Miracle Cake

 27th August The day of the Fiesta of Orthodox Saint Fanourios. Agios Fanourios

He is the finder of all things lost, from your purse to your peace of mind

There's a special cake, that's made for him, no eggs, no milk, no butter.  It's  a cake made to say thanks.  A cake which must be shared around with friends, strangers, neighbours and family. We have been given squares of this cake many times by acquaintances we hardly know, following the tradition. Neighbours have knocked on our door sharing it around the neighbourhood. 

I made the cake on his fiesta this year to say thanks on behalf of my daughter who had lost her purse, keys, cards, the lot.  All you have to do is pledge the cake and he opens your eyes, or in this case your ears.  2 minutes after promising to make a fanouropitta her phone rang, her  daughter had her purse. 

Then she offered some pieces to our friend Birgit whose husband couldn't find his watch.  It wasn't long before they found that too, under the bed, where they'd looked before of course

Many people would scoff, I probably did too, back then.  But Fanourios has proved his ability to guide our eyes straight to that lost object over and over again.  No one in our family scoffs. We believe. 

My fanouropitta 

K made a cut-out of a cross and it turned out very nicely

Daughter Danae didn't have time to bake so, as the one who made the promise, she bought the ingredients. I made the fanouropitta

Last year, niece Julie, who was here buying Poros Olive oil for the NZ market, lost the key to her hotel room. She had looked in her bag and along the road. As she'd been visiting us at the house I searched the car and the house. No key.  Then I thought, Agios Fanourios!  I promised to bake a cake if he showed me the key.  I kid you not, I went over to a chest of drawers by the door, where I had already looked, picked up a book and there was the key underneath it! 

Then there was my Greek ID card last year.  I had been searching for it for weeks.  I hadn't told anyone.  Didn't want someone to think I might be 'losing it' , and I don't mean the card.  I'd had a tight feeling in my stomach for days.  Finally that little light bulb lit up and I prayed fervently to Agios Fanourios.  Please, please, just one more miracle.  You guessed it.  The card turned up, almost immediately,  where I had put it weeks ago after filling out an official form.  I phoned the girls and told them with huge relief and an even bigger smile 'Yes, he did it again!'.

The story is that you bake the cake, hand it around, and those who eat it say a prayer for the mother of the saint, asking for her salvation.  Apparently she was a sinner, not a very nice person.   I don't think the church supports that tale but it seems a special way of saying 'thank you'.  A prayer for St Fanourios' Mum and  thanks to the saint himself.

He also will give you guidance, show a way forward and a solution to a problem.

The cake, or pitta as it's called, is made with either 7 or 9 ingredients.

    I usually use 7

Mix in a bowl

- 1 3/4 cups of orange juice (400 grams)

- 1 1/2 cups of sugar (300 grams)

- 3/4 cup of oil (180 grams)  Olive oil, sunflower oil, soy oil, whatever oil you've got or a mix of them

- 100 grams of raisins

- 1 heaped teaspoon cinnamon (kanella)

1/4 teaspoon of cloves (or sometimes I use a teaspoon of ginger instead)

Finally add

- 4 cups (500 grams) of Self Raising flour

Stir it all together.  Pour into a baking dish.  I line mine with baking paper because I hate washing baking dishes.

Say a little prayer

Bake at 170o C for 50 minutes in a normal oven or

170o C for 40 minutes on air, which is what I do.

When cool sift over icing sugar, cut into pieces and hand it around

A more modern version can be made with chocolate chips (not milk chocolate) 

And a lot of people add chopped walnuts

August Days on a Greek Island

 Cicadas

Their chorus is not nearly as loud, deafening even, as it has been in other years.  They started later in the season.  Instead of quietening at sundown they chirp on till almost an hour after dusk.  Then the crickets chime in and the odd ferret or 2 screaming into the night.

Hot coffee

Most summers I drink hot filter coffee till the end of June and then change to iced nescafe.  This summer has been much cooler and I'm still drinking hot coffee in the morning.  What's left in the pot is put into the fridge and I enjoy an iced filter coffee late in the afternoon

 Heatwave-s

A summer in Greece is never without it's heatwaves but they have been fewer and are not prolonged.  We're just going into the next one now and the heat will continue into the first days of September.  We have not suffered like the rest of Europe

Ants, flies and frogs 

The ants have been noticeable in their abscence.  Tiny ones have just started appearing in the kitchen but they're not aggressively hoarding every crumb for their winter supplies  

No flies at all and fewer wasps.  The garden is full of frogs which hop out when I water.  The small lizards, salamders, are not so prolific.  We used to hear them in our bedroom at night, making soft sounds in the silence.

22 August - the 1st memorial,  8 days after the Dormition ('sleeping') of the Virgin Mary

The Fiesta of the little blue and white church on the heart shaped island at the approach to the harbour

2  water taxis took the congregation out to the island for the evening and morning services

The yearly piano concert amongst the ruins of the Temple to Sea God Poseidon.  It was free but we didn't attend.  We went the first year, many years ago, and found the endless tinkling of piano music to be rather boring.  These are students from some European academy, polished and professional but the performance seems endless when you're sitting on white plastic chairs in a warm olive grove

Someone really doesn't like us

First someone stole Ks helmet from his motorbike 

and now

Our car was parked outside the house, as usual, way up here in the wop-wops, not in anybody's way,  but someone put a long deep scratch along the passenger side.  I know we didn't do it (no, not me!) because it was pristine the day before when I put the sunscreen on the front and checked the doors were locked.

