Mortar and Pestle

A mortar and pestle are a necessity in any Greek kitchen.  We have three as you can see.

The big wooden mortar is used to grind up walnuts or almonds and occasionally when our traditional person wants to mimic his mother he will make the garlic sauce or taramasalata in this bigger receptacle.  In m-in-law's time there were no little electric hand mixers and anything that had to be mashed or pureed was pounded in a big wooden mortar, twice the size of this.

Slowly the wood matured, took on an oily sheen and a bouquet of garlic and salty fishiness.  The metal mortar is ideal for crushing the tiny end pieces of nutmeg instead of shredding your fingers on a grater.   I also pound machlepi and mastiha for the sweet loaves of bread at Easter and the memorial loaf.

Raw rice can be ground in them to clean out the surface and remove any tang left behind but that would remove the characteristic piquancy and je ne sais quoi of that big old wooden mortar

Machlepi  - 

Machlepi is an aromatic spice found all over the Middle East,  made from the ground up kernel of a certain type of cherry.  The flavour is described as being similar to marzipan.  I guess I would agree with that.  I use it in the New Year and easter cake.  It does come in powder form but for a stronger taste we buy small packets of the kernels and pound them into powder ourselves.

Mastiha -

Sun dried pieces of  resin from the mastic tree.  The resin has a slightly piney/cedar flavour.  Chios, an island in the Sporades group very close to Turkey, is known for its fine mastiha.  Greeks have always used it as a flavouring in breads and cakes and mastiha liqueur is de rigeur at any funeral or memorial service.  At 11 oclock in the morning a couple of shots of this liqueur can be quite lethal.

Mastic or mastiha as it is known here has always been used in medicine.  Hippocrates used it for digestive problems and colds.  Now it has become a superfood.  We could always buy mastic chewing gum but now we can buy mastic flavoured water at a high price and Mastic Shops have sprung up in Athens.

A tear drop of mastic resin ready to be collected from the mastic tree

St John

January 7

Fiesta of St John the baptist and name day of those named
Yiannis or Yianna

These are very popular names and a greek saying goes
'a house without a Yianni will have no prosperity/happiness'  
Fortunately our family does have one Yianni.

St John has several feast days through the year.
June 24               birth-day
August 29           his beheading
September  23    his conception (?)

Name days are far more important than birthdays here.  Few know when your birthday is but everyone knows when it's your name day.   Even those with names  like Aristotle or Socrates have name days.  No, these are not the ancient greek philosophers but orthodox saints.  

To celebrate your name you must have been given the name of an orthodox saint and have your nameday on the saint's feast day.  Otherwise you can celebrate on All Saints Day.

You'll get endless phone calls, Facebook balloons and air-kisses from friends and acquaintences.  In the good-olden days it was presumed you had open house and everyone just turned up with a bottle of whisky or a box of sticky cakes to wish you 'kronia polla' (many happy returns) and join in your party.  Nowadays you'll still be expected to shout your workmates and cronies an ouzo or two but people do not turn up to your party unless asked.  In fact the party will probably be just a special meal for close family.  

This morning I wished our Yianni a 'kronia polla' and hoped  the bluebird of happiness might fly up his nose.  He wasn't sure whether to respond with a smile or be offended.

The bluebird is a symbol of happiness, prosperity, good health and the return of spring in many cultures.  Getting a noseful of the little fellow isn't quite as painful as it sounds

Blessing the Waters

January 6   - 

    Epiphany today, ta Theofania or Ta Fota in Greek.  Up till a couple of years ago I had no idea this day was called Epiphany and I didn't have any idea what it meant.  It was always 'the blessings of the waters' around here and still is.   It commemorates St John's baptism of Jesus, amongst other things, and is a national holiday in Greece.  Every priest in every island, village, town, whether mountain or seaside will be blessing the waters today, be it the sea, a river, lake, water reservoir or even a swimming pool.

Don't forget that your Christmas decorations must be put away by midnight tonight or the big bad witch will come and tear them to pieces.

Kronia Polla (many happy returns) for anyone named Fotis  or Fotini.  It's their name day.

The day started off at the Monastery.  We didn't bother to go up to the church.  A small crowd gathered down at the beach underneath where all the action took place

Down come the Holy Fathers carrying necessary icons, buckets of holy water, bunches of basil and a portable loudspeaker so everyone knows when to cross themselves

Here the sea is anointed with holy water.  A big wooden cross is then dunked into the sea three times.  The cross, attached to a long string, is cast, for the third dunking,  as far as the priest can throw.  

Fourteen foolish males then dived into the icy waters of a January sea in a mad dash to be the first to retrieve the cross

And here it is.

The Monastery always has its services early so we high-tailed it down to the harbour to see the main event.

