Rewriting the history of the world (Ξαναράφοντας την ιστορία του κόσμου)

Just some food for thought today...

Have you tried googling Jacques Rogge's name recently? The second item in the list of search strings that use his name according to Google is 'jacques rogge olympics coming home'*; from his speech at the 2012 Olympics, we all know where that is, don't we? It's London, or more broadly put, Britain. Other popular search strings people use concerning Jacques Rogge (in the order given) are:

• jacques rogge speech (1st)
• jacques rogge olympics games home (3rd)
• jacques rogge olympics games (4th)
• jacques rogge olympics return home (5th)
• jacques rogge olympics opening speech (6th)
• jacques rogge greece (7th)
• jacques rogge olympics home (8th)
• jacques roggespeech london (9th)...

... before we finally get to any interest in the man himself: 'jacques rogge wiki' (10th). Clever rogue, eh?

Tayip Erdogan recently rewrote history in a similar way, about a month ago when he was speaking with the above-mentioned (clever) rogue: Turkish Minister Suat Kilic stated during a press release, in a bid to convince officials of the International Olympic Committee that Turkey should host Olympics in the future, that “Turkey is the birthplace of the Olympic flame and as a result, Mr Erdogan explained to Jacques Rogge that we want the Games back in our country. The IOC has the right to bring the Olympic flame back to its origin.”

And you thought it was in Greece, right? Well, it looks like you are wrong; you can try googling 'erdogan', and see what comes up...

By the way, the English language originated in Turkey, not Russia as was previously thought. That's how the BBC reports it, possibly because they think their readers are too ignorant to understand what Anatolia or the Pontic steppes might mean, which are usually immediately understood by Greeks because they were inhabited by Hellenes and Greek speakers in older times. The word-count of the article possibly did not allow for the addition of extra words like 'modern-day' in collocation with Turkey and Russia, so 'Turkey', not 'Russia' it is.

As we enter the second millenium, we realise how little we know and just how much there is to learn yet... 

*from my computers in Greece, which will of course yield different options from other countries.

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Doing it like TGI Friday's

Greek Food Blogs is organising a Greek food bloggers' cooking event, in conjunction with TGI Friday's Greece. The challenge is to create a recipe for TGI Friday's Greece that will be used in its main menu if chosen by the judges. TGI Friday's menu is based on American recipes and cooking techniques, which are radically different to my own cooking style.

Before you submit your recipe, you have to learn to cook in the style of TGI Friday's. By looking through the TGI Friday's Greece menu, I notice a heavy emphasis on meat-based dishes that are accompanied by a range of colourful salads and toppings. Most importantly, the meats are usually served with some kind of spicy sauce or piquante dip. That's quite different to what I cook in my kitchen on a daily basis, which is usually based on seasonal local food, not very much meat and what our garden supplies. But I liked the idea of a foodistic challenge, especially now that the garden is so full of high quality fresh produce.

Upon request, a mini cookbook based on TGI Friday's Greece menu was sent to me, containing recipes for TGI Friday menu staples such as wings, ribs and fajitas. My biggest worry about cooking American food in my Mediterranean kitchen was that I would not have the right ingredients at hand. When trying out a new recipe, I often look to replace unusual ingredients with local seasonal products, and prefer not to spend money on imported non-Greek food. However, there are some items that are always found in my kitchen (eg soya sauce) because I use them often, but there are a number of items that I don't stock at all (eg cider vinegar), while a number of items (eg fresh coriander) are difficult to source where I live. I knew I wouldn't be able to source all the ingredients in the recipes supplied to me, so I decided to adapt the recipes to suit my Mediterranean kitchen supplies.

