Domestic Bliss, Greek Style

 Today's soundtrack

I have tried several times to start a blog about 'going inside', talking about my feelings and how we are responding to the challenge of restricted movement, and being faced with planning the next 6 months - and perhaps the rest of our lives.  Past blogging experience has indicated that this sort of thing is not universally popular, so I am reverting to the more easily illustrated matters of everyday life.  But just wait - I will get around to the abstractions soon.  Please read, respond, and prove me wrong.  In the meantime...



Like everyone else (or actually 2/3 of the population) I had an adventure in dough - pizza, not bread, Saturday afternoon.

All went pretty well following Jamie Oliver's recipe. His quantities gave me a bit of a sticky mess to begin with.  I had to shout for Al to come downstairs and rescue me - hands so sticky and coated with dough goo that i couldn't (a) pause my podcast or (b) open the drawer to get out more flour!  The pizza worked OK apart from not being able to flatten the dough out thinly enough, so the pizza base was a bit thicker than I intended.  Oh, and what IS a pizza stone and why would I need one?  I have frozen 2/3 of the dough so can have 2 more attempts if any of you have handy hints?  Thanks to Phil Docking for donating the yeast!

What else?  Swimming pool still empty. Here is a morning's haul from the livestock rescue mission. Something wrong with the beetles.  They can't seem to right themselves, or to behave normally if we put them onto their legs.  We have seen the same thing on our walks.  We are wondering if pesticides are doing this.  

One more music link: something that Al said last night reminded me of it.  We are watching the National Theatre's production of TWELFTH NIGHT.  He was talking about his Dad's arrangements of songs in the texts of Shakespeare plays.  He would have heard these as a child as Lionel worked at home. Including "Tell me where is fancy bred" from Merchant of Venice. He heard it as "Tell me where is the fancy bread?".  So back to dough. Like the Sound of Music .  Stay with it.... not what you think!

Al by Nature

And just one more, before `i start my day!
Here's Al during yesterday's afternoon walk.  And here's something that we were listening to yesterday.  Al played Churango on this game soundtrack. 




Coming eventually: And how do you feel?

Domestic Bliss, Greek Style

 Today's soundtrack

I have tried several times to start a blog about 'going inside', talking about my feelings and how we are responding to the challenge of restricted movement, and being faced with planning the next 6 months - and perhaps the rest of our lives.  Past blogging experience has indicated that this sort of thing is not universally popular, so I am reverting to the more easily illustrated matters of everyday life.  But just wait - I will get around to the abstractions soon.  Please read, respond, and prove me wrong.  In the meantime...



Like everyone else (or actually 2/3 of the population) I had an adventure in dough - pizza, not bread, Saturday afternoon.

All went pretty well following Jamie Oliver's recipe. His quantities gave me a bit of a sticky mess to begin with.  I had to shout for Al to come downstairs and rescue me - hands so sticky and coated with dough goo that i couldn't (a) pause my podcast or (b) open the drawer to get out more flour!  The pizza worked OK apart from not being able to flatten the dough out thinly enough, so the pizza base was a bit thicker than I intended.  Oh, and what IS a pizza stone and why would I need one?  I have frozen 2/3 of the dough so can have 2 more attempts if any of you have handy hints?  Thanks to Phil Docking for donating the yeast!

What else?  Swimming pool still empty. Here is a morning's haul from the livestock rescue mission. Something wrong with the beetles.  They can't seem to right themselves, or to behave normally if we put them onto their legs.  We have seen the same thing on our walks.  We are wondering if pesticides are doing this.  

One more music link: something that Al said last night reminded me of it.  We are watching the National Theatre's production of TWELFTH NIGHT.  He was talking about his Dad's arrangements of songs in the texts of Shakespeare plays.  He would have heard these as a child as Lionel worked at home. Including "Tell me where is fancy bred" from Merchant of Venice. He heard it as "Tell me where is the fancy bread?".  So back to dough. Like the Sound of Music .  Stay with it.... not what you think!

