keep score. Unfortunately the score book our son in law Ty got me as a present is in storage so David spent millions of dollars at the team store to get me a new one. A special Todd Kalas edition lol. I can’t say enough about how much I enjoyed this day – truly one of the highlights of our whole vagabonding adventure. I say this without reservation. The weather was nice and we had great seats.

If you’re on a diet like we are, a nice fresh amped up horiatiki salad makes a nice meal. Equal parts tomatoes and cucumbers (I used cherry tomatoes and kept the skins on the seedless cucumbers for added nutrients), green pepper, feta cheese & olives, and I added an avocado for an extra boost. Seasoned with garlic, salt/pepper, oregano, fresh parsley & dill. Dressing is olive oil and a little balsamic vinegar.

I can’t avoid having a sweet tooth. My aunt gave me some bananas which we let ripen a bit too far. I found a mini-muffin pan in my sisters kitchen and came up with these. Added a few dark chocolate chips to the mix. One is just enough with tea for an afternoon snack.

It’s nearing the end of March and Great Lent is in full swing. My favorite service of all time are the Salutations to the Theotokos (Heretismi) service. The Service of the Salutations is known as one of the hymnological masterpieces of the Orthodox Church and is celebrated the first 5 fridays of Great Lent. During the first four Salutation services, the Akathist Hymn is sung in sections, with the entire hymn sung on the fifth friday. The Akathist Hymn is a profound, devotional poem which sings the praises of the Holy Mother and Ever-Virgin Mary. This hymn comprises twenty four stanzas, divided into four sections and is sung in commemoration of a miracle performed by the Virgin in Constantinople.

When I was growing up, we would head to church on friday evening and I would sit in the congregation with my grandparents. Towards the end of the service was the prayer to the Theotokos (aspile). My mother would chant the prayer and even though I didn’t understand the words (in Greek), it moved me to tears, listening to my mothers beautiful voice while taking in the sights of flickering candlelight dancing on the iconography throughout the church. Years later as an adult, I stood in front of the icon of the Theotokos chanting that same prayer, only in english. I longed to chant it in Greek like my mother and finally after 5 years of listening to youtube videos and my Thea Tina singing it to me, I perfected it enough to be able to chant it in front of native Greek speakers. It is something I look forward to every year. This year I was able to chant it at St. Catherines.

If you’re on the east coast of Florida, besides visiting the Mouse (Disney), the other must see is Kennedy Space Center. We drove up on Saturday and spent the day. Loved it!

Mother’s Day with the National Treasure! This 92 year old pixie made pastitsio with all the fixings. Delish!

Reverse Seared Ribeyes

David and I just celebrated our wedding anniversary and thought about going to a steak house for a celebratory meal. However, steaks are so expensive these days if you choose a fine steak house, so I decided to make them instead. David purchased some ribeyes from Costco, and I took it from there. If we were home, I would have used my well seasoned cast iron skillet and grill, but there are no such things here. So instead of doing the conventional method of searing a steak, I went for a reverse sear which starts with oven baking, then finishing off on the stove top.

As my Thea would say – Happy Anniversity to us!

Our anniversary meal consisted of reverse seared ribeyes, smashed potatoes and fresh green beans. To reverse sear a steak, season and transfer to a wire rack and bake at 200 until internal temp reaches 125 degrees (about 45 min). Transfer steak to a pan with canola oil set at high heat. Cook for 1 minute then flip. Add butter, rosemary and garlic and baste on the other side for 1 min, then flip and baste an additional 15 seconds. Smashed potatoes: boil small potatoes until soft, drain and smash using the bottom of a glass, season with salt/pepper/olive oil/butter, then bake at 400 until desired crispness (45-55 min).

It’s the end of May and in speaking with my daughters, I decided to take a quick trip to Texas for a visit. Cassandra lives in Austin and Andrea in Houston. Memorial weekend brought the two in the same city. Andrea/Ty and their Asteria Greek dance group were scheduled to dance at the Austin Greek Festival that weekend. What an opportunity to spend time with family and church friends! In addition to spending time with my family, I had a wonderful time catching up with friends and visiting with our original Austin Greek Fest crew. Back in 2018 when I was a member of Parish Council, I presented the idea of starting a Greek Fest in Austin which they never had before. This resulted in our first ever Austin Greek fest in 2019. They’ve been hugely successful ever since. This is the first year I didn’t do any pre-organizing prep work for them, and the only “work” I had to do was play with my granddaughter – sweet!

