March Meats

 

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Thursday was *Tsiknopempti, the last big meat eating day before Lent. 

K was going to BBQ a pile of meat and I had a bottle of prosecco saved just for an occasion like this.... Good food and the company of a good friend.

Jan has been a member of our family for many many years. 

Her English wit, perception of Greek foibles and sharp rejoinders have brought me a lot of laughter over those years. 

But, that was the day we learnt of our friend's passing. K, our head Chef, was immediately away to arrange papers and help the family. 

K had done all the preparation the night before, marinating mutton chops, preparing the hamburger 'dough', making pork souvlaki and taking **kebabs from the freezer. 

It was easy for me to  ***shape ****burgers and put them in the oven with a few potatoes. We changed ovens recently and I'm still not quite up with it's times and temperatures. They ended up a bit overcooked but were fine with some quickly made gravy, tzatziki, Greek salad and the prosecco.

I cooked them 'foreign style'. No lemon juice and very little olive oil. 

The main course of the day was catching up on recent events in our lives. In the English language. 

It was better K was absent. We don't catch up very often and when we do it's endless chatter in English which K can't keep up with. It drives him mad. 

Thanks Jan for the beautiful flower. I don't know what it's called. Anyone got a name for it? 

She gave me the prosecco too, at Christmas. 

Cheers

*Tsiknopempti - literally smokey Thursday. The smoke is from the meat grilling on the BBQ 

**kebabs are long tubes of spicy minced meat

***To shape dough is to 'plath' - one of my favourite greek words. It means to shape dough, for biscuits, bread, burgers, with your hands

I Plath.. platho 

You Plath.. platheis

We all plath.. plathoume 

****Burgers in Greek are bifteki

Smoky Tradition

March 2nd is the first day of Lent for us.  There will follow  7 weeks of strict fasting.  Some of my family do the fast but not as strictly as the Orthodox church demands.  They just cut out the meat but eat still eggs, meat and dairy.  We usually do the same.  Just stop eating meat during Lent.

This last Thursday was a big meat eating day, 11 days before the great fast.  It is called Tsiknopempti which loosely translated  means 'smokyThursday', the smoke and wonderful aroma coming as the fat from the bbqed meat  hits the coals.  The whole island has some sort of grill, outside of shops, on the waterfront, in the schools, at the petrol station, on the beach as everyone follows this tasty tradition.

Both the Primary School and the Lykeio had grills in the courtyard of the schools with free souvlaki, pork grilled on a skewer, for all the students.  The Lykeio had a disco as well.

In Athens the grills were fired up early in the morning especially in the main meat market.  

It's the middle of carnival still so there's dancing, and music as well.  In days of yore we used to dress up and go from house to house in the neighbourhood, have a drink and a forkful of meat and on to the next.  This custom was already dying out back then in the 80s and I doubt anyone does this now.  However, there is dancing in masquerade at tavernas and hotels and in other parts of greece there are traditions which still play a big part of this day.

My husband being a very traditional person we always dressed up in some sort of costume, homemade.  Papou's old jacket and cap, Yiayia's apron, my wedding dress was used on several occasions, the priest's long black gown.  Sometimes we just toured the neighbourhood, sometimes we celebrated at a taverna and at least once we went bar hopping.  We still have a bag of old clothes for carnival but it is the grandchildren, and their parents sometimes that dress up.  I first met one of my sons-in-law at carnival when he came into the house dressed as a female of a certain trade.  How could I not like him?  He was  another happy revelling greek.

Our grill has been lit

Chief fire maker and bbq-er

There was a big greek salad as well as the meat, and a bowl of tzatziki.  Bread and wine and all was well.  And then someone had a bright idea and I had to go out to the gas stove and fry potatoes.  They were a darn good accompaniment though

It started off as a sun-shiny day but around 2 a black cloud came over and starting raining on us.  We  moved quickly indoors.  The meat was cooked and already half  of it was eaten

Smoky Thursday in action

And on the table 

Homemade bifteki (hamburger), a greek sausage, liver and some pancetta.   Most of it got eaten and we had leftovers for lunch today.

