IT IS A MAN'S WORLD

Hello friends! You are all so wellcomed to my little corner. Please feel free to leave your comments. It'll mean so much to me!!!

For today a photo i had taken a while ago, which reminds of James Brown legendary IT IS A MAN'S WORLD. Just a little kid... and so manish details...

And for you to enjoy:

RESPECT!

TIRAMISU

Many italians will curse me if they read this recipe. I know... the real thing needs mascarpone and eggs and marsala wine. But in Greece we use cream cheese and whipped cream most of the times. You will find this very fluffy and of course it doesn't contain raw eggs, which is always good if you don't trust them (you better!).

These are everything you need:

• 400 gr cream cheese
• 400 gr full cream
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• two capsules vanilla powder (if you are fancy go for the sticks, we are in the middle of an economic crise, so cheap stuff has to work)
• 400 gr savoiardi biscuits
• 1 big cup strong italian espresso
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder

First make the whipped cream. Put it in the food processor with the sugar and vanilla. When it is thick like yogurt, add cream cheese and mix them together gently, using a spatula or a big spoon. Let it in the fridge.

Be sure your coffee is cold. Place in it the biscuits one at a time for two seconds. They are very soft and absorb the liquid very soon, so you can't put more in the coffee. You will ruin them.

Make a layer in a bowl or a deep platter... Whatever you like. Put the half of your cream. Toss some cocoa on it. Make one more layer with biscuits and add the remaining cream. Toss some more cocoa or chocolate powder if you find it bitter.

You may notice that there isn't any alcohol in the recipe i gave you. Of course Italians use marsala and many greeks add whisky or brandy, but little D is going crazy for this and coffee is enough. 

ENJOY!

George Papanikolaou

These days were busy. So many things to do, so little time... 

Today i want only to remind you...

He is George Papanikolaou.

I'm copying from wikipedia:

Papanikolaou studied at the University of Athens, where he received his medical degree in 1904. Six years later he received his Ph.D. from the University of Munich, Germany, after he had also spent time at the universities of Jena andFreiburg.^[1] In 1910, Papanikolaou returned to Athens and got married to Andromahi Mavrogeni and then departed for Monaco where he worked for the Oceanographic Institute of Monaco, participating in the Oceanographic Exploration Team of the Prince of Monaco (1911).^[2]

In 1913 he emigrated to the U.S. in order to work in the department of Pathology of New York Hospital and the Department of Anatomy at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University.

He first reported that uterine cancer could be diagnosed by means of a vaginal smear in 1928, but the importance of his work was not recognized until the publication, together with Herbert Traut, of Diagnosis of Uterine Cancer by the Vaginal Smear in 1943. The book discusses the preparation of vaginal and cervical smears, physiologic cytologic changes during the menstrual cycle, the effects of various pathological conditions, and the changes seen in the presence of cancer of thecervix and of the endometrium of the uterus. He thus became known for his invention of the Papanicolaou test, commonly known as the Pap smear or Pap test, which is used worldwide for the detection and prevention of cervical cancer and other cytologic diseases of the female reproductive system.

In 1961 he moved to Miami, Florida, to develop the Papanicolaou Cancer Research Institute at the University of Miami, but died in 1962 prior to its opening.

Dr. Papanicolaou was the recipient of the Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research in 1950.^[3]

Papanikolaou's portrait appeared on the obverse of the Greek 10,000-drachma banknote of 1995-2001,^[4] prior to its replacement by the Euro.

In 1978 his work was honored by the U.S. Postal Service with a 13-cent stamp for early cancer detection.

We aren't able to count how many women owe him their lives. 

Find the time in your busy life and make an appointment with your doctor.

You owe that to your self.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

My best wishes to all of you! Even if you aren't in love, enjoy the day, and who knows?

Little D should wear something suitable for the day. Something red? We had this skinny jeans from La redoute previous summer collection (bought in sales for something like eight euros!). To keep it from being too girly (all this hair doesn't help!), i add a zara t-shirt with black and grey stripes, and a total black Zara coat, gift for his baptism at October. His shoes are black and red Nikes and his grey and black skulls scarf was also from Zara. I love it so much that once i borrowed it!

