Sign of the Times

 All our Poros families have decorated for Xmas.  Trees are dangling with balls and baubles. Lights flash and brighten the house and the neighborhood. And this year we have something extra to adorn with cheerful Christmas glitter

This is our minimal masterpiece

In the house by the sea

Down above the harbour

Around the House

 Around the house.  Where else would I be?

I'm baking sourdough bread again.  This dough was over proofed and didn't rise in the oven.  It was also very tangy.  The sourdough has been going for months and I don't feed it often enough.  The taste gets stronger the more you let it ferment.  Traditional people like tangy dense sourdough so I'm calling this a success.

I've still got about 10 kilos of that darn flour that was infested with weevils.  The weevils have been exterminated but I don't like the flour.  It is too coarse.  I use it for cakes and biscuits too and they all turn out ok but not as good as they should.

I just wish I could use up all that flour and get some more, of a different kind.  My bread came out much lighter and the rise was higher with my last bag of bread flour.  Even the kids don't want this.

Last Sunday we had a family visit and the grandaughters got out all the Christmas decorations, put up the tree and hung the big red balls from the rafters.  Yes, it's early, too early for me but we may not see them again till late in December, or even January.

I love my 'Pukeko in a Ponga Tree' book of course.  Its the 12 days of xmas kiwi style.  And there at the back are NZ christmas recipes.  Good old kiwi christmas cakes and mince pie recipes.

We didn't miss out on the quinces this year as I was hoping.  Our neighbours were able to come from Athens to pick their olives and they delivered us a big bag of quinces and pomegranites.

  I got to work and cleaned the outsides of the quinces with a very sharp knife and boiled all the fruit.  I then added sugar and pureed it.  Now what to do with it.  Some went into a fruit chutney I made, some went into the freezer and now I'm contemplating making a quince sauce cake or tart.  The kids didn't want the quinces either.

    

And the pommegranites.  

The pommegranites are disappearing one by one.  They are lovely in salads.

Greek Dramatics

 Ancient Greek drama on sacred Greek soil

My grandaughter Poppi phoned me the other day, before we locked-down, to say her class would be attending a performance of the greek drama Antigoni the next day and would I like to come and see and take some photos for my blog.  Of course I would! 

The play was being performed amongst the ruins of the Temple to Poseidon, mighty  God of the Sea, and the complex of buildings, meeting places and market in the surrounding area.

  I arrived exactly on time, expecting to wait, as is usual, another half hour before it began but they had started dead on time.  That was the first surprise.

The second surprise was that it was all in modern greek so even I could understand it.  I was captivated.

There they were, just Poppi's class, teachers, me and a few of the crew.  They sat on plastic modern day chairs amidst the olive trees, the ancient stones and excavations of this historical site .

I sat on this base of an ancient column and watched the actors making their entrances from the midst of the ruins, exclaiming the words of Sophocles

Antigoni is a tragedy with a lot of wailing, beating of drums.  It was written around 441BC.  All the main characters kill themselves for love of family  .  There is of course a lot more to it but I'm not going to tell you the plot here.

I enjoyed the play, the whole theatrical atmosphere.  It was extremely well done, from costumes to acting.  Congrats to this travelling troupe.  

The students weren't so enthused.  Ancient greek is a basic lesson in greek schools, just another subject which they must  pass but won't help them much in their future lives.  Just the way I thought about Latin 50 (odd) years ago.  What remained with me over the years was 'amo amas amat amamus amant' and I even had to google the verb to make sure my memory was correct.

 Any other Latin phrases like 'caveat emptor, ad nauseum or bona fide' I picked up mainly through the wide variety of books I read.

Conger Eel for Tea

 Fish soup for supper  but not your  gourmet bouillabaisse.  We are quite often given gifts of odd foodstuffs.  A pig's head, stingray, a moray eel or this time a conger eel.  Mougri in greek.  The google translation is conger eel.  It was certainly a sort of large sea eel with  some ferocious teeth.  K loves these opportunities to eat as his traditional ancestors once did.