If you’ve never seen Greek dancing, I’ve got to brag on my daughter. She’s put together several dances from different parts of Greece. All bias aside, her Asteria dancers are the most professional and entertaining dancers I’ve ever seen!

No sooner than I returned to Jupiter that Cassandra and her brood showed up to visit the National Treasure. I want to thank my sister for letting these two fur balls stay at her condo while Cassandra stayed with Thea. David and I (mostly David) performed “granddog” duties of daily walks, feedings, drainings, and vacuuming. It’s amazing how much fur they generate but they were good and well behaved :).

Koliva & Memorial

Being in Florida with my sister has brought us together for all liturgical things, including singing hymns and attending various church functions. One thing we have not done together is have a memorial for our immediate family – my mom (47 yrs), dad (15 yrs) and sister Demetra (18 yrs). A traditional dish that is made for memorials is Koliva, which is made with wheat berries and symbolizes everlasting life and is based on a Bible verse, John 12:24, which reads: “…unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.” In many churches, there are a group of ladies that will make this dish for you, but my thoughts are that the making of this traditional dish is more meaningful when made by the family members. I’ve only made koliva once in my life and that was for my eldest sisters 40 day memorial back in 2005. Making it for this memorial was every bit as meaningful as it was back then. Koliva takes 2 days to prepare the wheat before combining the rest of the ingredients.

Koliva: Soak the berries a few hours to overnight in water. Rinse thoroughly. Boil the berries until soft in plenty of water (about an hour or so). Rinse in cold water and drain thoroughly, then place on towels to dry (at least 8 hours to overnight). Transfer to a mixing bowl and add the rest of the ingredients – toasted walnuts, slivered almonds, cinnamon, coriander, cumin, pomegranate, regular and golden raisins, parsley, and toasted sesame seeds. To make the top, ground sesame seeds to make a barrier between the koliva and the powdered sugar topping, then add powdered sugar on top to coat. Garnish with Jordan Almonds, slivered almonds, silver sprinkles, etc.

May their memories be eternal.

Miami Mini-Vac

After a crazy workaholic month of June for David, we decided to take a mini-vac to Miami over the July 4th holiday. The plan was to attend a baseball game (Cardinals were playing the Marlins) and have a little off-time to explore the area. First up was a walking tour of Art Deco buildings sponsored by the Miami Design Preservation League and started at the Art Deco Museum. This was such a great tour! We walked along Ocean Ave and nearby streets while our guide gave us the history of each of these buildings while pointing out the architectural elements of each style (Mediterranean Revival, Art Deco and Miami Modern (MiMo). If you’re ever in Miami, you must check it out. This was a perfect outlet for David as Art Deco is his favorite style of architecture.

Marlins/Cardinals/Fireworks was next up. This was my early birthday present. I’ve been blessed to have a husband that understands and nourishes things that interest me. I’ve loved the game of baseball since I was a child, listening to Cardinals broadcasts on KMOX radio with my grandfather and father. The Cardinals are my favorite team, but I also follow the Astros and the Rays. Here are some pics from the game at Marlins LoanDepot Park on July 3rd.

Fireworks after the game

Quick Trip to Seattle

We last saw Ariel and Francisco in 2022 so it was time to spend some quality time with them. That, and it’s July, which means the sun comes out in Seattle! We landed on a Wednesday, with the temperature in the low 70s and daytime highs in the low 80s. Very nice considering the rest of the country is trapped in blistering heat.

The main purpose of this trip was for some quality father/daughter time. We had a very nice late lunch with Ariel at a place called Saffron Grill. I’m not a big fan of Indian food, but this was pretty tasty. David and Ariel loved it and that’s all that mattered.

Dog Days of Summer

Pretty much nothing to do the month of August except think of foods to experiment with. My Thea has a Kitchen-Aid stand mixer that she let me borrow to play around with. It’s a big honkin mixer and a beast! Making homemade bread just got a whole lot easier! I also made some kolokithokeftethes with tzatziki

September Birthdays

September brought some road trips. RE+ (formerly called solar international) is an annual conference that is held in Las Vegas. This is a place where nerds like David gather to talk/network/learn about new and existing renewable energy products. We were hoping to attend the European equivalent in Germany this year, but it was not meant to be. So we booked a couple tickets to Vegas.