I also set myself an additional facet to the challenge: can I cook a new recipe, learn a new cooking technique, use whatever is in my kitchen, cook the meal after work with no previous preparation and keep the meal frugal, without compromising on taste and quality? I printed out the recipe (on my new printer-scanner, after being dutifully served by my former eight-year-old model) as soon as I got home from work just after 3pm, and checked the ingredients and method. (Then I whipped up a boureki and a batch of tomato sauce, drove off to our fields to pick a crate of oranges and fill up our empties with ice-cold spring water, and then returned home to take the kids to the beach, while the boureki in the oven and the tomato sauce on the element were cooking at the lowest possible point, all part of a typical lazy Greek's summer routine.)

I began cooking the meal at about 8pm. I decided to cook the wings recipe, replacing the wings (a cheap commodity in Crete) with some tasty German sausages that I had in my fridge, whose expiry date was due very soon. This meant that I could cheat on time, because the wings needed special preparation and a longer cooking time. The sausages were simply drained and dry-fried on a pan, so that they became crispy-burnt on some parts.

The recipe then called for a pico de gallo, which sounded very exotic, but it was actually a fresh colourful salad, consisting of tomato, peppers and onions of all colours. It just so happened that on the previous day, I had harvested a number of coloured peppers from our garden - how convenient was THAT?! While the sausages were cooking, I set about chopping up the salad ingredients into little cubes. All they needed was to soak in a little lemon juice, before being strained when the time came to use them. The recipe also called for fresh pineapple pieces as part of the salad, something which we never buy: fresh fruit is never missing in our house in the form of oranges, apricots, melon and watermelon (we don;t grow the last two). I omitted this step, but made up for the colour (maybe not the sweet taste) with the brilliant yellow pepper.



The recipe also called for a spicy meat glaze made with whiskey. This was the most daunting part for me: I've never made such a sauce before. The ingredients for the sauce included tabasco sauce, soya sauce, onion, cayenne pepper, brown sugar, whiskey, cider vinegar and beef stock. The cider vinegar was replaced with a light home-made red wine vinegar, and the beef stock was omitted (I simply added water). The point was to make a sauce as thick as syrup, which would be used both as a sauce and a topping. The ingredients needed about 20 minutes to reduce to a syrup.

The final look of the plate involved skwering the chicken wings (so I skewered the sausages),cooking them in some of the syrupy sauce, plating them with more sauce and topping them with the salad. This all looked good, but the plate looked a little empty, as I was serving this dish as a main evening meal and not an appetiser. I had some mini-pita bread rounds in the freezer, which I toasted lightly int he same pan I cooked the sausages. I also have a lot of eggplant in the garden at the moment, so I sliced a small one and fried it. (The aubergines were sitting on the kitchen worktop for three days, and had shrivelled slightly, which makes cooking them much easier, as they did not need to be salted and drained - Cretan garden-grown aubergines re much sweeter than commercially grown aubergine).  
 


Just after 9pm, the dish was completed, and the plate looked full. It was very tasty, as judged by my eaters, who asked me if I could make it more often. Yes, I suppose I could, although I wasn't happy about the addition of sugar in our main meals. I wonder if I could make the same sauce with honey as a healthy alternative.

Post-script: My husband particularly enjoyed this meal, and I was very glad I to have been able to offer it to him - he'd been stuck on the roof of our house all morning under a fiercely hot sun (we're renovating, and in Crete, renovating usually entails the house owner taking an active part in the work), and was too hot and tired to eat at lunch time (which consisted of a leftover meal - not very enticing if you are too tired to eat). After leaving for work in the afternoon, he realised that he would either crash the car or fall asleep at the wheel if he continued working, and he was surprised to find this meal ready and waiting for him. Just another day in the life of another lazy Greek.

©All Rights Reserved/Organically cooked. No part of this blog may be reproduced and/or copied by any means without prior consent from Maria Verivaki.

Fashion Diva - and the giveaway continues!

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More creative activities - scrapbooking my daughter's fashion projects. MyMemories.com digital scrapbooking software relieves you of the burden of having to design templates to place your photos. This set of photos was created using the Princess Diva template found in the basic software. Unlike my other scrapbooking projects where I created the templates (check out my recipe cards and the summer garden), this album uses a ready template.

