Spring clean-up.
We've got visitors soon from the land down under. We must polish the brass and clean the silver. The fatted pig is ready for slaughter.
Spring clean-up.
We've got visitors soon from the land down under. We must polish the brass and clean the silver. The fatted pig is ready for slaughter.
Yesterday we had to go down, not into town, but as far as the bridge which separates the two islands which make up Poros. The bridge goes over a small canal, about 3 metres wide. Most visitors hardly realise they are driving from one island to another. Blink and you've missed the connection.
So, to continue, it was only 9am and we had a 2 hour wait so we walked along to a coffee shop right on the water.
So much has been going on these last 2 weeks I haven't had time to post about our latest Poros Bazaar. This one was in aid of another dog
Our 2 tireless Organisers. Waiting for the first customers on a warm Poros day.
Jan from England and Cecile from Belgium. Both are very long time residents. Local-aliens like me
EKMEK KATAÏFI OR KADAYIFI
INGREDIENTS
Syrup
Cream
SYRUP - In a saucepan, make the syrup by adding the
water, sugar, lemon, cinnamon, and honey. Bring to the boil and after 2
minutes, set aside to cool. Preheat the oven to 180Oc
PASTRY - Add the kataifi pastry to a deep dish and
separate it out evenly. Pull the clumps of pastry apart. Pour over the melted
butter. Mix the pastry around till it is all covered in butter. Press down. Place
into the oven until golden brown and crispy, 20-30 mins at 180oC.
While the pastry is hot pour over the cooler syrup.
Hot pastry, cool syrup
CUSTARD -
Make the custard by putting the eggs and 100g of
caster sugar into a bowl, beat until creamy and set aside.
In a saucepan, add the milk, cornflour, plain flour,
100g caster sugar and vanilla essence. Whisk all together until it’s warm (not
too hot).
Using a ladle scoop a spoonful of the warm milk
mixture and put it into the egg mixture. Mix it together and add the egg
mixture to the remaining milk mixture in the saucepan. Mix thoroughly over the
heat until the custard thickens. Let it cool. Don't let it boil or the eggs will set. If this does happen just whisk till combined.
Pour the
custard over the top of the pastry and spread it out. Place in the fridge for an hour to set.
WHIPPED CREAM - Add the cream, vanilla and icing sugar
to a bowl and beat until whipped thickly. Then add to the top of the custard. When evenly spread, decorate the top with
a sprinkle of finely chopped nuts.
My sis in law in NZ, Bev, puts crushed toffee on the
top. That sounds more to my taste! A little bit of chocolate wouldn't be bad either. Who cares if it's not the traditional fistikia, pistachio nuts.
From start to finish
I remember when we lived on the island of Salamina and my brother R and sister in law Joan came to share a Greek Easter with us. The boys got the lamb wired onto the spit and it spent the night in the bath tub.
It's stinky. And it drips blood. Seriously stomach upsetting.
It was Good Friday yesterday in Orthodox Greece. And in Serbia. Tomorrow the Serbian branch of my NZ family will be celebrating in a similar way at the other end of of the world.
Good Friday evening there is a candlelight parade and each of the 4 big churches with their congregation meet in the main square.
Last night it was a parade without candles. It was blowing too hard to keep a candle lit. We went down to join the throng, hordes, invasion, to see Poppi carrying the Epitafio of our local church. This is a heavy wooden structure decorated by the church ladies in swathes of spring flowers. It is presumed to be the bier of Christ.
We went down early to get parking but still ended up stuck in between 2 cars and only left with many manoeuvres . There must have been a few thousand people down in the square. I tried to take photos but all I could get were heads with hands holding phones aloft taking videos. We couldn't see Poppi but family sent photos and video. It was a great honour for her. It's rare to see a female holding the epitafio.
Meanwhile at the big Cathedral in Central Athens grandson George was in the front line guarding the big Epitafio. They showed the whole ceremony, parade, and him, on TV but we missed that. Fortunately there were photos and videos taken of him as well.
Our hearts swelled with pride. I spit on my grandchildren. Don't want any of them to suffer from an evil eye.
It looks as though K has closed the deal on the suckling pig. We were humming and haa-ing about spit roasting a whole pig for our summer visitors . We need to show them a genuine Greek feast but the smallest pig he could find was around 16 kilos. That would mean quite a few kilos of leftover pork even if everyone took home doggy bags. I can't imagine they'll want to take cold fatty pork back to their hotel rooms to eat for breakfast. Good coffee and a hot cheese pie whilst sitting on a balcony overlooking the Aegean sea will be more acceptable the morning after.
The pig will be slaughtered a few days before they all arrive and Ks friend will keep it in his big fridge. He's assured us this one won't be more than 12 kilos, head, trotters and all.
Now another problem has popped up. They arrive at the beginning of June and the fire ban will be in full swing. Smoke from our BBQ will attract the fire department and we will have a fire engine, siren shrieking, tearing down our cul de sac.
K will now have to negotiate with the fire department. We might need a 16 kilo pig after all so we can have a fire engine on stand-by outside the house and feed the crew.
Or we will get it roasted, in the oven, not on the spit, at the rustic taverna up the road.
Negotiations continue......
The man who sells the pig also roasts pigs. We could get it delivered ready cooked.
Or, our fire fighter friend says we can bbq as long we have a hose and a fire extinguisher nearby.
At the moment K is deep in Easter lamb deliberations. Will we have traditional kokoretsi (innards covered with intestines) spit roasted alongside the lamb. And what about those in the family that don't eat lamb or offal? Some prefer goat, others would appreciate a bit of chicken. Every year it's the same and every year it turns into a greek drama.
Serious business . The big day is this Sunday . Then he can get back to the pig.
The girls are back again to dye 32 eggs. K hard boiled them last night so they're all ready to go.
But the girls don't get off that easy. Once I've got them in my grasp they're 'forced' to do chores on my list. I always have a list.
They changed our sheets. I'm not allowed to lift mattress corners yet and K has problems with tendons in his shoulders. One down.
They stored away all the carpets that were cleaned a couple of weeks ago, emptied the dehydrator in our bedroom. We have a lot of damp in our houses. They both have dehydrators which they say they empty way more often than ours.
Next on the list was moving our very heavy concrete umbrella stand into position to give us shade at the front of the house. Easy peasy for a rower with strong arms.
And then onto the eggs. 32 is the least we have ever dyed and it's more than enough. I don't know how K agreed to so few. It's usually double that.
Of the 32 a dozen go off to family and another dozen to friends along with a small container of Easter biscuits. That leaves 8 for us. 3 or 4 will be cracked by us on Saturday night along with the offal soup so K will be left with 4 or 5 to have as a meze with his nightly glass of wine next week. Perfect.
1st May
- A day to gather flowers and make wreaths to hang on doors, gates, your car.
- A day of news black-out because all the journalists and news crews are on strike.
In fact it's a day of general strikes, marches and riots. But we won't hear about it all till tomorrow morning.
- This year it lands in the middle of Holy Week and the granddaughters have been busy making easter biscuits, koulourakia. Tomorrow on Holy Thursday they'll be here again dyeing red eggs.