Anastasia

My Aching Hand!

I haven't been around much lately. I have a problem with my left hand. Oh , nothing too serious. Sometining called stenosing tenosynovidis. Right now, it's really hard for me to type with my right hand as I am a left-hander! I can only write with my right hand! Typing is different,though! I need to keep my painful left hand in rest. And however hard I tried , I can't type with my right hand only. But I believe in my doctor and I am starting physiotherapy tomorrow. So , please, don't give me up for lost! I'll be back occasionally with brief notes. Righ now, I suggest you enjoy some Greek music!

Monday's Greek Recipe

PASTITSIO

(Greek pasta with mince meat and bechamel sauce)

MUM'S RECIPE

Ingredients

1 kilo (2 lbs 4oz) macaroni No 3 (thick)

2 kilo (1lb2oz) mince meat (ground beef)

2 medium-sized onions finely diced

2-3 fine tomatoes finely diced

2 teacups olive oil

1 bay leaf

pinch of basil

150 grammes (5 oz) Greek kefalotyri or halloumi or grated parmesan cheese

salt and pepper

1. Sauté the onions in a teacup of oil until they turn golden.

2. Add the mince meat and sauté it with the onions stirring constantly until all the lumps of the meat are dissolved.

3. Add the tomatoes , salt and pepper, the bay leaf, the basil and some water.

4. Half cook the macaroni in salted water, cool down and drain.

5. In a frying pan, heat the second cup of oil and pour it over the macaroni.

6. In the meanitime prepare a bechamel sauce . It shouldn't be too thick!

7. Lay out a layer of macaroni in a pyrex dish, sprinkle it with cheese and cover with the mince meat mix.

8. Spread the remaining macaroni over the mince meat layer, sprinkle again with cheese and cover with the bechamel sauce.

9. Sprinkle the sauce with grated cheese preferably halloumi or kefalotyri but parmesan cheese will do as well.

10. Bake the PASTITSIO  in a strong oven for 20 minutes. Take it out of the oven, let it cool down, cut into square pieces and serve immediately!

TIP

Serve with a Domaine Hadjimichalis red - I recommend 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon. This is a soft wine, best for consuming in its youth. While the medium length body is not what you would have expected from a classic Cabernet varietal matured in French barrels and in bottle for 36 months, it has a sweet nose, round middle and quiet attractive finish. It displays none of the cedar and eucalyptus associated with many of the hot, earthy Cabernets of Southern Greece. A nose full of blackcurrant and sweet vanilla. Easy to drink on its own at 18ºC with soft cheeses or Parmegiana, red meats especially roast. This is easy-drinking wine, a fact that may explain its wide popularity in Greece.

A Hectic Day and a Surprise!

It seems that today I got up on the wrong side of my brand new bed! I've recently had the bedroom refurbished and I was very glad to see that I had a great night's sleep on the new bed right away from the very first day while it took two days to Alkis to get used to it! He didn't sleep well on the first day we had our new bedroom furniture 2 weeks ago. It was the Christmas present to ourselves! But today all went disastrously wrong.

I was online till very late last night or should I say till very early in the morning. But yesterday was Sunday and I had a great  siesta from 4 pm to 8 pm. So after dinner, I stayed online for quite a while and finally decided to go to bed at 3 am. I knew I had a very hard day at work today, so I asked Alkis to wake me up at 7 am. It took him 5 great efforts until he eventually managed to drag me out of bed. On the fifth effort he said: " Oh my God! It's 11:36 in the morning and I'm late for work!" That was when I got up with a start and tripped over my slippers. I know not many people trip over their slippers but ...I do. 

From then on I did everything in fast forward mode. I washed my face and brushed my teeth, I had a shower and gulped down 2 croissants and some brie before I gasped my way to work. It was 11:45 am when I got to the office...It was one of the rare times I thanked Alkis for lying to me about the time earlier this morning. Once in the office, I had some important phone calls to make to The British Council but as per usual at this time of year they don't bother to answer the phone or reply to emails! By 2:30 I finally managed to finish my lesson planning and photocopy the test for my E3 Elementary. Then off I went to six teaching periods in a row! My Intermediate (12 year-olds) were very talkative today as we had a speaking activity about their favourite pop music! I learnt a lot from them ! My Higher Intermediate tested my patience levels . I asked them to explain the difference in MEANING! between the following two sentences: I saw wolves in that forest and I've seen wolves in that forest. One of them asked : " What kind of species exactly?" Help!

