Tuesday 5 November 2024

Another Day

                                                                                 Leftovers.



That big marmalade Tom got the bones and heads from the fried Aegean fish we ate on Sunday.  He hangs around the chooks, turkeys and geese looking for any of their leftovers

In the white bag was the remains of the funeral wheat, known as koliva. I gave the koliva to the chooks and turkeys.  Any leftovers musnt be thrown away because it has been blessed in church.  K puts it out for the birds.
Boiled wheat with icing sugar, coconut, fine bread crumbs to soak up any moisture, pomegranite seeds, raisins, sesame seeds, cinnamon and finely chopped almonds. Oh and chopped parsely.  Everyone, every district has its own recipe and traditions. I tried a few pieces of almonds.  Nice .
 
I helped make trays of it for my inlaws many memorials.  My greek sister in law is very do-it-yourself.  Though its more likely nowadays that the local funeral director will provide the koliva, put it into bags after the service and hand it out with a plastic spoon and paper napkin and a sweet bread or cake. 
You eat a spoonful and ask the Lord to forgive the one who has passed, and has, you hope, gone up there to heaven.


Winter is approaching
The road sides are full of pine cones and little bits of wood which are ideal for starting winter fires.
When I walk I collect a bag full.  My knees and legs are still sore from the unusual exercise.  Take a step, bend down, pick up a pine cone, put it in the bag and so it goes on for a hundred metres.  I've cleaned off one side of the top road.  Today I'll do another stretch, and more stretching.  
In a week or so when it gets really cold people come from all over the island for the pinecones.  They won't find many left.
Revenge from last year when outsiders came in and scooped them all up .

Boiled Goat  
K has a friend who has goats.  Now and again he'll slaughter one and sell the meat.  It's much cheaper than the butcher. K and his friends prefer this way of buying their meat.  They know the family, they know where the goats graze and what they eat. 

We still had a bag of frozen goat from the last kill.  
I cooked the last of it in the pressure cooker.  It was very tender, fell of the bone.  Then I put it in the oven for 20 minutes with garlic, lots of mustard, oregano and lemon juice to crisp up the fat.  It was delicious.
As long as there is no smell it's good meat.  A good goat man knows when to kill and how to prepare the meat so it is at its best. 

I've just realised its November 5, Guy Fawkes night.  Memories of our big bonfires down the gulley with firecrackers, Catherine wheels and the occasional rocket whizzing into the sky.  Later on private bonfires were discouraged and the local Lions or Rotary Club organised a big town bonfire with a sausage sizzle.  Oh the smell and the excitement.  Days of yore.
I forgot the sparklers, staring at their sparks and twirling them around in the air. And looking at all our neighbours fires across the gulley. Lots of fun for a small girl.

Around here neighbours have started olive picking though the olives are sparse this year and not very plump.  Others are waiting, hoping for some rain to fatten the few olives on the trees.

Down in the Cyclades, Naxos and Paros, local priests have held services to pray for rain

Sunday 3 November 2024

This Week

 This week on a Greek island


K changed the flags again.
We were given a brand new Greek flag which is supposed to be of a stronger material which will not tear or fade in the sun.  
We will see


More gifts from Greeks.
4 old but sturdy wooden chairs with reclining backs
They need sandpapering and varnishing.
Will they be repaired and repainted or will they end up being used as they are now


The bed bases we acquired last winter are now out in the garden covered with a tarp.


That's an olive tree beside them. We got that tree about 8 years ago. It's almost the same size and never has any olives. A bit of a disappointment but it's healthy enough.





Son in law Kyriakos 
With a cup of greek coffee and bag of funeral wheat

Saturday morning was a 1 year memorial for a friend of ours. 
After the church service we all went for coffee as is the tradition. We are given a small bag with funeral wheat, plastic spoons to eat it with and a very nice muffin.
I just had a sugarless Greek coffee. I didn't drink my usual 2 or 3 glasses of the sweet liqueur.  It is sweet and easy to drink a few small shot glasses and wobble home.

After the coffee we were all invited by the family to a lunch downtown. It might have been a sad memorial for a friend gone before his time but it was a nice day. 
About 30 friends and relatives gathered. We had a really good lunch at one of the few harbourside tavernas still open. It was a beautiful sunny day, the food was excellent, the wine, according to the expert was very drinkable and the company and conversation most enjoyable.
The Greeks have many different courtesies which they utter at these times.
One of them is
'May you live long and remember him with love'. 
And that's what we are doing

Sunday lunch


Fresh fish fried by my fisher man. A variety of small fish from the Aegean.
Eaten with potatoes baked with lots of lemon juice, garlic and oil.
No Greek salad. 

Simply accompanied by bread and wine.











Tuesday 29 October 2024

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
😁😁😁😁😁







Monday 28 October 2024

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 😁






Sunday 27 October 2024

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.

 






Friday 25 October 2024

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.