Quiet Days with Family and Friends
By Helen Grubner. Filed in Uncategorized |
Kastelli beach with Gramvoussa peninsular in the background, Crete
Here in Kastelli, the days begin with Katina first tending to the animals then the table is made ready for a very simple breakfast. Paximadia (thick slices of bread oven baked – made from excess bread so that nothing is wasted) spread with delicious runny honey or marmalada (jam made from peaches off their own tree), Graviere (a hard cheddar like cheese) a large mug of Greek coffee and a glass of water – a cup of goat’s milk (optional). Hippocrates, the Father of Western Medicine 460 BC who said “Leave your drugs in the chemist’s pot if you can heal the patient with food” would have approved of the overall Cretan diet!
With wonderful summer like weather continuing and daily temperatures in the high 20’s, for me the beach beckons and I will go there as often as I can – this afternoon it was for 3 hours and still I was reluctant to leave. Yesterday at 1300 hours, I met up with my English friends Jillie and Rick at “Petra” Taverna on the Square. Having returned to Crete a couple of weeks’ ago to their house in Keramoti – 40 minutes drive from Kastelli on the west coast, they have been working hard on their restorations. Fortunate to have found a good plasterer in Jimmy, an Albanian who has been living here for 6 years, after sleeping for 2 weeks in a tent, they were looking forward last night to their bed. Hopefully I will have an opportunity to visit them in Keramoti before I leave here on Sunday.
Other familiar faces at “Petra” yesterday were Gijs from the Netherlands and Bob and Lorna, the English couple who have a permanent home in the nearby village of Ayios Giorgos. After exchanging greetings with them all, I sat down with Jillie, Rick and Jimmy for a light lunch of Gyros and soft drinks. Naturally, they were keen to hear all about my travels and curious to find out more about my relationship with Costas. After lunch a drive to Roma’s factory followed by a visit to Roma and Vanna’s home proved fruitless, later we learnt Roma was working in Hania and Vanna was most likely having her siesta.
Quite happy to walk back to our house, we said our farewells on the main road – in any case, I wished to pass by the Zaharoplastio (literally, sugar shop) to buy a 1 kilo box of mini ice creams as a gift to the household. Incidentally, when invited to a Greek home, it is customary to take a small gift such as flowers or as is often the case, something like brandy, cakes or ice creams from the Zaharoplastio.
Any time of day or night, unexpected visitors arrive and surprise us. Yesterday there was a funeral in Kastelli for a 52 year old who died from a heart attack. Vassilis (son of Costas’ sister Chrissoula – he was married last month in Iraklion) came from Hania for the funeral then visited us at the house. During the evening Katina’s son Yanni who was in Kastelli for an appointment – he also came by the house with a female friend, his mate Yiorgos arrived too and a table was laid. The evening’s conversation centred mainly around Yanni who relished in telling us stories of his time doing compulsory military service.
This evening Katina is busy making Kalitsounia – small pastries made from rolled dough, not phyllo and depending on how they are folded, baked or fried. Sweet Kalitsounia are stuffed with fresh soft Myzithra, a whey cheese (made from milk from the family goat) and eaten drizzled with delicious thyme honey. Savoury Kalitsounia are stuffed with spinach, wild greens and herbs and are equally delicious!
It’s not quite the same without Anna here – most likely she will return from Hania sometime tomorrow and I very much look forward to seeing her.