Greek Green Lentil Salad

I had this salad years ago at a Greek restaurant in Vancouver BC (The Greek by Anatoli) and loved it so much. I am not sure if this is 100% the same, but this is what I dreamed up over the years thinking about it.  It has all my favorite flavors!

I finally made this for a party at my house for my birthday. Lots of friends and family came and brought other Greek goodies to share, so it wasn't too hard to host my own party.

I bought my green French lentils in bulk, they are my favorite! I think other lentils would work too.  I just simmer the lentils in water until they are tender, then drain and add them in.  They do tend to swell quite a bit, so be careful that you don't cook too many.  If you do (like I did), you can freeze them to add to soups, or toss with roasted veggies for a nice side dish.  You could even saute them with some butter and spices and make a nice 'bed' for a piece of grilled fish, chick or pork.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• 1 cup green lentils, cooked and drained (cooled)
• 1 cup of cherry tomatoes
• 1 can of garbanzo beans, drained
• 2 cups of arugula (or spinach)
• 3/4 cup of feta, crumbled
• 2-3 Tbsp parmesan cheese
• Juice of one lemon
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Since I was prepping this ahead of time, I added everything to the bowl except the arugula and put it in the fridge.  When we were ready for dinner, it was easy to add the arugula and give everything a toss. I tasted to make sure the seasoning was right, and served it right away.

Here is it is all tossed and ready to serve. It lasted well on the buffet and there weren't any leftovers.

Since this was a Greek party for my birthday, I wanted to share our outfits and back drop.  In case  you're wondering why I am wearing pink star glasses... well, I have to admit it was actually a Mamma Mia Greek party.  We had a blast and it was a fun way to usher in my 60th year.  Singing and dancing until 3am almost killed me, hahaha, but a great time was had by all.

Colmar, France- Easy trip from Germany

I have always wanted to go to Colmar, a small quaint city near the border of Germany.  The Rhine river separates the two countries, and a quick trip over the bridge, you know in France.  The Alsace region of France, is a bit more like Germany in its cuisine and the looks of the buildings. Colmar is also known for a very important sculptor, Auguste Bartholdi, best known to us Americans for the creator of the statue of Liberty! 

 

Called the "Little Venice" of France, which I imagine is very annoying to the real Venetians, the only real thing in common to Venice is that it has a couple canals. It is nothing like Venice in real life.  However, I don't let the mere semantics of what people call it change what I liked about it.  It was quaint, it was fun, it was beautiful!  Remarkably, Colmar escaped any bombing damage from WW2.  To the right is a picture from my February visit on a sunny but cool day. It was perfect for catching the reflections of the buildings in the perfectly still waters of the canals. 

Going in the winter has its merits... it still had many visitors except nothing like it must look like in the middle of summer with busloads of tourists arriving from all points of the globe.  Many river cruised come down the Rhine, and Colmar is a very easy stop to access from the cruise ship.

At first, I thought that the city was very small and dare say it, a bit anti-climatic, but I kept meandering down seemingly deserted lanes to see what else I might discover.  The lanes kept opening up to bigger areas fille with more and more cuteness. 

So many beautiful metal scrollwork signs.  Here's one of the "Two brothers charcuterie" shop.   Below is one of the high streets, filled with tourist shops but also many local shops for people who obviously lived here.

I needed to get some lunch, so Googled "restaurants around me" to see what was recommended.  That's my usual trick for finding places that are enjoyed by tourists and locals alike.  I found a couple of great option, from a cute tea house to an expensive restaurant that might be offering more than I really wanted for lunch.  I had walked by this place a couple of times and it was so darn CUTE, and it had enough stars to reassure me that I would get a decent lunch.

My lunch was basic but exactly what sounded good!  The two table on either side of me seemed to have ordered the same thing, so I really like I chose well. It was basically a French flatbread 'pizza' with a white sauce, cheese, onions and ham!  A green salad (always weird in Europe with beets and corn...) was fresh and nice. Order a pichet (small pitcher) of local rose wine to add to your meal.  I thoroughly enjoyed my lunch.

I needed to drive back to Lake Constance in Germany (also called the Bodensee) where I was visiting for a business trip.  Coming back from France, I could easily have retraced my trip back to the East side of the lake, but decided instead on driving through Switzerland, visiting Lichtenstein for the first time, Austria and coming back to Germany (and the lake) from the south.  It took me five hours altogether, but I did visit 5 countries in 5 hours... not sure where else in Europe you are able to do that. I added Lichtenstein to my list of visited countries, so I'm now at 51 countries! Woo hoo.

I visited the castle below in Vaduz, which happens to be the home of the reigning prince of Lichtenstein.  You are not allowed to get close to this palace, as the guards are a bit aggressive to keep you away. It was fun to see the view though, with the Swiss mountains in the background. The castle from the below shows just how massive it is, it does look a bit smaller here.

It was an easy drive to Austria, and I had a great lunch in the city of Bergenz in Austria and truly had one of the best burgers of my life in a well regarded place called Weiss restaurant. A radler beer, pictured below, is a local German beer that it usually mixed with either Sprite or soda water for a low alcohol choice. Perfect for lunch when I still had some sightseeing and driving to do.

I highly recommend getting out and seeing the local area, even when you're traveling for business. I did go by myself, which is a different experience, but still a lot of fun. Get out there and do it!