Al by Nature

And just one more, before `i start my day!
Here's Al during yesterday's afternoon walk.  And here's something that we were listening to yesterday.  Al played Churango on this game soundtrack. 




Coming eventually: And how do you feel?

Walking Through the Olive Groves

  And a lizard.

Readers of the blog will know that we find a variety of livestock in the empty swimming pool behind our rented house.  What you may not know is that Al (of Assisi) is a keen rescuer.  Yesterday morning amongst the usual haul of centipedes and beetles, there was a lizard.  We gave it a chance to use the sunbed escape route, but this was declined.  So Al chased it down after only 2 circuits of the pool.

Sorry, lizard hard to spot, but believe me, it is poking its head out of Al's hand.  So bright I couldn't see the iPhone screen, so had to point and shoot.  Successfully liberated, intact with tail.

Now, here's my dilemma.  I don't want this to turn into a brag-a-blog about how lucky we are to be here etc etc but all the same I know there are some huge fans of Crete out there, and you like to see the photos and hear more about our environment.  So I am going to continue to post photos and descriptions on the understanding that we appreciate our good fortune, but we still have to face the future like everyone else.  Death and taxes, hopefully not in that order.

     

One of the unintended consequences of the lockdown in Marediana is that we get to explore the local walks, instead of getting in the car to go to the mountains, or the beach. These walks almost always involve starting or finishing in an olive grove, or, more precisely, a track through one.  In this laid back envronment, there is not a whiff of a challenge from 'locals'.  There are tracks everywhere for access during the olive harvest, usually bordered by wild flowers, grasses and badger sets.  We feel completely free to wander where we like, even into the olive groves themselves. They will be cool in the height of summer.

Apparently the most recent olive harvest was very poor, but I have high hopes for the next one.  The tree growth looks really healthy, and the olive blossom is coming out now.  This is very modest - not at all showey. 

Olives are an amazing and almost sacred gift.  The oil - so rich and precious and extracted from such unpromising land, often steep, or carved into terraces.  


 
The trees themselves go from tiny saplings to ancient distorted trunks, with deeply scored bark.  They are often pruned quite severely, and we burn the by-product in our fireplace.

 

 


Olive trees in the landscape and close up are amazing.  If you look on Google maps satellite view, they always seem to be planted in rows, but few groves really look like this.

Close up the leaves are green in some aspects, grey in others.  When the wind moves the branches there is a silvery, serpentine beauty to them. Hard to capture, even on video.  





Coming soon: interior life in lockdown

Walking Through the Olive Groves

  And a lizard.

Readers of the blog will know that we find a variety of livestock in the empty swimming pool behind our rented house.  What you may not know is that Al (of Assisi) is a keen rescuer.  Yesterday morning amongst the usual haul of centipedes and beetles, there was a lizard.  We gave it a chance to use the sunbed escape route, but this was declined.  So Al chased it down after only 2 circuits of the pool.

Sorry, lizard hard to spot, but believe me, it is poking its head out of Al's hand.  So bright I couldn't see the iPhone screen, so had to point and shoot.  Successfully liberated, intact with tail.

Now, here's my dilemma.  I don't want this to turn into a brag-a-blog about how lucky we are to be here etc etc but all the same I know there are some huge fans of Crete out there, and you like to see the photos and hear more about our environment.  So I am going to continue to post photos and descriptions on the understanding that we appreciate our good fortune, but we still have to face the future like everyone else.  Death and taxes, hopefully not in that order.

     

One of the unintended consequences of the lockdown in Marediana is that we get to explore the local walks, instead of getting in the car to go to the mountains, or the beach. These walks almost always involve starting or finishing in an olive grove, or, more precisely, a track through one.  In this laid back envronment, there is not a whiff of a challenge from 'locals'.  There are tracks everywhere for access during the olive harvest, usually bordered by wild flowers, grasses and badger sets.  We feel completely free to wander where we like, even into the olive groves themselves. They will be cool in the height of summer.

