Kyrstyn in Kriti

Last Day

2010-05-30T09:59:00.002+03:00

I wish I had time to post some pictures from the last few weeks, to catch up with what's been happening during my sister's visit, but unfortunately today will have to be dedicated to packing up, cleaning house and all the little details involved in preparing to return to the US tomorrow morning on the 7am flight from Chania. Lots to do.

Once I'm back in the States I'll update the blog to cover recent stuff.

Dourakis Winery

2010-05-15T20:14:00.003+03:00

This weekend was "Open House" at many of the wineries on Crete. Debra Papanioff of the CIC tipped me off to this via a page suggestion for Dourakis Winery on Facebook, and I thank her for doing so because Luella, Koula and I had another excuse to get together and drink nice wine.

We were impressed not only with the wines (we tasted about 9 of them), but with the knowledge and enthusiasm of Adonis and Evie, the son and daughter of the founder of the winery.

I didn't take detailed notes on each of the wines, but they were all of high quality and I chose to buy two bottles of their organic Vilana (one for my sister's visit, one to take back to the US) and one of their Carignan (also for consumption while my sister is here, hopefully with a nice hunk of red meat, because the tannins are formidable at this point).

The grounds were beautiful, the cellar enchanting and I even came across some very well-fed looking cats in a room containing some production equipment, while I was searching for the restroom.

Finally, I had one of those "small world" experiences (which can be pretty common here in Crete) when a friendly older gentleman chatted us up and offered us a business card for the Kassimatis family shops in Chania. I've been dealing with his son Michalis since I arrived last summer, purchasing some skin care products that I like from him whenever I need them. I've always enjoyed dealing with Michalis because of his outgoing, friendly nature, and I see now that it runs in the family.

Around the winery.

The gentleman to my left is Kurios Kassimatis, and the couple in the bottom right photo are Evie and Adonis.

My 42nd Birthday

2010-05-14T17:22:00.007+03:00

Spent in the company of my two lovely friends, Koula and Luella. Luella's birthday was on the 12th, so we combined celebrations and made a day traipsing around the Akrotiri peninsula. We started at the Agia Triada monastery, which structurally reminded me very much of the Arkadi monastery, I guess because they were both built during the Venetian occupation (I think...my readers know I'm not exactly a history buff so please forgive any inaccuracies). I wanted to buy some of their wine, which comes highly recommended by Koula, but it would require leaving it in the hot car for the remainder of our day, and I didn't want to risk spoiling it. I hope to go back before I leave to buy some so that I can serve it at our next AOC gathering.

After we left the monastery, we headed to the beach at Stavros, which is where "Zorba the Greek" was filmed. The day was overcast with cloud cover and dust from Africa, and although it was still hot and humid, none of us felt like swimming so we just had a small lunch at one of the outdoor tables and watched a large group of tourists try to catch some rays and a swim before their tour bus loaded them up and carried them off. After Stavros we took a short detour to a couple of other beaches on the peninsula, just to have a look, and then went to Koukouvayou for coffee and dessert. This cafe claims one of the best views of Chania town from above, but the strange dark tint to the day wasn't optimal for taking in this fantastic view.

After Koukouvayou we went back to Luella's place where she poured us some nice red wine from Miden Agan, and cut up an incredibly flavorful melon to serve alongside sliced cucumbers and cheese. We sat on her balcony with a nice view of the water and chatted while we killed time until our dinner reservation at 8pm. The picture here is of the sun, which looked somewhat post-apocalyptic in the gray sky. Normally a sky like this would make me feel depressed and want to stay inside, but fortunately I was in good company.

We had dinner at Kariatis, a chic yet comfortable Italian restaurant located on one of the back streets of the old harbor. It was great to get a break from the usual taverna food, sharing a large crepe dish for a starter and then each ordering our own pasta dish. The wine, Semeli Mantinia Nasiakos, was a delightful moschofilero with a subtle but definite grapefruit aroma and flavor. This is another I'd like to seek out and bring back to the US with me! One of my favorite parts to the meal was the surprise birthday raspberry cheesecake that Koula ordered and had delivered to the restaurant for after our meal. It was one of the best I've tasted, and my mouth is watering right now thinking about it. I was so full that I insisted Luella and Koula split the leftover cake and take it home, but at this moment I'm wishing I hadn't!

The three of us at dinner, looking quite fabulous if I do say so. Thanks ladies, for a perfect day. I'm so happy to have spent my 42nd with you both!!

Botanical Park of Crete

2010-05-12T11:19:00.009+03:00

A big thanks to Margaret Doyle of the CIC for putting this fabulous day together, and for inviting me along. Koula (my cooking instructor) accompanied me, and I was really happy that she was able to show me many various types of edible horta as we walked through the park (see picture of various "weeds"). To think, in the US we use pesticides on this sort of stuff, whereas here we boil or steam it and serve with lemon, oil, salt and pepper for a nutrient packed meal!

In addition to the park, which contains a plethora of plants, flowers, trees and herbs from all over the world (and some critters,too!), there is a very nice restaurant on site which serves fresh, organic, locally grown food and wine. I learned during the wine tasting that they make a white Romeiko, which was heretofore unknown to me. It was quite nice, as was their fresh rose Romeiko (which is blended with grenache) and their oak-aged romeiko, which had a nice port-like quality. The Romeiko grape is used widely in the production of bulk wine on Crete, and is often of very poor quality. This was a refreshing exception.

For lunch we had salad, bread, tzaziki, boureki and a blend of vegetables from the garden called sympetherio (literally translated as "relationship by marriage"). Prior to our walk through the park, the chef demonstrated how to make each dish, and we were permitted to taste some of the individual ingredients that go into each dish, including mint leaves and myzithra cheese.

The price for the entire day was ridiculously low at 10 euros. This event surely was worth at least twice that, and I definitely plan to bring my sister with me for our own visit when she comes.

I've linked to their website, and highly recommend a visit to anyone coming to Crete.

Cooking with Koula Part IV

2010-05-08T20:55:00.004+03:00

Today's main dish was a fish called rofus, which at first glance looked like swordfish to me, but which is quite different in texture and flavor. It cooked in the oven with a sauce that had been prepared on the stove, and was accompanied by artichokes in a creamy lemon dill sauce, and a potato parsley puree. Recipes below.

In addition to the great food and conversation, Koula had her cousin make me two CD's of Greek and Cretan music, which she gave to me as an early birthday gift. The music is wonderful, and we listened to it while we cooked and ate our meal. I was very touched by this, as the CD's are very well made and it's the only Cretan music I have, even after all this time here! She also gave me a DVD on Crete, which I plan to show back in the US at my first AOC gathering (Greek wine theme) and a really nice little guide to Chania. Oh...and a bunch of sage so I can have it for cooking or with my mountian tea. Thank you, Koula...you're the best!!!

FISH WITH HERBS

6 filets of fresh fish (rofus)
1/2 cup olive oil
1 bunch chopped parsley
sliced tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
4 green onions, chopped
3 onions, chopped
1 cup white wine
1 cup tomato sauce
thyme, salt & pepper

Saute onions, garlic and parsley in oil for 5 minutes, add salt, pepper, thyme, white wine.Add tomato sauce and cook for about 15 minutes.

Salt and pepper the fish, then pour sauce over the top and cook in the oven for about 30-40 minutes at 180c.

ARTICHOKES

6 fresh artichokes, peeled/cleaned and sliced (keep in water w/ lemon juice to keep from turning brown)
3 green onions
1 bunch of dill
1/2 cup olive oil
Juice of three lemons
salt, pepper
1 tbsp flour
2 cups water

Saute onions and dill in olive oil for 5 mintues
Add artichokes, lemon, water, salt and pepper, and the flour mixed with a small amount of water
Cook on med-high for about 30 minutes

POTATO PARSLEY PUREE

Puree potatoes, blend parsley, garlic and lemon juice in blender, add to potato puree along with some salt and a little olive oil, if desired.

Sunset on Kissamos

2010-05-05T10:21:00.003+03:00

Taken from the path leading to the acropolis at Polyrinia.

Weekend in Sitia

2010-05-04T10:01:00.015+03:00

I had long been anticipating last weekend's trip to eastern parts of the island to visit two of my favorite people in Crete, Chantal and Clive. The journey got an earlier than expected start when my friend Vardis invited me to spend Friday night at the Ikaros Beach Village resort in Stalidha, a short distance from Clive's village of Skotino, so that I wouldn't have as long a drive to make on Saturday morning. A big thank you to him for this very thoughtful gesture.

I wouldn't normally choose to stay in a place like this (I prefer smaller, boutique hotels) but I have to admit it was very nice. I arrived before Vardis and killed the time waiting for him with a pedicure in the spa. The resort has three swimming pools, but none of them were heated so I happily let Vardis swim on his own while I took photos. The following morning we enjoyed a big, American style buffet breakfast in the resort's large restaurant, with floor to ceiling glass and beautiful views of the sea and beach. Then to the spa's sauna and indoor pool, and after checking out we stopped in Malia for coffee and ice-cream. We then went our separate ways, Vardis to the west and south to spend the remainder of the weekend at another resort in Plakias, and I just a tad to the west to meet up with Clive at his place for lunch.

I rather badly misinterpreted Clive's directions going through Herssonisos, and stopped at one point to send him an SMS asking for clarification. I noticed a car parked directly in front of me and took the picture below because the name is so close to my own (Mary Kyrstyn). Just thought it was kind of amusing.

I finally arrived in Skotino, a very quiet, old village in the hills near Gouves. Clive is the youngest resident in the village, and we remarked that before long, he'll be the only person living there since the other villagers are quite ancient indeed. Clive bought his house here several years ago, and has done an extraordinary job in fixing it up and decorating. He explained that it's a work in progress, but I think that even as it is now, it's a really beautiful, unique home. He put together a lovely lunch...deviled eggs, English cheddar, ham, potatoes, tomato salad, bread and red wine. I wish I had been able to eat more of it, but I hadn't yet fully digested the ice-cream from earlier. I left him shortly after lunch to continue my journey to the east to Sitia, where Chantal lives. He was in the middle of putting the final touches on his new website, NowHeraklion.com, and planned to join us in Sitia later that evening.

I stopped to take several photographs on the way to Sitia, happy that the weather was so much nicer for this trip than it had been for the last one in September. The drive between Agios Nikolaos and Sitia provides some of the most spectacular views in Crete, and I had to balance my desire to turn my head and gaze at the vistas with the need for attention to the road, which winds and turns almost non-stop the entire way. It was great fun to drive, but when took it again on our way to Spinalonga, with Clive at the wheel and me in the back seat, I found myself car sick for the first time in my life. Clive relinquished the wheel to me on the trip home after seeing Spinalonga, for which I was grateful but perhaps Chantal suffered (she was the back-seat passenger this time).

I was happy to finally make it to Spinalonga, having read the book "The Island" by Victoria Hislop, a fictional historical account of several of the inhabitants of the former leper colony. We took the small fishing vessel that transports visitors from the village of Plaka, and then had a nice lunch at a taverna afterward.

That evening we had dinner at a small taverna that is run by a Dutch woman, and I was really pleased with the food, tasteful decor and comfortable atmosphere. The food varied a bit from the usual taverna fare, with some slightly more exotic flavors and concepts. It seems to be quite popular with the locals, which is always a good sign. There was a football game on the television which several people seemed to take an interest in, but then suddenly the waitress closed the decorative shutters over the screen, presumably because she didn't like the way the game was progressing.

The following morning we had breakfast on Chantal's patio before I set out for my drive home. Unfortunately Chantal's cooking efforts were thwarted by a power cut, but she rallied and put out a very nice spread none the less, minus the eggs which couldn't be cooked on the electric stove-top.

I took a break from driving on my way home by stopping at a small beach near the exit to Fodele, for a coffee and a swim. Then another between Rethymno and Chania, where I met up with Vardis for lunch at a taverna along the National road.

Very nice weekend, I'm so glad I got to see Chantal and Clive one last time before I head back to the States.

Koutsamatada Ravine, A Really Old Tree and the Organic Olive Oil Woman

2010-05-04T10:00:00.012+03:00

My neighbor Mandy hiked part of the Koutsamatada Gorge while her son and his family were here visiting, but she wanted to explore it further and I was happy to accompany her. We set out in her car at 8:30am to drive the short distance to the head of the trail, and then proceeded to spend almost 7 hours in the gorge. I'm not sure how long it would have taken had we just set about "hiking", but we definitely dawdled along the way, stopping to look at the various flora, take pictures, eat a picnic lunch by the river, and explore a cave. Really nice walk, I hope that the water is still there when my sister (and maybe my dad!) come to visit in a few weeks.

Various landscape shots from our hike.

This is the cave that we found. It was quite a scramble up a hill through some pretty thick brush, but I'm glad our curiosity got the better of us because it was pretty cool. We found a few very old signs of life...a glass lantern hung from one of the rocks, a crucifix hanging in the entry way, and what seemed to be a little shrine of sorts, with a broken mirror, a couple of empty glass bottles, and some animal bones! We named the cave "Fegarri" which means "moon" in Greek (Φεγαρρι) because there was a
full moon scheduled for that night.

After hiking the gorge, we took a short trip up the road to Vlatos to see a very old plane tree, and the woman who runs, along with her daughter, a small organic farm that produces olive oil and other products. The name of the establishment is To Metohi tou Monahoyou (Το Μετοχι Του Μοναχογιου), and they also provide several incredibly atmospheric but tastefully decorated rooms for let, and I would love to stay in one of them some time.

I left with a very expensive but very nice bottle of organic olive oil, and a jar of olives in lemon juice that may be some of the most amazing olives I've tasted.

More Hiking Pictures

2010-04-15T18:52:00.003+03:00

Just some photos from a hike I took a couple of weeks ago into the hills to the west of Kastelli. I haven't viewed the town and the gulf from this vantage point yet, so it was a nice, new perspective.

