Greek Festival in Belmont, California

This Labor Day Weekend, September 3-5, the Greek Festival will take place in Belmont's Church of the Holly Cross. 

Besides vendors who sell jewelry, dresses, and ceramics, there is going be a lot of fun activities for kids, an open bar for the adults, and lots of good food for all. If you're in the mood for a fast food style Greek food, you can munch on fried calamaris, gyros, souvlaki, loukaniko, lamb chops, and a whole lamb roasted on a spit over open fire in the outdoor area.

But if you prefer homemade types of food, you can choose from the buffets in the dinning hall which showcases some of the most delicious Greek foods like:

Dolmathes (stuffed grape leaves),

Moussaka (casserole dish of eggplant and ground beef with white sauce),

Pastitsio (the Greek version of lasagna),

Souvlaki (bar-b-qued skewers of marinated pieces of beef),

Cretan Rice Pilaf (flavored with chicken broth and lemon juice)

Roasted Chicken,

Greek salad,

Tyropitta (cheese pie),

Spanakopitta (spinach pie),

Yuvetzi (lamb shanks cooked with orzo pasta in tomato sauce

And don’t worry my veggie and vegan friends, they’re also offering two vegan dishes (small lima bean soup and green beans in tomato sauce).

Don’t eat too fast, you’re going to have to save some room for dessert, after all you didn’t come all this way to miss out on these delicacies:

Loukoumathes (Greek version of donuts, deep fried fluffy dough served with honey and sprinkled with walnuts) – amazingly fresh and yummy!

Baklava (do I really need to say much here!)

Galaktoboureko (fyllo dough with egg/semolina custard stuffing and honey syrup)

Kataifi (similar with Baklava except made with shredded dough instead)

Kourabiethes (Greek white cookies – basically the Greek version of short bread with powdered sugar on top)

Melomakarona (vegan cookies made of semolina, orange juice and vegetable oil with walnuts and lightly syruped)

Koulourakia (butter coffee cookie)

Paximadia (the Greek version of biscotti)

Indokarydo (syrupy cake with coconut flavor)

I was lucky enough to participate in making the Moussaka along with 40 other volunteers, so I'm really sad that I will have to miss the festival since I'll be spending my time in the Yosemite (I'll be thinking of all the good food while torturing my body through hiking and biking).

So grab your friends and family, and head to Belmont this weekend to experience some Greek hospitality and don't forget to think of me while you're indulging on great food.