MyMemories.com has given me a copy of MyMemories Suite 3 to give away to one lucky reader, with a special offer to all readers and followers of this blog - with the following code: STMMMS91901 you can get a $10 discount off the purchase price of the My Memories Suite Scrapbook software and a $10 coupon for the MyMemories.com store, which gives you access to a wider range of templates and scrapbooking tools. That's a saving of $20 for each reader. 

To be in for the draw, visit www.MyMemories.com and choose your favorite digital paper pack or layout, then leave a comment on my blog (on this post) about which ones you chose. My recipe cards were made using the features included in the downloaded software, together with some additional free material, directly downloadable from the MyMemories site, whose software rates No 1 on Amazon. 

The winner will be announced on 31 July - enter as many times as you wish before then.  



STMMMS91901
 
©All Rights Reserved/Organically cooked. No part of this blog may be reproduced and/or copied by any means without prior consent from Maria Verivaki.

Καρτο-συνταγές - και ένα δώρο! (Giveaway contiunues!)

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For my Greek readers, who wish to take part in the giveaway contest.

Είμαι πολύ απασχολημένη αυτή την περίοδο προσπαθώντας να δημιουργήσω περισσότερες ιδέες με το καινούργιο μου παιχνίδι - το ψηφιακό μου λεύκωμα από το MyMemories.com. Το λογισμικό σας επιτρέπει να δημιουργήσετε μοναδικά σχέδια που μπορείτε να μετατρέψετε σε ένα άλμπουμ και να εκτυπώσετε ως δώρα στους φίλους σας. Έχω ακόμη βάλει και τα παιδιά μου να δημιουργούν αλμπουμ με τον ίιδο τρόπο - φτιάχνουν ψηφιακά φωτογραφικά άλμπουμ των διακοπών τους.

I'm busying myself intensely these days trying to create more ideas with my new toy - my digital scrapbook from MyMemories.com. The software allows you to create unique designs that you can convert into an album and print it out as gifts to your friends. I've even got my children started on it - they are creating digital albums of their holiday shots.

Εδώ  δείχνω μερικές από τις καλοκαιρινές μου λιχουδιές, που έχουν γινει κάρτο-συνταγές, χρησιμοποιώντας το ψηφιακό λογισμικό λευκώματος από το MyMemories.com. Μπορείτε να γράφετε και στα Ελληνικά (το πρόγραμμα δέχεται άλλες γλώσσες, όπως δείχνω και σε προηγούμενο ποστ).

Here I show some of my summer treats that have become recipe card, using the digital scrapbook software from MyMemories.com. The program accepts other languages, as shown in my previous post, where I also use Greek.

Το MyMemories.com μου έδωσε ένα αντίγραφο του MyMeμories Suite 3 για να δωρίσω σε έναν/μία τυχερή αναγνώστρια, με μια ειδική προσφορά σε όλους τους αναγνώστες της ιστοσελλιδας μου - με τον ακόλουθο κώδικα: STMMMS91901 μπορείτε να πάρετε $10 έκπτωση επί της τιμής αγοράς του λογισιμκού My Memories Suite Scrapbook software και ένα κουπόνι αξίας $10 για το κατάστημα του MyMemories.com, που σας δίνει πρόσβαση σε ένα ευρύτερο φάσμα προτύπων και εργαλείων για τις δημιουργίες σας. Δηλαδή μια εξοικονόμηση των $20 για κάθε αναγνώστη.

MyMemories.com has given me a copy of MyMeories Suite 3 to give away to one lucky reader, with a special offer to all readers and followers of this blog - with the following code: STMMMS91901 you can get a $10 discount off the purchase price of the My Memories Suite Scrapbook software and a $10 coupon for the MyMemories.com store, which gives you access to a wider range of templates and scrapbooking tools. That's a saving of $20 for each reader. 