I found a great footpath that led straight up to the top of a decent ridge, although coming back down on the loose gravel was a bit of a bitch. I also found tons of wild sage growing along the path, and stopped to have a quick chat with a shepherd who was driving the flock in the picture down the opposite hill.

I went back last week in the hopes of picking a bunch of the sage, but the bees got there before I did and I wasn't in the mood to see if I could take it from them without getting stung.

My plan last week was to try to hike over the top of the ridge and eventually find a way down to the other side, on the road to Falarsana. However, the bees made me nervous, their angry attempts to dive bomb me reminded me of my trip to Gramvousa when I was attacked and stung by several of them, and I finally decided to just get the hell off the mountainside and back to town as quickly as possible. Not wanting to backtrack down the path, I followed the footpath off to the left, in the hopes of eventually meeting up with the paved road that I could see across the valley. And eventually I did, but not before having to walk by a hillside covered with man-made bee hives. I could see the air traffic getting heavy as I approached, so I took my long-sleeved jacket with hood out of my pack and put it on, covering up as much of myself as I could, just in case.

Alas, I escaped unharmed and have decided that I will no longer hike into the hills at mid-day, since that seems to be when the bees are most active.

Cooking with Koula Part III - Kreatotourta, Pilafi & Stamnagathi

2010-04-14T18:04:00.023+03:00

This past Saturday we made meat pie, pilafi and horta. Well, Koula made it and we watched, although we did chip in and contribute some soft labor like pulling the mint leaves off the stalks, brushing the pan with oil, etc. In addition to Luella and I, Debra Papadinoff, the president of the CIC, was there. I had exchanged several emails with her regarding an article of mine that they published in the CIC Times, and it was nice to finally meet her in person. As soon as I saw her I realized that she had been on the March 28 CIC trip that I attended, but we had never been formally introduced.

While we waited for a goat's leg to boil, we enjoyed some coffee, bread, cookies and chit-chat.

Once the leg was cooked, Koula set about tearing the meat into bite-sized pieces.

The mixture called for two different types of cheese - malaka (yes, that's actually what it's called, for those of you familiar with the derogatory Greek term), and mizithra. Salt, pepper, mint, oregano, cinnamon and lemon juice also went into the mixture.

And the mixture goes into the pan, which is lined with a dough that was made using yeast and eggs. This is the first time we've made dough like this during my lessons with Koula.

The mixture is then liberally "dotted" with staka, a 100% fat cream in clotted form.

The dough for the top crust is rolled on, cut around the edges, tucked in and then covered with two beaten eggs and sesame seeds.

Straining the broth from the goats leg into the pan in which the pilafi will be made. Pilafi is a traditional Cretan rice dish served at weddings, and seems a whole lot like risotto to me (although there are subtle differences, and pilafi seems easier to make).

Stamnagathi, a type of horta (wild green). I've been eating a lot of this since coming here. It's usually boiled (as it was here) but I've also steamed it to good effect. It's then served with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper.

As someone who doesn't even hit the 5" mark, I can appreciate this shot of Koula standing on a chair to reach the dishes in the cupboard. Story of my life!

Meat pie, fresh out of the oven. My salivary glands really kicked into action at this point.

The cooked horta.

The pilafi simmering on the stove.

This isn't the wine we had with lunch, but Koula wanted to share a taste of this rose which her uncle made (at least I think that's who she said made it...please leave a comment to correct me if I'm mistaken, Koula!). It's a blend of Kotsifali (red) and Vilana (white) grapes, and the color was a gorgeous, pale amber-salmon. This was just harvested last fall, so it still tasted very tight, but given a few months I think this will turn into quite a nice wine.

The table is set...

And then we ate:-D

Koula sent us each home with some goodies:

Wild sage, which I bundled and hung in my kitchen and have since used to mix with mountain tea...yum!

And cardamom pods that her sister brought back from a recent trip to Egypt. Luella suggested mixing the seeds from one of the pods into my coffee grounds, which I have done and which tastes SO nice. I'm afraid this might become habit-forming!

Koula sent us home with a copy of the recipe for the meat pie, except it wasn't really a copy because her printer had run out of ink or something, so she hand-wrote it out for each of us! Although I feel bad that she went to all that work, it's kind of cool to have an original, handwritten recipe from a published author of a cook-book:-)

Another Dinner Post

2010-04-12T18:51:00.005+03:00

I think this is purslane. I bought it pre-packaged at the supermarket and didn't bother to look up the wording on the package before throwing it out. I don't know if I've ever had purslane before. There was some radicchio mixed in, and I added some chopped tomatoes and leftover grilled zucchini. Simple oil and balsamic dressing w/ salt, pepper and oregano.

Easy recipe for the 1/2 kilo of pork cutlets I had bought:
Saute chopped onion and garlic in oil, add pork to brown.
Add about 1/2 cup of red wine, 10 oz. can of chopped tomatoes (I use the stuff that comes in the cardboard package since reading about how the aluminum cans leak dangerous stuff into the tomatoes over time), enough water to just cover the pork, 2 bay leaves, lots of cumin, and slightly less dill, fennel, salt and pepper. Cook covered over medium heat for about an hour and a half.

This turned out very nicely, I was surprised at how much the sauce condensed down even with the lid on. I think this is because my stove doesn't really have a "low" setting, so it cooked at a higher temp than I would have wanted. Didn't matter though, the pork was tender and the sauce flavorful.

I've become addicted to dipping my fried potatoes into Greek yogurt seasoned with salt, pepper, dried garlic and dill, although I probably didn't need to include that since the sauce for the pork was already pretty rich. Seemed like a bit of overkill on the flavor.

Not bad overall, though!

Iced Tea

2010-04-12T18:42:00.002+03:00

It's not something I typically drink, and definitely not something to be found in abundance on a Greek island (they have the canned Lipton crap, but it's rare to find any fresh-brewed, much to my sister's dismay).

However, I recently brewed up some mountain tea with wild sage that Koula had given me at our last cooking lesson, and I had some left over after pouring my cup, so while it was still hot I added a liberal spoonful of honey and stuck it in the fridge overnight.

I like it!! Just brewed another batch for tomorrow. Hopefully my sister will like it, too!

Polyrina to Sirikari R/T Via the Sirikari Gorge

2010-04-08T19:23:00.005+03:00

Well, we never actually made it to Sirikari. The trail wasn't always very well marked, and we got a late start from Polyrinia because we had trouble even finding the trailhead. Soooo, I'll have to go back and try again sometime, but we had a fabulous, leisurely walk of about about 6 1/2 hours when it was all said and done through some gorgeous terrain.

I should probably write more about it, maybe describe where we got lost so that others can be aware should they decide to try it, but then they'd miss out on the adventure of it all and I wouldn't want to deprive them of that aspect;-) Actually, I'm just very tired and don't have it in me to go into any more detail right now!

So here are just some pictures, and as always, they don't do justice to the actual surroundings.

Easter

2010-04-06T10:52:00.010+03:00

One of the motives that played into me deciding to extend my stay in Crete was the desire to experience Greek Easter. I've heard that it's quite a big deal, and I was banking on being invited to some sort of celebration, whether in a Cretan home or with other expats to a restaurant or taverna. I was fortunate enough to receive two invitations - one from my new neighbor to join her at a taverna on the beach and one from a friend in Rethymno to join him and his family. I had already accepted the invitation from my neighbor, so I told my friend in Rethymno that I hope to be able to celebrate with him and his family the next time I'm in Crete for Easter (I'm hoping that won't be too far in the future!).

We extended the invitation to my former neighbor in Drapanias, as well as the people who were living in my new neighbor's house but are now living in my old house! It seems we've got a game of Musical Houses going on here...

Anyway, we had a really nice time. Our host, Maria, is the owner of Giorgiali Apartments and Taverna. In addition to keeping us laughing with her wry sense of humor, she cooked us up some great food to include stamnagathi (horta/wild greens), skordalia (garlic dip), dolmadakia (small stuffed grape leaves), fried potatoes, kokkoretsi (organs from the lamb, cubed, seasoned, wrapped in fat and intestines and then grilled alongside the whole lamb), lamb and fish. And of course, plenty of homemade wine, and raki, fruit and coffee at the end of our meal.

We arrived at 2pm and left around 8pm, and I think the length of time that we spent should give an idea of how well we enjoyed ourselves.

The food.

After our meal we played the egg-cracking game, in which each person takes a hard-boiled egg that has been dyed red and squares off against each other person. You basically bang your eggs together, and the one with the uncracked egg in the end is the winner. And guess what...I WON!! I hardly ever win anything, so please excuse me if I gloat a bit. It's also supposed to bring lots of super-special, irrevocable good luck to the winner, which is good because just this week I both broke a mirror and had my candle go
out on my way home from Saturday night Easter-eve service, which is supposed to be bad luck.

My neighbor loves to collect wild, edible things and Maria's mother was more than happy to show her some of what can be found right in the front yard of the taverna. The man with the sheep is Maria's father.

Some photos from around the taverna, and from the three apartments, which Maria was kind enough to give me a tour of. Next time I return to Crete for the winter months, I will stay here. Each apartment faces the sea, they are well equipped and clean, and about 1/2 the price of what I've been paying in the off season. The rates are much higher in the summer months.

OK, I think that the baby is Maria's daughter. She was being handled by so many people throughout the day that I can't be sure. Hell, she might be mine for all I know. At any rate, I thought the pictures of Ricardo making goo-goo faces with her were just precious:-)

1999 Archanes (Αρχανες)

2010-03-30T20:09:00.005+03:00

This falls under the "oh my, what a nice surprise" category for me. I picked up a bottle at the Inka supermarket this evening to go with my leftover chicken and pasta in red sauce from last night (the recipe was the one I got from Koula's cooking class). I did so not because I knew anything about the producer, but because I was in the mood to try something different, because I enjoy Kostifali/Mandilaria blends, because it is an appellation of origin Greek wine and I don't see many of those on the shelves here that often, and because the price was right (around 8 1/2 euros).

I didn't even taken note of the year on the bottle (it was in very fine print) until I poured it into the glass and noticed the orange-ish hue (see picture and please excuse the background...the light in my bathroom is the only light that is remotely appropriate for evaluating wine appearance, and the toilet seat provided the white back-drop:-/). A sniff confirmed that this wasn't a young wine, lots of tertiary aromas coming through - smoke, iron and game at first, leather and hints of coffee, dried leaves and anise later. I think what really turned me on about this wine though was the palate - unexpectedly full of lush red fruit that coats the mouth and carries on right through to the aftertaste. The tannins are mild but definitely present, as is the acidity.

I really wish there was someone here with whom to share this. As it stands, I'll drink half tonight, the other half tomorrow, and go back to Inka to buy the rest of their stock with the hopes of bringing at least one bottle back to the US with me:-D

More info about the wine and where it comes from here: http://greekwinemakers.com/czone/winemakers/Co-op_Arhanes.shtml

Polyrinia

2010-03-26T21:00:00.000+02:00

I finally got around to visiting the old city of Polyrinia, with a fellow I met on the CIC trip into the mountains in the beginning of March. He had never been out this far west, so we made a day out of it. Definitely worth doing, the ruins are very interesting and extensive, and there are some beautiful views at the top. I'm looking forward to taking my sister there when she comes in May.

After Polyrinia, we drove east to his neck of the woods, Megala Horafia, and he took me for a brief visit to Aptera. Unfortunately much of it was closed (he said they usually close the gates at 2pm) but we were able to see the amphitheater and some nice views of Souda Bay.

This is Stephen, who has been coming to Crete for years on holiday but finally decided to move here on a permanent basis several months ago.

Friendly guy on a donkey ambling by.

The building in the background is supposedly an old Roman aqueduct, but we had trouble identifying the Roman part. It looks like it's been completely rebuilt with concrete.

We picked up a very old, friendly dog in the village before heading up to the church and acropolis. We met her owner on the way back, Yiorgos, who has a very nice little shop with lots of olive wood products. He treated us to olives and raki, and I bought a bottle of his raki and his olive oil. He said business has been very slow, I hope it picks up for him this summer.

BTW, his dogs name is Lula and she's 15!!

From my "Rough Guide": Miscellaneous Roman and Greek masonry is incorporated into the church...which is constructed on the base of what must have been an enormously impressive Hellenistic building, possibly a 4th century BC temple."

A view of the port of Kissamos in the distance.

The acropolis.

Lula playing with a friend, whose photo I took because I thought he/she had such interesting markings.

So cute. Makes me sad to think of all the lambs that will soon be slaughtered for the Easter feast. But not sad enough that I won't be eating one of them if the opportunity presents itself!!

Stephen noticed this "cave" as we were climbing up the trail. I think I would have missed it entirely on my own, it is so well hidden in the foliage. We were able to get a glimpse inside, and there is a stone wall on the far right side, so this must have functioned as...something...at one time.

These little daisy-like flowers covered the ground around us, and almost looked like snow at times.

I love these flowers, the petals of which are purple on the underside and white on the top side.

Lula explaining that after she accompanied us all that way, the least I could do was pet her belly.

These were the pictures I took at Aptera.

Cooking with Koula Part II

2010-03-21T20:14:00.012+02:00

I'm not sure why I'm mildly obsessed with boureki.

Perhaps it's because it's a very common dish over here, but one that I don't recall ever encountering in a Greek restaurant in the United States.

Maybe it's because Lisa and I had such a hard time finding it in the tavernas when she visited me in October.

Or maybe it's because there are so many different regional and even family variations on it.

Well, whatever the case, I had my best example of it so far at this Saturday's cooking class.

Romaine and green onions from Koula's garden, for our salad.

Koula chopping up the zuchinni for the bourkei. I will definitely have to invest in one of these slicers once I'm back in the States, it makes for a much quicker and more even slicing experience. Koula was nice enough to offer me an extra that she has, but I declined based on anticipated lack of space in my luggage for the trip home.

Rolling the dough into the pan. I swear I'm going to try dough again soon, she makes it look so easy.