All gone.  Hurray. 

Smokey Thursday

Tsiknopempti - smokey Thursday

In the second week before Lent, this is one of the bigger celebrations during Carnival.  A tradition which probably goes back hundreds of years.  The custom is to grill meat on the BBQ and the day gets its name from that flavoursome smell of the smoke from the grill (tsikna).

Even today as I went down town and into the back streets that strong cooking smell was wafting from every house and courtyard.  At the petrol station their big BBQ was out and skewers of pork were being shared with the clients along with a glass of wine.

On the waterfront there were at least half a dozen grills along the quay as the butchers shop by the supermarket and a couple of cafeterias and other shops got ready to grill their lamb chops and souvlaki to share with friends and passersby.

At the primary school a local business had donated a few hundred skewers of pork which were grilled in the school yard and the kids filled up with souvlaki and bread and a small drink before going home.

Carnival - time to dress up and party. 

 In days gone by everyone would dress up, put on a mask or a funny hat and go out to a taverna to eat grilled lamb chops, dance, sing, throw confetti and streamers and party till the wee hours.  The tavernas would be full of revellers and tables had to be booked in advance.

  Now we buy a kilo of pork chops and light our own BBQ, though still with the dancing and music and the children at least will be in masquerade.

Ready for grilling.

There was a terrific gale so we just lit a small BBQ in a protected corner of the balcony

Juicy pork chops and underneath a few pieces of chicken and Papou's famous handmade beefburgers 

Time to celebrate.  Lots of grilled pitta bread, lashings of very garlicky tzatziki, grilled meat, a lettuce salad with lemon and olive oil dressing and some of Yianni's broccoli/cauliflower special

And to finish off 

slices of apple sprinkled with cinnamon and drizzled with local honey

Smoky Thursday

Tsiknopempti - Thursday of the smoky meat

This is one of the last big eat meating days before Lent.  The tradition is to eat bbqed-meat.  Grilled lamb chops, yum.  It is a carnival day and once upon a time (not so long ago) we too used to dress up in costume, go out to a taverna with friends and neighbours, eat piles of lamb chops, dance and sing and enjoy  the carnival atmosphere.  

Some still do .  There is  something organised at one of the big hotels.  If you have the money to spare it is  a great way to take part in  this tradition and have some fun.   But now most families stay at home to grill their meat.

It was midday when I went down to pick up Natali from kindergarten and the cooking was just getting underway. From the petrol station all the way down the harbour there were the most delicious smells wafting through the air.  The rich petrol-station-people always have a bbq outside on this day.

That smoky aroma of grilling meat was overwhelming.  And down the backstreet to Elli's place there were wonderful meaty smells coming from every house. Meat on the coals, meat in the oven, meat in pot and meat in pan.

Our neighbour  organised a little soiree for his friends.   K  dressed  as an arab and went down to join them.  

I stayed at home and enjoyed the peace and quiet before going off to babysit.  Later in the day K  bought a few sausages and a bit of chicken and he grilled it  our fireplace for the girls and the grandchildren.

 March 8 and Women's Day.

K is cooking for Jan and I and the girls are going out to have a drink together.  Women's day used to be a big celebration on Poros.  I was discussing it with Dina (K's sister) the other day.  She and I used to  join a big group of 'ladies' who  organised a get-together.  First of all we ate and drank at a taverna and then the whole crowd went on to one of the waterfront bars where there was dancing and great merriment.  A lot of these women weren't young either.  I watched these little old ladies in  amazement with their furs and gold (back then) while they danced on the tables and really 'let their hair down'.  

last of the dinasaurs

Vasso in her sunday best enjoying a glass of wine

at the annual jumping of the flames at midsummer

and me

doing what I like best -

enjoying a big glass of red wine

listening to good music

and writing my diary

- our last holiday down in the Mani