Substitute substitute

 What to do when you want to bake a cake for your sweet-tooth husband and there's no butter and only one egg.

You could go and buy half a dozen eggs but the shops are 6ks away and tomorrow is shopping day. 

Substitute of course. 

I made a chocolate/coffee cake.

It called for 2 eggs. I used 1egg and a tbsp of vinegar.

Butter? Olive oil is even better.

Vanilla? A good slug of my homemade rose geranium liqueur instead.

Coffee? We always have plenty of that, Greek, nescafe classic and decaf. We don't drink as much coffee in the winter so there are 2 tins left in the cupboard. During summer all visitors are offered iced coffee and we drink it anytime of the day. 

Cocoa?  A few months ago I read something about problems with the cocoa bean harvest and stocked up on good plain unsweetened cocoa while it was still available and cheap.  I don't see any lack of cocoa in the shops. Chocolate has gone up in price but what hasn't. 

Flour? We always have kilos of the stuff, just in case.

 Flour, macaroni, rice, beans and lentils, olive oil, preserved olives and wine . In an emergency we wouldn't go hungry. These are the basics. 

Oil? Spit spit spit that we should ever run out of olive oil. We still have half a 17 kilo tin of last year's oil. It's just about harvest time and we will be shopping around for fresh oil.  'They say' that this year the price will be slightly lower. 

We'll See! 

On a Christmas plate

Which I use all year round. 

It's too cheerful not to use and the 2 plates and cups were a present from grandchildren

Not bad at all.  He doesn't like it too sweet. 

I always halve the sugar when baking, including this cake. 

On the menu today

Lentil soup, bread, olives and salted sardines for K. 

Leftover tuna for me. 

A fisherman friend of Ks yesterday gave him 4 big tuna straight from his fishing boat. We have kept one and given the rest to family and friends. 

******** the cake passed the K-test

😁😁😁😁😁

OHI Day

 28th October

Big brother is a year older.

Happy Birthday Paul Mou. 

See you in a few months. 

And another day of Greek National Pride. There will be a church service, wreath laying, speeches,  and a parade of school children along the waterfront to the 'big band' music of the Poros Municipal 'orchestra'.

This year we will have only one granddaughter to cheer on in the parade. 

We'll be there!

This day is called OHI Day. The day PM Metaxas, back in 1940, replied with a resounding NO to Mussolini's demand to surrender.

A few hours later war began on the front with Albania where Italian forces had gathered.  Greeks fought them back into Albania.

A newspaper at the time wrote

'Today there is no Greek who does not add his voice to the  thunderous  OHI OHI OHI (no, no, no), we will not hand over Greece to Italy. 

OHI.....Italian ruffiani* will not set foot on our land.

OHI..... the barbarian will not desecrate our Parthenon.'

From then on this day became known as OHI Day.

You haven't seen Poppi on the blog for a while. Here she is laying a wreath on behalf of the Poros Rowing Club. Beside her is Petros, another Balkanian medal winner.

Poppi with the Mayor of Poros

She was then One of the students presented with an award for her acceptance into University.

*Ruffiani

Looking for a translation.

'Bootlicker' came up.

That's about right 😁

26th and the 28th.....Celebrations

 26th October.  Happy Name day Danae mas and Jamie mas and anyone named Dimitri or Dimitra

Having coffee with daughter Danae and friends.

The sun was blazing.  A beautiful day.

The beginning of a 3 day holiday

culminating in OHI Day on Monday.  The day Greece replied NO to Mussolini's demand to walk in and occupy Greece. So began Greece's entry in to WW11

K replaced our Flag.  

The old one was faded and tattered.  We always have 1 or 2 spare.

Sunday 27th Lunch Time 

Grilled tuna Fillets.. 

A  rare occurrence. Filleted tuna. K rarely fillets fish

 It was so civilised eating fish without greasy hands.

Delicious. With an olive oil and lemon sauce and a lettuce salad also with oil and lemon juice. Still using my scavenged lemons. They are green but have lots of juice. 

More Misc...

