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Wordless Wednesday 103

2011-11-30T23:56:00.000Z

Wordless Wednesday 102

2011-11-16T23:30:00.000Z

Wise words

2011-10-13T09:10:00.000+01:00

Life is short. Live your dream, and wear your passion. I really have nothing more to add.

Happy Anniversary, Alex and Konstantina!

2011-08-15T22:50:00.001+01:00

On this day a year ago, we were in Corfu, Greece, for the wedding of our dear friends Alex and Konstantina. We had such a brilliant time and I'd decided to do a post about their wedding when I got back, but never got the chance. So here I am posting on their 1st wedding anniversary instead.

Congratulations guys! I hope you're always happy together like you were on your wedding night. Love you both xxx

Cicadas

2011-08-02T10:11:00.000+01:00

I can hear cicadas day and night. Where am I - and what is the temperature? Guess.

Wordless Wednesday 101

2011-04-13T00:01:00.000+01:00

Monday morning funny

2010-10-04T11:14:00.000+01:00

Saw this and couldn't stop laughing. Hope you guys find it funny, too.

I've been tagged!

2010-10-01T12:44:00.000+01:00

I was tagged by Palm Tree Fanatic Tina last month, while I was on holiday. Due to being away and being all over the place for a couple of weeks after I got back, it's taken me a while to respond (sorry, Tina!) but here goes:

1. Why did you start blogging?
My friend Erica put me up to it. She used to have quite a popular blog at one time, but doesn't post any more.

2. If you could travel anywhere in the world with no restriction of costs, where would it be and why?
Hawaii. I've been interested in it since watching Hawaii 5-0 as a child. Later on I read Paradise News by David Lodge, which is set in Hawaii, and the idea stuck. And I have a thing for palm trees and blue seas. Plus Hawaii is sufficiently far away from my part of the world, I'll only ever visit if I have unlimited funds!

3. Did you have a teacher in school that had a great influence on your life? If so, what?
I've been really lucky, I've had lots of excellent teachers, all the way from primary school through to college. Can't really say one stood out, because all of them were special in different ways. I still have a soft spot for my first teacher in primary school, she taught us for the first 3 years and she was awesome! She's the one who first taught me to work methodically.

4. If you could spend the day with a famous person, who would it be, and what would you do?
I'd like to meet Barack Obama, just to talk to him. He seems like someone with a GSOH, so I don't think we'll need extra entertainment - just a table, two comfy chairs, a coffee pot and two cups. If I'm lucky, perhaps he'll introduce me to the wife, too.

5. Toilet paper — over or under?
If this means what I think it means, over.

6. Name one thing in your life that you would do over if possible.
I'd stress less over the small things and even less over the bigger things.

7. Tell about your pets — if any.
No pets.

8. Do you live in a small town or a large town?
I live in a big city and I love it. I like being surrounded by people.

Apparently I can tag others to answer the same questions, but since the chain is well and truly broken now, please feel free to tag yourselves! Let me know if you do, as I'd love to read your answers.

Monday morning joke

2010-09-27T11:54:00.002+01:00

A woman writes to IT technical support.....

Dear Tech Support,

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and I noticed a distinct slowdown in the overall system performance, particularly in the flower and jewellery applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.

In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5, and then installed undesirable programs such as News 5.0, Money 3.0 and Football 4.1.

Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and Housecleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system.

Please note that I have tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail. What can I do?

Signed,

XXX

***********REPLY*************

Dear Madam,

Firstly, keep in mind that Boyfriend 5.0 is an entertainment package, while Husband 1.0 is an operating system.

Please enter command: I thoughtyoulovedme.html and try to download Tears 6.2 and do not forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update. If that application works as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewellery 2.0 and Flowers 3.5.

However, remember that overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Silence 2.5 or Beer 6.1.
Please note that Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will download the Snoring Loudly Beta.

Whatever you do, DO NOT in any circumstances install Mother-In-Law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources.)

In addition, please do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend 5.0 program. These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0.

In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance. We recommend: Cooking 3.0 and Good Looks 7.7.

