A Brit, a Belgian and an American walk into a bar...

Sorry...there's no joke to follow (couldn't find one online) but I thought it would make a good blog title.

I've just had the most enjoyable visit with my friends Chantal and Clive, who took the time to travel all the way out west to spend a couple of days with me. I visited Chantal in her home earlier this year, but it was the first time I've had the pleasure of meeting "Clivios" as the locals in his village call him. What can I say? They are two of the most gracious, interesting and fun people I'm privileged to know!

Below are some pictures from their visit.

We took a walk into the center of Kastelli to have a few beers, after visiting Falarsana on the west coast for what turned out to be a non-existent sunset (well, I'm sure the sun set, we just couldn't see it through the cloud cover). Along the way we passed this board with a gazillion pins, where death notices are posted for several days when someone in the town/village passes away. Kind of like our obituaries. I've passed these boards before but never knew what they were for. I suppose I assumed they were classified ads or something like that. Thankfully, my very knowledgeable guests informed me of their purpose...I learned a lot from these two over the next few days.


Chantal making friends with the locals. What's funny is that she isn't even particularly fond of cats, but this one certainly took a liking to her.





And then came the dogs, who must have been wondering why anyone would make a fuss over a cat.






Back at the house we had lamb in red sauce for dinner. Chantal insisted on helping with the cleanup afterward, despite my protests. Clive...well, he offered amusing commentary for the process:-)




The following morning we drove into Hania. Clive has visited the town before but this was Chantal's first time. We finally found parking near the old harbor (or is it harbour?) and stopped into a building with a Christmas exhibit so that Chantal and I could use the loo.



In addition to Christmas themes, they had several fairy tale displays set up, to include this rather surreal room housing the Sleeping Beauty. Normally this would automatically make me want to take a nap, but I'd had plenty of coffee and was able to resist its call.























Back outside, we wound our way west along the waterfront.







We experienced a scant drop or two of rain at this point, but fortunately it didn't last for long.















We then visited the indoor market with the intent to browse a bit and then eat lunch at one of the small, traditional establishments set up inside. We stopped into a stall where an extremely ebullient woman named Antionette was selling various spices, candies and liqueurs. Clive and Chantal chatted her up and found out that she is originally from Australia. Before we left I ended up with some candied ginger, and several packets of different spices that Chantal purchased for me.





There were several interesting old photographs hung above one of the shops, unfortunately this was the only one I took that didn't turn out blurry.





I now have a lovely bunch of oregano hanging in my kitchen thanks to Clive's purchase from this shop.







OK, I'm not exactly sure what these are, besides dead. I think they might be goat's heads. At first I thought they were rabbit heads, but who eats rabbit heads? Nah...pretty sure they're goats. Anyway, we didn't buy any since we had plans to eat at a restaurant that evening...


Just some shots of the old buildings as we walked around the Old Town.



















There appears to be a death notice next to this graffiti. Can't be sure though, will have to look at it more closely when I have time.








We ended up having lunch at Tamam instead of at the market, I don't really remember why we changed plans except that the fare at the market looked extremely filling and we thought we might just have some small plates (errr...excuse me...MEZA) at Tamam instead. Lunch was good, but our waiter was a μαλακας.


Anyway, after lunch we walked through to the west end of the Naval Museum and took some more pictures. You can see how the weather had cleared up at this point, and this seems illustrative of how the winter weather is here (at least in the west). Very fickle.

























I probably should have posted this at the beginning, since it was upon their arrival that I received these wonderful gifts from Clive and Chantal. We managed to make a decent dent into this beautiful cake, and I'm planning on working towards polishing it off over the next few days. Delicious!!!!



And although we've only known each other for a short period otime, it seems that they know me well;-) I'm looking very forward to trying these wines from Sitia, a region in the east that has a very good reputation among Cretan wines.



This was taken just a bit before Clive and Chantal headed back home. We took a stroll down to the waterfront and stopped into one of the few tavernas that is still open in that part of town. We ordered three Greek coffees, and were brought free baklava to go along with them! This was my first time stopping into this particular establishment, but I will definitely be visiting them again.

I'll just wrap up here by saying thanks to Clive and Chantal for an incredibly enjoyable visit. I'm really hoping to catch up with you both again in March. Stay warm and happy in the meantime, and Χρονια Πολλα!