 Some odds and some ends.

Autumn is definitely here and I'm pleased.

  Duvets went on beds last week.  Something to snuggle under.  It's still warm enough at night to leave open a window and a shutter. 

I wear slippers on my feet instead of walking bare foot on chilly tiles.

I walk.

  I enjoy a half hour in the garden, not doing much.  There are no weeds yet. No rain. Pots only need watering every few days instead of daily.  I sowed rocket (arugulla, or roka) seeds in the old wheelbarrow.  I wanted to plant leeks but our local garden centre had an argument with his supplier and there will no leek plants this year.  I'll put in a few garlic cloves and onions just to say I have a winter garden.  Maybe there will be a few lettuces though it's cheaper to buy them when we want them.  

Saint Nick or Saint Basil

depending on where you live

His beard is growing thick and long.

His Santa costume needn't  include a false beard this Christmas. 

Dunedin airport, in NZ, has put a 3 minute limit on goodbye hugs. Prolonged farewell-embraces have been causing traffic jams.  

This news went viral for 24hrs here in Greece.  Various friends asked what the hell NZ was thinking of.

When I read the article, thanks  Al Jezeera, I discovered the request was quite reasonable.   Cars stopping at the departure gate to drop off passengers were holding up traffic so the airport put up a sign

'Max hug time 3 minutes.

Those seeking fonder farewells should head for the airport car park'

Fair enough.  And 3 minutes is quite enough.  Get your baggage out, give 'em a hug and off you go! There's a line of cars waiting behind you. 

NZ was in the headlines again though not many noticed this news here in Greece.  NZ won the America's Cup yachting race for the 3rd time in a row.

' Team New Zealand have officially made history as the first continuous team to win the America's Cup 3 times in a row.' 

'The America's Cup is a sailing competition and the longest international competition still operating in any sport.'

  It's a huge event for New Zealand and another great victory for NZ sport.  Our Kiwi-Greek-Australian family sent smiley faces.

 

Food

 

Classic NZ Fish Pie.  Or as classic as you can make it in a foreign country with substitute ingredients. 

This should be made with fresh smoked NZ kawhai.  I made it with frozen north sea cod.

My daughter who loves anything from downunder has asked me to make this for months.  Or is it years, Elli Mou?  Although I've eaten this pie in years gone by I don't think I've ever cooked it.

It should be smoked fish in a white, or cheese sauce with parsley and boiled eggs topped with mashed spuds.  I used the recipe from Edmonds Cookery book.  This has been, and still is, the bible of NZ cooking.  My copy is falling to pieces. I've used it often over the last 45 years.  It is stained and has copious notes in the margin.  

Pie on a plate

Carnivore Flatbread 

For the last 2 and a half years I've been eating an animal based diet.  Mainly meat and eggs, fish, cheese.  No bread, cake or packaged goodies.  No sugar.  Most of the time. I eat cake and icecream on a birthday or a name day.  If I feel like it.  You get the picture.  I've lost a lot of weight in the past 4 years.   One day I'll tell you all about it and show the photos.

I miss bread for the  sandwiches and its satisfying chewiness.  Now and again carnivore bread recipes turn up on the youtube vlogs I follow.  I've found an easy one which turns out like a wrap and I can wrap it around some ham and cheese and maybe a slice of lettuce or tomato.

Take a pot of cottage cheese, mix in 2 eggs.  Spread it out on a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes. Leave to cool. 

Not bad, but I'm over it now.  

I just found another recipe, grated cabbage and eggs.  Mix and bake.

Or avocado, grated cheese and egg. 

Or how about, if I want a piece of bread then I'll just eat a piece of bread! 

Grated cabbage and egg. Who the hell thinks these things up. Life is too short to grate cabbage.

               Lamington Balls

My dear kiwi family brought  packets of this mix with them.  I've made one lot.  Chocolate balls with coconut in them and cashews.

Just add coconut oil

Maple syrup

and water

Substitute, substitute.

I used olive oil , honey ....not water.  I  used some homemade liqueur instead. 

