General Elections in Greece: Keep Calm and Vote for Greece! #Ekloges2015

Critical elections take place in Greece today, probably the most critical for Greece since 1974.
After 5 years of austerity, crippling taxes and reform which has left much of the political party machinery and the oligarchs largely untouched, the poor and the needy tragically worse off and  unemployment extremely high, Greece's people are being asked to cast their vote and decide who it wants to lead it for the next four years.

Whatever the outcome today, whoever comes to power, it is essential that Greece stands strong and looks to the future. 

Irrespective of the party we voted for, it is essential that from tomorrow we stand together and work for the future, without hate, fear or rancour.
 

Today, let's vote with the future of Greece as our guide, the future of our children. 

Not MY child's or YOUR child's, but the future of all OUR children. 

Whatever political party we support, let's all vote for GREECE and the future! 

Happy voting!

Οποιο κόμμα και να βγει σήμερα η Ελλάδα θα σταθεί όρθια και θα πάει μπροστά. 

 Στη χώρα που γέννησε την δημοκρατία πρεπει από αύριο οι πάντες να σταθούμε ενομένοι και αποφασισμένοι να κοιτάξουμε μπροστά, χωρίς μίσος, φόβους και μιζέρια. 

Ας ψηφίσουμε με γνώμονα μόνο την Ελλάδα και το μέλλον των παιδιών ΜΑΣ... 

όχι του δικού ΜΟΥ ή του δικού ΣΟΥ, αλλά όλων των παιδιών της Ελλάδας! 

 Όποιο κι' αν είναι το κόμμα μας, ας ψηφίσουμε όλοι... για την Ελλάδα! 

Το αξίζει! 

Καλό βόλι!

At Global Greek World, We ♥ Greece...and it shows! 

© GlobalGreekWorld 2009 - 2015 All Rights Reserved

Καλή Ορεξη! Our #BuyGREEK #EatGREEK #GreekDinner Around the World January 15 2015 In Athens Greece

Καλή Ορεξη!

This year we decided that we would all sit around our beautifully and still Christmas decorated table for our Greek Dinner! We love to see our house 'dressed-up' so we usually extend the festive period until after the feast of Aghia Efthimia on January 20.

 Pomegranate, walnut and lettuce salad for starters

 

Main Course: Roast Pork with Kydonia, Damaskina and roast potatoes

Dessert: Yummy Galaktoboureko and Kormo cake

Cretan Gruyere - Graviera with honey: Cheese the Greek way

and to go with it all...

CAIR Rodos Bubbly
We also had Tsikoudia but couldn't find the photo in time!

For us,  taking part in the Greek Dinner around the world is like taking part in our Buy GREEK for Christmas Campaign as well! 

 If you are like us and still haven't taken down your Christmas decorations, join us there and be in to win one of our great prizes!

Και του χρόνου!!! 

At Global Greek World, We ♥ Greece...and it shows! 

© GlobalGreekWorld 2009 - 2015 All Rights Reserved

Photo of the Day: Ftou, Ftou - Danish PM's Elysee Tumble and the Famous Presidential Selfie

 Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the Danish Prime Minister,

took a tumble outside the Elysee Palace on Sunday after the Paris Peace March and we couldn't help remembering the famous Presidential selfie from Nelson Mandela's funeral...

As good Greeks we have grown up with, and taught to be wary of,the 'eye', or what we call the Mati, and looking at the two sets of pictures, we couldn't help making the connection...

Maybe we should get together and send the Danish PM a few of these wonderful and very Greek glass beads, 

just in case... 

In the meantime  

As every Greek Mama knows, a mati is a mati...

so 

Ftou, ftou, ftou! 

At Global Greek World, We ♥ Greece...and it shows! 

© GlobalGreekWorld 2009 - 2015 All Rights Reserved

#BuyGREEK, #EatGREEK! On January 15th, Wherever we are in the world, we are ALL Invited to the Biggest Greek Dinner Party Ever!

It just takes a word, a tweet, a message and before you can say ‘piperia’ the word has become a concept and the concept a worldwide event! 

In the middle of our Buy GREEK for Christmas (#BuyGREEK4Xmas) campaign last year, the dynamic Keri Douglas  - writer, photographer, communications expert and philhellene extraordinaire -  the brain behind the Greek Dinner Around the World, posted a message on  our event wall  saying  ‘Here’s what some of us are doing on January 15’  linking us to a special dinner that she envisaged with friends from around the world – a GREEK Dinner with a virtual Acropolis in the background! 


