VD

 It sounds a bit like a STD, doesn’t it? I’ve never been a great fan of this day. Although it is nice to express one’s feelings towards another, pink is not my personal favourite colour and I’m not into heart shaped objects or teddy bears. I like ‘bears’. But the only thing fitting into the ‘teddy bear’ category that I’ve personally bought, was a small vocal ‘Stanley’ with various catch phrases like: ‘Oh, my God! They killed Kenny!’

I fear that sounds like I’m being very a negative person! I’m not! I just don’t want to go into a gift shop and follow the trend to buy something. I don’t think that I need to prove my love to JJ that way. So, I followed a tradition I started last year and baked him something. I found Pascale Lorraine’s amazing recipe which you can find here and this is the result:

We’ve been having slices of that cake every day since Sunday. Not because I made it myself, but I really liked it. JJ agrees. He’s been very sweet today too. He got some small chocolates with sweet messages and he’s hidden them in the house. So, this morning when I was getting ready for work, I was running across them. For example I found one in my towel, next to my hair gel, in my trousers, next to my Kindle, in my gloves etc. I’ve been munching chocolates all day today.

Anyway, I hope you have a nice Valentine’s Day whether you are in a relationship or not.

 

BBQ, the South African Way…

The following pictures were taken two days ago, when ‘JJ’ organised a bbq in his back garden, for me and two of our friends. The good thing about his bizarre work schedule is that he can get weekdays off which means he can organise things like that without too much of a hassle. Knowing JJ however, I think he did stress himself to organise the perfect bbq. In a very strange way, he likes running around like crazy trying to set things up and he has a very good eye on small details that I would normally ignore.

South Africans must have a thing about bbqs. JJ shines like a star when mentioned and he’s always up for it. He’s told me that his parents have bbqs three to four times a week! They find it much easier to light a fire to grill stuff outside than cooking indoors. Probably it’s the weather. Greece shares similar warm and sunny weather but they are not that common for us. Maybe it’s the lack of space in the cities I was living in or the fact that when the weather turns warn, it gets so warm that lighting a fire is a torture. Don’t know…

The scene of the 'crime'

Chicken liver and salmon starters

Cocktails

Baby potatoes

Some boerewors (aka the farmer's sausage)

Chicken slow cooked in the oven in case it rained (always a possibility in UK)

greens

Mrs. Ball's Chutney

Looking again on these photos, I find it strange that they were taken two days ago. London saw lots of heavy rain and even hail yesterday. It was like we went straight from summer to winter in 24 hours.

While speaking to my mother yesterday, I mentioned the bbq. OK, I mentioned it more than once and at some point she got the bait. She asked me where we did it. She knows I leave in a block of flats which is very nice but it’s without outside space. So, I mentioned ‘JJ’. That was the first time ‘JJ’s name was mentioned in our casual conversations. Of course she knows about him, since she stalks me on facebook and checks my photo albums. She also knows about the trips we take together. However, we’ve never actually discussed about him and never mentioned his name.

Giving JJ a name, as silly as it may sound, changes some stuff. He’s not just a random guy I see behind their back. He suddenly gets a personality, a physical presence that he didn’t have before. Also, mentioning his name means that more conversation will follow and my mother might actually ask me about him and start accepting the truth about what’s going on. I think I dropped a small bomb on her and I’ll now have to wait to see the results…

Anyhow, have a lovely weekend! Enjoy!

Quiet evening in…

After spending the last few days out of town, we decided with JJ to lay low, stay in, eat home cooked food and watch a movie. So, I decided yesterday to cook some nice dinner for both of us while JJ provided the entertainment…

It’s no secret that I love seafood and fish in general. I can eat almost everything that comes from the sea. I used to go fishing with my grandfather when I was a child and we used to eat what we caught. What we didn’t eat on the day it was caught, it was put into the freezer to be consumed the days when the weather didn’t allow us to go fishing. In his house if you didn’t eat fish, you simply starved. I learned how to take the bones out of them even before learning how to properly hold a knife.

So, I decided yesterday to make a fish pie. I went to the supermarket and I got the following:
400gr of boneless smoked haddock, 400gr of boneless white cod, 4 eggs, 1 onion, 0.5 pint of milk, 1 kg of potatoes, parsley and I used some of the butter and seasoning I had at home.