Για να μπείτε στον κλήρο, επισκεφθείτε το www.MyMemories.com και επιλέξτε το αγαπημένο σας πακέτο ψηφιακού χαρτιού, αφήστε ένα σχόλιο στην ιστοσελίδα μου (σε αυτό το ποστ) σχετικά με την επιλογή σας. Οι καρτο-συνταγές μου φτιάχτηκαν χρησιμοποιώντας τις δυνατότητες που περιλαμβάνονται στο λογισμικό αυτό, μαζί με κάποιο επιπλέον δωρεάν υλικό, άμεσα διαθέσιμο από τις ιστοσελίδες του MyMemories.com, τoυ οποίου το λογισμικό έχει αξιολογεί από το Amazon ως το καλύτερο λογισμικό ψηφιακού λευκώματος.
To be in for the draw, visit www.MyMemories.com and choose your favorite digital paper pack or layout, then leave a comment on my blog (on this post) about which ones you chose. My recipe cards were made using the features included in the downloaded software, together with some additional free material, directly downloadable from the MyMemories site, whose software rates No 1 on Amazon. 

Αν προτιμάτε να πάρετε στα χέρια σας το λογισμικό πριν τελειώσει ο διαγωνισμός, απλά χρησιμοποιήστε τον κωδικό: STMMMS91901 να πάρετε την έκπτωση σας τώρα και να ξεκινήστε να δημιουργήτε. Αν προτιμάτε να συμμετάσχετε στο διαγωνισμό για να κερδίσετε ένα δωρεάν αντίτυπο του λογισμικούαπό το Mymemories.com, αφήστε ένα σχόλιο σε αυτό το μήνυμα και περιμένετε μέχρι να ανακοινώσω τον νικητή (31 Ιουλίου). Μπορείτε να συνδεθείτε με το MyMemories.com μέσω του blog τους, στο Facebook ή το Twitter για περισσότερες ιδέες, όπου είσης θα βρείτε και επιπλέον συμμετοχές σε άλλους διαγωνισμούς.

If you are itching to get your hands on the software before the giveaway period ends, just use the code: STMMMS91901 to get your discount now and start scrapbooking. If you prefer to enter the competition to win a free copy of Mymemories.com, leave a comment on this post and wait until I announce the winner (31 July). You can link to MyMemories.com through their blog, Facebook or Twitter accounts for more scrapbook ideas, where you will also find extra entries to other contests.


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 ©All Rights Reserved/Organically cooked. No part of this blog may be reproduced and/or copied by any means without prior consent from Maria Verivaki.

Giveaway! (Δώρο!)

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I was recently given the chance to host a giveaway from MyMemories.com for their digital scrapbook software, which I found easy and fun to use. My Memories Suite is rated #1 by Amazon and Top Ten Reviews. Using this software, anyone can create digital scrapbooks, photobooks, cards, calendars and gifts.

Although I am quite good at finding frugal creative solutions for most of my needs, I do appreciate professional help. You get a feeling of satisfaction when you know that you have created something yourself, but sometimes we all need a bit of help in order to make our creations look more professional. Maybe a bit of advice is all that's needed, or a change in technique, but other times, it is more complicated than just that. Digital scrapbooking software takes away the burden of having to arrange everything (photos, text, decorations) yourself. 

Although I haven't scrapbooked in years, this software took me back to my years in primary school, when all girls had a scrapbook and autograph book. We were much more imaginative back then, but the digital world has also helped us to remain creative, as it is full o0f ideas that do not require so much time and pain-staking labour in order to achieve an even more professional look to our scrapbooks. 