The filling: a mixture of sliced zucchini, potatoes, mizithra cheese, pureed onion and tomato, parsley, mint, salt and a little bit of flour (added to the zuchinni and potatoes before the rest of the ingredients to help absorb their moisture - this is in addition to salting the zuchinni and letting it sit for a while).

And now we roll the top onto the pie. In most regions, this dish doesn't even involve dough - it's more a casserole than a pie. From what I understand, the pastry crust version is particular to Hania (although there may be other areas that utilize it of which I'm unaware). I definitely prefer it with the crust.

Cutting around the edges...and then into the oven for about an hour or so, depending upon the thickness of the center.

While we waited for the boureki to cook, Koula quickly whipped up a really tasty, nutritious garlic beet and yogurt dish, which can substitute sour cream for strained yogurt but I don't know why you would (the yogurt is so much better for you, and tastes every bit as good). Very simple but very good: fresh chopped beets, strained yogurt, finely chopped garlic, olive oil, vinegar, salt & pepper.

Beets are one of my favorite veggies, and this recipe is so easy and enjoyable (not to mention pretty!) that I imagine I'll be making this often in the future.

Our meal was accompanied by a bottle of Trebianno from the Agia Triada monastery on the Akirotiri peninsula, which I hope to visit with Koula and Luella sometime before I leave.

I was happy to leave with some leftovers - a big piece of the boureki and an equally large piece of galaktoboureko, a custard-filled phyllo pastry which Koula served up with coffee upon our arrival. I'm pretty sure it was my first time for this dessert, and I liked it very much because although it was filling, it wasn't overly sweet and it made for a very satisfying breakfast, even though I don't usually like sweets first thing in the morning.

Another Saturday well-spent!!

St. Patrick's Day in Rethymno

2010-03-20T19:39:00.012+02:00

After dropping my bag at the Hotel Civitas upon arrival, I met Apostoli for coffee at a cafe on the waterfront, then dinner at a really nice, quiet little family run place in the center. Afterward we headed to the The Punch Bowl, an Irish pub owned by his friends Christos and Geraldine. Geraldine is the "Irish" factor - she's been here for many years now, and although I don't recall exactly the quote she recited to me the other night, I recall the gist and I love it: "If you want to waste a life and do it well, come to Crete". Which I took to mean that the days, weeks, months and years just sort of flow together, and no one is too concerned about making "something" of themselves, because plain old existence here is satisfying enough.

Me with my Irish on. Everyone who came to the bar got a free hat and t-shirt, and although the hat will go in the "memorabilia" box once I'm back home, the t-shirt is going to work fabulously as a sleep-shirt.

Apostoli with his Irish on. Everyone was Irish tonight!

Eleni, one of the waitresses, who was as amazingly fast, efficient and friendly as she was when I was here for the first time at Carnaval. She somehow managed to look like she was having fun whilst trying to serve up the large crowd that eventually descended upon the Punch Bowl.

Christos and Geraldine.

Trying to capture the atmosphere inside without a flash.

Me and Apostoli, who is truly a generous host. Interesting as well, I could listen to his stories for hours!

Everyone was in the spirit.

Eileen, Geraldine's friend from Ireland who visits regularly this time of year. Check out the drink...a punch made of various liquors and juices, of which I enjoyed a small free sample upon arrival, but then steered clear of because it tasted WAY too smooth and easy to drink. I knew I might end up in serious trouble, so I switched to beer, but apparently Eileen is up to the task:-)

I was supposed to meet Apostoli back at the bar the following morning for coffee with Christos, Geraldine and Eileen, but my bed was feeling very comfy and I remembered that breakfast came with the price of the room, so I called Apostoli and rescheduled our meeting time for lunch. And then I called reception and asked them to bring my breakfast to the room.

Fortunately I got a sea-view this time!

After lunch on the 18th, Apostoli walked with me to the bus station and explained that these yellow grids are to assist blind people. I don't know if I have seen these elsewhere? Surely I must have, but I don't recall it and I thought it was quite clever.

All said and done, another thoroughly enjoyable weekend in Rethymno and I really hope to be able to get back once more before returning to the US at the end of May, although I don't know if time will allow it. I just realized today that I have only a little over two months left here!!!!

I think this might do...

2010-03-13T19:57:00.013+02:00

On a walk today, I passed a large plot of fenced-in land, upon which sat several dilapidated buildings. It's quite close to the sea, with southern views to the mountains, and about a three minute drive to Kastelli/Kissamos. I day-dreamed (why not?) about what might be done to make this into a retirement "compound" (Debbie, Merit...you know what I'm talking about!!!) and thought that it might work quite well.

The main house, where I will live.

My house is in the foreground, there is another house in the background, closer to the water, which could serve as further living space for the other residents.

We'll have to do some work on the trees/greenery around the place. Debbie - that's your job since you're always waxing nostalgic about that English garden (there are enough Brits here that we can pretend that it's English).

I think Merit's horse will like it here.

And this will be turned into a wine shop/tasting room.

Extra buildings that will serve as living accommodations for those select few who will be joining us.

So...before I try to find out who this land belongs to, and whether they'd like to make an offer...who would like to front the cash?

CIC Coach Excursion, 28 February

2010-03-09T19:10:00.006+02:00

I really shouldn't have gone. I had come down with an intense headache and fever the night before, coupled with chills and achy muscles - classic flu symptoms. However I had been looking forward to this trip all month, and it would have been the third time I had made arrangements to meet with Albert Van Elst of the CIC and then not been able to do so, so I was determined to drug up and go. The moon was still up when I left my house at 5:45am to catch the 6am bus to Hania, where I would then catch the 7:30am bus to Rethymno, which stopped in Georgiopouli, where the bulk of the group was meeting.
I managed to make it through most of the day feeling relatively well. We visited the Arkadi Monasteri first, followed by the village of Margarites where they make pottery, then a cave near the village of Anoiya, and then a big taverna for lunch.

Sadly it was during lunch that my condition took a nose-dive, and I was barely able to make it through the main course before finally excusing myself. I had hoped to be able to retire to the bus, but it was locked up so I sat outside for a while before coming back into the restaurant because it was too cold outside. I sat at a chair in the back of the place while I waited for everyone else to finish their meal, wishing I could better enjoy the live music being played by Vasilis Skoulas, a very well known Cretan musician.
The bus ride home was spent sleeping, sweating out my fever and apparently snoring at some point (I woke myself up and looked around self-consciously, realizing that only those closest to me had been subjected to the loud snort that emitted from my gaping mouth...lovely).

Despite feeling like crap, I got a few pictures and met some very nice people.

And I hope that this poor little goat was able to meet up with his mother again at some point. We frightened them on our approach to the cave and the mother hopped over a fence that the little guy was unable to breach, so he just ended up on the roof of this shack looking helplessly at his mother on the other side.

Sorry this post isn't more informative, there really is an interesting story surrounding the history of the monasteri, and the village of Anoiya, and I'd recommend further reading on both subjects...just not here:-/

My flu led to pneumonia and I ended up getting to experience the Greek medical system first-hand, and I can only say wonderful things about the emergency unit at the hospital in Hania. Quick, efficient and thorough - what I thought was going to be a nightmare turned out to be a not at all unpleasant experience. Kudos to them.

Flora

2010-03-06T17:43:00.002+02:00

Various flowers and other plant-life, taken on a walk around Kastelli/Kissamos last Friday.

Lentil Soup

2010-02-25T17:52:00.007+02:00

I don't usually get excited about soup, but I must admit that the batch I cooked up last night was pretty damn tasty.

I boiled 1/2 kilo of lentils for about 10 minutes, then rinsed and drained them.

In a large pot, I cooked garlic and onions in olive oil for a few minutes, then added the lentils, two grated tomatoes, enough water to cover the lentils, three bay leaves, salt, pepper, fennel, dill and paprika (heavier on the dill and fennel). I let this cook uncovered on medium heat for about 30 minutes, adding a bit of water as I went to make up for the evaporation (I suppose I could have just covered it and avoided having to do this?). I also threw in a bit more spice to make up for dilution from the added water. About five minutes before I turned off the heat, I added about a tbsp of vinegar and fresh chopped spinach.

I freaked out a bit when I began eating it because I saw what looked like worms, but realized that for some reason the lentils had begun to sprout while I was cooking them! I don't know if this is normal, I have very little experience with lentils.

Anyway, I really liked the flavoring in this and am looking forward to the leftovers for the next few days.

Nopigia

2010-02-20T22:33:00.004+02:00

The gorgeous weather this week finally prompted me to take the walk from Kastelli/Kissamos to the Rhodopou Peninsula, to revisit a meadow overlooking the sea that I had visited earlier in the year. It was about 4 hours round trip, and I packed a small lunch of bread, meat, cheese and fruit to eat along the way.

On the return trip, I ran into Neil and Lorraine, the folks who take care of things for my landlord, at the taverna Porto Allegra, where I first went with Yannis last summer. They invited me in to have a drink, but I declined knowing that I had a good two hours walking ahead of me.

Before seeing Neil and Lorraine, I had a rather strange conversation with some fishermen. They were out in the water in their boat, I was high up on the rocks. I tried to speak Greek, they tried to speak English. We were yelling at each other to be heard above the wind and the waves. They learned that I was living in Kissamos and had walked here from there (looks of incredulity). They learned (after asking) that I am not married but am here with my two cats. I'm not sure if they really understood the cat part of it, because they then asked if they were brothers or sisters. I learned that the one guy's father lives in New York, and that I should come back the following day at the same time to feast on the days catch. I explained that it was a long way to walk, and I probably would not be back tomorrow, but some other day. I told them I want to go out in their boat with them and help them fish, which was met with looks of confusion between the two of them, and me finally deciding to wave goodbye and tell them I'd see them some other time.

Greek is difficult enough for me, but I have to admit that yelling what little I know across the sea to a couple of strapping, handsome young fishermen was kind of fun.

There is a picture in the collage above with some goats and a chicken. I love this particular yard, because it has not only goats and chickens, but some random bunnies hopping around too. Sometimes when I eat meat I feel bad, but if I'm going to eat it I'd like to think that whatever creature it belonged to was wandering around happily before it met its end, just like these guys.

Horta

2010-02-20T21:24:00.003+02:00

I tried making it a little differently tonight: Steamed for about 15 minutes, added shredded carrots, olive oil, vinegar, paprika, salt and pepper. Nothing earth-shattering, but I like it. To go alongside the baked chicken thigh marinaded in olive oil, white wine, the juice of one orange, tarragon and some salt and pepper.

Cooking with Koula

2010-02-20T17:54:00.016+02:00

I learned of Koula Barydakis' cooking lessons from the CIC website, and have been looking forward to attending my first one all month. Koula and Luella, another attendee who has been to Koula's class before, were nice enough to wait for me while I struggled to find a taxi in Chania (there were none) and eventually make my way to Koula's apartment via local bus. It turns out I could have walked there in the time it took me to attempt the various modes of public transportation once in Chania, and at least now I know that.

We chatted for a while over coffee and cake, and then got started. On the menu was chicken and pasta in a red sauce, cheese pie, and a fresh cucumber & tomato salad with onions, feta and some of Koula's own olives.

Koula has given me permission to reprint the recipes we used, which I will do at the end of this entry.

I felt like I learned some good techniques and got some great ideas from this lesson. For starters, I think I'll be more comfortable working with dough/pastry going forward, after watching how Koula worked with hers. I think I've always been far too stingy in my use of flour when rolling out the dough, which has resulted in much sticky frustration. Koula was liberal with hers and I was amazed at how thinly she was able to roll it out without it coming
apart. Also, I learned that I need to let it set out at room temperature for a couple of hours before rolling. Finally, she spread a LOT of olive oil on the top before putting it in the oven, which she informed us will result in a very light, flaky crust. I've never done more than brush the top lightly, thinking for some reason that too much oil would make it greasy and dense. I was so very wrong, because the crust on Koula's pie was sublime.

When it came to the chicken, I'll be honest and say that my first thought when finding out about the dish was "big deal, I know how to make chicken in sauce". How very wrong I was, once again. She used spices that I wouldn't have considered, like dried orange peel and cinnamon, and whole peppercorns and all-spice tied up in a little sachet. She also used shredded carrots, which made the sauce nice and thick and is something else I had never thought to include before. Finally, she cooked the pasta directly in the sauce toward the end, which is something that I didn't even know could be done. The result was that the pasta absorbed the flavors of the sauce, and became so much more a part of the rest of the dish than had it been simply covered by the sauce.

Everything was perfect, and I really enjoyed conversing with my two lunch companions throughout the afternoon about many different subjects. I felt incredibly relaxed in their company, and
totally satiated after our wonderful meal and a very nice bottle of Cretan white wine.

Koula has co-authored a cookbook, which I look forward to purchasing once I'm back in the States (I'm trying to keep my luggage going home as light as possible so I'm holding off on purchases right now). It's called "Foods of Crete: Traditional Recipes from the Healthiest People in the World", and it can be found on Amazon.com.

I'm looking forward to the next lesson!!

Me and Luella, who is from Vancouver. It's always nice to meet a fellow North American here, there seem to be so few of us!

Koula and Luella after our meal.

Some of Koula's own olives, which she was kind enough to put in a bag for us to take home with us. I had several with lunch today, and I'm telling you...they're like crack. I couldn't stop eating them, they are that good.

Chicken with Pasta
1 1/2 kilo chicken or rooster cut in pieces
3 grated onions
3 cloves garlic
1 cup olive oil
4 grated carrots
1 cup red or white wine
1 cinnamon stick
2 bay leaves
mix of whole peppercorn and allspice (tied into a small sachet so they don't spread out into the sauce)
1 1/2 cup tomato sauce
3 fresh grated tomatoes
2 pieces of dried orange peel
salt
1 kilo of pasta

In large pot, saute onions and garlic in olive oil, then add chicken and brown to seal. Add grated carrots and stir while adding the wine, cinnamon stick, bay leaves, orange peel, grated tomatoes, tomato sauce, salt and pepper/allspice.