More priests, the Mayor and the Commander of the Naval Base ready for action

This year they all climbed aboard a fishing boat (kaïki) and moved about 20 metres off shore.

Our grandchildren took part in the proceedings in their rowing boats, escorting the kaïki

After the cross was retrieved all the rowers scudded over the straits to Galatas (in the rear of the photo) where the sea was blessed on the other side of the passage.  'Poros' means passage, the passage being the narrow channel between the island and the mainland

There they go.  The next lot of brave males and females too (away from view of those strict monastery  monks) dive in for the Poros cross

After a coffee and social intercourse with everyone on the island we moved on to a taverna in the hills.  The coffee was actually a prolonged event.  Everyone and their mother-in-law was down at the harbour and these holy days we all wish each other 'kronia polla' with a handshake or an air-kiss on the cheeks.  We greeted half the population of Poros including the Mayor, our family priest and most of the town council.  No elections in sight but this is the time to be sociable and they all had big  smiles on their faces and their was much kissing, clapping on backs and admiring of babies

Great aunt or second cousin three times removed, Theodora,  matriarch of the Paradise taverna beside the roaring and very warming fire

This is the taverna where we sit out under the vines in the summer.  It is equally inviting in the winter with its open fire.  The tables are rather close together but everyone is a friend at the table next to you, or soon will be!

Tomorrow is another name day and so another story

Bugs and things

If these last few days are anything to go by then 2018 is going to be a year of extreme contrasts, ups and downs.

We started off  merrily with a party at the inlaws house in brilliant sunshine and the next day were bedridden with a stomach bug while it rained and blew a gale outside.

Someone in the extended family had the dreaded lurgy and it cleaned us all out like a pound of prunes.  We all kissed each other spiritedly as one does here and obviously it got passed on from cheek to cheek.  The only ones to miss out on the plague were the two youngest ones who (quite rightly) refuse to kiss anyone and some of the younger generation who hygenically only indulge in air kisses.

So after two days of herb teas and tentative spoonfuls of sloppy rice and lemon juice it seems a good time to start off again on the right foot and a healthy diet avoiding fatty pork, great measures of alcohol and sticky cakes.

A Cretan herbal tea with sage, dictamus and fliskouni (pennyroyal)

I salute a very healthy 2108 and hopefully a very hearty weight loss.    Celebrations don't need to be times of extravagence as we found out (with the rest of Greece) in 2010 and have slowly forgotten and you don't need alcohol or an overdose of sugar to express enjoyment and have fun.

The rogue herd of goats reappeared and spent much of a very wet morning munching the olive trees in the empty field next door.  I thought goats hated getting wet but I suppose if you're a free spirit, as these ones are, then you have no place to shelter.  There was a rumour that someone rounded them up, shot six of them for the freezer and let the rest go.  There are still twenty or more roaming freely if this is true.

On this wet and windy day the telephone people came along and put in a new pole for our english neighbour's Wifi connection.  They put in an application a year ago, or was it two?  Now they just need a wire laid across the last 20 metres.

Last, but indeed not least, I started to take down our Christmas decorations.  Hurray!   I was heartedly sick of them.  The tree is still up but that is being dismantled and will soon disappear into the storeroom too.

Good health to you all. I'm off to sit beside the fire, do some crochet and enjoy a cup of (milkless at the moment) tea.   I need an easy evening.  Tomorrow is another big day.  Epiphany.  But that's another story.

New Year's Day

New Years Day with the extended family.

What a way to start the year.  Another celebration, another feast.  As you start the year so shall the year continue they say here. 

I was once told by an elderly aunt not to have a shower or wash my hair on New Year's day because I would find myself having to shower everyday all through the year. Duh, yes, that's what I would be doing anyway!  That was many years ago when baths were a once a week, Saturday night, operation

Crossing on the car ferry we went to Galatas and the home of my daughter's in-laws where various cousins and aunts had also gathered.

Pappous had the grill lit outside in the sunshine and cooked some pork souvlaki.  Then an octopus went on the grill.  The appetiser was ouzo with sun dried and grilled octopus.

Appetiser - food or drink to stimulate the appetite

Do we really need an appetiser?

 Pork souvlaki, pork chops, lamb chops

Also salads, lettuce and tomato

Tzatziki

Greens of the field

Lots of vitamins and minerals from fresh vegetables, olive oil from this year's harvest, 

Greek yoghurt for the tzatziki and loads of garlic, lemon juice 

All dishes salt free

Plates in front of us on the table, as is the custom, are empty.  We choose what we want to eat and put as much, or as little, of what we want on our plates.