Apparently the most recent olive harvest was very poor, but I have high hopes for the next one.  The tree growth looks really healthy, and the olive blossom is coming out now.  This is very modest - not at all showey. 

Olives are an amazing and almost sacred gift.  The oil - so rich and precious and extracted from such unpromising land, often steep, or carved into terraces.  


 
The trees themselves go from tiny saplings to ancient distorted trunks, with deeply scored bark.  They are often pruned quite severely, and we burn the by-product in our fireplace.

 

 


Olive trees in the landscape and close up are amazing.  If you look on Google maps satellite view, they always seem to be planted in rows, but few groves really look like this.

Close up the leaves are green in some aspects, grey in others.  When the wind moves the branches there is a silvery, serpentine beauty to them. Hard to capture, even on video.  





Coming soon: interior life in lockdown

Broken Wings and Things

 We have decided that it would be good for us to vary our diet of wine and Netflix, so that we (Al and I) will, on alternate days, choose 'an activity' that we will do sometime during the day. I am kicking off with the premiere of an English National Ballet production about Frieda Kahlo.  Link below.  There's a trailer and an interview with the choreogrpher. Looks amazing.  The premiere is at 1900BST, and we will be watching after supper.  It will be up for a few days.

https://www.ballet.org.uk/onscreen/watch-party-broken-wings/

Usually I shop on Tuesday, but since we have just experienced Greek Easter, with many gifts of food from our neighbours, including baby carrots, cooked beetroot, red eggs and spring onions, I went today.  It's still a bit of an anxious morning, not least because I have to mumble my primitive Greek through my mask to the chaps at the deli counter who can actually speak English.  But I try.  Three kinds of cheese and two kinds of olives.  Apologies to the vegans.  We do eat more cheese in Crete than we do at home; I am not kidding myself that the sheep and goats are not industrially reared.  When the market is open at Kolimbari it is possible to get cheese from the goats we see locally.

 As you can see, the supermarket car park is pretty empty. I haven't seen more than one person in the queue to get in.  There is still a hand gel & gloves routine, but some of the older men seem to ignore the precautions,  Which is odd since they have multiple risk factors given their gender, their probable smoking history and their age.

After shopping I made a short, not entirely legal trip to the sea, trying to work out whether we can walk there.  Probably about an hour's walk each way, so possible.  I picked some blue flowers growing near the beach.  

Coming soon: The Plot Thickens

Broken Wings and Things

 We have decided that it would be good for us to vary our diet of wine and Netflix, so that we (Al and I) will, on alternate days, choose 'an activity' that we will do sometime during the day. I am kicking off with the premiere of an English National Ballet production about Frieda Kahlo.  Link below.  There's a trailer and an interview with the choreogrpher. Looks amazing.  The premiere is at 1900BST, and we will be watching after supper.  It will be up for a few days.

https://www.ballet.org.uk/onscreen/watch-party-broken-wings/

Usually I shop on Tuesday, but since we have just experienced Greek Easter, with many gifts of food from our neighbours, including baby carrots, cooked beetroot, red eggs and spring onions, I went today.  It's still a bit of an anxious morning, not least because I have to mumble my primitive Greek through my mask to the chaps at the deli counter who can actually speak English.  But I try.  Three kinds of cheese and two kinds of olives.  Apologies to the vegans.  We do eat more cheese in Crete than we do at home; I am not kidding myself that the sheep and goats are not industrially reared.  When the market is open at Kolimbari it is possible to get cheese from the goats we see locally.

 As you can see, the supermarket car park is pretty empty. I haven't seen more than one person in the queue to get in.  There is still a hand gel & gloves routine, but some of the older men seem to ignore the precautions,  Which is odd since they have multiple risk factors given their gender, their probable smoking history and their age.