Good Luck!

Tech Support

Wordless Wednesday 100

2010-09-22T17:58:00.002+01:00

Back to reality with a thump

2010-09-16T15:24:00.005+01:00

Hey guys, apologies for the silence! I've been on holiday on and off for the last month and as a result my blogging has suffered somewhat. I've spent time in Corfu and Cyprus with intermediate stops in London and Athens, so it's been quite a whirlwind.

My latest destination was the sunny island of Cyprus. Returning to the miserable UK weather after 9 days of glorious sunshine and temperatures in the 30's hasn't been easy - I feel I've crashed back into reality. Really missing the sun, which I've not seen since 4:45 PM on Monday 13/9 when our plane took off from Larnaca airport. I've come back with the best tan I've had in ages, but there's not even a ray of sunshine to help maintain it, let alone top it up. It's depressing.

I think I'm suffering with post-holiday blues. Sigh.

Wordless Wednesday 99

2010-09-01T23:37:00.001+01:00

What did I do this weekend?

2010-08-31T10:29:00.017+01:00

I've been invited by Gattina to participate in this meme by telling you what I did this weekend. Well, strictly speaking it's not "this weekend" any more, but yesterday was a bank holiday, meaning we had a long weekend, therefore the week's only just started. Hence I can still play :-)

Saturday: Hubby was feeling a bit fluey (due to spending Friday night with his mates, watching movies and consuming alcohol) and didn't feel like going into town to buy new shoes, as per our original plan. So we just walked to a new cafe that's opened nearby and had a very nice brunch of freshly-prepared sandwiches and lentil salads, washed down with mugs of tea. We also had a breakfast tart to share. Spent the rest of the day doing errands, going to the post office, taking clothes to the drycleaner's, doing the weekly shop etc.

Sunday: Weather windy and wet so we stayed indoors all day long. I'd left the window open in the bedroom and went in mid-morning to find it'd been raining on the bed, which by the way is positioned a couple of feet away from the wall. Our windows are sash, so they open up-down. This one was open just 30 cm at the top and the rain still got in. Drank too much tea to keep warm, and almost made soup for lunch. I kept thinking of our local drycleaner, who was getting married on Sunday. I hope the wedding was in the afternoon, as the rain stopped around 5 PM and we had glorious blue skies all evening.

Monday: Weather was much improved, so we went to the Notting Hill Carnival, a big celebration talking place over the bank holiday weekend. Watching the parade in the sunshine, you could almost imagine you were in Rio. Almost, not quite. Had lunch at a Greek restaurant, then got home and had a snooze in our sun-lit living room, one sofa each. Spent the evening watching rubbish on TV (hubby) and reading guide books (me).

Anyone else would like to play? What did YOU do this weekend?

Memory loss

2010-08-25T16:01:00.004+01:00

Yesterday was our 7th wedding anniversary. Both my husband and I failed to remember it. I even wished my cousin a Happy Birthday (prompted by Facebook) and I know my cousin's birthday falls on the same day as my wedding anniversary, of course I do, but the significance of the date just didn't hit me.

I only know it was our wedding anniversary yesterday because my dad called me a minute ago with belated wishes. Shocking or what?

Driving through London - part 2 - Camberwell

2010-08-12T23:33:00.004+01:00

Having spent the best part of an hour crawling through Peckham, we finally reached Camberwell, another inner south London suburb low on charm, but lively nonetheless. I don't have as many photos to show you because traffic conditions improved considerably (seems that every car going through the area was stuck in or around Peckham) and we picked up some speed, so it wasn't as easy to take photos. Here's a selection of the best ones.

I don't know what this building is, can't even tell if it's an office block or residential accommodation, but I thought it looked nice.

Finally, some empty roads!

Coming up to Camberwell Green, the hub of Camberwell where all the restaurants and bars are.

Check out "Noodels City". You may have to enlarge the photo to see the sign.

Continuing towards Kennington, it's getting a bit busier on the roads, but still moving at a steady speed.