Tonight we are staying in to enjoy meat fondue and some chocolate! What are your plans for the day? I'll be happy to hear!

TART DOUGH WITH FOUR INGREDIENTS!

AMAZING TART DOUGH FOR SWEET OR SAVORY FLAVORS

BELIEVE ME! This is the only recipe you are going to use from now on. It's the best, it's the easiest, you have the ingredients already and it tastes amazing even after days (french pastry doesn't do that, right? It's awful after one hour!).

These are everything you need. Including the bowl.

• 1/2 cup olive oil (the Greek is the better)
• 1 cup greek yogurt 
• 3 to 4 cups all-purpose flour (you'll see the mixture)
• 1 egg
• a pinch of salt
• a pinch of sugar

the last two just because...

You can use a food processor, but it only take five minutes to do this with your hands and you have less to wash later. Mix everything together but ONLY the first three cups of flour. Keep the last one and add it only if your dough is really soft. Not all at once. Add only a tablespoon each time. It should look like this:

Stop adding flour just when it the pastry takes of your hands. It feels like baby skin. Soft and smooth. Leave it in the refrigarator for one hour and then apply in every kind of pan you have. Put some olive oil everywhere first. 

Bake it at 180 C for 20 minutes and after that you can add different kinds of cheeses, fruits, nuts, or cream. Not all at once. Just choose something!

This time i made cheese pie, using feta cheese (two cups), greek yogurt (one cup), two eggs, a teaspoon of paprica and a tablespoon of mint.

I used the food processor to make this mixture. Can't avoid it...

On top of it some black and white sesame seeds. For taste and for colour. And vitamins of course. I baked it for thirty more minutes at the same temperature.

Little D couldn't have enough of this.

Enjoy!

STYLIANOS ANTONARAKIS

The Greek schientist of the week is Stylianos Antonarakis. I'm copying from eLIFE:

Stylianos E. Antonarakis is Professor and Chairman of Genetic Medicine at the University of Geneva Medical School, and director of the iGE3 institute of Genetics and Genomics of Geneva. He is a physician-scientist, human geneticist, who extensively studied the relationship between genomic variation and phenotypic variation. He was educated in the University of Athens (MD and DSc) and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (Human Genetics). His academic contributions at the Johns Hopkins and the University of of Geneva spans more than 30 years, and include the understanding of the molecular bases of monogenic disorders and complex genetic disorders including the beta-thalassemias, hemophilias, and trisomy 21, and the functional variability of the human genome. He has published extensively (more than 620 papers), is co-editor of the current edition of the classic textbook Genetics in Medicine, and he is listed as one of the highly cited scientists by the ISI institute (h-index 94). He was the President of the European Society of Human Genetics, and was recently elected as the next President of HUGO. His current interests and research projects are the functional analysis of the genome, effect of human genetic variation to phenotypic variation, the molecular pathogenesis of trisomy 21 and polygenic phenotypes, the functional characterization of the conserved fraction of the genome, diagnostics and prevention of genetic disorders, and the societal implications of genetics and genome research.

Should i write more? I believe not. More informations about this one more special Greek available everywhere in the internet...

IN LOVE

I'M IN LOVE WITH A DUVET (AND A PILLOW)!

It took me some months (shame on me! ) to complete this EASY project. For little D's room, i had bought some roman shades, a duvet cover for single bed and some pillow covers from VERTBAUTED, a French company. I'm not at all at Disney characters and other kids cartoon heroes. I actually hate seeing them in children's rooms AND clothes. So when i found a collection with beautiful and SIMPLE robots i bought everything i found. They were on sale and found only some of the items. I knew that i wouldn't use the duvet cover for a few years but i found a really big pillow case. 

I cut the seams and i had a really long but a little narrow piece of fabric with amazing red robot sketches (or should i call them designs?). From a fabric store in Athens i bought a very fine thin cotton fabric in red. I sew them together, leaving some of the red at both sides. I did this because the duvet i wanted to put in was bigger at width.

I had a leftover piece which i used to make a little pillow case. And to remind you without have to scroll:

This is closer and you see the designs better i think. Unfortunately we can't have the crib perfectly made, because it's stokke's sleepi which has oval shape. Otherwise it is a wonderful crib and little D uses it since day 1 in the house at mini version and now as bed with both sides still attached.