Add about 2 cups of water and let boil for about 10 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and let cook for 5o minutes. Add pasta and cook for another 5-10 minutes, until pasta is desired consistency. Note: Koula used an organic, locally made pasta which worked well with this cooking method. I don't know how your typical store-bought variety pasta would work, but I'm sure I'll find out at some point!

Dough for Cheese/Spinach Pie

1 1/2 pounds of flour
1/2 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons of vinegar (you can substitute raki or ouzo if you'd like)
Warm water (as much as needed)
1 tsp. salt

Pour flour into large bowl. Make a hole in the middle of the flour and add olive oil, vinegar, salt and some water. Mix. Add more water until you have the consistency of bread dough that doesn't stick in your hands.

Cut dough into two balls, leave in a pan and cover with a wet cloth. Let sit for two hours.

Roll out each piece of dough with some flour to make pieces of phyllo

Note: Having just re-read the recipe for this dough, I'm realizing that my problem may still lie in knowing exactly how much water is the right amount. That seems to have confounded me before. Oh well, I guess I'll know when I try!

Koula used myzithra cheese, about a cup of strained yougurt, four eggs, some local herbs and some salt in the filling for our pie. It was delicious.

Carnival in Rethymno, 2010

2010-02-16T18:23:00.012+02:00

When I planned this weekend trip to Rethymno for Carnival, one of my prime motivations was to finally meet up with Albert from the CIC and enjoy the festivities with him and his crowd. Alas, it was not to be. Despite him stopping by my hotel twice to leave a message with the front desk as to where he would be and when, I missed him in the crowd each time I tried to find him. Unfortunately we didn't have each others mobile numbers.

Despite that failed connection I had an excellent weekend.

The hotel Civitas was gorgeous, and the service I received was the most personalized I have ever experienced. Aspasia Sfakianaki and her son Nikos run the place, and I had a chance to spend some quality time chatting with both of them and with Ria, who was in charge of reception and guest services. Over drinks and meza with Nikos and Aspasia I found out that Nikos and I both attended Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale, VA. Aspasia enthusiastically expressed her adoration for the DC area several times over the weekend, telling me that when she had to leave there to come back to Greece, she cried. She's over it now, of course, but asked that when I go back that I remember how much she loved it there. This "small world" experience was followed by another when they told me that Nikos' first job in DC was at Bread & Chocolate, the bakery/cafe owned by Ted Manousakis, who also happens to own the vineyard here in Crete that I had hoped to intern for this past summer. They know the Manousakis family well, and it was fun to realize that we had acquaintances in common.

Sunday was just plain crazy all around, as the festivities had really kicked into gear all over town and everyone was in major party mode.

I watched the main parade for a while that afternoon, and when I'd had my fill I wandered back towards the center of the old town where it was a good bit more quiet. I passed by a lavishly decorated Irish bar a couple of times and made a mental note that I might want to stop in for a beer later in the afternoon. When I finally made my way to it, there were a couple of gentlemen sitting outside drinking a bottle of white wine, and they invited me to join them.

One of them was Christo, who owns the bar with his Irish wife, Geraldine. The other was Apostoli, and it was with him that I ended up spending hours talking. Having lived in Philadelphia for 20 years, and having worked in the merchant marines, his English is perfect, and it was a wonderful opportunity to listen to a Cretan native with a worldly perspective. He tapped into my recent interest in the WWII period in Crete when he told me that his father was killed by the Germans three months before he was born. It was a fascinating conversation, and when we had finished the wine and I explained that I thought I should head back to my hotel for a siesta, we agreed to meet up later that night at the same place for a drink.

When I returned to the hotel, my nap was hijacked by Nikos, who insisted I join the staff for shots of his uncle's honey raki. I had tried some the previous night, and it really is very nice raki (notes of caramel and cinnamon) so I allowed myself to be talked into it. The hotel's restaurant was really hopping by now, revelers enjoying themselves on the patio and in the lobby bar. Despite being incredibly busy serving customers and ringing up receipts, Nikos and Ria kept me company and we chatted and did shots whenever there was a lull. I finally excused myself to my room to take that nap I had promised myself, knowing that if I kept drinking I would probably not make it back out to meet Apostoli later.

I was too keyed up to sleep but did manage to rest and actually felt halfway human when I headed out at 9pm in search of a meal in a quiet restaurant, if one was to be found. I was beginning to doubt the viability of finding anyplace that wasn't overrun with loud, drunk people in costumes when I stumbled upon La Renza in the old town. Here I enjoyed a very nice, quiet meal in the company of the owner and his son. I was the only customer when I arrived, and during the next hour or so only two other parties wandered in. The owner's family is originally from Istanbul; they came here during the population exchange between Greece and Turkey. Both he and his son spoke fluent English, and we discussed many different topics during dinner, including one of my favorites, wine. They both knew a good bit about the subject, and treated me to several glasses of a dessert wine made from an indigenous variety from Patras, Mavrodaphne.

I might have stayed there talking with them for a good deal longer but I realized I was already running late for my meet-up with Apostoli so I thanked them for their hospitality and they pointed me in the direction of the Irish bar.

Apostoli had already left by the time I got there, but Christo called him and I chatted with Geraldine while I waited for him to return. Two Metaxa brandies, several cigarettes and a couple of hours later, I hit the proverbial wall. Apostoli walked me back to my hotel, and we exchanged numbers, agreeing that one weekend in March I would accompany him to his family's village in the south.

The hotel was shut up tight when we arrived around 2am, but fortunately there was a night person on staff to let me in.

The following morning I slept late in my extremely comfortable bed, then gathered my things and headed down to check out with the intention of heading directly to the bus station to catch the noon bus to Chania. Aspasia insisted that I take time to just have a little coffee and some cake, and while I was enjoying that Nikos came by to tell me that they were preparing my breakfast. My weak protests that I really needed to leave to catch the bus were met by his much more stalwart insistence that I should stay for the meal, and I happily acquiesced, realizing that the 1pm bus would get me there just as well as the noon bus. I relaxed and enjoyed the bread, cheese, cucumbers, tomatoes, and the most awesome taramosalata that I've had since arriving in Crete.

Afterward we all said our goodbyes, Ria and I promising to get in touch via Facebook and Aspasia reminding me of how much she loves Washington, DC.

Pictures from Hotel Civitas, which I highly recommend to anyone visiting Rethymno.

Various street scenes from around town.

And most importantly...the people I met. I've included one of me in my party mask, which I purchased upon arrival but never wore outside my hotel.

And finally, in keeping with my food fetish - breakfast at Civitas on day one.

Kava Boutari 2004

2010-02-09T18:18:00.003+02:00

I was in the mood to try something different so I picked up this bottle from the shelf at the Inka supermarket. The description was in Greek only, and although I was able to discern the grape varietals of Xinomavro, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Merlot, I knew nothing else about the wine so I looked it up online when I got home to see if it would work with the chicken in wine and tomato sauce I was planning on making for dinner.

I could only find a description for the '03, and I was a little bit concerned because the description sounded more "new world" than I normally like (fruit jam and dominant vanilla), but 2003 was an extremely hot vintage so I was hopeful that the '04 might be less jammy.

Its appearance in the glass was a clear, pale garnet with just a bit of orange brick beginning to develop around the edges, and I was surprised to find a somewhat restrained nose of raspberries and spice, mid-autumn forest floor, some game and a touch of smoke. Pretty thin texture in the mouth, with a concentration on the tip and sides of the tongue and slightly bitter tannins.

On my second sniff I caught a brief armpit aroma and decided to add cumin to the chicken dish, which ended up working out extremely well.

This was a pleasant surprise - I had expected new world and got something much more rustic but elegant, and at 9 euros I would definitely buy this again. Looking forward to finishing the bottle tonight with pizza and a salad.

Green Olives

2010-02-08T15:07:00.002+02:00

They're not usually my favorite, I prefer the black ones, but I was looking for roasted red peppers and the only ones I could find in my corner store came as a package deal with these.

Glad I got them, because their flavor is a lot more interesting than most green olives I've tried. In addition to the usual brine, the fluid they're kept in includes citrus juices and fennel, which really adds a nice element to the flavor.

Vasili The Lion of Crete

2010-02-08T14:52:00.002+02:00

I'm sorry to say that I'm putting this book down only half way through, something I am loath to do with any book, but it's just not holding my attention.

I've read two other books about this general period in Crete's history; Ill Met by Moonlight and Anzac Escape and Evasion in Enemy Occupied Crete, and very much enjoyed both of them.

Dudley Perkins, aka Vasili the Lion of Crete, was mentioned frequently in Anzac and when I found this book on the shelf in my rental house I was looking forward to reading something dedicated specifically to his subject.

However, in addition to the numerous typographical errors found on pretty much every page, the writing itself just isn't very engaging, at least not to me.

Oh well, there are a lot of other books here to keep me entertained, so I guess I'll diverge from WWII occupied Crete and move on to some fiction by Paulo Coelho now.

Burnt Thursday

2010-02-06T17:20:00.015+02:00

One of many Greek traditions, it falls eleven days before lent and is celebrated by grilling meats outside, often charring them so that the scent can be smelled for miles around. It happens that Linda invited me over for dinner at her place on this day, and although she didn't burn any of the food, the potatoes were nice and crispy on the outside, just like I like them! She picked me up from the bus stop in Maleme and drove me to her village, stopping along the way so I could get this shot of the snow-capped mountains. In the foreground is her village of Kyparissos.

One of the views from Linda's veranda in the front of the house. Turn just a tad to the right and you've got the sea not far in the distance.

Her beautiful, tranquil courtyard garden, which is in the center of the house. This lets in so much light in addition to the many other windows, and at night the lighting is soooo soothing and pretty.

Their cat Freddy, who is the only other fat cat that I've seen in Crete besides my own!

They've got a big, beautiful back yard with a garden and a pergola and this nice barbeque.

And voila..dinner. Pork, rosemary potatoes and a fresh, tasty salad. Prior to this we had some really nice dark, soft bread, olives and myzithra cheese with garlic, oregano, paprika and...?? Seems like there was another spice in there but I'm having trouble recalling. It was very good, whatever the case!

In addition to being simply beautiful, her fireplace kicks some serious heat and I found myself very envious when I thought about my crappy little gas heater back at my place.

I don't know if pictures can convey how totally relaxing and comfortable this all was. I felt truly at home here!

And we remembered to snap a picture of the two of us before we headed back to Kissamos. I had a return bus ticket but we were having so much fun talking about so many different things, and laughing at me snorting raki up my nose accidentally that we realized the last bus had long since passed, and Linda was so cool to give me a ride home. It's not a short drive, and I can't express my appreciation enough.

She got to meet Matthieu, a french "couchsurfer" who I had agreed to host that night. We picked him up in the main square in Kissamos and then she dropped us off at my place.

My revelry continued well on into the night, culminating in climbing onto the roof with Matthieu after yet more wine and raki to look at constellations. I could see Orion and the Big Dipper, he kept trying to find Cassiopeia but never did.

Needless to say, on the Friday after Burnt Thursday, I felt like toast:-)

Coffee down on the waterfront in Kissamos the next day.

Me and my couchsurfing guest. Glad I didn't zoom in to take this, because I looked every bit as hungover as I felt.

What is it about this place?

2010-01-29T17:29:00.002+02:00

I had dinner with a new friend at a taverna in the hills near Chania the other night, and one of the topics of discussion was the allure that Crete holds for each of us.

She is an American expat who has been living here for many years, and who married into a Cretan family, so her knowledge of the island and its people is far deeper than mine.

Crete has many well-known virtues:

Its physical beauty is formidable and diverse; one can find beautiful beaches, majestic mountains, farm land, olive groves, orchards, vineyards, caves, gorges and forests. It is the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean, and feels more like its own country than an island.

Crete's history is ancient, massive and intense. There are an extraordinary number of historical sites. The ancient Minoan culture originated here, and the island has been seized and occupied by Arabs, Turks, Romans, Venetians and Nazis (not necessarily in that order). The number of ruins dotting the island is staggering.

The hospitality of the Cretan people is legendary, and I have found them to be honest, open, curious and unassuming. They seem to be laid back and passionate at the same time, fiercely independent and not too concerned with rules and regulations. This last bit can cause frustration for those who are accustomed to the rigid efficiency of many western cultures, but it suits me just fine.

It is a land of contradictions, where one can find numerous modern conveniences and entertainment in the cities and then drive just a short way into the mountains to be transported back in time in its myriad villages. There is a wonderful, well-built modern highway spanning the length of the island in the north, many other decent roads to take you into and over the mountains, and then innumerable smaller gravel, dirt and tractor paths leading...well, you never know until you take them!

The Cretan diet is renowned for its healthy properties, and while there is a definite lack of diversity when it comes to restaurants featuring cuisine from other cultures, most of what you will find here is fresh, locally grown, satisfying and created with much care by traditional methods.

So, these are some of the things that come to mind when I'm compelled to explain why this is such a great place.

However, there is something more to it for me, and it's really difficult for me to describe. Since I've been here, I have experienced on many occasions a sense that I have been here before, like I'm living a memory. It's not that quick, peculiar feeling that one gets from deja-vu. Instead I feel like I'm looking at things as I used to when I was a child, when life held unlimited potential, adventure and mystery. Colors seem more alive, the air feels fresher, the sunlight warmer and gentler, and everything just has more of a "3D" feel to it than anything I can recall from recent years.

What prompts these strong feelings? Who knows. At first I was tempted to chalk it up to my own quirky nature, or simply the fact that I'm free from wage-slavery for the first time in 22 years. However, I've talked to others who have come here and fallen in love with the island, and they describe a very similar phenomenon.

As my dinner companion and I agreed the other night...you either get it or you don't. I've got it. And I'm having a hard time imagining giving it up.