Another example of terraced housing - this time Victorian/Edwardian (I think).

Made by Cows - a popular ad campaign by Anchor Butter.

The empty road happiness wasn't meant to last. Soon we come across more roadworks and more cones, and we're back to single lane traffic.

Still, slow speeds are good for photography. I really shouldn't complain.

Driving through London - part 1 - Peckham

2010-08-11T23:30:00.022+01:00

OK. Here's the deal. There are 212 photos in my "London" folder from last weekend's roadtrip from hell. There is absolutely no way I can show you even a quarter of them without creating a mega photo-sharing post or a slide show, and I have an aversion to both. So I thought I'd bundle the photos according to area and show you a few out of each group instead.

To start, I give you Peckham (pronounced as Peck-uhm, not Peck-ham). Not one of the most salubrious areas of London, but I did warn you it's the London the tourists don't see. Ahem. Keep in mind that I took these pictures from the car while we were moving (admittedly at crawling speed) along the A202, so the photos aren't terribly well-framed. I guess what I'm saying is, cut me some slack, OK.

I've no idea what this is (other than a building that's been boarded up after a fire) but I like the art. I spotted it in New Cross, a run-down but very hip neighbourhoood, just before Peckham proper.

In case you're still wondering why it took us 40 minutes to drive 4.5 miles, here's the answer: roadworks!

This is a typical terrace, a row of identical or mirror-image houses sharing side walls - either Victorian or mock Victorian, I can't tell.

Did I mention the traffic? Notice the cars are perfectly stationery although the light is green.

A pub and two shops with funky names...

A typical neighbourhood mini market - sells everything and anything.

A messy picture, but I like it because you can see Manze's traditional pie and mash shop and catch a glimpse of the top of the futuristically designed Peckham Library.

A typical high street: Rye Lane and the Aylesham Shopping Centre.

I like this photo because of the scooter. You don't often see scooters on London roads. Also because the sun's shining and the sky's looking interesting.

The Harris Academy at Peckham promoting themselves.

And finally, the back of a London bus!

These are the best of my Peckham photos, plus a bonus one here. So, tell me, how closely do they match what you expected to see?

It's a long, long way to everywhere

2010-08-09T23:14:00.014+01:00

Last weekend we went to the West Country for a family reunion. The West Country is an area in SW England, approx. 130 miles (209 kms) west of London. We drove out on Saturday and drove back on Sunday. It took us 5 hrs 30 mins on the way out, 4 hrs 20 mins on the way back. That's an average speed of 23.6 miles outbound, and not much more than that on the return. It took us 40 mins to cover the first 4.5 miles out of south London, compliments of roadworks every half a mile, broken down buses every mile and a couple of minor accidents to add to the bedlam.

We thought that it was a pitiful attempt at using a car to get from A to B until we learned that a friend had also tried to leave London on the Friday to visit his folks up north, only to give up and return home after taking 3 hours to cover a distance of 1 mile. In a car, not on all fours, I hasten to add. Thankfully, he had better luck on Saturday morning.

The only good thing that has come out of this driving ordeal is that, as the speeds we achieved were exceptionally slow, I was able to take plenty of photos en route. I now have an impressive selection of 391 photos of London neighbourhoods, streets, shops, junctions, buildings, parks, rivers, countryside, petrol stations, more pubs than you can shake a stick at, traffic jams, fields, sunsets, a pig farm and even Stonehenge, the famous prehistoric monument. If anyone is interested in (any of) them, let me know and I'll post some tomorrow.

Houmous, falafel and the Cyclades

2010-08-02T01:09:00.026+01:00

Marks & Spencer (aka M&S) is a major British retailer, with over 895 stores in more than 40 territories around the world. It is the largest clothing retailer in the UK, as well as being an upmarket food retailer, and as of 2008, the 43rd largest retailer in the world. Despite its huge and undoubtable success, M&S is unable to recruit even one person with knowledge of the Eastern Mediterranean into their Product Development department.