Was it keyed or was it hit?

It looks as though a white vehicle was using that empty patch of land to turn and scraped along our car.  There's also scratching low along the front, where their bumper hit ours.  Normally we would be immediately aware of the noise and come running out but it must have happened during the hottest hours when we had doors and windows closed and the aircon running.

Needless to say we are damned annoyed and can do nothing about it.  I have a special paint repair kit which I used for another scrape.  It doesn't magically make the scratches disappear but at least they are not so noticeable.  A pox on the perpetrators.

I have my suspicions. If you don't see it happen you can't place the blame.  

Still........ 

The last pic of the day

Our grapes have turned into dried bunches of raisins on the vine

We have 2 vines, one gets a lot of water as it has flowers around the trunk.  The other gets no water because it's too far from the hose.  Both have the same bunches of raisins so it's not because of my watering system

Its almost September!  Just lovely .

Still hot, the island is still heaving with visitors but the end is nigh.  Schools open on the 11th and they'll all have to go home.

Smile girl smile!!

Cruising the Med

 We finally managed to make a date with Jan, to cruise on the good ship Socrates and meet at Fotini's taverna beside the sea on the opposite shore. Captain, and son-in-law, Kyriakos and the Socrates do this trip 5 times a day all during August.   But, some trips were cancelled because of high winds and rough seas, then the Socrates was out of action for a couple of days because of mechanical trouble.  Then there was the heat.  Cruising and dining, just moving, during a heatwave is not pleasant. 

I hadn't seen Jan for a month or so.  First because of a couple of  heatwaves and 2nd because she's awfully busy looking after stray animals and humans.  

This cruise and meeting at Fotini's taverna has become a summer tradition

Kyriakos jumping for joy at seeing his inlaws

Readying the water taxi for his mother-in-law

He pulled that boat right into the dock and kept it absolutely steady till I managed to clamber up through the entrance way,  and step safely down.  He wouldn't have dared otherwise!! 

Sailing along the waterfront

 I really enjoy this mini cruise every year

Out of the harbour and into open water

Thank goodness the sea is smooth

Those are the ruins of a Venetian castle on the island.  Underneath are far more ancient ruins. No-one is allowed to land because the older ruins have yet to be excavated

Called a submarine this strange little open vessel, the Nemo, is actually a glass bottom boat

It carries about 10 people on a trip around the coast staring at the sea bottom 

First stop Plaka beach

Cheek to jowl today

Jan and I

First thing we do, after the air kisses, is a goodies swap.  Jan had books for me and some bedding for Danae.  In return she got more books from me, some cheese pies and a jar of chutney and jam.  

We both go home happy

Jan and K

Last year. I didn't take many photos there this year

There it is, the picturesque blue and white taverna beside the sea

It's a very basic  seaside taverna. Small wooden tables, hard rush bottom chairs and a paper tablecloth. You'll find cold beer and wine, bread, Greek salad, fried potatoes, cheese and if you ask they'll fry you some kalamari (squid) and small fish.  Which is what we ordered. 

Kyriakos got us safely back to Poros 

Till next year

Grug....Our Aussie Friend

Anyone else met Grug?   He's an Aussie hero

The delightful Grug books were given to us by my brother and sis in law in Perth in the 80's.  We have other children's books too from Australia.  Jackie Kookaburra and stories about Quokkas and other Aussie animals.  

Dear old Grug was the favourite

The Grug series was started in 1979.  Written and illustrated by Ted Prior. He wrote 35 Grug classics. 

Grug is a loveable character made from the top of a burrawang tree.  I'm learning this now, 40 years later.  No Mr Google back then.

  

He was always having charmingly simple adventures which delighted my young girls. 

Grug learnt to cook, discovered a rainbow, went fishing, tasted his first big red apple. 

Every page has a bright colourful picture of Grug with a few large words. Easy reading for my young girls . 

 English was their first language. Until they started Greek school. 

I learned Greek by helping them with their homework.

They learned to read and write English with the help of these simple stories.

It was great  to learn that Grug is still a  favourite with young downunder children. His tales were reprinted in 2022.

Spain and Greece

Good reading... 

Chris Stewart.. 

Once the drummer for the band Genesis

Fired from the band in the 70's (for poor technique says Google) he moved to a farm in Spain and began writing books and farming sheep.

'Driving Over Lemons' was published in 1999, describing his life on the small Andalusian farm.

It's a really good read and became a best seller.

It seems he's still on the farm in Spain and has written a lot more books, including the one above.

My niece Katy read the yachting book, Three Ways to Capsize a Boat,  and recommended it to me. 

Haven't read it yet. 

