About Me

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Crete, Greece
Married to the lovely Geoffrey, my soulmate. I have two fantastic big kids,both married, whom I love and miss every day I'm not with them, but I know they're living and loving their lives and we make up for time when we get together.I now have three granddaughters too...

Monday 8 June 2009

Flying By

I can't believe how time is flying by...
I've got photos from Dubai that I've still not downloaded.
We've done some hill walking recently behind our village so I've got some lovely views to show you...
Can you guess what the first photo above is?? Yes, of course, they are carob pods. They'll turn brown soon. I heard them described as 'donkey's chocolate'.
This is my attempt at a typical Cretan recipe...it's hortopita, a wild greens pie! I found the recipe on Organically Cooked
Maria lives in Crete, but on the opposite side from me, in Hania.
A neighbour gave my a huge carrier bag of vlita, which is a wild green that grows here, it's very nutritious and grows everywhere. I added fennel, mint, oregano, onion and misithra (a cheese that's similar to ricotta) The pastry is filo and I threw some seeds on top. Very easy and it tastes divine. I made 2... one is in the freezer but I don't think it will be there long.
More food, gosh, what's up with me?? Must be hungry..
This is an example of the mezedes you would get at Nikos's when you order a jug of wine. There's dolmades, fava, pork in tomato, mixed vegetables, garlic toast and a salad, most of this is from produce that has been grown by Nikos's father. Imagine, a couple of jugs, with this amount of food each time, then you have greek salad, souvlaki, chips.... The bill for this feast, including a couple of rakis and fruit, for 4 is approx. 26 euros. Not bad!!
Need abit of a sit down in the shade now.
Believe it or not, this is our equivelent of the garden shed, ha ha!! There's still some oranges at the top of that tree.
Can you see my hammock chair? Well, you need a snooze after all the weeding and watering.
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25 comments:

Cynthia Pittmann said...

Hi Jude, just love the hammock chair! Wonderful greens pie? too. I had a friend give me some Swiss chard and I've been adding it to rice, beans, squash...anything I could think of...I should have made some kind of healthy pie...that crust looks like those pastry sheets they sell here...so light! Take care and visit me again at my blog. I miss you. <3

Jenny said...

That pie looks good....

Midlife, menopause, mistakes and random stuff... said...

I love the pictures of the carob pods Jude and the pie made me hungry!!
Have a beautiful day and.......

Steady On
Reggie Girl

Digitalgran said...

Sut ma'i Jude?
What a wonderful blog you have here. I always stay too long forgetting I have lots of things waiting for my attention.

ArtistUnplugged said...

Mmmmmmmm, the pie looks and sounds tasty! All the food looks good. I love the hammock chair.

MyCretanlife said...

Hi Jude. Like the chair, will have to try that. Those mezedes look good enough to eat. Oh! we did didn't we.

Taz said...

Oh yummy that looks good, a break in Crete would be so good right now :)

TIGGYWINKLE said...

I must make the pie with chard and spinach. Love the Cretan Mezedes. I just put up a pergola to hang my real hammock and swinging chair. Lounged in the hammock the other day and it was sheer heaven.

menopausalmusing said...

I DOOOOOOOOOO love a good pie, and that looks like a good one. Looks like the good life! x

Cheryl said...

Hi Jude! Looks like I'll have to scrape up some of that corrugated scrap metal for you to build a shed...haha!
Everything looks lovely...especially the pita!
Have a nice week:)

Pondside said...

You'll be responsible for all our computers being fried because we're all drooling at that spread at Niko's. That pie looks delicious too!

Katiejane said...

My gosh, all that food!! And it all looks so delicious. I love Italian, Greek food, especially baklava. Love your hammock chair that looks like it is smiling at me.

Vivien said...

Hi Jude...would love to know where Niko's place is. Great value for money and everything looks and sounds so good.

Lynn Cohen said...

Oh I thought I saw a snake in that tree, guess not. ;~)

Maria Verivaki said...

you've done really well on the pita - i think your filo pastry is just right. sometimes i feel i overdo it on the filling, so i must try not to make it too thick. it's a bit of a problem when i freeze them - they aren't able to be handled easily.

i'll bet you enjoyed that pie - we have lots of vlita in the garden at the moment, so i'll be making a few pies soon myself, and they'll all be going into the deep freeze

did you take some pita to your friends to show them what you did with the vlita? i bet they'd be proud of you

Maria Verivaki said...

coincidentally, my dad's first 'chocolate' was dried carob pods. of course, no one eats them in this way any more!

Pipany said...

Hi Jude. I love food posts! The pie looks great and as for all the mezedes...yum! x

Anonymous said...

That looks like my sort of garden Jude. I can just hear the Bee eaters calling in the background.
The food looks wonderful but I'm not sure I could handle all the wine as I'm not much of a drinker anymore (not that I ever was really).

Cait O'Connor said...

The food looks good as does the garden shed! And an orange tree, Wow! We could do with some of your warmth here in Wales.

LOVE STITCHING RED said...

What a wonderful life, you certainly seem to be enjoying it and making the most of where you live. The pie looks delicious, filo is one of my faves and your feast looks wonderful. Wishing you happy and sunny days ... :o)

Yvette said...

I'll come over and sit with you in the shade

soulbrush said...

and i enjoy your blog too jude. of course you may have one of the lovely tea towels, and please accept the award too from me.
send me your snail mail addie to: jossross@yahoo.com

Archie and Melissa said...

hi jude!
it is so wonderful to meet you! thank you for stopping by and saying hello today.

your blog is wonderful! your home is amazing!

melissa

Clare Wassermann said...

aaah I feel a hammock coming on. I'll put mine up between the showers (hrmmmmmph)

bindu said...

Your pie looks great, and the hammock under the orange tree so inviting! Everything I've read about Greece comes alive in your blog. That's why I like coming here.