After shopping I made a short, not entirely legal trip to the sea, trying to work out whether we can walk there.  Probably about an hour's walk each way, so possible.  I picked some blue flowers growing near the beach.  

Coming soon: The Plot Thickens

A Strange Warning , a Flower, a Bee and a virtual swim

SInce none of us can go Swimming, let's listen to the Swimming Song instead.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4ZrBxJHxo0


 A mini blog tonight.  Some video socialising this afternoon with my sister Amanda, then a chat with Lynda after a ZOOM class with Gerry Chambers this morning, including the world's longest shoulder stand when my laptop battery ran out and I didn't get the instruction to come down,  A fat 15 minutes and I felt the Universe coming to a halt.

On this morning's walk, we saw these flowers - they looked as though they were made of crepe paper or crushed silk.  We saw at least 3 different insect species jostling for space on these pollen rich centres. 

On another bit of the walk we saw this very weird sign.  The challenge is to translate it.  Yes, you can use Google Translate,  Answers on a postcard.

Photo credits to Al.

Sorry about the layout.  Totally out of control.









 

A Strange Warning , a Flower, a Bee and a virtual swim

SInce none of us can go Swimming, let's listen to the Swimming Song instead.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4ZrBxJHxo0


 A mini blog tonight.  Some video socialising this afternoon with my sister Amanda, then a chat with Lynda after a ZOOM class with Gerry Chambers this morning, including the world's longest shoulder stand when my laptop battery ran out and I didn't get the instruction to come down,  A fat 15 minutes and I felt the Universe coming to a halt.

On this morning's walk, we saw these flowers - they looked as though they were made of crepe paper or crushed silk.  We saw at least 3 different insect species jostling for space on these pollen rich centres. 

On another bit of the walk we saw this very weird sign.  The challenge is to translate it.  Yes, you can use Google Translate,  Answers on a postcard.

Photo credits to Al.

Sorry about the layout.  Totally out of control.









 

Greek Easter

As you might - or might not - know, the Greek Orthodox Church has its Easter celebrations a week later than most of the rest of Europe.  The Church had intended to carry on regardless with Easter services, included sharing communion spoons, but was overruled by the Government. The priests may be celebrating but the churches are firmly closed.

Thanks to Despoina Papapaschali who lives up the road, and whose family rents this house to us, we got 2 consignments of Easter bread.  She claims that the first round was a practice run since she hadn't made it since last year.  Having worked my way through the first one with Shehina's marmalade (another neighbour) I am now onto the fig jam (also Despoina's).  I think I may be gaining weight!

We realise how fortunate we are to be in Greece, not just because we have a comfortable house and plenty of local walks.  Here's a link to the Guardian's article on the success of the Greek Government in dealing with C-19.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/14/how-greece-is-beating-coronavirus-despite-a-decade-of-debt 

As some of you know, we have been chasing the dream of building a house in this part of Crete, for a while.  We want to incorporate a studio for Al and a 'guest suite' so that our friends and relations can come and share this wild and beautiful part of the Mediterranean. We had hoped that some of you would have been coming out this Spring, to stay nearby and hang out with us a bit.  We don't aim for isolation, however glorious.  I'm telling you this to spark an interest in our zig-zag progress towards making this idea a reality. Maybe more about this in future blogs.  

If you are interested in the simple Mediterranean life, you might want to check out this blog:
http://sidestepping-normal.com/solar-cooking/

I also like this one for completely different reasons:
http://yachtswoman.blogspot.com/2014/01/sailing-on-single-handed.html

Coming soon:  The swimming pool and the yellow submarine.

 

Greek Easter

As you might - or might not - know, the Greek Orthodox Church has its Easter celebrations a week later than most of the rest of Europe.  The Church had intended to carry on regardless with Easter services, included sharing communion spoons, but was overruled by the Government. The priests may be celebrating but the churches are firmly closed.

