Ooompa!

When Jess was just a wee one of about 9 months, Bellingham opened its very first Greek restaurant. It was a tiny place, tucked back in a strip mall with the unassuming name of "Eleni's". We had to try it! After seating us, owner Eleni took one look at Jess and broke into a big grin and asked if she could take her into the kitchen. I was a bit taken aback, but I recognized "love" when I saw it, so I let her go. Jess is to this day the only one who's ever seen Eleni's kitchen...not that she remembers! What she does remember is that for some reason, Eleni took to her and treated her as one of her own. Every time we stopped there for a meal, she brought Jess a huge bowl of Greek olives, which to this day are Jess' favorite. We still consider Eleni "part of the family", she even came to Jess' high school graduation party.

So it's no surprise that when the Greek festival occurs every September, we're front and center. Every year there are booths featuring the traditional favorites: souvlaki, tzatziki, gyro, domalthes, and of course.....the desserts...

Tours of the Greek Orthodox church are always part of the festivities as well as traditional Greek dancing. This year there was a problem that prevented the dancing, but that didn't stop these two young ladies who spent at least an hour dancing with their shadows!

A good time was had by all! Urp....

Please excuse these "fuzzy" photos. The wonderful digital camera that I had use of all summer had to go "home" and I'm using my old tech camera, which has obviously developed some focus issues!