MyMemories.com has given me a copy of MyMeories Suite 3 to give away to one lucky reader, with a special offer to all readers and followers of this blog: with the following code: STMMMS91901 you can get a $10 discount off the purchase price of the My Memories Suite Scrapbook software and a $10 coupon for the MyMemories.com store, which gives you access to a wider range of templates and scrapbooking tools. That's a saving of $20 for each reader.
To be in for the draw, visit www.MyMemories.com and choose your favorite digital paper pack or layout, then leave a comment on my blog (on this post) about which ones you chose. I especially liked Growing Season and the Courtney Ann recipe book. The scrapbook I created used features already included in Mymemories.com, together with some additional free material, downloadable directly from their site.

If you are itching to get your hands on the software before the giveaway period ends, just use the code: STMMMS91901 to get your discount now and start scrapbooking. If you prefer to enter the competition to win a free copy of Mymemories.com, leave a comment on this post and wait until I announce the winner (31 July). You can link to MyMemories.com through their blog, Facebook or Twitter accounts for more scrapbook ideas, where you will also find extra entries to other contests.



Oops, there is a typo there - 'the garden gives you as much as you give it'. 

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©All Rights Reserved/Organically cooked. No part of this blog may be reproduced and/or copied by any means without prior consent from Maria Verivaki.

Filotimo (Φιλότιμο)

Three months ago, I placed an order for a children's book with a UK Marketplace seller at Amazon. There's always a niggly feeling in the back of your mind that something may not turn up on time, or at all, or someone may be trying to rip you off. But Amazon is a big name and you tend to trust big names. After checking the mailbox impatiently for two weeks to see if the order arrived, I wrote to the company explaining that I had still not received my order.

The company replied promptly to my request:

"We have recently discovered an issue with our order systems which has meant we have not shipped your order as planned. Please accept our sincere apologies for this error, we realise this may have inconvenienced you and we are sincerely sorry for this. We have searched extensively with our suppliers and are now shipping the item you ordered – it should reach you shortly.

Once again, we would like to apologise for not having shipped your order as planned. Shipping orders quickly is something we generally take great pride in. We regret we were unable to do that on this occasion and would like to thank you for your patience whilst we rectify the situation."

At least they are honest, I thought. A little stupid - how can you be selling over the web in the modern day and age and 'forget' to send an order? - but quite honest. So my son and I checked the mailbox every day for another ten days, and almost a month after we put in the order, we got the book and we were both very happy (my son enjoyed the book very much, and I enjoyed watching my 10-year-old Greek son read a 192-page book in the English language from cover to cover).

Amazon sometimes(?) sends you an email to rate third-party sellers as a guide for potential customers. I gave the company 3/5 - the service wasn't very good, but the job did get done in the end; it was a middle-of-the-road kind of rating. I thought nothing of it until Christmas Eve, when I got another message from the company:

"Periodically we check our feedback to make sure our customers are satisfied and address any issues customers they may have had. We noticed on your feedback that you were unhappy with your purchase due to the delayed delivery time. We would like to apologise for this - we can assure you we send all items within 24hours of the order being placed but sometimes items are delayed at mail sorting centres.
 
Nevertheless, we always take final responsibility for our orders and as such would like to arrange compensation for your inconvenience. We would like to offer you a £3.98 refund on the total price of the item (about 33%).

Do you think this is fair?

We look forward to hearing from you."

£3.98 refund?! The book cost less than twice that price, not including P&P! Was it fair, they were asking me? I thought the whole scenario sounded highly unprofitable: I did get what I wanted and I was happy with it, so why was I being rewarded? for my patience? Anything could have gone wrong, including a glitch at the post offices of the respective countries that were dealing with the delivery. When I sent my Christmas presents to my friends abroad, the thought did cross my mind that they might not receive them on time, but I could hardly blame myself or even the post offices, which would have been overworked (or striking) at that time. So I simply sent them early and they all got there.  

I wrote back, thanking the company for their nice gesture. Sure enough, right after the statutory Christmas holidays, the refund was arranged, and the money was deposited into my account. Again, I thought nothing of it, explaining the incident to my bewildered husband as part of the PC culture of Western civilisation; I began to wonder if the phrase 'all's well that ends well' actually originated in the English language (and it seems that it did).