That’s exactly what Global Greek World is all about!

We loved the concept and immediately accepted – possibly the first in Greece to come on board at the time! 

 What's more, it fitted, and continues to fit, our Buy GREEK project, the promotion of Greek Products around the world,  like a glove!

As Keri says in her 9 Muses News Blog

’With a few Tweets, an idea and then a ‘yes’, why not? We don’t need to be in the same city to have a dinner party.

Everyone is invited on January 15th for a Greek dinner with friends, family and even some new friends. Partners to this initiative will host a dinner – one person, two persons or more; use Greek products to create Greek dishes; share a photo or two of their endeavour; share a recipe; Tweet their experience or favourites and then RT (reTweet) others who are sharing their dinner party under the #GreekDinner and #EatGreek hashtags.

The goal is to celebrate Greek cuisine and promote amazing people, authors, chefs, businesses who are connected to Greece.

Why? Well, why not? Who doesn’t love authentic Greek olives, olive oil, real feta, yogurt, honey, oregano and healthy cuisine.’

Well, Greeks love to entertain, four ancestors invented the term filoxenia after all, we all love to promote Greek food and wine and everyone  - Greeks and non-Greeks alike – loves Greek cuisine, it so much an integral part of our Greek identity, so it didn’t take long for people to join in. 

Greek food gurus and bloggers, Greek food addicts, inspired individuals, wine producers and enthusiastic restaurateurs from New Zealand and Australia to South Africa have said that they will be hosting their own particular Greek Dinner in their own particular way. 

It doesn’t matter where we are, whether we are alone or with a million others, at home or in a Greek restaurant in London, a souvlaki shop in New Zealand, a wine bar in South Africa, a Gyro stand in Paris, a Greek Diner in New York or a taverna by the beach in Crete, we can still be part of the biggest GREEK Dinner party in the World!

If you are like us and haven't taken down your Christmas decorations, well it will be like taking part in the Buy GREEK for Christmas Campaign as well! 

 

  Kourabiedes and melomakarona for after Christmas breakfast

 

 Rakomelo (with tsikoudia and honey from Crete) and Mantinades

The tables are set, the wine, the ouzo, the retsina, the tsikoudia, the olives, tzatziki, dolmades, saganaki,, fava, feta,  and other delicious foods such as taramosalata or the moussaka below...

 Moussaka from the hands of our resident chef

Wonderful dishes made with extra-virgin olive oil from trees like ours below , and other top quality products that the Greek countryside is blessed with are waiting for the  big day...

Harvesting our olives in Crete. 

It takes a lot of hard work to get to that precious Greek gold...

The big day is Thursday!

Will YOU be joining us? 

If you can, tell Keri (@keridouglas on Twitter or at Greek Dinner Around the World on Facebook  you're hosting a Greek Dinner and the world will definitely be a better place!

We’d love to have you there because we know that like us, you love Greece and all things Greek! 

 OPA!

All the photos are ours except for the Cretan dancer who we borrowed from Alex Pattakos and the OPA! Way! ( Thanks Alex) and the Buy GREEK for Christmas Cover which was created for Buy GREEK by Sofia Georgaki of Celeb Photo Copy (Thanks Sofia)!  

PS Check out our Eat GREEK page if you are stuck and looking for a Greek restaurant to go to. 

At Global Greek World, We ♥ Greece...and it shows!

© GlobalGreekWorld 2015 All Rights Reserved

It's 2015! Καλή Χρονια! Kali Xronia to Everyone in Our Global Greek World!!!! Happy New Year !

It's 2015!

 A good year to lay the foundations and make our descendants proud of US!

We take the opportunity today, as a brand new year begins on an optimistic note,  to thank all our friends in the Global Greek World for your support and to wish you and your families 

a Healthy, Happy and Successful, New Year. 

For our beloved Greece we hope once more that after years of austerity, 2015 is the year of the big turnaround; the year that Greece will prove to the world that it is not only a country with a past (and what a glorious past it is) but also a country with a future and a vision for her people. 

We hope that whoever wins in the forthcoming parliamentary elections, they will put Greece and her people above their own selfish interests and party politics, and lay the foundations for the best possible conditions for a people that deserves better. A people who when given stability and a structured framework of laws that are enforced equally for all, along with specific parameters to work within, can achieve miracles!