Being mid-summer, very hot and with me in zombi mode it went straight into the deep freeze.

The eel finally came out a few days ago, deep and very solidly frozen.  It was far too much for us to consume even over a few days so K took to it with the saw.

This fish can be sliced and fried, baked on the BBQ or turned into a traditional greek soup.  It's easy to clean, has no scales and it's bones are big and therefore can be easily removed before they go down your throat.

As you can see in the photo, there are lots of juicy, fishy steaks.

After about one third of it had been chopped up and defrosted I made the soup.

A greek fish soup is made by boiling the fish and then cooking carrots, celery, onions, potatoes and zucchini in the broth.  At the end I fished out the vegetables and added a handful of rice, lots of lemon juice and olive oil.

It was a good feed

Winter Prep

 We can feel that nip of winter in the air.  Our first carpet will go down tomorrow to cover the freezing tiles in the living room.  No rain but gale force winds and temperatures down to around 18o.  Shiver

A few days ago we received our first supply of wood,

a ton, or thereabouts of good dry olive wood

And our last visitors till the end of November moved a pile and stacked it outside the door for us.  

We just  received a  Civil Protection sms preceded by a rather strident siren.  My sms  is also spoken by a nice lady in rather robot-like English.

    Movement restrictions apply.  Only go out with sms permission (and ID card) to support essential needs..  Stay home, stay safe.

The whole country is on complete lockdown till the end of November.  300 euros fine if you're found outside your house without permission, ID and mask and the mask must be worn properly, covering nose and mouth.

Primary schools are still up and running but all other classes will be conducted online.

Cafes and tavernas only open for takeaway,  No loitering.

Athenians deserted the city in their thousands (72,000 went through the toll gates) yesterday, dashing for their holiday homes and villages where they can infect the rural population and elderly relatives.  

We saw the writing on the wall last week and stocked up with enough loo paper to last us till easter, along with a few gallons of raki.

 Back in April there were 100 cases a day.  Now there are close to 3,000 and far more deaths and hospital cases.  

Once more unto the breach dear friends, once more

Island Life

Is it a bird, no it's one of those motorised kite things.  This guy has been flying over Poros for years taking photos.  Rumours are he is a man to be reckoned with.  You can see a lot from up there.   Big plant-ations for instance.

 

Off to pick his olives, ladder in hand

The daily backgammon wars continue

The lottery seller in his shield.  Those plastic shields are not enough protection.  If you don't want a fine you must wear a mask underneath, as he does

The ambulance taking a corona-case off one of the yachts.

Poros has not been corona-free.   A few warnings would have been desirable.  We were all getting a bit too lax in our precautions.  The Mayor of the town across the strait has announced a virus case at the High School.  Meanwhile over all the country there are more than 2,000 cases daily, and rising.  We have just has more restrictions announced and the country has been divided into two zones, the red zones and the rest of the country.

The greater Athens area is in the 'war' zone but this time they have excluded the Saronic islands, that's us.    As from Tuesday all over Greece masks must be worn inside and out.  All business stops from midnight to 5am.  In the 'war' zones all cafes, bars, tavernas will be closed.  This will continue till 1st Deceember.  

Looks like our Christmas will be similar to our easter.  Each family on its own.

28 October

Greek National Day 2020

No parades by the local school children, no singing of the national anthem, no Municipal band, no speeches, no wreath laying, no traditional dancing in the square.  Because of the lousy weather, rain and thunder, there was no drinking of coffee followed by ouzo and lashings of fatty pork either.

There was a church service but only a few people are allowed into the church, wearing masks.  We didn't attend.  I presume the Mayor turned up with a few big-wigs.
 

We always fly the flag on National Holidays

Our neighbour's flag

Last year

 small boy waves  a gi-normous flag of the Hellenic Navy