That wasn't the end of the tale - as anyone who knows how the compensation culture works would have told me. Here is the last email I received from the company:

"Thanks for accepting our offer. The refund has been confirmed, you should receive a confirmation from Amazon shortly. Following our actions, we hope we have shown you how seriously we take customer service and how important your opinion is to us. With this in mind, we would be grateful if you would consider altering the feedback you left about us. This is of course your decision but should you be kind enough to do so, we have left instructions below.
 
If you could follow the steps outlined below to remove your feedback (changing it is not possible) we would be much obliged."

It seems that you don't need to earn your image these days: if you can afford it, you simply buy it. There is no φιλότιμο in that world. Some people believe that φιλότιμο is a difficult word to translate into English, although I disagree - it has to do with integrity. Whoever coined the phrase 'the Greek economic crisis' probably had no φιλότιμο, ensuring that the damage was irreversible, even after the Greek crisis was shown to be a global one. In Greece's case, there is no compensation.

My only regret now with the refund offer is that I didn't ask for all my money back. But that would not be showing φιλότιμο, which I did show my deleting my comment. As a Greek, I had to show φιλότιμο. The company hasn't yet returned their φιλότιμο by thanking me for my kind gesture. I have shown patience before, so perhaps I should wait a little longer. Or maybe it's just a Greek trait after all.

UPDATE: The company did actually send me a thank-you note the day I published this post, right after the statutory holidays. Patience...

©All Rights Reserved/Organically cooked. No part of this blog may be reproduced and/or copied by any means without prior consent from Maria Verivaki. 

Wortelcake (Κέικ καρότο)

While I'm away on a short break, I've posted this recipe to remind me of what I have to start doing when I get back home and Greek schools open for the new term. Cupcakes and muffins with added fibre are perfect for healthy school lunches.

A Dutch friend put up a recipe on her facebook page. I had no idea what the recipe was for, since she had no pictures attached to the recipe. All I recognised was the word 'cake'. Here is what I saw on the screen:

Wortelcake
-200 gr geraspte wortel
-geraspte citroenschil
-3 ei
-125 gr witte en bruine suiker
-150 gr gesmolten boter
-225 gr zelfrijzend bakmeel
-2 afgestreken theel. kaneel
- snufje zout
-125 gr gewelde rozijnen (of in reepjes gesneden gedr. vijgen, walnoten)
-----
-oven op 175 gr.
-wortel, citroenrasp, eieren, gesm. boter, suiker mengen
-voeg toe: zelfr. bakmeel, kaneel, zout, meng weer
-voeg toe: rozijnen (noten)
-cakevorm invetten, bestuiven, mengsel erin, 45 min. bakken tot gaar.
-----
-1x vanillesuiker
-50 gr poedersuiker
-50 gr roomboter
-1 pakje Philadelfia creamcheese (125 gr)
door elkaar roeren, op cake smeren en 15 min. in koelkast*

Using this recipe, I made the best carrot cake muffins ever: moist, delicious, perfect. Instead of rozijnen, I used dried blueberries, and instead of creamcheese my own natural-coloured beetroot-strawberry jam icing. Isn't Google translate great?!

©All Rights Reserved/Organically cooked. No part of this blog may be reproduced and/or copied by any means without prior consent from Maria Verivaki.

The world cooks Cretan (Ο κόσμος μαγειρεύει Κρητικά)

A few months ago, I organised a competition on my blog and (so far) 18 lucky readers have received a book prize. The book contains a collection of recipes that represent the islanders' daily cooking, as well as some more festive fare and some taverna choices that are regularly offered on the menu. I asked the lucky recipients if they could make something from the book and send me a photo. In this post, I showcase what I have been sent so far.

