(Kiki's Corner by Kiki Angelos - Photo Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

I’m sure you have memorized this by now, LOL, but it’s been 59 years since I left Greece to come to this magnificent, beautiful, extravagant country that we all love. It takes three letters to describe it, USA, and that explains the characteristics, qualities that our country offers. But I still stay in touch with so many friends and relatives that I grew up with that became and always were very successful and prosperous business people and learn so much from them.

My dream and goal was one day to become a businesswoman and with hard work and determination. I succeeded and my dream became a true reality!!

At times, it comes kind of easy because being in a family that my father had his own printing company all his life, and later on my brother took over the business. Located in Athens, Greece, and where, as soon as he opened the door of his business, you could see the Acropolis, of course we were so used to it., it was like seeing Grand Central Mall. LOL.

Millions of tourists visit Greece, and one of the main attractions and reasons was and still is to see the historical Acropolis and for us it was nothing because we were used to seeing it all the time.

Greece is a small country but offers so much history and of course the beautiful islands that millions of tourists visit every year. Greece has thousands of islands but about 337 are inhabited.

No, I will continue. My mother’s brother had a big doll factory and also a box factory, and then he opened the first firework factory in Greece. I remember how excited and everybody was so impressed to see the fireworks back then.

Two of my other uncles also had big factories and one of my other uncles had a huge supermarket. One of my closest friends that I still stay in touch with all the time, her father had a factory that made beautiful blankets, and he designed the most unusual jackets of all kinds, and I remember going to his factory that was located up north of Athens and before we left from his factory he gave us beautiful gifts. That is what you call a generous person!!

So his daughter Despina that I stay in touch with and she’s my good friend, she knows how much I like the Greek mint (spice) that I use in my cooking and every so often I receive from her a package that she buys it fresh, then air dries it, puts it in a ziploc bag and express mails it to me ….bless her heart she is so thoughtful and so generous as well and she loves cooking as much as I do.

There is a certain part of Greece where they cook differently from others. My mother and father and their families came from Sparta and they use a lot of mint and also cinnamon in their cooking…. yes cinnamon. In addition to the mint I received an envelope that had mint seeds that made me very happy to try to grow mint here. I hope it works out. Last but not least, I received from my friend a flyer from her daughter that she became a wedding planner and as I was reading all about Vaso Vandali I was so impressed when I read and she wrote “If You do the job that you love You will never need to work not even a day in your life.” I’m translating from the Greek language what she wrote, I hope it makes sense to you, It does to me. You need to love what you’re doing, whatever work you’re doing. I wish you could see the tables, flowers and the churches that she decorates and all the outdoor weddings in the most beautiful Greek islands a true breathtaking site for a wedding planner.

“Planning beyond the ordinary.”

So she was the reason for me to write today’s article. If your work is something that you like and love, it is so much easier and I do believe that. A good lesson for all of us and a good lesson for all those young people out there that they work now.

Vaso is a very ambitious and talented young lady so she became very successful with her accomplishments and I’m so proud of her… she is remarkable and her dream indeed became a true reality!!!

Till next week.

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BACKFIN

CRAB MEAT MAYO

1 pound fresh backfin crab meat

1 tablespoon of lemon juice

Salt to taste

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup sour cream

Finely graded horseradish to taste

Pick over chilled crab meat. Discard any bits of shell or cartilage. Season with lemon juice, salt, and half of the pepper. Gently fold in mayonnaise, sour cream and horseradish. Place in a bowl and sprinkle remainder of pepper over the top. Serve with Melba toast or crackers. Yields 2 cups.

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SWISS APPLE PIE

2 cups, chopped or ground raw apples

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 eggs beaten

1 cup rich milk, scraped

1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell

Combine sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt. Add eggs. Stir in milk. If using chopped apples, place apples in pieshell and pour liquid over. If using ground apples mix apples with liquid and then pour into shell. Bake at 450 degrees F for 15 minutes, then at 350 degrees F for 35 minutes. Serve warm or cool.