This Morning in the Shower...

2010-01-25T19:08:00.002+02:00

I was musing upon the things that I miss about my life in the United States, and those things that I don't. Why in the shower? Because for some reason I tend to contemplate a lot in the shower, I don't know why. Anyway, here's what I was thinking:

I Miss (in no particular order):

Central heating
Family and friends
Clothes driers
My car
A diversity of cuisines when dining out
A diversity of wines for purchase
A diversity of cultures/people
The metro

What I don't miss:

The hustle and bustle
Work
Waking up to an alarm
Pretentiousness
Political polarization
Rules & Regulations
Strip malls
Not being near the sea
Self-righteous non-smokers
Housing developments

Mid-winter Splurge

2010-01-24T20:21:00.002+02:00

Did you know that Carnival originated in Greece? Or that's what I've read, anyway...

Apparently the town of Rethymno has a pretty impressive celebration, so I've decided to break out of my winter doldrums and spend two days there over the weekend of the 13th of February. I'll stay Saturday and Sunday night so I can catch the parade in full on Sunday, then head back on the bus Monday morning. Hope to get lots of good pictures, in the meantime I'm very excited about my accommodations at Civitas Hotel (pictured here). Having lived with only shower facilities for the last several years, I'm looking forward to a leisurely soak in the whirlpool tub at some point...

The Lady is a Tramp

2010-01-21T17:10:00.002+02:00

I happened upon this dumpster-diving kitty on my way back from my walk today. She quickly climbed out of the dumpster as I approached (they all do that for some reason, maybe they've had one too many bags of trash thrown on top of them) and watched me as I walked by.

Her thick, long fur was probably once beautiful, but is now matted and gray with dirt.

I think if she was human she would be about 45 years old, a former beauty queen who married the wrong guy at a very young age, and who eventually found herself out on the streets. Hardened by her fate, but still proud.

(Of course, I have no idea if this is even a female, but I'm going to pretend that she is for the sake of the story).

Φραουλες!

2010-01-21T16:59:00.002+02:00

Strawberries. This may not seem particularly exciting to anyone else, but these are the first berries I've had since I've been in Crete! I was very happy to see them at the corner store.

Not sure if they're locally grown or not. Doesn't seem like strawberry season, so I'm guessing probably not.

Me and a Bee

2010-01-21T16:48:00.003+02:00

I spent a good 10 minutes the other day watching this bee clean itself. It had chosen the screen on my kitchen window as its perch, and I guess I'm easily amused these days because I was totally captivated. At times it almost looked like a cat does when it cleans itself, its front legs moving back and forth over its face, its hind legs reaching up to scratch behind its head, etc. Then when it was done, it shook its little "bee-hind" and peed! At least I think that's what it was - once clear drop of liquid dropped onto the screen below it. I've never seen a bee pee before!

Oh, I really am spending far too much time alone lately...

Pure Torture

2010-01-20T16:47:00.004+02:00

I met up with a new acquaintance in Hania last week for coffee. We originally met a month or so ago at this shoe store and decided to make it our rendez-vous point last week.

All the stores are running sales, and this one had 50% off of what were already some pretty reasonable prices.

But I don't need any more shoes. I'm already planning to leave several pair here when I head back to the States in May, because they won't all fit in my luggage. I really, really wanted to buy some shoes. To make matters worse, my friend was running late so I had at least 45 minutes to spend browsing all the great deals that I couldn't partake in.

Dina hamming it up for the camera at the waterfront in Hania.

Some recent dinners

2010-01-14T20:53:00.005+02:00

"Stuffed" eggplant (aubergines) with ground pork and cumin, topped with a yogurt dill sauce.

Baked pork chops in a honey/mustard/tarragon sauce.

I've had a hard time finding a vegetable steamer here so I finally just created one myself by poking holes in an aluminum pie tin. Worked perfectly!

Walk to Polyrinia

2010-01-09T15:06:00.010+02:00

The kennel where my cats have stayed before, Kissamos Cats, is located in Polyrinia so I've been there by car on a couple of occasions. This time I wanted to try walking it, and to check out the Cemetery of Ancient Polyrinia while I was up there. I set out at 1pm, allowing myself four hours round trip, figuring that a drive that usually took about 20 minutes should take about 2 hours to walk. Not sure exactly how I arrived at that calculation, but it turned out to be damn near spot on. Unfortunately I never found the cemetery, despite the signs pointing me in that direction. Maybe there was another sign that I missed somewhere once I turned onto the dirt path, I don't know. I do know that I was happy that the dirt path eventually led me back onto the main road I had come in on, about 1/4 mile back along my return route, so I didn't have to back-track. I was even further pleased (extremely so, actually) to see the sign just a bit further down the main road revealing a footpath back towards town, which I must have missed when I passed it on the way up. I vastly prefer loop hikes, and not only did this one provide me with more serene surroundings for the walk home, but it shaved almost an hour off of the return trip.

I'm going to have to try go back at some point, because having just consulted my guide-book to make sure I had the correct spelling of Polyrinia, it seems that I missed a whole lot of cool ancient stuff just a bit further on past the main village. As for the spelling, I've found several different versions depending on where I look, which is so typical here. I suppose the one I've used will suffice.

Epiphany in Kissamos

2010-01-06T16:24:00.025+02:00

The Epiphany celebration commemorates the anniversary of the baptism of Jesus, and wraps up the "12 Days of Christmas". It's when many people take down their Christmas trees, and here in Greece it is celebrated with the "Blessing of the Waters", during which a priest blesses a cross, throws it into the sea, and any brave (crazy) young greek guy who wants to can dive in after it. The first man to recover the cross is said to have good luck for the coming year (you'd think they'd throw in an Ipod or gift certificate to the local souvlaki joint or something...the water is COLD this time of year!). I had read about this custom long before ever coming to Crete, and was happy to learn that my town performs the ceremony so I didn't need to take the bus into Chania to watch theirs.

I walked down to the waterfront around 10:30am in order to get a good spot...someone told me it fills up fast, and the ceremony was to start at 11am. There was one ambitious lad already warming up for the competition, although I seriously doubt there was anything warm about it.

Apparently I didn't need to be down there quite so early...

but it was a pretty nice morning to be outside anyway, so I grabbed a double Elliniko and a ham and cheese sandwich for breakfast at a waterfront cafe. This was the biggest double coffee I've had here...really seemed more like a quadruple.

Good to know the coast guard would be on hand, although I'm not really sure why. I think they were just there to show off their uniforms and try to pick up chicks.

Church must have let out, because everyone showed up at once. I was able to squeeze in front of a few people and grab a seat on the wall where I had a decent view. Mostly it was little kids sitting on the wall, but I figure since I'm about the size of a little kid, I qualified.

Plotting their strategies.

People on small craft gathering to watch from a different angle, and maybe to jump in and break up any fights in the event that two guys grab the cross at the same time.

I may not be religious, but I DO like their costumes.

I think we've got all the contestants here now!

The pre-dive chanting begins (by the priest, not the swimmers).

I kept trying to get a decent frontal shot of this guy, who was super-cute (aside from the little dippy-thing he's done with his hair), but he was not cooperating.

Focus, Kyrstyn - focus. We're here to watch the Blessing of the Waters, not drool over guys are young enough to be your offspring.

OK, cool - we're reading from the big silver book now. I remember seeing the big silver book at the Christmas Eve service, too. Hmmm, could it be a ...bible? We never had bibles that pretty in Roman Catholic Mass.

And away they go!!

We have a winner, and he's letting everyone kiss his crucifix. I bet he feels like a pretty big deal right now.

He reverently gives the crucifix back to the priest...

Who then throws it in again so someone else can try for it.

Huh?

When it was all done, the priest threw the cross 3 times, and it was retrieved by three different guys (I think, it was kind of hard to tell exactly what was going on at this point). This must be one of those new, modern-minded touchy-feelly priests who thinks that everyone should feel like a winner! Although I guess technically, there were still three losers. Oh well.

And the boats head back from whence they came.

As did most of the other observers, including the marching band.

KIK for Summer 2010 Campaign

2010-01-05T18:45:00.032+02:00

It was during a walk along the shore today that I came up with what I think is a rather catchy acronym for a campaign to keep "Kyrstyn in Kriti for Summer 2010". As I dipped my toes in the icy water, I realized that as things stand I'll be leaving Crete at the end of May, just as the water is starting to warm up for the season. Seems a shame to miss a whole summer's worth of swimming, and DC is so godawful humid during that time of year anyway.

So, if anyone would like to make a donation towards the effort to extend my stay here through the end of August, please enter the amount you'd like to pledge and your contact info in the comment field for this blog posting, and I'll get back to you with an address where you can send your check or wire transfer (sorry, no credit cards or Paypal).

We need to raise $7000 in order to make this happen. That may seem like a lot for just three months, but the exchange rate sucks. If 280 people will pledge just $25 each, we can make it a reality. This blog only has a readership of 7, and my Facebook friend count is only at 81, so everyone should definitely try to talk their friends, families and co-workers into donating, too. If we exceed the $7000 then the extra will go towards a good cause, like a side trip to Santorini.

If pure generosity and altruism isn't motivation enough for people to donate towards this worthy cause, I'd be willing to do something ridiculous like swim naked in the sea in February during a storm and have someone record it, and then post it to the blog (although I'd prefer just to walk for 10 miles or something like that, honestly). Suggestions and ideas welcome.

Together we can do this!!

This last photo was not taken on my walk today, I just liked the colors and was thrilled to see that they had avocados at the supermarket yesterday! I also noticed that my bread looks like it's got a perturbed look on it's, er...face? Is this what goes on when you hear about Jesus's image showing up on a piece of french toast?

Happy New Year, Everyone

2010-01-01T20:33:00.006+02:00

Mine was pretty subdued. I was originally supposed to attend a New Years Eve party in Rethymnon put on by the Cretan International Community, but I began to feel a bit under the weather on Wednesday and canceled my RSVP, thinking that I was not going to be up for the two hour bus ride and then an evening of socializing with people I didn't know, followed by a night in a hotel room and another two hour bus ride home the following day.

I had just finished cleaning up after my lonely little New Years Eve dinner when my friend Mike called (he's in town visiting family for the holidays) and asked if I felt like some company to ring in the new year. It was perfect. We sat on my patio drinking some 2005 Xατζημιχαλι Ερυθρο, enjoying the unseasonably warm weather under an almost full moon while Mike differentiated the sound of fireworks from gunshots for me. Midnight came and went, woop-de-do, and then we watched Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels. He headed home around 3am, and I must say that I'm proud to have stayed up that late (I'm an early to bed, late to rise kind of woman these days).

2009 has been an amazing and exciting year for me, but I know that there are a lot of folks out there who have seen some pretty rough times lately. For 2010 I wish everyone the strength to deal effectively and gracefully with the difficulties, and the ability to recognize and appreciate the good stuff.

Χρονια Πολλα!

The Stark Family

2010-01-01T18:47:00.003+02:00

My greek tutor recently gave me an assignment to write a profile on a family I know. I chose my Aunt Katie's family, and she was kind enough to give me a rundown on what life in the Stark household is like. I told her I'd give her a copy when I was done, so I'm typing it up here for her. Unfortunately I have been unable to get my keyboard to add accent marks above the letters which are emphasized, so this is technically incorrect (the picture is the actual completed, handwritten assignment, with corrections by my teacher) but I thought it would be helpful to me to practice my typing in Greek anyway. Below the Greek version is the English translation, in which I may have deviated from time to time from exactly what Katie told me, but which was the best I could do given my very limited vocabulary/grammar. Αpologies for any embellishments or non-truths!! Thanks for your help with this, Katie.

Η Κατερινα ειναι η θεια μου. Ειναι παντρεμενι με τον Μαρτιν, και εχουν δυο κορες, η Τζακελιν και ν Ασχλη. Εχουν δυο σκυλους, επισnς.

Η Κατερινα ειναι σαραντα εφτα χρονων και ο Μαρτιν ειναι σαραντα τεσσαρων. Η Κατερινα δουλευει στην κλινικη και ο Μαρτιν ειναι δικηγορος. Η Τζακελιν ειναι εντεκα χρονων και η Ασχλη ειναι εννια. Ειναι μαθητριες, και η Τζακελιν παιζει με την ορχηστρα του σχολειου, και η Ασχλη τραγουδει με τον χορο.

Η Κατερινα ξυπναει στισ πεντε και μιση και ο Μαρτιν στισ εξι και μιση. Δουλευουν απ' τις οχτω το πρωι ως τις πεντε το απογευμα.

Το σαββατοκυριακο, η Κατερινα γυμναζεται, ο Μαρτιν παιζει γκολφ, και τα κορτισια ψηνουν. Την Κυριακη η οικογενεια πηγαινει στην εκκλησια μαζι.

Ζουνε στον Πορτ Τζαρλετ, στν Φλοριδα. Το σπιτι τους ειναι διπλα σ'ενα ποταμι.

English translation:

Katie is my aunt. She is married to Martin, and they have two daughters, Jacqueline and Ashley. They also have two dogs.

Katie is 47 and Martin is 44. Katie works in a health clinic and Martin is a lawyer. Jacqueline is 11 and Ashley is 9. They are students, and Jacqueline plays with the school orchestra, and Ashley sings in the chorus.

Katie wakes up at 5:30am and Martin at 6:30am. They work from 8:00am until 5:00pm.

On weekends, Katie exercises, Martin plays golf and the girls bake. On Sundays they all go to church together.

They live in Port Charlotte, Florida. Their house is next to a river.

(Note: I have no idea if Martin really plays golf on the weekends, I made it up!)

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

2009-12-30T18:09:00.032+02:00

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

2009-12-25T18:28:00.013+02:00

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

2009-12-24T18:40:00.015+02:00

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

2009-12-19T19:45:00.005+02:00

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

2009-12-19T10:59:00.003+02:00

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

2009-12-16T20:17:00.003+02:00

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

2009-12-16T20:06:00.002+02:00

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

2009-12-14T17:11:00.005+02:00

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!