I've named the participants' photos after the country they live in, to show the range of countries covered by the prize. This tried to address one of the problems being faced presently in Greek tourism: Greece needs to become better known to a wider range of people (eg Russians, Chinese, Americans) than she so far is (ie English, Germans, Scandinavians), and she needs to become known for the alternatives she offers (eg agro-tourism, eco-tourism, gastro-tourism), rather than what she is generally known for (eg Acropolis, Santorini/Mykonos, moussaka). Cretan cuisine, meaning the gastronomy of the island of Crete, is now becoming more of a catchphrase, as can be assumed in the following excerpt: 

"Increased effort is made by local government, institutions, hoteliers and individuals to create a “Cretan food/diet” brand. Greek cuisine and more specifically Cretan cuisine offers more than just mousaka, tzatziki and souvlaki, and this is something guests begin to realize and will definitely see more of in the future. Of course, this would be in vain if the cuisine was not prefered, but it is being regarded as more and more desirable by visitors." (Unpublished M.Sc. thesis on the Cretan hotel industry, by Nikos Dimitrakakis, MAICh, in press)

Some more good news comes from the fact that Greece's tourism potential is growing in numbers: 

"International tourism arrivals at the country’s 13 main airports in theyear’s first seven months amounted to 6,458,612, against 5,874,144 in the same period last year. All airports posted an increase, except for Athens, which declined by 2.74 percent in the period."

It sounds like Athens has suffered from the socio-political unrest Greece is facing. But if only tourists knew when the best time to visit Athens was! I doubt that they have been informed correctly about this. August is when Athenians leave the city to go on holiday or to their village houses, because it's still high summer in Greece at this time and it coincides with a major religious festival (the Dormition of the Virgin Mary. Hence, at this time, the Athenian streets are empty to wander about and ponder over the ruins around the Acropolis, and the whole sacred rock. Generally speaking, tourists come to experience Athens, not Athenians (!) and tourist services in Athens are up and running during this month: strikes involving manpower on the streets are generally not organised at this time of year for similar reasons that the UK, oops sorry, I meant the English riots, don't succeed in torrential rain. If it's all a matter of climate, the idea of the principle behind such actions is seriously weakened...

The "good news" about the rise in tourist arrivals in Greece in this critical period for the country is attributed to other countries' "bad news" (eg the North African unrest), but this fails to take into account Greece's own wrongdoings (eg 'scheduled' strikes, riots and civil unrest), which shows how easily people forget incidental problems which probably won't happen again (they are bound to be replaced by new ones). Greece is constantly being warned that her actions are detrimental to her future tourism, at the same time that Greece is often described as a destination you must see before you die. It's obvious that Greece can't rest on her laurels, but there is potential to exploit this situation, among many of Greece's other noteworthy points. In the words of one of Greece's most eminent poets, tourists, take heed:

"When you set out on your journey to Ithaca, 
pray that the road is long, 
full of adventure, full of discovery... 
And if you find her poor, Ithaka won't have fooled you. 
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience, 
you will have understood by then what these Ithakas mean. 
Constantinos Cavafy, "Ithaka", 1911 

*** *** ***

Crete is slowly becoming a gastro-travel destination. As Greek food blogger Ioanna writes: 

"[Cretan cuisine] is one of the most imaginative cuisines Greece has to offer, as Crete is a large island with great terrain diversity and is blessed with very fertile soil. The only problem with Cretan recipes is the fact that they use distinctive local ingredients and are very hard to replicate outside of Crete, even in Athens, where there are several shops selling produce from the island. There are, however, clever ways to substitute the ingredients successfully. so that you will get as close a result to the original as possible." 

The lack of local Cretan ingredients did not stop my readers from creating a beautiful array of authentically inspired dishes that any islander (and mainland Greek) would recognise and immediately take to. 

