Lentil Soup

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.