A Perfect Winter's Night Meal

2009-12-13T21:44:00.004+02:00

I dug into the stash of goodies that Helene had left for me when she moved to London, and decided to make a go at lentil soup. I surely would have never attempted it had the basic ingredients not been sitting in my cupboard, so thank you Helene for the impetus!

I boiled 500gr of lentils for 10 minutes, then drained them but caught the water in which they had cooked in another container, and added a vegetable bouillon cube to that. Then sauteed one finely chopped onion and three cloves of garlic in about 1/2 cup of olive oil. Added drained lentils, 500 gr of chopped tomatoes, enough leftover water/bouillon to cover, a couple tbsps of freshly chopped dill, 3 bay leaves and some salt and pepper, and simmered covered for about 1/2 hour. 5 mintues before cooking time was up I added about 3 tbsp. of vinegar. Served with some hot bread and a glass of 2003 Kir-Yianni Ramnista, it was a very nice mid-December meal! Looking forward to the leftovers...

Note about the wine: I found a bottle of this at the Inka supermarket and bought it on a whim, never having tried it but knowing that I've liked everything else I've tasted from Kir-Yianni. I liked what I tasted very much, despite the fact that the cork came apart when I tried to open the bottle. So I bought two more bottles, and tried one of them tonight. Again, the cork split in half when I tried to pull it out, and unfortunately the wine was very obviously corked once I got it open. So I pitched that bottle and opened the third and last bottle, and AGAIN the cork broke in half trying to remove it. Fortunately this bottle didn't evidence any TCA that I could discern, but I am curious as to the cork situation in all three bottles. I'm assuming it's that they were stored improperly, and since it is an older year they have probably been sitting upright with no cork contact for several years?

Tricia's Boost

2009-12-09T20:12:00.000+02:00

My halls are as decked as they're going to get...

2009-12-09T19:14:00.005+02:00

Cheap and chintzy - that's the theme this year! No point spending money on a lot of decorations that I won't be taking with me when I leave.

But it's enough, and alongside the lights and decorations that are going up around the town, it all makes me feel quite festive.

Now I just have to get around to roasting those chestnuts I bought the other day...

Ugh.

2009-12-08T21:17:00.004+02:00

I had a dream last night that I was eating bugs. I didn't want to, but they were being offered to me as a delicacy by someone and it would have been rude to refuse. The bugs in my dream were akin to very large, thick dragonflies, about 12 inches long.

So I ate several pieces of one, and I didn't enjoy it at all...the texture was thick and rubbery and the flavor pungent in some way I can't describe.

Tonight I reheated the leftovers from the cuttelfish stew I made last night, and as I dug in I realized that this was what the dragonflies in my dream tasted like. I tried to be rational and do the whole "mind over matter" thing, telling myself that this was cuttelfish and spinach ragu, not big, meaty winged creatures, and to just get over it. After about 10 bites I finally gave up...it was disgusting.

Not wanting to waste a perfectly good plate of food, I scraped it into one of those disposable aluminum tins and carried it out to the dumpster with me, planning to leave it on the ground by the bin if there was no one around to see. Surely there are plenty of hungry critters in the neighborhood who would welcome these scraps, even if only the rats.

On my way to the dumpster I found a kitty, gave him the old "psssst" and he was at my heels in no time. However, when I put the container on the ground, he sniffed, backed away as though offended and sat back on his haunches as if to say, "You have got to be kidding me."

So, either I am a worse cook than I thought, or that cat had the same dream that I did last night.

Either way, I think I'm off cuttelfish for a while.

Rikki's Photo Shoot

2009-12-08T15:16:00.002+02:00

Rikki seemed a little jealous that Cleo got blog time yesterday, so I've mollified him by taking some pictures and posting them here.

He appreciates any fan mail but hopes that everyone understands that he's too busy with naps, eating and annoying Cleo to respond.

On The Run: Anzac Escape and Evasion in Enemy Occupied Crete

2009-12-07T23:00:00.002+02:00

It's what I'm reading now. I'm about 1/2 way through and thoroughly enjoying it. Because I am no longer inclined towards book reports ever since I didn't have to do them anymore after the 4th grade, I'm coping verbatim from the back cover of the book here:

When the order to surrender was given after the Battle of Crete in 1941, over 6000 Australian, British and New Zealand soldiers were left behind on the south coast. Some escaped immediately on abandoned naval barges or took to the hills. But the vast majority was marched back over the White Mountains to makeshift POW camps.

Many escaped, relying on Cretan mountain villages to shelter and guide them. The relationships forged between these troops and their Cretan helpers are remembered to this day.

Drawing on previously unpublished memoirs, including a detailed diary kept by co-author Ian Frazer's Australian officer father, On The Run is a remarkable and moving picture of heroism and endurance.

I'll only add that I find the diary entries to be very entertaining and interesting, and that I am once again reminded of this island's incredible history.

Cuttelfish Part II

2009-12-07T22:38:00.003+02:00

A month or so ago I ended up making a dish with cuttelfish by accident, and actually really enjoyed it. So I decided to try another recipe with the leftover fish that I had frozen (Gary...if you ever read this - this is the recipe that you suggested on Facebook). Here it is, cut and pasted from About.com http://greekfood.about.com/od/fishentrees/r/soupies_spanaki.htm

I liked it...a lot!! Served up with some hot bread and a glass of Amethystos 2008 Sauvignon Blanc, which is a very nice white from the Drama region with very light grapefruit and floral notes (might not have been THE best choice to go with this dish, but it was certainly suitable.)

Finishing up now with some camomile tea that I bought at the CIC Christmas Bazaar, some apple pie cookies that I bought at the supermarket, and Christmas carols.

Cook Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

3 1/4 to 3 1/2 pounds of spinach
1/2 cup of olive oil
1 large onion, diced
2 to 2 1/4 pounds of cuttlefish pieces
1/2 cup of white wine
1 14oz can of chopped tomatoes
1-2 teaspoons of salt
1/2 teaspoon of pepper
2 tablespoons of fresh dill, chopped
2/3 cup of water
2 tablespoons of long-grain rice

Preparation:

Wilt the spinach: In a large pot, bring water to a boil. Add all the spinach at one time. Stir well and remove. Drain and set aside.

In a stew pot, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and sauté until slightly softened. Add cuttlefish and continue to sauté until it turns white. Douse (deglaze) with wine. When the liquid comes to a boil, add tomatoes, salt, pepper, dill, and water. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 45 minutes. (If more water is needed, add a small amount of boiling water.) Add spinach and continue to cook for 15 minutes. 5 minutes before cooking time is up, add rice.

When cooking time is up, turn off heat. Keep the pot covered and let sit for 10-15 minutes longer, until the rice is done.

Yield: serves 4-5

Cleo's Big Day in the City

2009-12-07T20:45:00.003+02:00

I finally made a vet appointment for my 17 year old cat, something I've been meaning to do since she's been acting a bit stranger than usual (loss of balance, twitching of the head like she's trying to be Katherine Hepburn). I figured it was probably just old age, but thought it would be best to get her a full check-up.

My rental car fell through at the last minute on Sunday evening, and I had no choice but to take her on the bus first thing Monday, since I wouldn't have been able to cancel the appointment on such short notice.

KTEL doesn't allow animals on the passenger part of the bus, and instead of just walking her on in her carrier in the hopes that no one would notice (her carrier is a Sherpa bag, and looks like a duffel bag of sorts), I had to be all proper and ask the driver if he would make an exception. He wouldn't. So down into the belly of the bus she went, along with a big bag of horta that someone had stowed down there.

I experienced a brief moment of panic when the bus detoured up into the hills and off of the usual route that I'm used to taking to get to Chania, and was sure I had somehow boarded the wrong bus and was on my way to Paleohora or some other destination that was not Chania. I asked the driver, and I was assured that we were in fact going to Chania. Phew.

Once in Chania I had to catch a cab to Souda where her vet is, just a 10 minute drive. We made the appointment on time, early in fact, and Cleo was then subjected to the indignity of sedation so that she could be molested without protest. I rather enjoyed seeing her so docile, as pathetic as it was. She is very easily agitated and doesn't really liked to be touched, and I was able to play around with her limp form while we waited for the blood work results.

Everything checked out OK, with the exception of some proteins found in her urine and cell count indication that she's got some sort of urinary infection. The vet gave her an injection of antibiotics, some Front Line for both cats since they've begun to scratch in earnest since we moved into the place, and a note for the bus driver on the way back to allow Cleo into the passenger section. He also told me not to bother asking this time, just to take her on, which I did and there were no problems.

She bounced back quickly from the sedative and enthusiastically devoured the food I put out for her when we got home.

So, all was well and the trip was much less stressful than I anticipated, but the BEST part about the morning was that I met a woman at the vet's office who lives here in Kastelli. She's a British expat who came to live here last September with her little dog, Sassy, and she has invited me to attend a coffee group that meets here once a month.

December is looking up...Mike is coming back to Crete to spend the holidays with his family, a couple of friends from the "other side" of the island are coming to visit me between Christmas and New Years, and now this. I'm really going to miss my family and friends back in the States this holiday season, but I'm happy that I'll be able to spend time with some new friends.

Hello, Sunshine!

2009-12-06T10:56:00.005+02:00

Ο Κυριος Ηλιος dropped by briefly this morning, coming in through the kitchen window long enough to cast a few rays upon my Greek homework. He didn't stay long, though. The rain chased him away.

Diggin' My New Clothes Dryer

2009-12-06T10:55:00.000+02:00

I'm ready for ya, Winter...bring it on!!!

2009-12-05T21:49:00.003+02:00

Finally got around to buying a hat and gloves today...

And although dinner wasn't particularly creative, it seemed perfect for a chilly, rainy night (cup o' soup, salad and warm bread).

CIC Christmas Bazaar, Hania

2009-12-05T21:22:00.007+02:00

I've been meaning to sign up for a membership to the Cretan International Community and finally got around to doing so when I came into Hania today for their annual Christmas Bazaar. It is an organization geared towards assisting expats in Crete, organizing social activities, supporting local tourism and charitable organizations. They hold special events like this as well as regular coffee mornings, meetings for various support groups, chess club, etc.

I believe the kids were belting out "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" at this point. They sounded great and seemed like they were having a lot of fun.

Santa was nice enough to let me take his picture, and thank God he didn't ask me if I wanted to sit on his lap. He did offer me a lollipop which I declined since I was moving on to the sweets table next...

And I bought my first Christmas decoration of the year:-)

Water Colors

2009-12-05T21:06:00.003+02:00

Taken on the bus from Hania to Kastelli

Quote

2009-12-01T11:04:00.003+02:00

I was just looking back at a "favorite quotes" log I began to keep several years ago, and came across this one, which I just love:

"Nothing takes the taste out of peanut-butter like unrequited love."

~Charlie Brown

Colors

2009-12-01T07:45:00.006+02:00

I am a door, covered in blue paint. I was given my current shape by a young man who lived in a village not far from here. He died several years ago at the age of 83, of natural causes. I suppose I thank him for making me what I am, although I suppose I would have also been content to continue to be part of a tree. Δεν πειραζει, I am a door, and there’s no changing that, at least not at the moment. I assume that some day I will no longer be useful in my current state. Maybe I’ll end up as fire wood, maybe I’ll find myself in an abandoned field somewhere, food for the ants and termites. No point in speculating, it will be what it will be.

For now, though…I want to tell you about the old woman who lives inside the yellow walls to which I am attached. Her name is Despina, and she is quite old, older even than I. She was living in this house long before I arrived, along with her husband and three children. I came along some time after their old door had been kicked in by a German soldier after the abduction of General Kreipe in 1944. Although Depina’s village didn’t see the worst of the retribution, her husband was taken away the evening that old door was destroyed, and she never saw him again.

The soldiers left her and her three children to rebuild their lives and their village, alongside their neighbors. They used bright, happy colors to remind themselves that life goes on. Despina’s oldest child, Maria, chose the blue that now covers me. I’ve been repainted several times – the sun, wind and salt from the sea can be very harsh – but each time Despina insisted that I remain the true blue that I am today.

Despina’s children have long since moved away. They still come to see her from time to time, but for the most part Despina spends her days either visiting with the other old women from the village, or reminiscing about the past here, inside her home, while she sits in a chair across the room. More and more, as her eyesight fails her and her body grows weary, she spends her time at home. She looks at me frequently from the inside, and I’m not sure if she’s remembering the day that the soldiers came and took her husband, or if she’s waiting expectantly for a knock that might signal a surprise visit from one of her children. She is comforted by the knowledge that nothing lasts forever. Not paint, not wood, not old women.

Today a gentleman walked by outside, and I whispered to him. He stopped and took a picture of me. Despina perked up for a moment when she heard the footsteps come, then halt. Then they continued on, and she settled back into her chair.

Inspired by the above photo by Clive Birch, who has many other very beautiful photos on his web site (link under "Other Stuff").

Afternoon walk, November 29

2009-11-29T18:37:00.004+02:00

Just a short hike (45 minutes r/t) up into the hills above Kissamos late this afternoon.

The cemetery in the third is one of the larger and more well maintained I've seen (although to be clear, most of them are very well maintained, as are the grounds of just about every church, no matter how small or remote. This particular cemetery just struck me because it had more fresh flowers and, er... residents, than most I've seen).

Photo 6 is Kissamos viewed from above and from the east a bit. I figured I owed the pups in #7 some space, since they all came out to bark at me in chorus.

The church in the next one is very near my house.

Just Messing Around w/ the Camera

2009-11-28T18:29:00.003+02:00

Trying to get some shots of the moon. Some of them obviously weren't what I was going for, but I thought they looked kind of cool anyway.

Lots and Lots of Pictures of My New Place

2009-11-28T11:07:00.036+02:00

In no particular order.

