Greek Food & Father's Day

My husband and I are fans of stuffed grape leaves. We first tried them at a work party, then found them at a grocery store, and now we make our own at home. Lately I've been thinking about how it would be fun to try a more authentic version from a restaurant. Then the opportunity came.

We decided to celebrate father's day early for a number of reasons, so I surprised my husband with stuffed grape leaves for dinner from the Macedonia Greek Restaurant.

The grape leaves were filled with equal parts of shredded beef and rice. The two dipping sauces on the side were baba ghanoush (creamy roasted eggplant dip) and taziki (cucumber yogurt sauce.)  We both really enjoyed our meal, but thought the stuffed grape leaves were a little oily. 

I also wanted my husband to try the famous dessert, baklava. I ended up ordering it from a different restaurant (The Downtown Market & Alsham Mediterranean Restaurant) because the description sounded more authentic.

The baklava was a little pricey, but it was totally worth it. It reminded me of pecan pie in a way, only much, much flakier and more delicious.

After dinner I gave my husband a few small father's day gifts. The first was a container I put together with dried fruit and nuts from the bulk section at Winco.

The second gift was a cinnamon white chocolate biscotti from this cute little shop called the Little Cannoli Bakery. My husband was nice enough to share his biscotti with me and I have to say that it was the best biscotti I have ever had. Another trip to that bakery is definitely in my future.