COOKING .. WITH THE CROZIERS

The flies, the heat, those native drums - will they never cease?

… Or our version, the mozzies, the cost to run the air conditioning and that dog next door, will it never stop barking?

It's hot. Even hotter than the UK at the moment … we are keeping tabs!

Remaining grapes after distribution

Teenie, tiny water melon ... at the moment

As it is Summer harvest time in Crete, this will be a bit of a cookery blog. Grapes, tomatoes, melons and cucumbers are all in season at the moment, so the computer has been red hot while we look for recipes to preserve everything that we can't eat straight away. Our grapes, were fabulous (and even more so because we did so little to care for them really) and we picked one bunch which K took down to the kafenion/bar/hairdressers while the menfolk of the village sat around in the shade chatting over a little Greek coffee. Predictably, tasting the grapes caused disagreement. “Very nice, but you need to wait until Friday before cutting them.” “No, Thursday”, said another. Being new kids on the block, we waited until Thursday, wobbled across the stones and ground cover to the vine with our scissors and picked 25 or so bunches which were growing all along our front fence. These were distributed to as many of our friends and neighbours as we could. It was so good having something to give back for a change; they are lovely desert grapes, with a sweet flavour and no pips. We couldn't eat the remaining bowlful left over and they were too good to waste, so we found a recipe to preserve them in vodka! This sounds a bit dangerous, but we will wait for the specified six weeks and take a taste from the small jar to give you our verdict and hope we sufficiently upright to blog afterwards! I opened the dark cupboard and discovered some Christmas pickle and oranges preserved in syrup which I had forgotten about from last year, so we have interesting tasting sessions to look forward to.

Nearly finished.  One of the last, smaller bunches!

We found out last year how to make delicious cucumber pickle from an American recipe and have become adept at making this with the cucumber glut and also Boston Baked Beans from scratch. All these projects are fine, except our freeze box/fridge isn't large enough to hold everything. I also promised to preserve Ian's tomatoes because he had to spend some time away from home, and the bottled tomato recipe to preserve fruit looked a little tricky for safety. If we do not see him soon, we will have to eat them anyway, but we will be sure to take lots of photographs first, just to add to the agony of his having planting dozens of tomato plants and then having to leave them to our tender mercies.

Swimming is bliss at the moment. The sea water at Panormo is very nearly warmish bath temperature but this means that the seaweed starts to build up at our favourite beach. We have also discovered a nice place at Bali, renamed by us as the Banana Bar because they have so many banana trees planted in the garden and it overlooks the beach for the loveliest swim. Much cooler than Panormo but we think that mountain streams filter into the sea there and keep the sea temperatures much cooler than elsewhere.

After much thought, mild bickering and earnest creativity, we devised another Crozier Mark XXVII Awning for the terrace. We keep spying woven canvas strip awnings for pergolas on other people's houses but have no idea where to go to buy them. So Ma Crozier got the sewing machine out, found some strips of bamboo, sheeting material and devised “something that could be got down easily in case of a storm ..” It shades the upstairs terrace very well and has lasted a fortnight, so this is progress of a sort. People who live in Crete will recognise all the false starts made in the initial months of living here until we learn about the weather from bitter experience. Summer days are usually hot and calm but things can change without warning very quickly with overpoweringly strong winds – so all our devices need to be designed to collapse easily without injuring anyone!

There was another wedding on this Saturday with all night music, but it seemed less noisy and there was no gun fire as far as I could tell. It took a while, but I eventually found my box of silicone ear plugs which have been a wonderful investment for a peaceful night's sleep. The music is usually lovely but loses its appeal when it goes on all night. If we could eradicate biting insects from the house, we would be even happier!

Kalinichta!

ANOTHER DAY IN “PARADISE”

Alerted by a Facebook message, we heard that the Electricity Board intended to make upgrades to the electricity system in various points around Crete between 8.00 a.m. and 4.00 p.m. on either Thursday or Friday. As far as we could see from the locations in the list, our village was not one of those affected, but experience tells us that the electricity can go off at any given time, and it makes me wonder if my dream of owning a freezer is a bit on the ambitious side.

