And the view from my balcony
Writing under the olive tree very early in the morning
Weekends in Karranou
Wandering around Chania’s old town
and harbour
I miss the sea….
… always the sea.
And I miss the lazy summer noons
The first autumn rain
The smell of the herbs
My mother and my sister
Sunday morning chat over a cup of coffee
The old women, who brought me food gifts saying: eat, in order to remember Chania.
Apaki is smoked pork meat. Zelokoumpe or zylokoumpi is a goat or sheep cheese.
Vinegar or lemon juice or fig juice is used instead of rennet
Lentils (fakes)
6 cups water
½ cup olive oil + 1tbs
1 medium onion chopped
15 baby onions
4 garlic teeth chopped
3 medium green bell peppers cut into pieces
2 tbs tomato paste
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp grated orange peel
salt and pepper
3 tbs red wine
Rinse the lentils under running water and set aside to drain. Place the peppers and the baby onions in an olive oiled pan and roast them. Place the lentils in a casserole, add the chopped onion, cover with water and cook for 15 minutes. Add peppers and onions into the lentils, stir in the garlic and olive oil, season with salt. Bring to the boil, lower the heat and add the tomato paste, the bay leaves and the orange peel. Cook until thick (adding some water if necessary). Stir in the wine, remove the bay leaves, season with pepper. Serve hot or cold.
Trahanas
This pasta is one of the many recipes for thrahana that are found in Greece. It is made with flour, leaves of white beat, onion, garlic, leek and white fennel and comes from Chios island.
Stir in 2 cups trahana in 4 cups boiling water, add 2 tbs olive oil and cook about 10 minutes (add more water if necessary, to make a thick soup). Then add ½ cup strained yoghurt, ½ cup crumbled feta cheese and stir. Sprinkle with freshly ground pepper and serve.
T.Noodle,
Imagine that they are only 6 kilometres from the city and 200 metres from the tourist area!
However, most of all I miss the sea… whenever I go to a city that is far away from the sea, a part of me feels out of place.
Maria,
Yes, many interesting things happen in Athens and I wish I had more time for them.;)
but you know that your summer home is waiting for you till next time – and there are many times (especially in the winter) when i miss athens, because there is always something particularly enticing about big busy cities…
I would miss seeing those lovely sights every day, too! However, your fully-laden Athenian table would certainly help take the sting out of leaving your summer home . . . and I am sure that those food gifts from the older women ensured that you’re unlikely to forget Chania. Thank you for labeling the dishes in the photo – it’s nice to know what their names are (so that I can look them up and learn more!)
Your photos made me yearn to be there!
Ivy, the syglino is salted, often boiled in wine and/or smoked pork which is preserved under pork fat or olive oil.
Apaki is a smoked, salted and often vinegary tenderloin.
Unfortunatelly it is not the fresh version of trahanas on the table. Wish I had a plate of it!!!
Welcome back Marianna. I envy you living in the countryside for three months. I only learned about apaki recently. I guess it’s the name with sygglino or pasto as they call it in other places. Is that fresh trahanas I see on the table. I love trahanas especially when it is fresh.