Which would be fine, and not at all a concern for anyone, if only M&S weren't so keen to develop the "World Flavours" lunchtime food range allowing you to take an appetizing international journey of taste without even leaving your desk. Problem is, this journey is so unpredictable, you don't always end up where you planned when you bought your food pack. In particular, you never end up in Greece.

The good bods at M&S, however, are blissfully unaware of this little detail. According to the press release, you can imagine yourself lunching on a sun soaked Greek island with "A taste of Greece" - a feta-style salad with houmous, falafel and sun-dried tomato breadsticks. Which is all well and good, only there's no such thing as feta-style salad, houmous and falafel are unknown in Greece, and sun-dried tomato breadsticks, although not exactly unheard of, are unlikely to be found on any sun soaked Greek island taverna, except for the really pretentious ones.

In any case, feta-style salad and fancy breadsticks I can accept. Houmous and falafel though? That's like putting together a "taste of USA" pack made up of Ploughman's sandwiches and Cornish pasties.

At first, I thought perhaps they're getting Greece mixed up with Cyprus (it wouldn't be the first time) but my Cypriot friends confirmed that, although houmous is indeed known in Cyprus, falafel is something that one would expect to find in Egypt, Lebanon or other Middle Eastern countries.

This begs the question: what is the purpose to taking two products that are nothing to do with Greece and putting them in Greek packaging, complete with Cycladic church? Surely anyone who likes houmous and falafel will eat them even if M&S calls them "houmous and falafel"? Not to mention anyone who's been to Greece is no more likely to associate the country with houmous and falafel than they are to associate it with chorizo and mozzarella.

Am I perhaps missing a great marketing strategy here? Is it a ploy to bring the Levant closer to Europe via the British taste bud? The mind boggles.

Last Saturday my friends and I went to the local M&S to search for this wonder product. Sure enough the Greece-in-Lebanon packs exist! We only found the mini-pack (sans feta-style salad and breadsticks) but our trip wasn't wasted. While looking around the shelves, we spotted another equally mind-blowing product: olives from Halkadiki.

What's wrong with that? I hear you ask. Well, what's wrong with it is that there's no such area called Halkadiki. The name is Halkidiki. And there are no alternative spellings either. Calling Halkidiki Halkadiki is like calling London Londin, or New York New Yark, or Sydney Sydnay. It's a huge, massive, stupid spelling mistake. We thought it was so funny that they'd misspelled the name of the product, we took a photo of the jar. The reason the photo is a bit blurred is because we couldn't stop laughing.

Then we looked at the lid. Which is supposed to say "olives with sun dried tomatoes" in Greek. Unfortunately it doesn't say that at all. It says "olives with sun wharmied tomatoes" - i.e. not only using the wrong word for "sun dried" but forming it wrongly too, against all grammatical and spelling rules. It's not just an unfortunate translation, it's a word that doesn't exist and couldn't ever exist. My guess is that it was made up by someone who'd studied Ancient Greek at college and had WAY TOO MUCH confidence in their ability to create new words in modern Greek.

Honestly, I can't decide which of these blunders I find more offensive: the Taste of Greece pack that seems to confuse Greece with Lebanon, the Halkadiki-spellchecker-fail olives jar, or the make-a-Greek-word lid! That M&S managed to make all three in just two products is so shocking one has to wonder if it was done on purpose.

Wordless Wednesday 98

2010-07-28T11:25:00.001+01:00

A study of Greek salads

2010-07-27T22:17:00.010+01:00

A little while ago, I did a post about the perfect (most authentic) Greek salad. During my recent sojourn in Greece, I took photos of all the Greek salads I had, so that I could show you the real thing. Keep in mind that these aren't homemade salads, but they're what you'll be served at a taverna or restaurant.

Salad served at a (non-touristy) restaurant - look how it's swimming in olive oil:

Tourist-trap salad - we know this because the cucumber isn't peeled:

Salad served at a neighbourhood taverna:

Salad served at a fancy taverna - notice the funky salad bowl, plus use of capers:

Salad at a traditional fish taverna - this is the one that looks the most like a homemade one, although they've skimped on the olive oil and herbs:

Finally, here's a variation: it's what I call a party salad, because you only get the feta cubed like that when the salad is served as part of a buffet. This one was served at a Greek restaurant in London - hence the cucumber isn't peeled and there's chopped parsley all over.

