Baklaving It: Des Moines Field Work

By the time this post publishes I will already have picked up my entries for the 2025 Iowa State Fair Photography Salon. So now it is a good time to share them.

Selected for Display – Class 16 – Things & Still Life

Selected for Display – Class 18 – Animals, Insects & Wildlife

Selected for Display – Class 44 – Fairs, Festivals, & Parades

Not Selected for Display – Class 17 – Plants, Flowers, & Trees

All in all, a decent showing. I should start working on next year, but you know that I won’t.

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Back in early June, Teresa and I went down to Des Moines to visit the Greek Food Fair held by the Greek Orthodox Church. I’m a big fan of food. I’m a big fan of fairs. I’m a big fan of Greek food, so it seemed a no-brainer that I would like a Greek Food Fair.

Here are my pictures from the day:

This is actually my breakfast from the Des Moines Farmer’s Market. It is a pupusa. And it was delicious.

Souvlaki

Dolmathes, Tiropita, Spanakopita, and Pastichio.

Dolmathes – Grape leaves stuffed with seasoned rice then served with avgolemono (lemon) sauce.

Tiropita – Feta cheese wrapped in a buttery phyllo dough.

Spanakopita – Spinach and feta cheese wrapped in a buttery phyllo dough.

Moussaka – Baked layers of ground beef and eggplant topped with a bechamel sauce.

Greek Potatoes – Potatoes roasted with Greek seasonings and lemon with feta cheese.

Baklava!!!

I passed on this, cause lemon.

Karithopita – Walnut spice caked soak with honey syrup.

So good!

Loukoumathes – Golden fried puffs of yeast dough drizzled with honey, sprinkled with cinnamon, and topped with chopped walnuts. (Without cinnamon)

I need to check and see if this Halal Pizza place has opened yet, cause I’m intrigued!

My Observations

THE GOOD

• Almost everything was incredibly delicious.
• In particular the dolmathes and spanakopita were revelations
• The Greek Potatoes were delicious as well.
• Baklava, never disappoints. It ranks right up there with ice cream.
• The karithopita was also fantastic!
• A fantastic cultural experience and it included plenty of Greek things besides the food.
• The soulakvi was all divine.
• We were lucky enough to sit next to an actual Greek and she gave us lots of tips and insider info. For example, I love gyros and would have been tempted to go that way, but she let me know that the gyros were provided by Ted’s Coney Island, so I could get that anytime. Ted’s Coney Island does have one of, if not the best gyro I’ve ever had, so all of that tracks.

THE BAD

• Due to Teresa’s “condition”, we didn’t have delicious cinnamon on our loukoumathes.
• It is card only, which isn’t inherently bad, but all of these delicious foods are at several different stations so you have to run you card like 3, 4, or 5 times.

THE UGLY

• It only happens once a year.

THE DAMAGE

• I really don’t know. I’ll guess i spent around $40 there. Looking at my bank statement I made some purchases at the farmer’s market and at the Greek Food Fair and it is hard for me to tell which is which. They all have different addresses.

THE VERDICT

• Graded on a scale of AVOID AT ALL COSTS, EVEN AVOID THE SIDE OF TOWN IT IS ON to I WOULD GLADLY DRIVE SEVERAL HOURS TO EAT THERE, I would give it I WOULD GO OUT OF MY WAY TO EAT THERE AGAIN.

HOW DO YOU EAT THERE?

• Greek Orthodox Church of St. George – 1110 35th Street – Des Moines, Iowa
• The 1st weekend in June.

Next Sunday’s food adventure will involve pizza.