One packet makes 10 balls.  I ate 3 of these.

Sorry kids.  You didn't get a taste this time but I have another packet, for the holidays.  Or my birthday maybe.  That's closer than xmas.

Out and About

 The days are cool  and still quite long.  We go off daylight saving on Saturday night Sunday morning. The days will start to draw in.  I have started walking, seeing the neighbourhood again, checking up on what's new and what's not.  

My first walk takes me within view of the sea and the bay below.  Nothing has changed here

We have had a few showers but no significant rainfall.

The fertile area with grape vines and olive trees is still very brown and dry

This beautiful stone house has finally been finished, after 15 years.

There were people there this summer.  The windows and shutters were open but I still haven't seen the owners.  They must live in Athens.  It's closed up and empty again

Even though it's so dry a few wild flowers have appeared amongst the rocks and dry stalks

Cyclamen

And ?

Poros has a recently established system of old pathways.  They have been cleaned and cleared and a walking club tramps the paths.

These signs show where they go and how many kilometres each section is.

This is  a narrow rocky path which eventually leads down to the sea.  I started walking it today but it's very uneven and stony with dry branches poking out onto the path.  I didn't go far.  It's a bit precarious for a wobbly walker like me.

It's nice to be out in the fresh air in the evening for an hour or so.  There are bikers and runners about and quite a few quad bikes.  Poros still has tourists and late vacationers.

Sunday Lunch

 A Sunday in mid October.  It wasn't very warm, only 22oC, with a stiff breeze.  K wanted to BBQ.  He had acquired a couple of octopus tentacles and he had it in his mind it was a day for ouzo and octopus.

The octopus tentacles were hung out to dry alongside my washing

Then on to the electric grill

With that brisk breeze it was not a day to light the coals.

There is still a fire ban in place

From the grill to the plate.

With a few squeezes of lemon juice and a sprinkling of oregano.  The perfect meze for ouzo.

Lemons are rather scarce at the moment.  Our trees have only a few hard green fruit.  At the greengrocer they are 1.70 euros a kilo.

On my daily walk I managed to pick a few green lemons* from neighbouring trees and they had quite a lot of juice.  

The meze was saved.  

After the first course there were grilled chicken wings and greek salad.  And wine

A friend, koumbaros** (the father of Ks, now 30 year old, godson)

stopped on his way home for a quick chat and an ouzo.

Quick chat and an ouzo.  This is Greece.

These 2 grew up together and are both ex-Navy. They have a lot in common.  Once they start talking they find it hard to stop.

4 hours later, after rather a lot of ouzo and wine, they finally decided it was time to break up the party.  

K was a happy camper after these hours of company, conversation, discussion and debate. It's what he loves.

*on today's walk I carried a back pack and some secateurs.  I only managed to cut half a dozen lemons by squeezing my hand through a nasty rusty fence. I need a grandchild, but most of them, including Poppi, have flown the roost. They're in Athens for the start of their tertiary studies.

Of course I could just ask. This neighbour would willingly open the gate for me. But stolen fruit is tastier. Or in this case, juicer. 

**koumbaros.  Bestman, groomsman or woman, godfather or godmother.  A  koumbaros becomes a close member of the family

Bread

 Another church post.

 It's an important part of Ks life. 

  This particular church service takes place on the 23rd September every year to celebrate its consecration. The church, in our old neighbourhood, was built after K and his school friends found an icon when their football fell into a hole on a building site. Many, many years ago.

It's a long story but apparently the woman who owned the land, then living in America, had a dream that the icon would be found there.  When she heard of its discovery, she donated the land and paid for the church to be built.

How did the icon come to be poking out from under a few feet of dirt on a building site?  The only explanation I've ever heard is that it was the site of a much older church which had been demolished.

Anyway, the boys found it.  I know them all, all in their 60s now, and they all tell the same story.

K decided he would have another try at making the Holy Bread which is offered at services like this.  That Holy Bread which has to have a stamp in the middle.  The stamp which never comes out clearly, as it is supposed to.