Bedroom. The blue spread under the red blanket is much more aesthetically pleasing, but the red blanket is very nice, thick, soft and warm. It also shows up every bit of cat hair (both black and white so Rikki and Cleo are covered) which means that I'll probably spend a lot more time cleaning it than if I couldn't see the hair.

Bedroom closet, plenty of space here for all my clothes, many of which I lugged with me across the Atlantic last May and have not yet worn. And of course, since arriving, I've purchased new clothes, some of which I have not yet worn. This really must stop.

View of my patio from my bedroom window.

Doorway into the bedroom.

Entrance into the house. I love this little area, which could serve as a small patio but which I'm using as a "utility" room. It's nice to have some place out of the way to put the cat's litter boxes.

Coming into the house from the utility room.

Turn left and you're in the kitchen/living/dining area.

I brought the oranges with me from Ariadne, where I picked the few ripe ones I could reach a few days before moving. I'm going back there later today to grab the outside plants that I left and to brush the cat hair out of the big carpet in the living room, and maybe I'll snag a few more oranges and lemons when I do so.

The kitchen. Very similarly equipped to the last one, with two major differences: 1) The counters here are not as ridiculously high as they were in Ariadne, which means I don't need to stand on a chair to cook. Yay! 2) The fridge is not full-size, which is proving to be challenging. I'm used to buying meat in bulk and freezing it for later use - that ain't happening now. I also used to keep things like cat food in the fridge because Rikki can sniff out a bag like a blood-hound and rip into it in no time, but there's just not enough room for it now. I've got it stored way up high in one of the wardrobes, and hopefully he will not discover its location.
Living area. This is a supposedly a pull-out sofa, I haven't attempted it yet but am hoping that it's far more ergonomic than the last one! The landlord is supposed to be getting a long cable so that I can drag my laptop in here to use the internet (it's not wireless like at the old place).

Kitchen viewed from the living area.

Internet "station". It's a nice little workspace, my only problem was that my feet don't touch the ground (this is ALWAYS a problem for me, ya know) but I solved it by using one of the little bucket/bowl thingies as a foot rest.

Hallway behind the internet station, this is where the kitties will eat. The chest next to the bowl has been driving Rikki crazy. He's a bit obsessive/compulsive and has been furiously attempting to get into every little space that he can find since we arrived. He knows that this is one of those places, but he can't get the lid off and I'm not going to help him because this is where I'm storing all the throw rugs so that the cats don't puke on them and shed all over them.

Turn around while sitting at the internet station and you see the entrance to the bathroom.

The water pressure in the shower is about on par with what it was at Ariadne (five on a one to ten scale), although this has a shower nozzle that I can remove and bring closer to my head, which is better. The hot water seems pretty good, although it's tricky to get it just right and I've just about scalded myself a few times.

To the left of the internet station and directly across from the bathroom, another nice storage area. That's one of the things I really like about the Crete Direct properties - plenty of place to put "stuff" so it's out of the way and not cluttering things up.

Unfortunately Rikki has been able to satisfy his compulsion to "get into things" with the dresser and nightstand drawers, which slide open very easily. Aside from me not wanting him to get in and lay all over my underwear, I'm concerned that he's going to end up pulling all the drawers open at one time and causing the whole piece of furniture to fall forward (the top is glass and that's going to be a mess). I'm also concerned that he's going to hurt himself while trying to get back behind the drawer, which he's already attempted and from which I had to help him dislodge his head. What an idiot. I taped them shut the other night, but don't want to have to untape/tape again every time I want to get something from them.

My tiny little fridge/freezer.

View to the front gate from my patio door.

View of my patio door from the front gate.

I share a wall with the house next door, Villa Maria. We share the common entryway from the street, which is shown here (the door to their patio is off to the right).

Fortunately this door locks from the inside with a lever, so I don't need to worry about a key. I feel quite safe once I've barricaded myself behind this door:-)

Patio upon entry/front door leading to utility room.

This flowering bush is beautiful, I hope it continues to bloom for a while.

The bees like it a lot, too.

There's another section to the patio through here, which is where the clotheslines are.

More patio views.

I don't feel guilty about leaving Ariadne less than immaculate. The new place was "cleaned" before my arrival, but it seems that the crew was a bit rushed and may have not had time to do as thorough a job as I would have liked. Certain things were fine (the oven is pristine!) but I spent yesterday cleaning all the floors (this is what I swiffered off a small section of the bedroom floor) and scrubbing the bathroom and kitchen surfaces. I admit that my standards can be a bit rigid, and I've certainly been known to let my own floors get grungy, but that's MY dirt and I'm more comfortable with it than I am with the dirt of strangers:-)

I think I'm going to like it here. There are things that I miss about Ariadne: The full-size fridge, two patios, the hardwood floors, the large kitchen sink, the extra bed/sitting room, and most of all - Pip. However, this place seems to "fit" me better: It's smaller and easier to move around in, and the smaller size coupled with the great southern exposure helps keep it nice and warm. I like the privacy of the patio, and I love that I can see the sky at night. Ariadne's trees were nice, but they obscured the moon and stars, which I am now able to gaze upon from the comfort of my plastic patio furniture. Last night there were a lot of intermittent clouds, and it was great sky-gazing as they drifted across the moon. I like the location, that I can walk just a few blocks and get pretty much whatever I need.

My Official Thanksgiving Dinner, the Day After

2009-11-28T10:47:00.003+02:00

Where are the sweet potatoes? The cranberry sauce? Hell, where's the turkey...that looks like CHICKEN!

It is (chicken). A pre-cooked roaster from Marianopoulos. There is no way to cook a full chicken in my little oven, even if I wanted to (and I don't). The stuffing is home-made though, and not half-bad. I toasted up some black bread a few days ago and used that, along with sauteed celery and onions, two beaten eggs, rosemary, salt, pepper and chicken broth. The recipe I used called for sage instead of rosemary, but I didn't have any sage and I think I liked the rosemary better anyway.

Made a simple gravy out of chicken broth, butter, flour and a bay leaf.

You see no walnut pie here because I donated it to the dumpster when I tried to get a fork through it with no luck. What DID I do to that crust?? I think I might be able to market and sell this to the military and/or police as a new type of armor - stronger and more cheaply made than kevlar, although probably a bit heavier:-/

Thanksgiving Dinner

2009-11-26T18:54:00.002+02:00

After spending the day moving, I really didn't feel like dealing with cooking so I hit the souvlaki joint up the road. 5 euros, works for me. Maybe I'll do the chicken/stuffing/mashed potatoes tomorrow night, along with the walnut pie I made yesterday.

Oh - the pie. Turned out OK if you take the crust out of the equation, which is heavy and hard as a brick and better suited for use as a heavy, blunt weapon. I gave a piece to my greek tutor
anyway, it will be amusing to see her diplomatic skills in action during our next lesson.

The cats are still settling in. Rikki is a bit discombobulated, walking around meowing pathetically and trying to get into every drawer and cabinet he comes across (unless I put down food, then he is magically transported to "OK Land"). Cleo is just hanging out.

I'll take pictures and report further on the new place tomorrow.

Hope everyone has a nice Thanksgiving!!

My First Homemade Pecan Pie!

2009-11-25T19:40:00.005+02:00

Err...except that it's a walnut pie. My neighbor gave me a bag of nuts along with a bunch of other stuff when she left, and when she suggested that I make a pie I just automatically thought of pecan pie. I'm not an expert on nuts (other than those that I've dated) but I'm pretty sure these are walnuts. Which is just fine with me, why stick to convention? So I just used a pecan pie recipe, but with walnuts.

I'm still having a tough time with the crust, one of these days I'm going to get it right. This one is very obviously too thick, and just a tad bit underdone, but I will eat it anyway, and bring a piece to my greek tutor tomorrow when I have my lesson.

Now I just have to pull together the rest of the Thanksgiving meal. Something tells me I'm going to have to go sans cranberries...

I've Done it Again

2009-11-21T18:46:00.003+02:00

Purchased footwear that really only goes with one item of clothing I own (jeans, of which I have only one pair). But see, I needed brown boots. Just maybe not cow-girl boots...

Saturday in Chania

2009-11-21T16:52:00.019+02:00

I was supposed to go to a wine exhibition today in Chania with Pamela Dunn, an expat with extensive industry experience who now resides in Crete full time and organizes wine-related events. Unfortunately there was some confusion as to the time that the exhibition got underway today, and we ended up in Chania about 7 hours too early. No problem though, I enjoyed chatting with her over coffee by the water on a beautiful morning, and we walked together to Miden Agan, a delightfully diverse and well-stocked little wine shop/delicatessen that I knew of but until this morning had been unable to locate. They have their own wine club that meets about once a month, and I'm hoping to be able to attend at some point, even though it's all in Greek! The exhibition is running again all day tomorrow so I'll head back down and check it out.

In the meantime, I wandered around town for a bit, had some lunch and stumbled upon an art exhibit of works by Roussetos Panagiotakis. I saw others taking photographs of the paintings and followed suit. Now I just hope I'm not doing anything illegal by posting my photos of his paintings here without first obtaining permission! I searched the internet for anything that would tell me one way or the other but no luck. If anyone knows for certain, please let me know! I also tried to find a biography on the artist but again came up empty.

Before meeting up with Pam, I took some pictures while walking around the port. I somehow managed not to get any of the crowds, which were there in force as it is a big holiday today, Name Day for unmarried "Maria's". Which technically makes it my name day, so feel free to shower me with gifts and Χρόνια Πολλα wishes, however belated they may be once anyone actually reads this:-)

Another Goodbye

2009-11-19T20:34:00.006+02:00

Seems like there have been a lot of them on this "trip"! First Yannis, then Mike, next week the "outside kitties", but for now it's my neighbor Helene, who is leaving tomorrow to pursue some additional training in London, and who I was just starting to get to know. She'll be back in the springtime, and I hope to get to see her again before I leave to go back to the States, but in the meantime she has set me up very nicely with a bunch of stuff from her pantry/fridge that she can't keep or take with her. I wish her a fun, safe and productive journey and thank her for the dinners, chats and all this great "free stuff"!

Since I'm also moving next week, I'm just leaving this stuff in the box for now, but there's all kinds of good things in here, including pecans with which I promised her I would make a pecan pie. I've never made one before so it should be interesting, and I've decided to give it a shot next Wednesday so I'll have it on Thursday for Thanksgiving, and so I can give some to my Greek tutor when I have my lesson Thursday morning. I'm also slated to move on Thursday, so it should be a busy day.

Some stuff from the fridge, including some of her home-made orange marmelade, made from the oranges that grow on our back patio. Also, some mustard and ginger curry pate from France.

Lavender from France. I love lavender, and this stuff doesn't make me sneeze when I stick it right up close to my nose and breath in deeply, which is what usually happens when I do that.

I made this curry tonight with the pate, mixed it in with some cream with sauteed carrots, chicken and raisins over rice.

Autumn Leaves

2009-11-19T17:45:00.002+02:00

Venizelos Graves

2009-11-18T18:36:00.009+02:00

Mike brought me here one evening this past summer. It was a beautiful day for a drive, so I struck out to find it again on my own and eventually did. I grabbed lunch at the Κουκουβαγια cafe, where we had later stopped for coffee and dessert. Very nice view of Chania in the distance.

Manolis the Mantis

2009-11-18T18:17:00.002+02:00

I don't know if he was waving at me or telling me that he'd kill me if I got any closer.

Footprints

2009-11-18T16:01:00.004+02:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD!

2009-11-14T10:17:00.002+02:00

November 14, 1943

The Chicago Bears beat the New York Giants 56-7

In a freak accident, President Roosevelt, Generals Marshall and Arnold, Admirals Leahy and King, plus scores of distinguished politicians, and army, naval and air force strategists came under fire while traveling to the the Tehran Conference on board the battleship Iowa. While running a torpedo drill, the US destroyer William D. Porter was targeting the Iowa's #2 magazine, a live torpedo was ejected and headed for the battleship. After maneuvering, the torpedo detonated 1200 feet aft of Iowa in her wake turbulence. When the incident was concluded, Air Force General Hap Arnold leaned over to Fleet Commander Admiral King and asked, "Tell me Ernest, does this happen often in your Navy?"

Railway yards at Sofia were attacked by U.S. bombers based in Italy.

George William Kralovec III made his debut, and the world became a better place:-)

An indomitable, loyal, earnest, intelligent, kind and humble human being with two successful careers, a lasting, loving marriage of over 40 years, three relatively well-adjusted offspring and one perfect grandchild under his belt, whose best years are still ahead of him.

As they say...U da man!

May your 68th year be filled with happy times and snowy slopes!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GRANDMA!

2009-11-13T16:03:00.001+02:00

This is the icon that I got for you when I was in Santorini in October. I will give it to you next time I see you!

This is one of my favorite photos...

Remember how much fun we had at your 90th birthday party?!

Grandma - your strength, perseverance, intelligence and generosity never fail to amaze me. I feel privileged to be your grand-daughter. I hope you have a very happy birthday - I love you!

More Random Photos

2009-11-10T20:20:00.001+02:00

So cute! I pulled over at a spot in the road that I probably shouldn't have to take these, but I just had to.

Harnessing the power of wind. There certainly does seem to be a good bit of it here in Crete!

Just some fresh veggies/fruit in my window.

Huh, Cuttlefish...whodathunk I would ever make it?

