Monday, April 20, 2009

Greece vs.Grease








So I promised a review on Oikos Greek yogurt. Stoneyfield Farms was kind enough to send me coupons for several free samples.

I went with the vanilla flavor. The thing I love about Oikos, is that unlike most yogurts, it has little sugar in the flavored selections. Some vanilla yogurts are ridiculous with many many grams of sugar per serving. Kind of defeats the purpose of eating yogurt, don'tcha think?

Let me start by saying I'm not a big fan of yogurt. Not a big fan of any dairy foods except major 1/2 'n 1/2 in my coffee and cheese on anything.

Also let me start by saying, I was lucky enough to live in Greece for four years from the ages of 12 to 16 years old. There was one summer, I believe it was when I was sixteen, that I took several trips to the island of Mykonos. Breakfast everyday for me was a cup of plain Greek yogurt drizzled with island honey and topped with fresh cantaloupe, honeydew and berries. It was a heavenly and divine mixture that I will never forget.
In fact, Greece was a time I will never forget. I mean, who gets to do this? My dad, who worked a very humdrum job for the Social Security Administration in Baltimore, MD, came home one day and asked if we wanted to go to Greece. My response, being twelve and very into my own little world, was to say "No, that's okay, I already saw it." You may remember the movie came out in 1978.


So we, a family of four who had never traveled further than Cincinnati, OH were plopped down in the middle of Athens to fend for ourselves. Well not totally. My dad worked for the American Embassy, so we were given a house in the hills outside of Athens, and my brother and I attended the American Community School. Four years is a long time, so it's impossible to reconstruct the experience totally, but some of the clearest memories are: travel and more travel, meeting some of the best friends of my life, learning to speak Greek, experiencing forest fires and earthquakes, watching my dogs be poisoned to death, going on a "pilgrimage" to Jerusalem and the nude beaches on the islands. Despite these things, day to day life was probably pretty similar to day to day life in the US for a teenager: homework, social angst, after school activities. We had a small black and white TV, and the only shows on in English were "Fame" and "Little House on the Prairie," (which the Greeks called "Little Hut in the Valley.")

But back to the yogurt. As I said before, I liked that this yogurt was not overly sweet. It can best be described as tangy. The thing that stood out the most was the consistency. This has got to be the creamiest yogurt on the planet. If you don't know, Greek yogurt is different and special because it is strained so that all water is removed. This leaves the yogurt extremely thick and seemingly decadent. Stoneyfield Farms can use nonfat milk and by using the straining system, can get a yogurt that is so thick and creamy that you think you are eating something incredibly fattening. It is an art!! For me, the consistency was similar to sour cream. Overall, very good and very authentic. A great healthy option with lots of protein.

I am headed to yoga today to work out some of the kinks from my race on Sunday. My muscles are still pretty stiff and sore. It took quite a bit out of me. I did find out I came in 6th out of 50 in my age group so I was psyched about that!

10 comments:

  1. I'm glad you liked the yogurt! And 6th out of 50 is amazing! Congrats!! The coconut ice cream bars are from Whole Foods actually... they're made by Turtle Mountain- and absolutely delicious!

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  2. I just tried this yogurt for the first time last night. Tried the blueberry and loved it. I'm not a huge yogurt fan, either. It's so expensive though, not sure I can get hooked on it and have it every day!

    Just read your race report. Man, I've been there. It's awful, isn't it?? But it happens to the best of us! Welcome to the club!!

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  3. How fun. I would love to hear more about your Greek days. It's all Greek to me. Oh man, that was cheesey, but had to say it.

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  4. JoyRuN hooked me up with samples, so I'm very excited to check it out. I loved your Greek stories, and I can't wait to take a little mental trip with my yogurt.

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  5. Way to go with the race - awesome job.

    Yogurt has always creeped me out a little. I'm not sure Greek yogurt would be much better for me.

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  6. thats crazy but so cool that you got to experience living in a different country as a child/teenager.

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  7. That's so awesome that you lived in Greece for four years! I visited Athens and Mykonos after I graduated college, and it was sooo beautiful. Thanks to the blog world, I now really like Greek yogurt too! Yum.

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  8. How cool that you got to live there! What a wonderful experience. So, you are a real expert in reviewing the yogurt! ;)

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  9. Out of curiosity, have you ever considered hosting a high school foreign exchange student?

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