It is best to always leave a small portion on your plate or you'll find one of the aunts pressing more food on to you. 'faei paidi mou, faei'  ... 'eat my child eat' and usually 'you've eaten nothing, try a little lamb.  Do you need more bread, there is another bowl of salad in the fridge, a little feta?'.  They move the platters around so there are dishes full of food right in front of you .

We sat around the table for many hours, though not eating

The younger ones went out to shoot a few baskets in the yard.  

 One of the cousins went down to the graveyard to light the candle on his father's grave .  His father has been dead almost two years now but some member of the family will light the candle and spread a little incense every day. He is not forgotten

The men watch a football match on TV

The aunts go to feed the chooks and goats

We went across the courtyard to see the maiden aunts and then came back for coffee, more chat and another glass of wine

Squares of chocolate indulgence.  

Indulge in - to take part in something freely, avidly, for pleasure

Something fresh and green to clear the palate

Pots of winter basil in the yard

New Years Eve with family

It's another carolling day today.  There are three of these days, Christmas and New Years eve and the eve of the 6th January, Epiphany.

Small children are banging on doors, jangling on their triangles. They sing to us a carol which tells us that St Basil is coming from Kessaria (in Turkey).  It is St Basil who brings presents to the children here not St Nick.

New Zealand and the Pacific islands celebrated New Year 2018 at 1pm Greek time. We watched on the news as fireworks blazed above Auckland and Sydney.  Kiribati and Samoa got a mention as well.  They are islands in the Pacific where the sun rises first every year.

New Year's Eve in Times Square and elsewhere in the world must have gone off without incident .  No breaking news broadcast interrupted our Greek music programme.

We sat and nibbled on roast duck, salmon, pate and pastourmadopita (little pies made from a very spicy cured meat).  We girls drank a bottle of good wine while the men as usual preferred their local barrelled stuff

Just a quiet evening with children and grandchildren and a dog

Mainly we talked and laughed and listened to greek music but around midnight we switched over to the channel showing the Athens celebrations.  Here is the Mayor of Athens with the Acropolis lit up behind him giving us the countdown to midnight

First footer this year was the dog, Junior

We all went out to the balcony and listened to the bells chiming merrily, coming back in right foot first

Young Junior, washed and dried and ready to carry out important duties.  I have no doubt he will bring us good luck all through the coming year

No breaking of pomegranites on the doorstep, no hanging of onions on the door, no banging of heads with a key, no fireworks this year.  We kissed and hugged each other, got on the iphone and sent messages to all and sundry and ate the New Years cake.

With a bottle of fizzy stuff.  We've drunk better but we always manage to finish the bottle no matter its quality.  New Years eve demands bubbly alcohol

Time to cut the cake.  The sign of the cross is traced three times and then the cake is cut as tradition demands, the first slice for the Madonna, the second for the house and fields and then the slices go to each member of the family from eldest to youngest, with careful measurement so the coin goes this year to the youngest of the family.   A happy child (one of them anyway) makes for a happy family

Look, look I got the lucky coin.  There will be more coins in the big loaf of New Years bread today and then cakes will be cut at the school (in a couple of weeks), at work and in every business and association.  These cake cutting festivities can go on till February

We tottered off home around 1.30am.  Happy and laughing we decided to both go in our front door together, right foot first.  Well we got the feet in but we got stuck in the door.  Much laughter and promises to eat much less in 2018 and maybe fit in together next year.

Yeh, right.  Guess what we're doing on New Years Day?  Eating of course.  We are joining the very extended family across on Galatas for barbecued lamb and heaven knows what else.  That family put on a far bigger feast than us. The table-s will be groaning, and so will our stomachs.

Wishing you all a wonderful New Years celebration too, health, always health first, peace and happiness.

Sunny Christmas Days in the Square

Christmas on the island is being celebrated every day in the main square with clowns and a carousel (merry-go-round), Santa Claus, presents, music and dancing

The high pitched voice of the clown on the microphone was irritating but the children ran free while we drank coffee. The entertainment crew from Athens included a snowman, a Santa Claus-ina (female santa), and an unfunny jester who organised games for the mob

Free rides on the round-about

                                            

A beautiful sunny day.  Perfect for coffee in the square for mothers with toddlers.  Those without young children chose a cafeteria as far away from the babble as possible

Our younger grandchildren were happy in the square and so were we.  Ouzo and a fishy meze.

The maker of almond cakes, a local speciality, takes a break outside his shop.  He has had a busy morning baking fresh cakes for the New Year's visitors.  Note, half the population was out in thick jackets and warm clothes, but many were in short sleeves.  We sat in the sun but soon got over heated and had the waiter put up the big umbrella.

No decorated boat in the square this year or even a tree decorated with Christmas lights.  We had a blow-up Christmas tree this year.  At least it is bright and cheerful