A team of people cutting garlic for hummus includes, clockwise from let: Terry Simonovich of Dallas, Lynn Ziegler of Kingston, Georgette Austin of Hanover Townshp, Tish Capristo of Wilkes-Barre and Therese Kasmark of Forty Fort.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
Sharon Heylek of Hanover Township, Sharon Lumbis of Plains Township and Marilynn Pelak of Blakeslee work on Lebanese pastries. Pelak is brushing clarified butter onto the phyllo dough that will be filled with ground nuts and sugar.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
Co-chairs of the kitchen crew for the Lebanese Festival are Cynthia Collins, Joyce Birk and Lisa Thomas.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
Mark Spagnuolo of Plains, Frank Galoardi of Wilkes-Barre and Mary Ann Spagnuolo of Plains chop parsley for tabbouleh, one of many ethnic dishes planned for the Lebanese Food Festival at St. Anthony & St. George Maronite Church in Wilkes-Barre.
Mary Therese Biebel | Times Leader
“No vampires are gonna bother us!” Terry Simonovich of Dallas said with a laugh.
Thursday morning, she was part of a team of five people who were all busy mincing piles of garlic cloves, preparing them for hummus and various other dishes that will be served on Sunday at the annual Lebanese Festival that begins at 11:30 a.m. at St. Anthony & St. George Church, 311 Park Ave., Wilkes-Barre.
In another section of the church hall, volunteers Frank Galoardi of Wilkes-Barre and Mark and Mary Ann Spagnuolo of Plains Township were chopping parsley very fine, getting it ready to be a major ingredient in the tabbouleh salad.
A third table was devoted to sweeter food. Here, Marilynn Pelak from Blakeslee brushed butter onto phyllo dough as her friends Sharon Lumbis from Plains and Sharon Heylek from Hanover Township prepared the ground nuts and sugar that would be baked inside.
“It has to be clarified butter,” Sharon Heylek specified. And, indeed, the butter looked very clear.
The church volunteers who were preparing food three days before the festival hailed from Wilkes-Barre, nearby boroughs, the West Side, the Back Mountain and even as far as the Poconos.
“We all come back to our home parish,” Therese Kasmark of Forty Fort said, hinting that no distance is too far for the church volunteers to come back and cook together, just as their mothers and Sithus (grandmothers) had done before them.
Food on the menu at the Lebanese Festival includes stuffed grape leaves, tabbouleh, hummus, green beans in a garlic sauce, chicken shawarma, Zataar bread, stuffed casings, lamb chops and chicken kebabs served with vegetables and salad, and kibbie, both cooked and raw.
There also will be Lebanese coffee, which is stronger than American coffee, Lisa Thomas said, and homemade funnel cakes, Lebanese pastries and Hillside Farms ice cream will be available for dessert. There is no need to pre-order the food, said Thomas, who is co-chairing the kitchen effort with Joyce Birk and Cynthia Collins. She is co-chairing the entire festival, which includes a 50/50 drawing and quite a few raffle baskets, with Bob Decker.
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