Northern Ireland was the first person to send me his contribution. He made a Greek rather than Cretan classic: spanakopita. Greens are a very important component of Cretan cookery, as we learnt from Eleni Tourlouki (view from the 43rd minute) at the First Symposium on Greek Gastronomy, who presented research showing that, despite dietary changes attributed to global trends (eg increased consumption of fast food), greens and vegetables, together with olive oil, still dominate in Cretan cuisine, by forming the basic food in the daily Cretan diet.

I particularly liked Greece's contribution, because it came at a time when I was inundated with aubergines from the garden, and I simply needed a gentle reminder of more interesting (and artistic ways) of using eggplant. This eggplant dish also uses a lot of fresh tomato (easily replaced by canned tomato, although admittedly, not the same thing!), another vegetable which we were blessed to have in plethora this year in the garden. The eggplant was stuffed with feta cheese, a good substitute when locally produced soft creamy Cretan mizithra is unavailable near you. In fact, mizithra is rarely available outside Cete because it doesn't store very well - except in the deep freeze, believe it or not, when it is freshly frozen in small packets, ie it's important to defrost as much as you will use in a short space of time. Many Cretans buy their mizithra from their favorite supplier (even straight from the farmer) and freeze it in small bags. This is handy because although mizithra is made all year round, the best tasting mizithra is made in spring and summer, which is only natural, as sheep stop producing milk in colder months (just like chickens stop laying eggs in winter).  

England also used eggplant to cook from the book. Her contribution combines aubergine with minced meat, another signature Greek dish. Papoutsakia are named after their shape - they look like 'little shoes', and these particular little shoes remind me of tsarouhia with their stems still attached! England prepared more than one recipe from the book: she also made yemista (another Greek dish - not pictured), and mavromatika (dry black-eyed beans), accompanied by bread. Such a combination - beans and bread, complemented by cheese - often makes a complete winter meal in Crete.  

Holland also used the book more than once to create a meal. Holland is a vegetarian, so the book provided her with novel ideas for preparing meals that she is generally used to eating. But Holland  went one step further: she did not necessarily follow the instructions in the recipes - instead, she followed the concepts of Cretan cuisine. Cretan cooking lays emphasis on fresh produce cooked/prepared with olive oil. Holland's meals look quite simple, as they can be made up on the spot, depending on what ingredients one has at their disposal: fresh vegetable produce and greens picked fresh from her garden may be eaten raw, or cooked lightly, eg par-boiling and steaming. Neither technique is particularly Cretan, but no one would realise this from Holland's photos: a Cretan would instantly recognise horta swimming in olive oil as classically Cretan, even if s/he doesn't recognise the actual species used. That's very important when cooking outside the island - snow peas may not be part of the Cretan diet, but that's the direction Cretan cooking would take if the cuisine is transplanted into a Northern European country!

   
Holland also made eggplant rolls in tomato sauce (similar to Greece's contribution above, but without the cheese stuffing) which she serves with bulgur, and briam (aka tourlou-tourlou, a roast vegetable medley. But the dish that fascinated me the most was one that Holland didn't mention as coming from the book, as I was browsing her online photo collection. One of her 'creations' consisted of roast potatoes and boiled (?) zucchni, topped with some soft goat cheese and a light dressing of olive oil - Holland's very own version of boureki from Hania! Now that's what I call a good student of the Organically Cooked school!

Finally, Canada's contribution reminds us that life is not all about savoury dishes: we also need to make our life more interesting with sweets! Like spanakopita, halva is a Greek (rather than Cretan) dish, and is still being made by home cooks and zaharoplasteia. During fasting periods, it's especially common, although it can also be made using milk which means it isn't lenten. At any rate, a semolina-based halva, the way Greeks make it, is a welcome afternoon snack (it can be made in individual dishes like ramekins), or a light dessert to round off a meal. It also goes really well with ice-cream, like a pudding.

Isn't the internet great, for being able to reach out in so many ways, to so many people, from so many places?

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