As Kimon had to get the early bus to Rethymnon for a doctor's appointment, it was my job to get the garden watered before a coffee date. Bearing in mind the horrible bites I had got from not sure where - and it could have been the garden – I decided to smother myself in mosquito repellent, a long sleeve shirt and jeans, socks and boots to accomplish the task. It was only 9.00 am but very, very hot. The mosquito repellent needs a few words of explanation because I bought it in an Olive Oil goods shop last year – supposed to be totally “organic” (I can believe it) and it really does the job. It repels anything and everyone! Imagine someone living on a diet of onions for a year, wearing a permanently damp woollen jumper and not washing the jumper or themselves all that time and you have an approximation of the horrible smell of the stuff. However, it works so I reckoned that I could have a shower when I got back from garden watering.

So far, so good. The ground, in spite of daily watering, is dust dry. Ian's pumpkin plants are starting to race across the vegetable patch taking big, bright yellow flowers with them, the tomatoes from our bush are strange shapes but very tasty whilst Ian has nice looking plum tomatoes which have not ripened yet. The olive trees, after their savage pruning earlier in the year, are beginning to look much more healthy and it was a lovely quiet time hauling the hose pipe around the tree trunks, listening to the swallows swooping and clomping back home in my wellies, hoping that I did not encounter anyone in my repellent state before I reached the shower.

Miraculously made it back through the village without meeting anyone and jumped in the shower to get clean again. Oh, no, you guessed it … we had electricity but no water!

Saturday we took a short drive to the Melidoni Caves about 7 km from here and had an interesting day out. We arrived via Perama on quiet roads through olive groves and meandered through the village which had a lot of Venetian buildings with impressive frontages – not all in a good state of repair – and noted the pretty village square and traditional kafenions. There was a solid new road climbing up and up until we reached the fence and gates of the perimeter. We visited a newbuild Chapel and reception area where Kimon chatted with the lady taking the money. As we were locals, there was no charge! We believe that the Cave is kept as a memorial shrine to many villagers and soldiers who perished there in Ottoman times, and we climbed across the rocky approach to the black entrance dropping down steeply from the doorway. It was just a bit precarious for us. There were steps and wooden bannisters, but the climb had us checking every footstep and clinging on tightly as bats skimmed round our heads at the entrance. Inside the initial cavern was ENORMOUS – bigger than a Cathedral with coloured lights showing stalagmites and stalactites at their best. The central area was dominated by a large stone Christian Altar so we looked around to every direction where smaller passages led off from the central chamber. The well translated leaflet noted all the archaeological finds made there dating back to Minoan times. As we emerged gingerly into the sunshine, we noticed that the Little Train from Panormo had just arrived with a full load of people and we reckoned we had 'been there and done that' at just the right time.

Sunday was a high day in our village. We heard that there would be a barbecue and live Cretan music in the village square, but we hadn't realised the scale of the event. The village square is a bit of a crossroads with six lanes leading from it. We couldn't easily leave home because a big stage together with tables and chairs had been set up which covered every inch of the sizeable area to seat hundreds of people. 

We arrived at 7.30 p.m. Everyone else arrived at about 11.00 p.m. by which time pork chops, souvlakis, chicken, lamb and salads were all prepared and being paid for at a make shift counter. Large drinks fridges had been set up nearby. Everything had been organised down to the last toothpick. The players with guitars, lyra, bouzouki were playing lively music and in the school playground which borders one side of the square, all the little girls were lined up and practising traditional dance steps. 

Skepasti was packed completely; young families were all there, prams and all. The toddlers were all there with the other children running and playing together. The teenagers and young adults were all there eyeing and flirting with one another and us 'oldens were there enjoying food outside and great music. Finally, the guns were all there too; we're not sure why - but the music went on until 6.15 a.m. with occasional bursts of automatic gun fire – presumably into the air – all night. What with a noisy wedding on Saturday and the music event on Sunday, the sound effects have been a bit like a war zone.

We left at midnight but did not get a very good night's sleep. Predictably, everything is unnaturally quiet and subdued in the village today!