Thanks to Despoina Papapaschali who lives up the road, and whose family rents this house to us, we got 2 consignments of Easter bread.  She claims that the first round was a practice run since she hadn't made it since last year.  Having worked my way through the first one with Shehina's marmalade (another neighbour) I am now onto the fig jam (also Despoina's).  I think I may be gaining weight!

We realise how fortunate we are to be in Greece, not just because we have a comfortable house and plenty of local walks.  Here's a link to the Guardian's article on the success of the Greek Government in dealing with C-19.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/14/how-greece-is-beating-coronavirus-despite-a-decade-of-debt 

As some of you know, we have been chasing the dream of building a house in this part of Crete, for a while.  We want to incorporate a studio for Al and a 'guest suite' so that our friends and relations can come and share this wild and beautiful part of the Mediterranean. We had hoped that some of you would have been coming out this Spring, to stay nearby and hang out with us a bit.  We don't aim for isolation, however glorious.  I'm telling you this to spark an interest in our zig-zag progress towards making this idea a reality. Maybe more about this in future blogs.  

If you are interested in the simple Mediterranean life, you might want to check out this blog:
http://sidestepping-normal.com/solar-cooking/

I also like this one for completely different reasons:
http://yachtswoman.blogspot.com/2014/01/sailing-on-single-handed.html

Coming soon:  The swimming pool and the yellow submarine.

 

Upstairs Downstairs

Well, it's a week since the last blog and today I feel a bit blogstipated, if you get my meaning.  So here's AL working away upstairs on earthMusic while I am making lunch downstairs!  

I really enjoy cooking with the ingredients I can buy here, especially the fresh veg, (τα λαχανικά). So here's my gift to you today, courtesy of Diane Kochilas and her book, The Greek Vegetarian.

Lentil Soup with Chard or Spinach

Measures are in cups, but I am sure you can all work this out for yourselves.  Quantities 6-8, so we usually eat it for 2 meals, or cut quantities.  Up to you.  It’s a really simple soup, but my advice is try it as it is, then add ingredients if you think it lacking.  I think it’s perfect.

1/2 cup olive oil
1 medium onion chopped
2 large cloves of garlic
2 cups large or small green lentils (I usually scale down here)
1 can chopped tomatoes (use fresh if cheap)
1 pound (!) spinach, prepared as you do, and finely chopped. (I don’t mean cooked or blanched)
6 or 8 cups of water
Salt & pepper
1 or 2 dried chillies to taste
1/4 cup sherry vinegar
Salt and pepper

1.  Heat oil & cook onions until soft, add garlic towards end.  Add lentils and toss in oil to coat.
2.  Add tomatoes.  Reduce a bit, then add water. [At this point I would pressure cook, adding the spinach later.]. Otherwise, add spinach, bring to the boil, simmer, covered for around 50 minutes to 1 hour, until lentils are cooked.  (I think that it is, in any case better to add spinach after lentils are cooked.)
  3.   Adjust seasoning, add vinegar 5 minutes before finishing cooking.  (I am not so keen on vinegar aspect.      Maybe just a splash of balsamic.   

Coming soon: tomorrow 😃

Upstairs Downstairs

Well, it's a week since the last blog and today I feel a bit blogstipated, if you get my meaning.  So here's AL working away upstairs on earthMusic while I am making lunch downstairs!  

I really enjoy cooking with the ingredients I can buy here, especially the fresh veg, (τα λαχανικά). So here's my gift to you today, courtesy of Diane Kochilas and her book, The Greek Vegetarian.

Lentil Soup with Chard or Spinach

Measures are in cups, but I am sure you can all work this out for yourselves.  Quantities 6-8, so we usually eat it for 2 meals, or cut quantities.  Up to you.  It’s a really simple soup, but my advice is try it as it is, then add ingredients if you think it lacking.  I think it’s perfect.

