|
|
 The 2013 Cumming Georgia Greek Festival was vibrant with music, vendors, food and children's activities. The crowd was large and everyone was having a great time. I was amazed at how sensational the live Greek music was. It was wonderful to listen to. I felt like putting on a belly dancing outfit and going to Greece! The music was played by Nick Demos and the Greek Islanders.
This enchanting music was accented by watching the traditional Greek dancers.
There were lots of vendors with colorful displays including Faberge type eggs designed with colorful cloisanart enamel. Their brilliant jewelry, clothes and dishware were energetic. Their colorful wares were eye popping and fun to look at. My daughter and I ooed and awed over their jewelry and clothes.
For sure, these displays were made to appeal to girls and women's core senses.
You could smell their delicious gyro wraps, keftethakia, roasted lamb platter and more all over the place. If you weren't hungry when you arrived, you were definitely hungry before you left! They also had some great mouth watering wine to compliment their tasty food. One vendor demonstrated how to make Baklava. She even offered the receipe. See the receipe below.
We certainly had more fun than expected! See the video of this exciting event at the bottom of this page.  |
|
 There was some neat blow-up play areas for the children. They had a wonderful time playing there, and at the pet zoo.
The pet zoo was my favorite. Little children had a blast there. They were able to pick up and pet the animals. Michelle (my daughter) enjoyed picking up the soft and fuzzy chicks and rabbits, and rubbing their soft fur across her face. These cute animals included ducks of all kinds, a donkey, a lama, ferrets, goats, an assortment of chickens and hens, and a variety of rabbits. There were baby animals and grown animals. The kids could not get enough of them.
It was fun watching the children run around in such excitement! |
|
Baklava Recipe and Instructions
Syrup: 1 cup water, 1 1/4 cup sugar, 1 1/4 cup honey, 2 cinnamon sticks, 3-4 whole cloves, 2 lemon slices and 2 orange slices
Filling: 12 ounces coarsely chopped walnuts (1 1/2 cups), 3/4 cup sugar, 2 full teaspoons ground cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
Phyllo and Butter: 1 pound phyllo dough and 1 pound melted sweet clarified butter (not salted)
Use a 9x13 inch pan.
Directions for Syrup: In a medium sized saucepan, combine the water, sugar and honey and bring to a boil, stirring constantly to dissolve the sugar. Reduce heat and add the cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, lemon and orange slices, and let simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes. Set aside to cool thoroughly.
Directions for Baklava: In a bowl, carefully mix all of the ingredients of the filling.
Take a 9x13 inch baking pan and brush with melted butter.
Line the pan with 6-8 layers of phyllo pastry dough, brushing each sheet with melted butter.
Spread 1/3 of the filling evenly over the last pastry sheet and cover the filling with another 2 sheets of phyllo, each brushed with butter. Again, spread 1/3 of filling and add 2 more buttered pastry sheets. Finally, add the rest of the filling and cover with 6-8 phyllo dough pastry sheets brushed with melted butter.
With a sharp knife, trim the edges of your baklava (if necessary) and then cut into diamond shapes. First, cut through the pastry layers on the long side, and then cut from the corner of the baking pan to form diamond shapes. Spritz the entire top of baklava with water.
Bake for one hour or until the top is golden brown in a preheated 350 degree oven.
Remove baklava from oven and let rest for about 3-5 minutes.
Pour the cooled syrup evenly over the hot baklava and set aside at room temperature for at least 4-6 hours or overnight to allow pastry to absorb the syrup. Do not cover the baklava with anything as this will make your pastry soggy. Baklava can be frozen. Enjoy! |
 Everyone surely had a fun, festive time here! |
|
|
Beautiful colorful clothes at Greek Festival. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Michelle had a wonderful time at the petting zoo! See video below. |
|
|
Hope you enjoyed feeling the experience of this fun event. It will return next October. |
|
|
|