But I will

 

I wish I still had Driving Over Lemons to re-read.  Years ago I devoured books like this, starting with Peter Mayle and 'A Year in Provence'.  I bought books written by expats buying and doing up old houses in Italy, Spain and France.  Second hand books were cheap to buy 

 online back then and I could choose what I wanted to read.

I have a shelf of books written by expats living in Greece.  Some are excruciatingly patronising, badly written. So many think, after a year here, they know  the culture and traditions of the country and get it terribly wrong. However there are others that are a delight to read, especially when they have a little history and interaction with Greeks and not just other beer quaffing expats.

If you ever come across Chris Stewart, give him a read.  

The Greek classics are by Patrick Lee Fermor, Eric Newby, Gerald and Lawrence Durrell, Collin Thubron, Peter Levi, Eleni Gage.

Welsh broadcaster John Humphreys wrote a book about building a house on the mainland, not far from us.  His son was married to a Greek.  Still he got a lot of things wrong and over dramatised it all.  I read it a long time ago and then gave the book away.  

 

 

Time to Read

 Last summer's reading..... 

I sat on the beach and tried to block out my surroundings by immersing myself in a few good books. Our holidays at the navy resort are at the end of summer. 

Families are home, parents at work, kids at school. We share the resort with pensioners, like us. 

 Although the elderly don't let out high pitched screams like small children, boy can they talk the backside off a horse...or is it the hind leg off a donkey. I had to look that up! 

The men tell tall tales about their days in the navy, the women gossip and all of them spend hours discussing ailments and medication. 

Thank goodness my sis in law, Karen, left me this book.  Ann Cleeves writes a great who-dunnit. You're not likely to guess the culprit

Thanks Karen mou. I've found a couple more of her books down at the book Exchange. 

Now I've found her books on YouTube.  They're audio books, narrated very clearly, not AI. 

I'm on the 3rd one now

Books I'll be reading at the Navy Resort this summer. One month to go!!! 

These 3 are true life stories

Memoirs 

Who-dunnitz

And this little gem with puzzles from the NZ Herald...... No! they are in the Listener. A magazine all kiwis will know, if it's still in publication. Thanks Chris for mentioning that 

I do the crosswords in pencil, leave them for a year or so, erase the answers and do them again

You're given one letter and solve the rest by yourself

This is printed in 2006, the last time I was in NZ. It's almost archaic

15 th August

Summer shutdown time for the big cities. 15th August is the day of the most important religious festival of the year.  A day for solemn worship and a tradition of celebration going back centuries

 This day is the commemoration of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, when she 'went to sleep' and ascended to heaven.  Every village, hamlet, islet, outcrop of rocks has a church dedicated to the Virgin Mary, tiny blue and white, huge sprawling cathedral or Monastery.  There are half a dozen on Poros or close on the mainland.

There will be church services on the eve and the morning of the 15th.  Services, which are well attended by locals and visitors.  Then the celebrating begins. Many fiestas will include dancing, food, sometimes cauldrons cooked over a fire and handed out to all those present, abundant wine and traditional music which can go on for days.    Dancing is central to all celebrations and everyone joins in, very old, very young, foreigners, black scarfed women and gnarled old peasants.  This is the high point of the year.  There is much laughter and joy in this yearly socialising, embracing family members who may live and work far away, uniting with friends, connecting with the wider world.  

K has not eaten meat since August 1st.  This is a 15 day fast  which some have kept strictly, eating no dairy, fish, meat or eggs. 

It is also a name day for many people.  Maria, Mary and all the alternate names for the Virgin Mary, Despina, Panayiota and for the men Panayiotis.

Here on Poros the day begins with a church service at the main cathedral, the handing out of sweet cakes, spiced bread and Holy bread. Then morning coffee with friends and family who are celebrating name days.  

It's too hot for midday feasting. Gatherings at homes and tavernas take place in the evening, continuing on till later in the cool of the night

There's no big fiesta here, just private celebrations. Still a lot of food, drink and noise though

K and I usually attend a family name day celebration across on Galatas but it's not taking place this year because of a death in the family.

He has ordered a half kilo of pork and potatoes and some lamb from a taverna. I'm making an authentic greek salad and tzatziki. We've got plenty of wine, white and red.

We will be quite happy to sit quietly midday on the terrace away from the craziness unfolding on the rest of the island.

The meltemi is blowing from the north, causing cancellations for those travelling by ship but bringing us slightly cooler days. 

It also brings road blocks preventing all and sundry from entering the forest area.  These high winds bring an extreme  fire alert.  We've been through the block 3 times. It's OK when K is driving. He knows all the volunteers. Not so easy when I was alone today.  They wrote down the number plate and then asked for my name so they could record it.  I know who they are, they know who I am but they have no idea what my name is. I'm just the foreign wife of K.  This afternoon it was obvious just how much of a foreigner I am even after 50 years. I had to say Linda, pronounced the Greek way, Leeda, about 3 times. Then came the surname. I suppose they were expecting a foreign name, not Ks family name.  They asked me 3 times.  I suppose it's my kiwi accent as well. I almost had to spell it out letter by letter, in greek, before the light bulb switched on. 

Kali Panagia 

Happy 15th August