1/2 cup olive oil
1 medium onion chopped
2 large cloves of garlic
2 cups large or small green lentils (I usually scale down here)
1 can chopped tomatoes (use fresh if cheap)
1 pound (!) spinach, prepared as you do, and finely chopped. (I don’t mean cooked or blanched)
6 or 8 cups of water
Salt & pepper
1 or 2 dried chillies to taste
1/4 cup sherry vinegar
Salt and pepper

1.  Heat oil & cook onions until soft, add garlic towards end.  Add lentils and toss in oil to coat.
2.  Add tomatoes.  Reduce a bit, then add water. [At this point I would pressure cook, adding the spinach later.]. Otherwise, add spinach, bring to the boil, simmer, covered for around 50 minutes to 1 hour, until lentils are cooked.  (I think that it is, in any case better to add spinach after lentils are cooked.)
  3.   Adjust seasoning, add vinegar 5 minutes before finishing cooking.  (I am not so keen on vinegar aspect.      Maybe just a splash of balsamic.   

Coming soon: tomorrow 😃

Who Knows Where the Time Goes?

Let's start with a music link then you can listen while you read :)
https://open.spotify.com/album/7isYifHXAT7wbuxbJziBG3

Taking the day from back to front, we are sitting in the evening light, fire still unlit, with a bowl of crisps and a glass of retsina. (Yes, I know, not pure yogini, but this is Greece.)  A little earlier we went on the orchid walk, an evening favourite.  And it was a sunny day, although still cold.

These pink orchids are NAKED MAN ORCHIDS. I have been trying to get a decent pic that will illustrate this indecent name!

 Not the only frustration at this time, but the positives still outweigh the negatives. Of course, introverts like me do OK, by and large. In a sense, I am enjoying the relative solitude.

Add caption

Evening walk-a bit cold and Nikon camera (Digital, old) misbehaving. I ought I had a great pic of Naked Man orchid - but I dont! Here's a fully clothed husband standing in a lush area of vegetation, one of our favourite places, around 10 minutes from the house. Flowers are still amazing-especially the orchids.

 

On our walks we see plenty of these.  This is a badger set and there are many here.  The badgers are protected, traffic is light and so they seem to thrive.  We have promised ourselves that as soon as the weather gets warmer in the evening, we will go out after dark and get to know these animals.

Back to the day - afternoons can get a bit dozy and I dragged a sunbed into a sheltered spot, carried on reading CIRCE and then dozed off for a bit.  

Later - like most people I am spending some time on social media: FB, Instagram & email.  Here's a photo from our Spanish friend, Marylene, still pleasantly stranded at Gythion.  She appears to have biked to a beach!

 On Thursday I have a Greek class by Skype with Katerina, a young Greek living in Bristol.  It is stressful and pleasurable in almost equal proportions. I really miss all the casual conversations that I might have had, shopping and chatting to neighbours who don't speak English.

See below for my Greek homework!

Having seen the rain yesterday, here's the beautiful blue view from our house.  There is a problem though.  If we want to build, how will we ever find somewhere as good?  More of that later.

Lunchtime: I am running out of imagination

and recipes for Mediterranean food. I have my vegetarian Greek cookbook and have now cooked about a third of them. More than any other cookbook I have ever owned. Many of them seem to involve the dish standing for an hour and/or 50 minutes in the oven, and so require a bit more planning that I am used to. Also I have to remember to get the pulses soaking the night before. Tonight soaking big beans for tomorrow.

The weekly shop is another challenge.  How much Feta to buy?  Half a kilo?  Isn't that too much?  No - apparently not, since we are running out already.   

 

I  seem to be losing the thread of the day, so let's jump to breakfast.  I love the Mediterranean breakfast - it goes something like this:

And how's the drawing going?  

See below.

Sorry for the very messy blog but it's how my head is tonight.  Καλενιχτα to you all.  Stay well and keep humming songs by Vera Lynn.  Or Fairport Convention.  Back to the beginning, eh?  We have a veg pie for supper, made by our lovely neighbours.