Greek Food? Tiling Guest Bedroom #2,The Letter C and Office Cake

Mi Miguel and I lived on the island of Crete for four years back in the 80's.

Every restaurant we visited served this as a Greek salad. Even on the mainland, this was and is a Greek salad. We were there again in 2012 for a few weeks. This is and was a Greek salad.

After ordering a few Greek salads in different Greek restaurants here in Florida, I'm quickly learning that this is considered a Greek salad. The Greek mainland and the islands are extremely dry for several months out of the year. Any type of greens are rarely seen growing and next to never seen in restaurants. I'm sure there are exceptions to this rule. It is my understanding from the Greek restaurant owner I worked for on the island of Crete, if greens are grown they are usually bitter due to the minimal amount of rain. 

Let's say I back down from my stance on the greens in Greek salad. I'm no authority on botany, geography, horticulture or the culinary arts. However, I would like to beg to differ on the Iceberg lettuce laden "Greek" salad being served on top of a big dollop of potato salad. I know nothing about Greek culture. But seriously, a "not" Greek salad served on top of POTATO SALAD. Seriously. I've never seen potato salad on an authentic Greek menu. But again, who am I?

As I slowly recover from the stress of the "not" Greek salad, it sets me back on my tension to comprehend what is considered a gyro. It has brown gravy and rice and no pita bread? I don't get it. I don't understand it. Brown gravy? The meat is a processed combo of lamb and beef. Beef? There are cows on the mainland of Greece? 

We've ordered both the Greek salad and the gyro from Florida Greek restaurants serving authentic Greek food. Maybe it is authentic. I haven't been to all the Greek islands. Maybe they do have cows. Maybe they do grow Iceberg lettuce. There antiquities do show a cow motif on occasion. They are home of the minotaur. Again, I know nothing. 

 







When It's a Greek salad and a gyro I'm craving. It's this I want. 

                   Not this.

                                                                        Nor that.

Enough on the Greek or "not" Greek cuisine. As for our sweet little home, since my last blog, I have caught up on everything I intended to get done. In spite of the hospital stay, the torrential rains and the ungodly heat, I accomplished everything I set out to do. Mi Miguel got all of his tasks accomplished and started the tiling in guest bedroom #2.

The flooring that we picked out scares me a bit but I love it. It's the trendy porcelain wood planks. I'm hoping it serves our Florida home well. I don't think it would be an option for bedrooms, living rooms and such in the Midwest. But, for here it should give us cool floors with a warm appearance. That's what I'm shooting for anyway.

The floors are down to the concrete. The walls and ceiling are painted.

All floors are vacuumed along the walls. Using a Swiffer with a wet rough cloth over it instead of the Swiffer cloths, I mopped over the entire floor. I vacuumed the window sills as well to make sure no debris from the ceiling mess would end up on the floor. 

With a blank canvas, Mi Miguel plumbed a line and then started putting the glue down. 

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So far, we love the look of it. It has the spacers in it and still needs to be grouted. But, I think we are going to be happy with it overall.

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 In case you're wondering about those numbers I put on the floor. I realized they would be covered by the tile. Initially I put them on the floor because I had to paint. I didn't want to get crazy with the roller and paint over them. Now they are on the wall and waiting to be matched with the baseboards.

Our home is packed to the gills with our boxes, furniture and work in progress gear. We're still trying to remain dedicated to our alphabet restaurant adventure. We're re-doing the letter C, due to a little set back with the restaurant hopping. Our next stop will be Casa Tina's in Dunedin. I'll be posting about that on my Facebook page, Florida Restaurants A-Z. 

Another routine that I like to fall into is baking a cake once a month for my husband's office. It all sounds a little too June Cleaver, but I don't care. I enjoy baking and it's calorie free if I send it away. My first cake will be a rich chocolate bundt cake. Let's see if it turns out as perfect as this one that I found on Google images.

Those who know me, know what a disaster I can make of a cake if I try to get too fancy and too overwhelmed. Keep it simple...that's my new cake baking rule. 

The collapsed cake above started out real similar to this one that I found on Pinterest. But true to form I found a way to make a complete disaster of it. Mind you, when you make a tall cake have a transporting plan before you leave the house. 

Until I blog again on Thursday, enjoy! If you have any suggestions on the bundt cake topping please let me know. Is it better with caramel icing, chocolate icing or sprinkled with powdered sugar?