Sunday 13 February 2022

Sunday Lunch

 


Mein host.

From a Google search -
'Mine Host' is archaic for 'my host' and is an annoyingly jocular way some people refer to the pub landlord, or to the person they're visiting for a meal - as if the head of the household is a mediaevil innkeeper providing tankards of ale and roast boar to his guests'

I don't know about the 'annoyingly'.  This so accurately describes my traditional husband when his friends are gathered.  His first priority is to make sure their tumblers are always filled with an excellent, by his standards, local wine and their plates piled with delicacies he himself has baked and boiled, sizzled and steamed.  It wasn't roast boar on the menu but could well have been.

There is a taverna down town where the owner and chief griller appears at every table to make sure his guests are eating and enjoying his fare.  He has a large belly, a red nose, a loud voice and a glass at every table.  'Mine host' describes him perfectly.

This Sunday the weather has turned cold and damp once again.  We lit our wood fire at 11am and K kept hot the dishes he had been creating all the morning.

Spetsofaï is one of his specialities (though I think mine is better).  It's a dish made with village sausages fried and then added to long red peppers which have been stewed in fresh tomato, with lots of olive oil and on a cold winters day with a red hot chilli in the mix.

The other dish he made was chicken and potatoes with lemon juice and oregano cooked in a sealed pot in  the wood oven, simmering slowly for 3 hours.

It's not so much about the food on a day like this.  It is the company, the conversation and the music, the memories from Navy and Army days, tales from all sides today of their time in Crete in the days before tourism and commercialism.  The meals we ate in tiny village tavernas with just a few tables, a woman with a frying pan, the fish reeled in from the lake below the tavern, the cheese  from the animals in the fields next to us, the tomatoes from the garden next to the house and pies whipped up in the kitchen with whatever had been gathered in the fields that morning. 




Good food on the table but there was too much talk to empty the plates


Sunday afternoons there is a good selection of traditional greek music on the TV.  An old song will bring tears to their eyes as they croon along with great emotion



Sausages and peppers, chicken and potatoes, cheese and olives


Our wood stove which keeps the house warm all through winter and cooks our meals 

Today is the first day of carnival. But for the third year in a row there will be no carnival. No dressing up, singing and dancing in the streets, colourful parades and revelling.

20 comments:

  1. What a splendid way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Is it expensive to wine and dine there Linda?

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    1. Wine is only 2 euros for 1 1/2 litres. Dining is cheap as long as you do it at home.
      It was a very long day. Those men had a lot to say. But they were happy. That's all that counts

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  2. Sounds like the perfect way to spend a Sunday
    I love how all the food is local and fresh. I wouldn’t mind living that life I kinda try in my own way
    Maybe that’s the Greek in me lol

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    1. You have that marvellous garden full of fresh produce so your meals must be very healthy

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  3. Oh the ‘when we’ tales are a feature here in life with The Golfer and his airforce mates. Not actually in our house but monthly in a local cafe.
    What is the other cheese on the plate with the Feta - looks a bit like squeaky Haloumi.

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    Replies
    1. Those stories just go and on. I've heard it all many times.
      The cheese is a soft tasty cheese called kefalograviera!!!

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  4. That sounds a great way to spend a Sunday.

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    1. It was for the menfolk. I got a little bored and wandered off the look at blogs

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  5. The sausage and peppers sounds fabulous! How nice to have a group of friends come by for a wonderful meal and stories.

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    Replies
    1. K has been feeling a bit lonely with all this virus stuff. The get togethers have not been restricted, a little. This boosted his mood

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  6. I love those wood burners with the little oven above the fire box. Ours has a very good hotplate on top, but no oven. If it's ever replaced I shall buy one like yours.

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    1. My daughter and hubby got a wood stove recently. Their oven is big enough to hold two oven trays. She does most of cooking in or on it

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  7. Wonderful catch up for Mine Host and his buddies.

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  8. Hello Linda, I did comment on the Boska post but I dont know if you will see it. The name of the plant is Urginea maritima or sea squill. it is native to Crete

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    Replies
    1. Darn, Sol, thanks so much. Somehow I missed your comment. I'll look it up

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  9. Your hubby sounds like an excellent cook and host. I'd be happy to sit at your table for nibbles and chats.

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    Replies
    1. He would live to entertain you and enjoy trying out his English. One day perhaps

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  10. Sunday afternoon at your place sounds like fun :)

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    Replies
    1. It was for the boys. I bowed out after an hour, or so

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