After having posted my online lesson at about 9 pm, I called it a day ! It was terribly cold outside. I read 8 C* in the car but it was only 5 * really. Once home Alkis greeted me with a kiss which really warmed me up! We shared a pizza and some red wine by the fireplace and then Alkis said ..."OH!!! You've got mail!". In my study room, I found Tina's wonderful present. I felt as if Christmas wasn't over yet even though I had only just taken down my Christmas decorations! I loved the calendar by a great artist I did not happen to know - Richard Benjamin. He's a great photographer! The theme is Rhode Islands - the smallest US state. I loved it. Together with the calendar, I also had a great card (see blog photo) with Tina's handwritten wishes in Greek! And such a wonderfullly artistic handwriting. Being ambidextrous myself , I've always envied other people's great handwriting.

Thank you, Tina, for making Christmas last longer for me!

The Transition to Work!

After a 15-day holiday of partying and being merry to my heart's content, the transition to work on Wednesday was not as tough as I thought it would be. Naturally, Alkis had to literally drag me out of bed at 7:30 am! As you may know, I am a sleepy head and hardly ever get up before 9, but Wednesday was the first day of the second term and therefore lots of things to attend to at work considering I also do all the office work now that I am all by myself. I'm not going to hire another secretary for various reasons. Besides, it's only a matter of organisation and most importantly willingness to work longer hours. But when you love your work, you don't really mind overtime. And it will pay off later!

What's more I save precious time! I don't have to dictate an email or a fax reply - I just reply directly myself, I don't have to summon up patience and repeat 5 times how something which seems very simple to me should be done, I'm never late for work but I almost invariably leave the school after 9 pm. I never make mistakes in photocopying tests or homework and I always answer the phone because it's never busy for personal conversations.

The truth is I have been very busy since school started on Wednesday after the Christmas break. But I was delighted to see my students. My Junior students were adorable when they said they had missed their English classes! My feather-brained adolescents looked ...rather unhappy but they had all done their homework except one or two ....

Right now I'm looking forward to the weekend , to some MORE sleep and to a great night out with hubby!

Epiphany: The Blessing of the Waters

A spiritual plunge after Christmas

On the stroke of January 6th, the "twelve days" of Christmas officially come to an end. This day, takes on a special meaning in Greece. Here, there is a special ceremony of blessing the waters and of the vessels that ply them.

  The modern observance at Pireus, the largest port in Greece (Athens), takes the form of a priest hurling a large crucifix into the waters. Young men brave the cold and compete to retrieve it. These days, the cross is generally attached to a nice, safe long chain, just in case that year's crop of divers is something less than desired.

After the diving, local fishermen bring their boats to be blessed by the priest.

  What does all this have to do with Christmas? Orthodox belief says that it was the day of the baptism of Jesus, and that this is where the day's association with water arises.

  But the observance itself may pre-date Christianity. There was, in Roman times, what was said to be a ceremony that opened the season of navigation. However, as any Greek fisherman can tell you, whatever the date of the opening of the season of navigation really is, it definitely is not January 6th, when weather can be stormy and the waters are at their coldest.

The day is also said to be the date of a festival of emperor-worship, also dating from Roman times. Possibly that, with attendant offerings for the emperor, is the root of this ceremony. Or it may also reflect a survival of the custom of giving precious offerings to sea, river, and spring spirits to assure their benevolence or halt their interference. On Epiphany, the kallinkantzari, the malicious spirits who are said to be active during the twelve days of Christmas, are believed to be banished for the rest of the year.

  Epiphany is also called the Phota or Fota, in reference to the day being a Feast of Light, and it is also the Saint's day for Agia Theofania.

While the biggest observance is at Piraeus, many islands and villages offer smaller versions of the event. It is definitely both a traditional Greek holiday but also one of the greatest religious festivals for the Greek Orthodox. 

New Year's Photo Blog

Alkis and I decided to spend a couple of days at The Elysium Hotel in Paphos to celebrate the New Year. Paphos - situated on the western coast of the island at about 150 km from Larnaca - combines the beauty of unspoilt wilderness, lovely beaches, and great hotels where the visitor can relax and feel "at home".

 

On our way to Paphos, we stopped at Pissouri Village for lunch. We had already been there on Christmas Eve and loved the place and the food at The Castle Restaurant. It was sunny but freezing after the new snowfalls on the slopes of Troodos, only a few kilometres away.

   

At the Elysium Hotel in Paphos just a few minutes away from 2009.

 

Alkis reflecting on the going year....

   

The festive table

 

The party! 

   

HAPPY NEW YEAR! WELCOME 2009!

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