Kyrstyn Goes to Church

Quite by accident, I assure you. Organized religion and I parted ways long ago, the reasons for which I will not go into here lest I upset my dear Grandma, who is as devout a Roman Catholic as you're likely to encounter.

My intention was to go see a re-enactment of the birth of Christ in the cave of Agia Sofia. I learned of this event last time I visited the cave with Lisa when she was visiting in October. The woman who "worked" in the cave, which contains a chapel and some interesting, albeit potentially mythical history, informed me that they perform this re-enactment every year on Christmas Eve. It sounded like something different and interesting to do. Having not remembered exactly what time she told me it started, I arrived a little after 8:30pm and waited around with about 30 other early-birds. As soon as I saw the priest, I realized that there was probably going to be a service of some sort. No big deal...I was curious to see what an Orthodox service was like anyway, so I figured I could sit through it until the real entertainment began.

An hour later they had still not served Communion, the priest and three old men were still chanting away, it seemed to be getting colder and damper by the minute, and my bladder had begun to quietly inform me that it was going to require emptying sooner rather than later. At this point the place had really begun to fill up, and I debated whether or not to try and tough it out. Certainly if all these people were arriving, the real show was going to start soon, right? Well, I gave it about another 15 minutes and there was still no end to the ceremony in sight, and I think it was my bladder that probably decided it for me. So I left the cave and descended the many steps that I had climbed, encountering a flood of visitors coming up the other way. It was almost 10:30pm at this point, which is usually around the time that I start thinking of pillows and blankets and closed eyes, and I remarked to myself (not for the first time) how very un-Greek-like my sleeping/waking/eating habits still are.

Anyway, I'm glad I went even though I didn't stay to see the performance. It was nice to be out with others on Christmas Eve, and interesting to spend the evening in a cave with pigeons, bats and incense.


This was on the way up. It's a relatively short but steep climb, and part of the way was lit by only tea lights. Coming back down I could hear those still ascending breathing heavily, and I felt proud that even though I don't always take the best care of my body, I can still kick ass going uphill.









The "stage" preparations.







I don't know why demon sheep would show up for a Christmas service...






I guess the priest must have been moving his head when I took this. Come to think of it, he looks almost as scary as the sheep do here (his blurred visage reminds me of a scene from Jacobs Ladder).



Is it me, or do the angels even look a little bit creepy?








As I was descending, I came across a group of guys in hooded robes serving up drinks and food next to this bonfire. I didn't stop for any, probably should have because I have a feeling that's where the real action was happening.

By the way...this really is an interesting and unique event. I realize that my comments here are somewhat snarky, but I appreciate all the work that must go into planning something like this, and I give kudos to everyone involved - not least to the poor cop who had to tell people that they couldn't park alongside the road below the cave, and who was catching a rash of you know what from many visitors.

Christmas Eve Eve, and a few other odds & ends

Mike and I went into Chania to have dinner at Tamam last night, and I snapped a few photos along the way from the car to the taverna.







Yes, they are actually ice-skating here, although "skating" may be a bit optimistic. To give the kiddies credit, they were given skates with very dull blades, probably difficult to make fancy moves in them. Probably much safer for all involved, too.











































One of several restaurants/tavernas that are still open on the harbor this time of year.






But other than that it was very quiet on the waterfront.







Tamam Taverna. We got there early, around 8pm so there were no other diners yet. Greeks don't usually eat until after 10pm.







I doubt I would have noticed this if Mike hadn't pointed it out...around Christmas time they tack 8% onto all bills as a Christmas bonus for the staff. I certainly have no problem with that, especially considering that two appetizers, two main dishes and a half liter of red wine only came to 32 euros even with the additional charge. A bargain! Mike ordered my favorite, the Tas Kebab, and I tried something new...baby goat with staka cheese. Yum! Although I seriously doubt there's a bad dish on their menu.


Lots of pretty lights.







I took this picture this morning when I went to the butcher to get some lamb for a stew I'll be making for guests. Nothing like a dead pig's head with a fallen-off ear and blood coming from the nose to get ya in the holiday spirit! But hey, I think he really enjoyed that soft drink they left for him.


My Greek teacher gave me this when I had my lesson this morning. You can't tell from the picture, but the little snowman is actually a little stuffed guy, sewn onto the pillow. I love it:-)

Chicken in yogurt tomato sauce with roasted eggplant

Thanks to Helene for cluing me in that I can use yogurt in lieu of cream for making "cream" sauces.

