OPA!

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Good news from our date night this week – we found a new restaurant in a neighboring town that has good gyros!  Finally, no more trekking to Toledo or further just for gyros off the spit!  And for you Greek food fans, stay tuned because we are currently trying to convince the owner to offer Saganaki, another one of our favorites in Greek cuisine!  He said it’s a difficult thing to carry since many waitresses won’t serve it because of the fire involved.  Yes, I said fire!  For those of you who are unfamiliar, Saganaki is a greek dish made of sheep or goat cheese, and they bring it to your table, splash brandy on it, yell OPA! and light it on fire.  A large flame erupts, the entire restaurant turns to stare at you, children cry, they extinguish it with lemon juice, and then the other restaurant patrons begin asking questions – what is that?  Is it safe?  What does it taste like?  Can I have some?  One time we ordered it from a restaurant and 3 more tables ordered it after seeing ours!  It is DELICIOUS!  Just for fun, here is a video of a waiter serving it, though he begrudgingly mumbles opa while he’s really supposed to be yelling it while smiling.

  My 8-year-old daughter can eat a whole Saganaki appetizer herself.  She is part Greek, of course, but the stuff is that good.  It is my dream to get to Greece someday to try actual Greek food – if I ever had the babysitter, time, and money, it might just be enough (along with heavy sedatives or alcohol) to get me back on a plane…

Now onto the movie, I’ve been wanting to see the movie Baby Mama since I’m expecting and it looked like a cute comedy based on pregnancy – dumb title though I have to say.  For some reason, our local theater didn’t have it until now, so we finally got to see it.  It actually wasn’t quite as funny as it looked in the previews, but it did have a better plot and better acting than I was expecting – it did not disappoint.  Steve Martin was hilarious as a very hippy-ish owner of a large company; I would consider his character the CEO of the Walmart of organic food.  My favorite gag in the movie happened when Amy Poehler and Tina Fey’s characters were fighting in the car and Amy Poehler’s character couldn’t get out of upper-class Tina Fey’s “space car”.  So Tina Fey’s character goes, “Quit touching the door handle while I’m trying to unlock it for you!”  That is hilarious, I can’t tell you how many times that’s happened to us that the car door won’t unlock while an impatient person is touching the handle.  Whether you like comedies about pregnancy or just feel like watching one, I would recommend Baby Mama.

7 thoughts on “OPA!”

  1. Yes, saganaki is quite good. Probably all the fat for one day too. I wish you well in your quest for getting that restaurant to carry it. I’ll have to have some next time I’m there (no, I don’t know when… 🙂 )

  2. The owner said that he is thinking of having a greek night every week with Saganaki, hopefully he still wants to do that.
    Hey Derek – interestingly, he is from Wheeling and owned Grandma Sally’s. He said he knew C’s dad from the track!

  3. And where is this fabulous place located? Hints of good Greek food, and no directions on how to get there?

  4. Of course, admin!!!

    Just J – I wanted to trick you into having to go with us… and throw in some mini golf too sometime soon… don’t worry, I didn’t see any cheese shakers to be licked!

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