We did a slightly better job this time.  You can, if you know what to look for, see the stamp outline on the bread in the photo above.

This is how it is supposed to look

There will be a 'next time' I'm sure. 

Photo thanks to Google 

The church of 'Christo' 

Like a lot of churches here it hasn't got much room inside. We perched on a wall at the back. 

You stand or sit where you can.  

Misc...

 Floating around the internet lately

Why is there a 'd' in fridge and not on refrigerator?

The English language.....

A mobile health unit was here in Poros for a few days.

There were eye doctors and teeth doctors and orthopedics and more.  All arranged by the council.  The doctors checked over 454 school children. All free.

Doctors come to the schools for check-ups most years.  My daughter's bad eye sight at age 8 was discovered by a test at her school when we lived in Crete.

They usually don't come in such concentrated form.

Christmas...in October

'Far too early to be thinking about Christmas' most will shout.  Including me.

In the good old US of A you've got something called Halloween and then Thanksgiving, or vice versa and you have to get those darn elections over and done with.

Here it's a few name days and a National holiday and church fiestas.  You know the drill.  I don't have to fill you in on all of those.

And then December.  And a few more family birthdays.  Though October seems to be the most popular month for those in our family.

Anyway.....

It's not till December that I usually start thinking of Christmas.  And presents.  Though K is already pressing me on what we will eat on Christmas day.  The usual!  He cooks Greek and I cook kiwi.

The grandchildren have all grown up and it's not easy finding presents that they might enjoy so last year we started a Secret Santa Christmas draw.  Each of us drew one name and we all bought a present just for that person.

Oh, except for the Christmas stockings.  That's a tradition they all still enjoy even though the oldest is 24.

This year the next wave of grandchildren are going off to the big city to study and by next week there will be only one left on Poros for the winter.  So we had the Secret Santa draw early while most of them are still on the island.

And, as usual, you can't come to Papou Ks house without partaking of food and drink so it was another 'party'.

'Guess who' hiding in her hoody, keeping warm after a few hours of rowing practice.  She wrote the names on slips of paper.

So whose name did you draw Poppi Mou?

An excellent bottle of Marlborough ( NZ) sauvignon blanc for Elli and I and our granddaughters sharing it with us too now.  Darn.  

Thank you Peter and Fernanda who brought two bottles of NZ wine when they visited last month.

K and son in law Yiannis drinking the local plonk

All set up and almost ready to go 

The meat is on the grill, the 'good wine' bottle open

October Church Fiesta

 Agioi (Saints) Kyprianou and Justiniani

In English they are Saints Cyprian(male) and Justina (a virginal female martyr).

I've just been reading up on these two.  They have a long story which I will not relate.  Bits of their skulls and hands and feet are kept as Holy Relics in Monasteries all over the place from Mount Athos here in Greece, Cyprus to Romania.

So ......

Half an hour away, across the strait, down the road, and round the corner is a picturesque blue and white church on a cliff above the sea. It's dedicated to these 2 Saints. The Priest just happens to have been a sailor at the Navy base here when K was one of the officers. 

Papa Makarios is a good man and an ideal village Priest. Twenty years ago he raised money and had the church built and since then he has been gathering basic food stuffs for the poor, supporting parishioners and urging the council to provide facilities for the elderly and a sports arena for the younger generation. 

Today was the celebration of the Saints and the founding of the church.

A man of the people unlike the monks at the monastery here on Poros.

Blue and white with flags flying all the way down the road.  

2 fire trucks slowed down as they passed, alarms flashing, parked further down and their crews came to take part in the procession of the Icons.  The Icons of the Saints, decorated with flowers, are paraded around the church and grounds.

The church inside and out was crowded.  We perched on a wall outside as we often do.  When the tray was passed around for donations they made 500 euros just from this service.  There was a service last night and another this evening.

All the money goes towards feeding and looking after the needy of the village of  Taktikopouli.  Some will go towards the centre for the elderly.  A place they can gather, enjoy some company, entertainment, coffee and meals.