The robot designs remind me of this wallpaper by Aimee Wilder:

And this by Proverb too (ferm LIVING has one similar, if you are interested):

Both from this AMAZING Boston apartment

 http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/boston-home-mag-97019

One project done... Thousands to come...

BOY'S STYLE

I have to apologize for the bad quality of the photo, but i'm sure you know how toddlers move all the time. Especially when a pet is around the corner! 

Well, about the clothes, his shoes are from his godfather for his baptism and are amazing blue boat shoes. Just love them... His pants are ZARA a few years old given to us by a friend. His denim jacket is from La redoute previous collection and under that his wearing a double onesie t-shirt thing from H&M. His scarf is from ZARA last summer and i gave him the leather hat i bought in Instanbul when i visited it some years ago, for five euros! It was always small for me and now it found it's place although it is a little huge at the moment.

He is like a little Oliver Twist. Don't you agree?

POTATO PANCAKES

AMAZING POTATO PANCAKES FROM LEFTOVERS!!!

Seriously! These are the best vegetables pancakes you'll ever have! And i wrote vegetables because i had yesterdays leftovers boiled potatoes, sweet potatoes and carrots. Little D didn't appreciate them enough, i guess. And here is our proof:

These were three medium cups. I smashed them and add one egg, one cup shreded cheese ( i had greek gruyere), three tablespoons flour, and two tablespoons breadcrumbs. 

Mixed everything together and fried them in olive oil of course. I used two tablespoon to put the mix in the pan. I didn't add salt because vegetables already had, and pepper because little D doesn't like it. That's it!!! From yesterdays BLAHHH! to a mouthwatering plate. I have to say that i make this more often with potatoes puree. In this case i add more flour and breadcrumbs. And as you can say the sky is the limit in what kind of vegetables to use. I would like cauliflower and broccoli and my beloved pumpkin of course...

You better serve them with homemade greek tzatziki, or some kind of feta dip. 

ENJOY!

KYPROS NIKOLAIDIS

Probably you don't know the man in the photo above. But if you are a mother or you are pregnant right now his researh on fetoscopic techniques and procedures has already chance your life. 

Kypros Nicolaides  is a Cypriot maternal fetal medicine specialist, and a world expert in fetal surgery and interventions.

Nicolaides was born in 1953 in Paphos, Cyprus. He studied medicine at King’s College School of Medicine and Dentistry in London and soon after graduation joined the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in 1980, doing research, working mainly on fetoscopic techniques and procedures. He was well known for his manual dexterity at procedures and their  team soon produced some very important papers on the use offetoscopy in the management of a wide range of conditions such Rhesus iso-immunization, fetal hydrops and intrauterine growth restriction, and procedures such as blood and tissue sampling in the diagnosis of single gene defects.

After the departure of Professor Rodeck, Nicolaides became director of the Harris Birthright Research Centre for Fetal Medicine*, the first fetal medicine unit in the United Kingdom. His programme of research and teaching made King's College Hospital an important centre of fetal medicine.

He has contributed to over one thousand journal articles and more than thirty books and monographs.

*The Fetal Medicine Centre is a private clinic that carries out ultrasound scans for pregnant women. The Director of the clinic is professor Kypros Nicolaides. All profits from the clinic are donated to The Fetal Medicine Foundation**.

**The Fetal Medicine Foundation is a charitable organisation at the forefront of research, education and training in fetal medicine. It is supported by The Fetal Medicine Centre and by private donations.

Everything i write until here are copied from wikipedia and fetal medicine official page. But speaking of me i can only tell how proud i am that one more Greek doctor makes the world better.

THERAPEUTIC KISSES

I'm searching in my mind for a long time what i should write for the first post on this blog. Should it be something for food, or for decor or for my country or town? I desided to go personal, and i know that many mothers out there will say YES!!!! if they read this.

My son is 21 months old and he is not the most quite child in the world, so every time he hits himself somewhere he is coming to me crying or not to kiss him where he has the trauma. After that he is ok except a few times he was really hurt.

These are my therapeutic kisses and i can't stop my self thinking and wishing to always be able to cure him like that.