Next time I hope to show you some homemade varieties.

I love the weatherman

2010-07-26T20:26:00.001+01:00

This is such a fab summer, and it's set to continue the same way. Look at what the mid-range forecast says:

There are indications that many places should continue the trend towards generally drier and sunnier conditions during the period. Rainfall should be near to slightly below average, with northern parts of the UK retaining the greatest chance of rain or showers and generally more changeable conditions. Temperatures should remain around or above normal for most, but possibly very warm in southern England.

Finally, a very warm summer for us in NW Europe! What's the weather like where you are?

Futurama truths

2010-07-25T17:25:00.003+01:00

Just heard this line on animated science fiction sitcom (apparently you can't call them cartoons any more) Futurama, which hubby is watching on TV.

In your universe, you are many. In my universe, I am one.

Anyone have any doubt that the writer who came up with this line is a man?

Scary thought of the day

2010-07-23T09:44:00.003+01:00

It is possible to put on a pair of shorts inside-out, zip them up and fasten the top button, without realising anything's amiss.

I know because I've just done it.

Update

2010-07-20T13:26:00.004+01:00

Two weeks after I arrived in Greece, the finger has healed beautifully, the bandages are off and I've spent two glorious days on the beach and several evenings strolling through Athens, meeting friends, watching outdoor performances and eating way too much for someone who's supposed to be on a diet (ahem). Hence I've not had time to post or visit your blogs. But I will be back as soon as I return to the UK, I promise!

This was my view yesterday morning. Can you blame me for not wanting to spend time in front of the PC?

Ouch!

2010-07-11T20:11:00.023+01:00

Tuesday afternoon I arrived in Athens. Wednesday morning I broke a glass while washing up and cut my finger. It was quite a deep cut but I managed to stop the blood and apply a plaster (thank God for mini first aid kits).

My friend Kathy came round to pick me up so we could go swimming, and I asked her to drive past the chemist's so they could take a look at my little injury. Bad idea, as the chemist promptly advised me to have it checked by a doctor and directed us to the nearest Emergency Department.

To be honest, I was very tempted to just skip the hospital and take my chances, but Kathy drove us to the local hospital despite my vague attempts to convince her I'd probably be fine. I'm really not overly fond of hospitals. Up until last Wednesday, I'd never been treated in a hospital and was rather hoping to keep it that way.

Anyway, it wasn't meant to be. Despite my injury looking pitifully unimprotant covered by a regular (albeit very tightly applied) plaster, I was fast-tracked through and had a nurse examining my finger within 10 minutes of setting foot in the Emergency Room.

The nurse seemed to think that the cut didn't need stitches, but the Cute Doctor who came to take a look disagreed. I'd had stitches when I had my wisdom teeth taken out (and let me say here that I'm the only person I know who hasn't got a tale of woe to tell about their wisdom teeth, in fact, that was the quickest and most painless 400€ I've ever spent) but still I wasn't too keen to repeat the experience - even if it meant spending longer with the Cute Doctor. I must admit I had a short moment of doubt, but as soon as I saw the tray with the needles and other implements, I immediately decided the nurse knew better.

A short conference followed, the Cute Doctor argued his case, the nurse and I argued ours, the nurse and I won. I left hospital 20 minutes later with a well-bandaged finger, a prescription for antibiotics and instructions to refrain from swimming and housework for 10 days, as I mustn't get the bandages wet AT ALL. I don't mind the no swimming rule or the no housework (as if!), but having to wear latex gloves for washing is yucky. Still, I left hospital without a single stitch, which is the best news. Latex I'll cope with (but why, oh why do latex gloves smell so awful?).

This is the glass that attacked me. Let's just say it will do no more damage. Hehe.

It's been 4 days and counting since my little accident. Another 6 days to go before I have my finger back. At least I can still type.