When the liturgy was over and the Priest had had his say, warm and humurous, everyone filed in to receive a small piece of Holy bread.

I have gone inside on occasions but usually get a strange look from whoever is the priest.  I am obviously a foreigner and they know I'm not likely to be a member of the Orthodox church.

I didn't go this time and I should have, along with Poppi.  This priest would have loved to see Ks wife and granddaughter.

His eyes lit up when he saw K, his old Navy Officer.  He hugged him, told everyone around that he was the best officer in the Greek Navy, related a couple of stories about their time together and pressed a bottle of the Holy wine into Ks hands as he left.

We have promised to go again one Sunday soon.

From the church we drove down to the town of Methana.

Methana is under an extinct volcano and smells slightly sulphurous.

    The waterfront was empty  and perfect for a cappuccino 

Coffee and orange juice time with poppi

Me and K

From Methana we went over the hill to a bay on the other side of the peninsular, passing through the village where Ks dear Mama grew up.

He enjoyed telling Poppi about her great grandmother herding sheep for miles every day to a shelter in a cave,  wading into the very rocky sea, full of sharp volcanic stones to catch octopus and gather shellfish, to wash the winter mats and rugs in the sea in spring and travelling by donkey to church fiestas, of which there are many around there.

We finished off the morning eating at one of the fish tavernas at the little harbour of Vathi (Deep).  There were half a dozen  yachts with foreign flags tied up and we were entertained by a couple of catamarans that came and tied up in front of us. Bulgarian or Romanian. It took them a while to sort out the ropes. It was surprisingly busy for a Wednesday in October.

K, who is related to the owner of the restaurant (naturally) chose fresh grilled cod.  But he was the only one who ate fish at this fish taverna.  I had chicken souvlaki and Poppi had bifteki (a grilled hamburger without the bun).

And there were pureed yellow lentils and boiled greens and some cheese for me.

Greek Wedding

Saturday. 

6pm

At the chapel down by the sea at the end of the harbour.

The chapel is dedicated to the Holy Cross.  A picturesque blue and white chapel by the sea at the entrance to Poros Harbour .

K's niece, Vasiliki, married Kyriakos, the son of a friend.  Immediately after the wedding ceremony the baptism of their 2 year old son took place.

The Chapel of the Holy Cross

The end of September and it was hot. Very hot even at 6pm and as you can see there was very little shade.

The wedding ceremony took place outside the church and we all stood, or perched on the sea wall, watched and caught up with relatives we don't often see.

This little girl found a sandbox full of stones and tried to empty it.

Kyriakos and Vasiliki wearing their wedding wreaths.

Kyriakos, his Mum and little Konstantinos waiting for his Mama to arrive and the wedding to begin

The table setting with a small pouch of sugared almonds and an almond cake called 'amigthaloto' a local sweet made from crushed almonds

The reception took place at the Sirocco, the old disco up what seemed 100 steps.  The disco has been closed for years but opens up for large events like this.  

My 3 girls dancing, full of life and not minding the heat.

The music inside was ear splitting and from our table we couldn't see the dancers. So we all went outside where it was a tad quieter and much cooler, with a view of the dance floor.

The DJ played a mix of modern Greek and foreign music. Music for the younger generation but K and I got up and gave it a go too. We had our photo taken on the dance floor by the photographer and then went back to our perch on the wall.

There was a bar outside where all the men gathered. Free drinks.  Whisky is very popular at weddings.

Papous K with 3 of his grandchildren 

It was one of the best weddings we've been to. Vasiliki invited all the extended Greek family, and family from the Netherlands.

The Disco has been closed for many years and there was a general discussion amongst the oldies, like us, that we hadn't been here for at least 30 years. A long time ago in days of yore......

The steps up are a bit challenging nowadays and caution is advised coming down them after a few too many glasses 

I was escorted down by my granddaughter, although I only had one glass of wine. I'm wobbly without any wine at all.

K was escorted down by his daughters, but in a lighthearted way which didn't damage his reputation. 

Wishing them a long and happy life together.