For the base of the pie I placed the fish in a frying pan with 500ml of milk and the onions chopped in quarters. I turned the heat on till the milk started boiling and then I left to simmer for 10 minutes till the fish was tender. I removed the onions and kept the milk for the mash potatoes. I cut the fish in chunks and put them in the tray where the fish pie would be baked.


I hard boiled 4 eggs for 8-9 minutes. I left them a bit to cool off and then pealed and chopped them. I mixed the egg pieces and some chopped parsley with the fish in the baking tray:


Then I created the sauce for the fish. In a pot, I added approximately 100gr of butter to melt and then added 50gr of flour. Stirring the contents continuously out of the heat, I’ve slowly added the 500ml of milk used previously to cook the fish. When all milk was added, I placed the pot back for some minutes on the hob and I stirred until sauce was thicker. I’ve also added some pepper, salt and nutmeg. When that was done I added the sauce to the mix of fish and eggs. I stirred them well for the sauce to go everywhere.


I finally created the mash potatoes to seal the fish pie. In another pot I boiled the pealed and chopped potatoes for 20 minutes. When tender, I added a bit of butter and 100ml of milk. Using a potato masher I’ve created the mash potatoes that I’ve placed over the fish mix:


In a preheated oven, I baked the fish pie for 35 minutes in gas mark 6 till the mash became golden:



Recommendations: I suggest offering sex to your partner for these 35 minutes of baking to pass quicker, especially if he is very hungry in the verge of becoming grumpy. It’s an honest mistake to forget the time needed to boil the potatoes and make the mash.

Anyway, the movie we watched was ‘The girl with the dragon tattoo’. Having read the book meant that I knew the story and the ending but I have to admit that it was a very nice adaptantion. We liked the fish pie and ate most of it with a glass of white wine.

Situations change…

OK, first of all. My pie yesterday was a huge success. You can find the recipe here. The only thing I changed was the fact that I added some spring onions and leeks. I’ve added them together with the spinach to steam. I don’t like adding oil to the pie to make it lighter. I’ve only added some dill, parsley, pepper and two eggs for flavour. A spoon of flour was only needed to obtain the water.

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On a different matter, my housemate just returned from a weekend in Greece. She told me that the situation there and people’s habitudes changed. Greeks used to behave differently. In the past, they were more extravagant when going out, not caring about overspending if they were having a really good time with friends. It was considered shameful in a way to pay attention to pennies. For example, when friends met to go out for dinner, there was a small battle when the bill arrived about who will pay for everybody else first. It might seem weird, but that’s the way it used to be…

Now, things are different. People do not leave tips any more in restaurants and bars. They don’t go out that often and they pay attention to the groceries they buy. That change was about to happen following the recent developments of Greece’s economy. It happened gradually there but for those of us, like me, visiting Greece from time to time, it can be shocking. There are so many closed stores on the streets and there is a melancholic atmosphere everywhere. Misery…

Ok, it's not always funny, but sometimes it can be...

I want to be optimistic though. Recently Qatar announced that an Emir would like to buy the location where the old Athens International airport used to be to build a small airport for Lear jets, luxurious Hotels and shopping centres. Also, the Chinese Prime Minister visited the country declaring that he would like to buy and build a new harbour outside Athens. They plan to create a new Hellenic-Chinese Nautical Institute.

I am not sure that these investments are the best (environmental friendly) way to get the country out of recession. I would prefer to see the area of the old Athens airport changed into a metropolitan Park as first planed. The city definitely needs a new area of green. However, these investments will lower the unemployment rates, bring foreign currency to the country and help increase trade. There could be some light at the end of the tunnel… Only time can tell though.

let's pray, it isn't

OK, call me stupid…

Sometimes I really worry about my intelligence. I’m not going to personally admit it of course, but sometimes some things don’t click easily. I’ve been complaining about pain in my right foot for the past couple of weeks. Running all these miles wasn’t helping of course the healing process. When you jog for about two hours nonstop, any small problem or irritation can be augmented to be a major problem / pain / blister. I found out that the physical status of my feet and running demanded that I’d have to change shoes. The new ones are really good. I can run on them easier. However, some soreness was still there.