November

November started just like October, but we had some interesting happenings…… I got a call from Cassandra (alias Princess #2) saying she required surgery on her nose to open up her passage ways. She has been dealing with sinus issues for many years and now was the time to do something about it. I started to make plans to fly to Austin to help her. Through the course of the next few days, a simple fly out turned into a road trip with a car filled with items to take to our storage unit, plus a stop in Houston for the Clear Lake Greek Festival, plus staying through Thanksgiving, plus a quick visit with Ariel. We got to visit all three daughters on this trip! We had so much fun catching up with our friends in Clear Lake, plus attend church services at both St. John’s in Clear Lake and Transfiguration in Austin.

The GREATEST gift of all……..

Thanksgiving Day 2023

Last night as we were winding down in our hotel room, David opened up his computer to do his daily ritual that he has done almost daily for the last year and a half – tracking my progress of dual citizenship. Last week, the Greek Government approved my application, a big milestone. Next, my name was to appear in the Gazette, which is the official journal of the Government of Greece that lists all laws passed in a set time period ratified by Cabinet and President. We didn’t know the time frame of when my name would appear, so David has been diligent in checking.

Last night, my name appeared. Δόξα ο Θεος! (Praise God!)

The last step is to make an appointment with the Greek Consulate in Houston to take the oath.

With enough patience (in my case, 8 years), dreams can come true. I would be lying if I said I never lost hope. I would be lying if I said I never thought of giving up. I’ve gone through the tenure of 3 different Consuls – with the 2nd one causing me to drive 2 1/2 hours back to Austin in tears. That was a low point. I have to thank my daughter Andrea, who is a bull-dog in finding ways to get things done. She kept my spirits up. She found a Greek lawyer that would take our case, which was truly unique. Ironically, her paperwork is still in process, but our lawyer says should reach completion soon.

Chase your dreams. Be methodical, but most of all, be patient.

December

December brought big changes to our National Treasure. My Thea made the decision to move to an independent senior living community closer to her son. For the last two months, under her direction, I have been packing and purging a lifetime of items she has accumulated for 70 years. One of the reasons David and I drove to Texas last month was to bring some of her things to our storage unit in preparation for the move to Greece. One of the things she gave me (because she was going to throw it away!) was a stuffed/mounted Barracuda that she caught over 65 years ago. The story goes that she and Uncle Joe were on a fishing boat in Florida with a few other people – she was the only woman on board. Well, since she was on the boat, the captain said she had to cast a reel out like all the rest of them. My Thea barely spoke english and had never fished before so this was her first time. Within 5 minutes of casting her reel, she caught this barracuda. The men on the boat never caught anything close to what she did that entire day. Here’s a photo of it in the background when it was hanging at their ranch in DeSoto, MO.

at the ranch with my Thea Tina and Uncle Ted

I am now the proud owner of a 65 year old stuffed barracuda. Let me tell you, it’s seen better days and it cost a fortune to box up for shipping, but I have many fond memories of that fish from when I was a child.

The night before the big move, we all gathered at her house for a final Sunday meal. Here’s Thea with her two nieces.

It was a family affair moving Thea to her new community. Her neighbors came over in the morning and hung out while the movers packed up her items and then Thea and I made the 3 hour journey up north. The senior community put us up in a nice cottage on the property for the evening so we could be fresh for the morning when the movers arrived at her new place.

Cassandra was able to join us a couple days after the move to help put up pictures and stuff. She brought her drill and did a fabulous job putting up all the photos and things – just in time for Christmas! We didn’t have a lot to put together a proper Christmas meal, but we had enough for just the three of us. Thea made Italian breaded chicken cutlets, I put together an alfredo sauce for the fettuccine, plus some fresh bread and a horiatiki salad, and Cassandra finished with roasted fresh broccoli. Topped off with Roditis wine. I have to say it was a tasty meal!

Thea’s place is so cool, they even have wild turkeys and sandhill cranes on the property!

Closing out 2023….

We closed out the new year with the Divine Liturgy at St. Catherine Greek Orthodox Church in West Palm Beach, and what a lovely time we had! My favorite (and only lol!) granddaughter was present along with her parents. Happy New Year everyone!