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Clean Monday
What a day. It's a public holiday and another huge celebration. When the children were young we went on picnics and flew kites, both part of the traditons of this day. We ate shellfish, flat bread baked without yeast, pickled vegetables and fish roe.
Times have changed. The children have grown up and for the grandchildren, coming up to our house is like a frolic in the wild.
For the adults, it is another day of ouzo and wine, lots of octopus, taramasalata, prawns, and sea urchins. The kids eat fried kalamari, freshly baked lagana (flat bread) and chips.
Everyone was happy, the sun shone. Children frolicked, dogs chased cats, men roared and women trilled. I shot a short video of the noise, confusion and air of celebration but can't get it to play on the blog. To write about the chaotic astmosphere, to describe the antics just does not give you any idea of our family pandemonium.
Everything we could make, bake or cook ourselves, we did so.
Homemade lagana (bread without yeast) , taramasalata (fish roe dip), and dolmathes (vine leaves stuffed with rice and herbs) and a jug of homemade wine. Crabs are from a friend, octopus (not shown) from the seas around the island and prawns from the (local) fishmonger. The lemons are from our trees naturally. We had sea urchins in their spiny half shell and kalamari (frozen, it's cheaper and more tender), pickled cucumber and cauliflower (home prepared) and halvas (a sweet made from semolina and olive oil)
Vaso sent down 6 litres of her latest rosé
After all that eating half the family trooped off up the hill to fly a kite
Blue skies but with little wind
Yes, the kite did get tangled up in that telephone wire
With a bit of effort and ingenuity they retrieved the kite but left the string
The girls did a little work in the garden
Trimming the branches of the lemon trees
A new way into the house
At least he managed to get the window open after it had been closed all winter
Everyone helped with the clean up. All the dishes were washed. Cats gathered from all over the neighbourhood to squabble over prawn shells.
Rubbish was hauled away by departing guests.
A happy family
Love the food. Wish the video played. You need to upload it onto your YouTube account and post the link. That’s the only easy now I think.
ReplyDeleteI noticed that there was an option to download from a YouTube account. I'll have to have a look to see what I can do
DeleteYou don't need the video though. Bet your extended family gatherings are the same! Kefi!!!!
Where did the "Clean" part, come from???? Perhaps the original idea, was to use up everything, which tastes good, on the day before lent!!!! ,-)
ReplyDeleteAny tummy-aches, on the next day?
Regardless, a good time was had by all. Even the cats.
Clean I guess because we're leaving behind all those heavy foods, meat and dairy and moving into lent
DeleteThe girl on the fence, looks to be in a precarious position.... What with her cousins wielding bigggg shears. ,-)
ReplyDeleteI take it, that she survived, unscathed. ,-)))
Those kids are acrobats. Climbing up a fence with sharp objects is part of the game. They are told to be careful and so far they have been
DeleteThe table is amazing, we have to travel very far here to eat similar things, only in the best restaurants we can find it here.
ReplyDeleteWould have been expensive for all of us to eat out but a lot of seafood is given to us. Good thing about living on an island. Lots of fish in our seas still
DeleteSounds like quite a time.
ReplyDeleteIt was... Again .frankly I'm tired of it all but k loves the family chaos
DeleteWhat a feast, it all looks delicious! Wonderful to have all the family gathered together.
ReplyDeleteWonderful but tiring. We have the biggest house so this is where we all gather.
DeleteSounds great.
ReplyDelete'sounds' great! Lot of work
DeleteIt sounds like you have something to celebrate all the time.
ReplyDeleteYes, all the time. Next celebration is 25th march. Public holiday, name day, parades and eating. I'm exhausted already though we won't be gathering at our house thank goodness
DeleteSounds like so much more fun than my trip into town for the local supermarket on Monday!
ReplyDeleteI would have preferred the supermarket!!
DeleteAlways good to get out into the Spring sunshine. How many cats do you have? Are they wild or pets? Lemon season comes here in Winter, it sounds like the same thing there.
ReplyDeleteAll the cats are wild and there are four of them....usually. the word went out about the party and half a dozen strangers turned up. I hope they don't stick around
Delete