2009-11-09T20:07:00.001+02:00

I came home with what I thought were giant frozen scallops, only to find upon thawing that they were cuttlefish. I was immediately intimidated, because I've never cooked cuttlefish before, and because I'm not really a fan of cuttlefish (I've had it on several occasions and can eat it, but it's not something I typically seek out). So, to the internet! I found this recipe, made a few adjustments based on the ingredients I had on hand, and ya know what? It was really good! My only criticism is that it was a bit too salty, and coming from a self-professed saltaholic, that's saying something. I think that I could have (should have) left the bacon out, but I had been intent on serving something with bacon to go with the smokiness in the rousanne wine that was to accompany the meal. The recipe called for 90 minutes of cooking, but after an hour the cuttlefish was incredibly tender and ready to go. The recipe was from About.com, and I've cut and pasted it below, with notes in red where I deviated:

Cuttlefish is a relative of both the octopus and the squid, and it tastes like a cross between the two: Not as rich as octopus, not as lean as calamari. This is a Greek cuttlefish recipe that uses fresh fava beans, green onions and white wine. Fresh fava beans are important to the success of this dish, although you can use fresh lima beans in summer. You can also substitute squid or octopus for cuttlefish, which is most often found frozen in Asian markets.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 2 hours, 15 minutes

Ingredients:

1 lb cleaned cuttlefish or squid
1/2 onion, sliced into half-moons
2 bay leaves
1 T. dried oregano
1 t. salt
1 T. finely chopped lemongrass (optional) (I didn't have any, so I used about 1 tbsp of grated lemon zest instead)
1 cup white wine (This was from the bottle that my car rental guy gave me, from his home-grown stash, and it was definitely more sherry-like than dry white wine but it worked just fine).
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup chicken or fish broth (I used chicken broth)
10 scallions or green onions (Didn't have, omitted)
1 cup fresh (shelled) fava or lima beans (Didn't have, but I did serve up some canned giant beans in tomato sauce on the side that I found at the supermarket and really like)
Lemon wedges to serve (skipped this entirely, the lemon zest was plenty)
Fresh ground black pepper

Preparation:

Cut your cuttlefish into bite-sized pieces, about an inch long. Do the same with your scallions or green onions. I cut the onions on a bias to get that pretty diagonal shape.

Make certain your fava beans are shelled. Favas come in a large pod, and then live in thick jackets that will give you gas if you eat them. If your favas look pale green and have a black or yellow line on them, they need their jackets removed. Do this by boiling them in salty water for 1 minute, then dunking into cold water. The jackets will slip off easily.

In a shallow pot with a lid, heat the olive oil over medium heat for a few minutes and cook the 1/2 onion you cut into half-moons. Do this slowly; you don't want them to brown. Cook until translucent and soft, about 8 minutes.

Add the cuttlefish and the lemongrass and mix to coat with the oil. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring often.

Add the bay leaves, oregano, the teaspoon of salt and the white wine and bring to a boil. Turn down to a simmer and let this cook down for 5 minutes.

Add enough chicken or fish broth to almost -- but not quite -- cover the cuttlefish. Mix well, cover and cook over low heat for 90 minutes.

After the 90 minutes has passed, check the cuttlefish. Is it still really chewy? I mean really chewy? Cook it for another 15 minutes. Cuttlefish is supposed to be chewy, but it should not be like rubber.

Once the cuttlefish is the texture you want, add the scallions and the fava beans and cook for another 5 minutes.

Serve hot or at room temperature with rice or crusty bread. Grind black pepper over the dish at service, and offer lemon wedges to each guest. This dish needs the acid from the lemon, but each person will want a different amount. (I think that perhaps the acidity from the lemon juice might have cut down on some of the saltiness/richness, and now that I think about it, it would have been a good idea.)

Baked Whitefish

2009-11-08T19:22:00.001+02:00

Several months ago I bought some frozen white fish fillets at the supermarket. I bought them because I know that I don't eat enough fish, but I really don't know how to prepare the stuff that's sold fresh at the various fish vendors around town (scales and bones and fish heads and innards are an enigma to me). So I figured I could heat these up from time to time, no fuss no muss. I have no idea what kind of fish it is, exactly; I know only that it smells rather fishy once it's thawed. So I've tried to use it in recipes that will downplay its fishiness, and tonight I happened upon one that I actually really enjoyed:

2 lb. fresh or frozen flounder or haddock fillets
Salt & pepper
1 tsp. grated lemon rind
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. instant minced onion
A few sprigs parsley, chopped
1/2 c. mayonnaise or salad dressing
Paprika

Thaw fish if frozen and drain off any liquid. Arrange fillets in shallow 2 quart baking dish and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Mix 3/4 teaspoon salt with remaining ingredients except paprika. Spread on fillets and bake in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with paprika. Serves 6.

I deviated from the recipe above as follows:

I had no minced instant onion, so I added about 1 tbsp. of powdered garlic instead.
I forgot to add the salt to the dressing, but I think the powdered garlic made up for it.
I had no parsley.
What I thought was a lemon that I pulled off one of the trees outside turned out to be an orange. The trees in the back grow both (I guess whoever planted them grafted an orange and lemon tree together), and the result are trees that grow both lemons and oranges. The oranges have a very zesty, lemony characteristic to them, so this ended up working out. I'll probably try this again sometime with a real lemon, but the results were so good that I'd recommend trying it with orange, too.

I paired this with a glass of Nostos 2008 Rousanne, around which I specifically planned the fish recipe. The wine is a very full-bodied, heavily oaked white, and I thought that the mayonnaise component would help the fish stand up to the wine. The match was perfectly adequate, but not phenomenal. I think that this wine would be stunning with bacon-wrapped scallops, which I'm considering as a component of tomorrow night's dinner with the remainder of the bottle. The only problem is that the last time I had scallops, a couple of years ago, I ended up with a case of food poisoning and I haven't been able to bring myself to do scallops again since then.

Summer's Last Hurrah?

2009-11-07T18:09:00.000+02:00

The weather forecast calls for rain tomorrow followed by sunshine on Tuesday - who really knows? What I do know is that today was perfect - warm with the gentlest breeze, and after spending the morning doing Greek homework on the patio and then cleaning up the leaves and some of the poop the outside kitties have been depositing in the garden, I headed for the beach to enjoy a small picnic lunch and to read. I had the place to myself.

I'm not sure if this is one olive tree or several grown together, but I felt compelled to take a picture of its formidable trunk.

Tamam Taverna

2009-11-07T17:35:00.001+02:00

My disappointment at finding Semiramis Taverna closed for the season quickly dissipated when my neighbor led us to this place, which is located on the main street that runs behind the waterfront.

We shared appetizers of giant beans in a mustard sauce and dakos. Dakos is a traditional cretan dish made of rusk, fresh crushed/pureed tomatoes and myzithra cheese, which I had tried once before and wasn't fond of, but which has been redeemed for me at Tamam. The beans were excellent. She had the a pie filled with pork and several other ingredients that I can't recall right now, which was huge with a perfectly browned crust. I was originally going to order that, but when I saw the tas kebab...veal in a tomato sauce with raisins, various spices and yogurt, I went for that instead. I'm glad I did, it was one of the tastiest dishes I've had in a while. We split a 1/2 liter of cabernet sauvignon, and the entire bill came to only 30 euros.

I will definitely be visiting this restaurant again, and I wish I had known about it when Lisa was here because I think she would have really enjoyed it.

By the way, I snagged the photo above from Matt Barrett's Greece Travel Guide, which is an excellent resource. I'm going to provide the link to his page on the right-hand side of mine when I'm finished posting this.

I Miss Working

2009-11-06T17:00:00.000+02:00

Not the mind-numbing aspect of the Monday-Friday, 9-5 schedule. Nor spending the entire day under fluorescent lights, surrounded by artificial air that is usually 10 degrees too cold. Nor feeling like my main job is trying desperately to retain clients and employees whom the corporate office seems intent on driving away.

But I miss joining with others in a common goal, and working towards that goal with creativity and having some fun along the way.

And, let's face it...I miss a regular paycheck.

I think of this whenever I'm driving through town and I see people engaged in work; the guys in the mechanic's shop hoisting machinery, the shopkeepers engaged in conversation with customers, the immigrants laying down a stone wall for a new house.

I wish that I could find something here that would occupy me in that way, if only part-time, if only temporarily. I'm sure there must be something, but I have yet to figure out what it might be. Granted, I haven't really looked too hard...

Random Photos

2009-11-06T13:49:00.000+02:00

Two of the three "sisters", Pip and Huck, chilling on the lounger last night after getting a special, unexpected treat of mortadella and gouda. I'm supposed to be slowly weaning them off of handouts as my departure from this house approaches, but I'm finding it much harder to do than I thought it would be. Pip has become very affectionate, and if I only had one cat I think I'd be taking her with me. Just as well that I can't, because I think she's happier outside and that she's also the "leader" among the three of them, and I bet her sisters would miss her.

Images from a walk I took today. I've posted pictures of the church on two other occasions I think, but find it looks different and interesting depending on the time of day, and I don't think I have one yet of it mid-day (the others were taken as the sun was setting). Also, hoping the fire here was a controlled burn - it looked to be. Although I did hear an almost completely alien sound to me now - sirens - when I got home. No idea if it was a fire truck or ambulance or cop. I think it may have been the first siren I've heard since arriving here.

The weather is so perfect that I decided to bring the laptop outside to post this and do other "online" stuff. Kind of hard to believe I went the entire summer without doing this. I guess I didn't realize the wireless would work out here. Too bad!

Τσικουδια, Anyone?

2009-11-04T16:19:00.000+02:00

This morning was spent in a relatively productive way...cleaning litter boxes, exercising, general housekeeping. My intent was to get out for a short walk to the beach and back while the sun was still shining, and then to continue in my productive mode by taking care of such things as fixing the toilet seat that I broke while standing on it to reach the light bulb that had burned out, searching for a new emergency medical insurance policy for my remaining six months here, and maybe downloading some new songs to my Ipod and organizing an exercise shuffle.

On my way to the beach I saw one of the local residents, Yiannis, and another fellow working out in Yiannis' yard. He gave me a "Yia sou, Christina" (everyone here calls me Christina) and told me to stop in for some tsikoudia on my way back, which I did. I had only two shots - one from a bottle and one directly from the still (he had me wait until he could set flame to some of the latter that he spilled out on to the table before it was ready to drink), but they were enough to make me think that now was a good time to thank him for his hospitality and make my way home. My already bad greek was getting progressively worse, and when I found I couldn't remember how to say "I don't speak Greek very well", which is something I say ALL the time, I knew that it was time to go. He told me that in the evenings, a number of people gather there in his shed to drink and talk, and he told me I should stop by anytime. I told him that I will, but that I hoped there would be some other women present when I did so. I feel like I'm asking for trouble if I start hanging out and drinking with the local men.

It was great fun to be able to observe the actual production process, to ask him questions about it and just chat in general. He speaks some English, which is very helpful.

The interesting thing that I've found about tsikoudia is that while it brings on a pretty intense buzz during consumption, it dissipates quickly and seems to leave very little after-effect. I arrived home 20 minutes ago feeling quite inebriated, but am feeling just about back to normal now, although a little sleepy. I'm thinking that this afternoon's planned activities may have to wait for another day. Yiannis was nice enough to allow me to take some photos...here they are, along with a few from my walk:

I've watched this vine grow and change since I arrive here in May. The colors now are beautiful (if you look closely, you can see the blue on the berries, which I'm afraid doesn't convey very well in my picture).

My beach:-)

Along the road back towards my village.

Barrels containing Yannis' tsikoudia.

Christmas dinner! There were two others who were just as large as this one.

The tsikoudia making equipment. This was truly a lot of fun for me to observe, having read about it but never actually seen it "in process".

It's Been a Strange Day

2009-11-03T15:56:00.000+02:00

I picked up a hitchhiker,an old Cretan guy,on my way to Chania and gave him a lift as far as I was going. Pretty sure I've never picked up a hitchhiker before. And it's not like he had his thumb out or anything, he was just trying to flag down the various cars going by on the National Road. Perhaps it wasn't the brightest move, I suppose even kind looking old men can be psychos, but I've read that it's usually safe to do so here and I wouldn't have done so if he'd been a younger guy. He spoke no English, so I understood very little of our "conversation". He asked me if I was married and I ditched my normal "no lies ever" rule and told him that I was. He told me that he was also married, and has two children. That didn't stop him from giving me his phone number when I let him out, but I politely declined when he asked for mine. Who knows, maybe he was just going to invite me home for dinner with the family, but when I asked what his wife's name was and he wouldn't tell me, I figured that was probably not the case.

I was irritated when the guy who I rent my car from changed our meeting location once I was already at our first, agreed upon location, but I just wanted to get this last month's payment out of the way so I drove to the airport and met him there. As we were saying goodbye, he took a bottle of home-made wine out of his car and gave it to me. Who knows what the quality will be, but it was a very nice gesture and I suppose it made up for me having to trek an additional several miles to meet him.

Before leaving the house, I unplugged the internet at the main outlet per my landlord's instructions in the event of an electrical storm. It wasn't storming at the time, but the sky looked iffy so I thought it was a prudent move. What I didn't stop to consider is that my neighbor and I share the internet connection, so when I got a call from her about three hours later asking if I knew if there was any internet in Kastelli, I cringed inside and came clean that I was afraid I had unplugged ours without realizing that it would shut her down. She works from home, and I felt terrible. Fortunately I was almost home at that point and was able to get her back up and running, with offers to compensate her on any losses she may have incurred. Fortunately her deadline isn't until tomorrow, so I think she's OK. D'oh.

I received a Facebook message from a friend from WAY back, in the days when I worked in Falls Church at the electrical supply store. I've actually tried to track him down on a couple of occasions but with no luck, so this was a pleasant surprise. Last I heard he was a dive master in the Cayman Islands. It'll be interesting to catch up with him.

It's about 10 degrees cooler in my house than it is outside. Works the same way in the summer - it's usually about 10 degrees warmer inside than outside. I wish it worked in reverse, but oh well. I picked up some warm, fuzzy lounge-around type clothes today, so I will bundle up and batten down the hatches and ride out the torrential rains that are supposed to occur over the next 48 hours. Hopefully the internet stays up.

The picture above isn't very clear, but if you look closely you can see that there's some snow on one of the peaks in the background. Winter is on its way!! In spite of my ardent love of all things summer, I'm excited to experience winter here in Crete.