Grilled eggplant seasoned with olive oil, garlic powder, salt and pepper.

Sauteed chicken w/ fresh garlic and crushed tomatoes, salt, pepper and two bay leaves.

Plain yogurt seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder and cumin.

I topped the eggplant with a bit of the yogurt sauce once it was out of the oven, then mixed the remaining yogurt sauce in with the chicken/tomato mixture once I removed it from the heat.

Served over rice.

I thought it turned out really well, and was particularly happy with the eggplant/yogurt sauce combo.

I see looking back at the recipe that it seems that I used an awful lot of garlic, but I'm one of those people who believes that there is no such thing as too much garlic! Perhaps anyone fortunate enough to wake up next to me the following morning would disagree...

Eric Williamson Found Guilty by Virginia Court

Of being naked in his own home. Full article here:

http://www.dailychilli.com/news/1400-guilty-of-being-naked-at-home

My feeling is that the real obscenity here lies not only in the violation of this guy's rights, but in the horribly unhealthy attitude we have towards nudity. The kid in this article probably has been traumatized - by his mother's over-reaction.

I'm not a nudist, nor do I advocate that everyone start walking around in the buff. I like clothes, I think they're fun and functional. But we are ALL naked underneath our clothes, and I think that this case speaks volumes about how sick we are as a society that we would prefer uphold irrational, puritanical values over individual freedom.

My Mediocre Moussaka

I worked off of two different recipes - one from the book that my neighbor let me hang onto while she's away, and one that I purchased in a bookstore in Hania. There were aspects of both that sounded appealing to me, the former instructed to add bechemel sauce to the dish before baking, but I couldn't find any so I went with the instructions for making the sauce in the latter, along with a few other variations.

I began by cutting three potatoes and three eggplants into moderately thin slices. I baked them in the oven with some olive oil for about 3o minutes to soften them. Both recipies say to fry, but I hate frying (it's so messy) and one of the recipies mentioned baking as an alternative.

I then browned 1/2 kilo of ground beef and one onion in a skillet, added three pulped tomatoes, a dash of red wine, salt, pepper, cumin and cinnamon. Let cook for about 30 minutes.

Took off heat, added to the ground beef mixture about a cup of very fine bread crumbs, 1 beaten egg, and about a cup shredded kefalotyri cheese.

Buttered a large baking pan, sprinkled the bottom with some more fine breadcrumbs, put a layer of potatoes, then a layer of the ground beef mixture, then a thin layer of some more of the grated cheese, then a layer of the eggplant slices.

At this point I made the sauce: heated 4 tbsp. butter in a saucepan, added 5 tbsp. of flour once the butter was very hot, stirred until well blended. Added about 2 1/2 cups of milk (not really sure how much to be honest...I was halving the recipe which called for two liters, but even one liter seemed like so much to me, so I used about 3/4 of a liter). Stirred for a long while until that thickened up, then added another beaten egg, some salt, pepper and more cinnamon. Poured on top of the other stuff in the baking dish, stuck in the oven for a little over an hour, until the topping turned golden brown.

End result? Eh. I think it's the sauce that foiled it, for some reason it didn't solidify as much as I think it should have. Oh well, I'm eating it anyway because I'm starving!! But I don't think I'll be bringing a piece to my greek tutor tomorrow as I had planned...

Σιγα Σιγα

Slowly, slowly. Bit by bit. Eventually.

It's the phrase that comes up frequently when I'm speaking with the locals about my Greek language skills.

I've had more opportunity lately to engage in brief conversations with various shop-keepers about town, and while my vocabulary, grammar and comprehension is abysmal, I have been given props on my pronunciation:-)

I was able to articulate to the woman who cut my hair today that I just wanted a little taken off, with some layers added in. She understood enough to give me a decent cut, and not the mullet that I was dreading might result from lack of communication.

I figure I'll just be getting rolling when it's time to leave!!

A Walk to the Port

I took a walk to the port yesterday and snapped the following photos. The first two in first collage were actually taken the day before, but I threw them in because I didn't know what else to do with them.

The first is a nativity scene set up by the chapel in the main square.

Dad - I'm working on a deal to get you the vessel featured in the last collage, center. Sure, it's a "fixer-upper", but I've seen what you can do with a can of wood sealant!