Previously, on Cooking Up Kefi…
JetSet and I were at Grandpa Joe’s house, and the situation was this:
The kitchen was a disaster
My brother and I were getting into all kinds of nose-picking-selfie shenanigans
the Mets were losing, and Grandpa Joe was napping. So… it was pretty much business as usual. 
Somehow, all of this pulled itself together and some Easter miracles occured. Namely:
the spanakopita (recipe later this week), which is always the very first thing we make,
some new lamb keftedes WITH DRIED APRICOTS (recipe also coming this week),
the gluten-free picnic pie that was so good I ate it with my non-driving hand the whole way home,
JetSet’s painstaking, time consuming labor of love: eggplant keftedes-cum-casserole,
gluten-free/sugar-free koulourakia,
tsoureki that didn’t quite make it through MixMonster Kef’s crash course + eggs made by my Godmother,
the beet salad to end all beet salads (and finally pictured half-way decently here!),
Francesca’s Orange-Dijon potatoes,
and Paulatimi’s Five-Ingredient Wonder.
Not bad for two days work, eh?
MamaKef put the finishing touches on her salad
while JetSet poured us mugs of wine.
And then ANOTHER Easter miracle happened– my Aunt said that JetSet “always looks like Justin Timberlake.” Indeed, he has risen.
AND I STILL HAVEN’T TOLD YOU ABOUT THE BAKLAVA!
Okay so baklava is pretty much always good–it’s flaky dough painted with butter and butter and butter (and then some more butter) and layered with sugar, spices and nuts. How is it possible to improve on such a good thing?
Well, if you use this awesome, creamy honey and finally heed the advice of every Greek on the face of the planet, your results will improve. What advice, you ask? The hot-to-cold principle, which states that if you have hot baklava you must have cold syrup, or vice versa. We did cold syrup to hot baklava (instead of hot syrup AND hot baklava) and the results were stupendous.
How good, you ask?
In case that testimonial isn’t good enough for you, my phenomenal Grandma Rita put it best:
“That’s baklava so good you have to eat the crumbs off your boob!” I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: just TRY and tell me your grandma is better than mine. You’re fighting a losing battle there.
We had a stupendous meal full of the two major food groups: laughs and carbs. Grandma Rita made stuffed peppers (very sadly not pictured here) and Aunt Tina supplied the hardboiled eggs. A GREAT time was had by all.
No family gathering is complete with out a selfie– Ellen, you and Lupita have nothing on us!
Sadly, the weekend had to end and I had to leave the la-la land of my family’s loving glow.
JetSet and I took one last photo (this one remiss of spinach and flour) and then I headed off into the sunset.
This is a record-setting post, so I’ll cut it off here– I had the most delightful weekend with my family. Our Greekness is so very, very much your weakness.
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