Our millions of very successful Global Greeks around the world are living proof of that!

Let's show the world that we are worthy successors of our noble ancestors by creating a future for our children and not just resting on the laurels of Greece's glorious past. 

Yes we are rightfully proud of our ancestors who gave so much to us and the world, but we must also make our descendants proud of US! 

May 2015 be the best ever for Greece and the world. 

Health, happiness, peace and harmony for all, less misery and poverty, more kindness and respect.

Happy New Year! Καλή Χρονιά!

Happy Νameday Vassiliki and Vassili!

Our Christmas - New Year in Greece Collage!

  Υγεία, ευτυχία, ειρήνη και αρμονία για όλους, να κάνουμε πράξη την καλοσύνη και τον σεβασμό, να διώξουμε την μιζέρια και την φτώχεια, όχι μόνο από την Ελλάδα μας, αλλά απο όλο τον κόσμο! 

Για την χώρα μας ευχόμαστε, μετά από χρόνια λιτότητας, να είναι το 2015 η χρονιά που θα αρχίσει η αληθινή ανάκαμψη. Ευχόμαστε ότι ο νικητής των Εκλογών, όποιος και να είναι, θα βάλει την Ελλάδα και τον λαό της πάνω από όποια μίκρο-κομματικά και προσωπικά συμφέροντα και θα του δώσει τα όπλα που χρειάζεται να μπορεί να μεγαλουργήσει στη χώρα του - ένα οργανωμένο πλαίσιο με κανόνες και νόμους που ισχύουν και εφαρμόζονται για όλους - όπως κάνουν τα εκατομμύρια των Ελλήνων εκτός συνόρων που τιμούν την Ελλάδα και την ιστορία της καθημερινά.

Ας δείξουμε στον κόσμο όλο ότι τιμούμε την ένδοξη ιστορία της χώρας μας, ότι είμαστε άξιοι συνεχιστές τον προγόνων μας, ότι αξιοποιούμε σωστά την ιστορία μας αλλά και ότι δημιουργούμε ένα μέλλον για τα παιδιά μας. 

Να είμαστε περήφανοι για τους προγόνους μας αλλά να κάνουμε περήφανους και τους απογόνους μας.

ΥΓ Χρόνια Πολλά  και καλά και στους εορτάζοντες, Βασιλική και Βασίλη!

We have posted the lyrics to the traditional Arximinia kai Arxixronia below so that all our friends can sing along!

ΚΑΙ ΤΟΥ ΧΡΟΝΟU!!!

 Here we go.... 


Αρχιμηνιά κι Αρχιχρονιά
ψηλή μου δεντρολιβανιά
κι αρχή καλός μας χρόνος
εκκλησιά με τ' άγιο θρόνος.

Αρχή που βγήκε ο Χριστός
άγιος και Πνευματικός,
στη γη να περπατήσει
και να μας καλοκαρδίσει.

Αγιος Βασίλης έρχεται,
και δεν μας καταδέχεται,
από την Καισαρεία,
συ' σαι αρχόντισσα κυρία.

Βαστά εικόνα και χαρτί
ζαχαροκάρνο, ζυμωτή
χαρτί και καλαμάρι
δες και με-δες και με το παλικάρι.

Το καλαμάρι έγραφε,
τη μοίρα του την έλεγε
και το χαρτί-και το χαρτί ομίλει
Άγιε μου-άγιε μου καλέ Βασίλη.

Και νέον έτος αριθμεί
την του Χριστού περιτομή
και η μνήμη του Αγίου
Ιεράρχου Βασιλείου.

Του χρόνου μας αρχή καλή
και ο Χριστός μας προσκαλεί
την κακία ν' αρνηθούμε
μ' αρετές να στολιστούμε.

Να ζούμε βίον τέλειον
κατά το ευαγγέλιον
με αγάπη με ειρήνη
και με τη δικαιοσύνη.

Χρόνια πολλά και ευτυχή
με καθαρά κι αγνή ψυχή
με χαρά και με υγεία
και με θεία ευλογία.

Καλή Χρονιά!
Happy New Year!

At Global Greek World, We ♥ Greece...and it shows! 

© GlobalGreekWorld 2015 All Rights Reserved