Then, it finally clicked! Why only my right foot and not the left? The answer was in front of my eyes but I didn’t see it. The problem was mostly caused by the fact that I sit on it at work. Yes, I put my right foot under me when I sit at my desk. I do it so involuntary that I don’t even pay attention to it any more. I tried to put that theory to test and I’ve seen tremendous progress. I’ve stopped sitting on it for the past three days and it completely stopped hurting… Duh!
Yes, it sounds stupid but it’s true. By the way, if you make comments about my intelligence to my face I’ll not take it very well. I am allowed to talk bad about me, not you…

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Anyway, in order to make you stop doubting me, I’m giving you my Greek spinach and feta pastry pie recipe. It’s Friday, pay day and I’m happy! I made that yesterday. Preparing it will not take more than 15 minutes. Baking it does take a while, but it’s worth it.
In order to make a Greek spinach and feta pie I used:
600gr of Spinach leaves,
300gr of Feta cheese,some grated cheddar cheese,two already rolled puff pastry leaves,
dill,
some spring onions chopped,two eggs,
salt and pepper.For the stuffing you put in a pot on the hob a spoon of water, the chopped spring onions and the spinach leaves.


In order to make sure that the leaves are cooked properly you fold the cooked spinach at the bottom of the pan over the uncooked leaves at the top. The spinach is cooked when the leaves are wilted completely but still bright green, which takes about 2 to 3 minutes. It looks a little bit disgusting but tastes very good. Remove the pot from the hob and let it cool down a bit. Then add the grated feta, the cheddar, the dill, seasoning and the eggs. Keep a little bit of the scrambled eggs for the top of the pie (I’ll explain later). Without the dill I do the same stuffing for cannelloni or lasagna:


I usually buy already rolled puff pastry leaves. In a tray, put some baking paper and place the first leaf after you’ve stretched it a bit. You need to make it fill the bottom of your tray so that the stuffing will be kept inside. It’s not that difficult and if you make holes to the leaf you can always cover them. Add the stuffing and then the second pastry leaf on top. Try to shield the edges. Finally add some holes to the upper leaf and spread the part of the egg you’ve kept. That will make the pie turn nicely brown. I also add some sesame on top.


I bake the pie in low heat of 3 to 4 for gas ovens for about 1h and 20 minutes. I also turn it halfway there to bake evenly on all sides. You know it’s done by its colour. It has to turn brown. Don’t bake it in high temperature because the pastry leaf on the bottom will not be cooked properly.
Enjoy…

Quiet night in

After work yesterday I felt quite drained and I wanted a quiet night in. I was on my own at home, JJ was out of town and most of my friends were out with people from their work. So, I decided to cook dinner, have a little wine and watch a movie. So, I did…

I love cooking and most of the times I like changing recipes I've been given to match my taste. For ecample for the lasagne I cooked, there are so many variations of what you can add...
I bought Butternut Squash (something I learned in UK, since you cannot find it in Greece easily), 4 courgettes, a carrot, an onion, garlic, some tomato sauce and lasagne sheets. I first prepared the vegetables. I peeled them and removed the seeds when needed, washed them and grated them:


Then, in a deep frying pan I softened onion for a couple of minutes and then roasted in low temperature the vegetables for a good ten minutes to become soft. I added a little bit of feta cheese, tiny pieces of ham (can be ignored for vegetarians), some cheddar and seasonings for flavour. My stuffing was ready. I took a deep baking dish, added a little bit of oil (just a spoon) so that the lasagne will not stick to it. I had a layer of lasagne sheets, half the vegetables, a layer of tomato sauce, a layer of lasagne, the rest of the vegetables, a layer of lasagne sheets and finished with the rest of tomato sauce and some cheddar on top:


I baked it for 45 minutes in 180C. I like it slightly crispy so I left it a bit more than needed.


I opened a bottle of red wine and I watched ‘Love Actually’. I always watch this movie this time of the year. I don’t know how many times I’ve watched it really…

Anyway, I had a nice time yesterday, had some quality time on my own…