The Girl Who...

2010-07-09T14:44:00.002+01:00

If you have read the Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest) and especially if you've seen the respective movies, you may find this tongue-in-cheek article funny: The Girl Who Fixed The Umlaut by Nora Ephron.

Many thanks to Pamsie for twitting about this! I'm still quietly chuckling to myself :-)

Wordless Wednesday 97

2010-07-07T14:42:00.002+01:00

Let's go to Hawaii!

2010-07-04T17:41:00.014+01:00

We've had some beautiful weather in the UK recently, and I'm totally in the mood for summer. Summer is a season that often bypasses us in rainy NW Europe, so this prolonged spell of loveliness (15 days and counting) makes me think of Greece.

I've been posting Greek summer songs on my FB account and this one has had the most interest, so I thought I'd share it with you. It's just a silly song (don't expect any meaningful lyrics) but the beat is nice, the video is funny and the lady who sings it has an amazing voice. It's actually a cover of reggae song It's a Pity, sang by Tanya Stephens. The title of the Greek version is "Pame Havai" or Let's go to Hawaii.

A friend asked me to translate the lyrics for her, so here they are, alongside "phonetic" Greek:

Well come, ride the bike / lipon ela sti mixani aneva
let's go to Hawaii with one tyre / pame Havai me mia roda
If you are at home, get ready for Hawaii / an ise spiti tote etimasou gia Ηavai
let's go somewhere we've never been before / pame kapou pou den exoume pai
let's not stay home any longer / mono min katsoume allo spiti

If you are at home, get ready for Hawaii / an ise spiti tote etimasou gia Ηavai
let's go somewhere we've never been before / pame kapou pou den exoume pai
let's not stay home any longer / mono mi minoume allo spiti

Errands, bills, work / treksimo logariasmoi kai doulia
stress, inflation, loans, borrowed money / anhos,akrivia,hrei,danika
the tram is always crowded / pantote sinostismos mes to tram
and the mobile ringing all the time / ke panta eki to kinito htipa
Cooking in the morning / na magirepsis to proi
hanging out the washing / naplosis oti exi plithi
ironing, tidying up, hoovering before he gets home / na siderosis,na mazepsis,na skoupisis prin na 'rthi
then we go to the market, off to pay the bills, phone, water, electricity / meta na pame sti laiki ki epita OTE, nero, DEI gia na pliroso
Give me a break! (sung in English)

If you are at home, get ready for Hawaii / an ise spiti tote etimasou gia Ηavai
let's go somewhere we've never been before / pame kapou pou den exoume pai
let's not stay home any longer / mono min katsoume allo spiti
If you are at home, get ready for Hawaii / an ise spiti tote etimasou gia Ηavai
let's go somewhere we've never been before / pame kapou pou den exoume pai
let's not stay home any longer / mono mi minoume allo spiti

I want walks, travel, sweets and nice food / thelo voltes, taksidia, glika, fagita
I want to lie face down on the sand / na ksaplosoume mproumita stin ammoudia
I want to light a fire on the beach / thelo sti paralia na anapso fotia
I want to swim for hours in shallow or deep waters / kolimbi oron sta rhxa i sta vathia
I want to tan and stay tanned forever / thelo na mavriso ke na mino etsi panta
I want to dance the lambada with Enrique Inglesias / me ton Enrique Inglesias na horepso labamba
I want to grab the microphone from a music band / n' arpakso to mikrofono apo mia mpanta
and scream "God, Amen" / ke na fonakso Thee mou Amin

Well come, hop on the bike / lipon ela sti mixani aneva
let's go to Hawaii with one tyre / pame Havai me mia roda

I bought a lilo and another couple of swimsuits / pira thalassio stroma, dio-tria magio akoma
Armbands and beach towels in beautiful colours / bratsakia ke petsetes me oraio xroma
I've even bought flippers / ama thes eho ke vatrahopedila akoma
and high factor sunscreen / me trianta dikti prostasias krema gia to soma
I don't know what else I need to buy / de ksero akrivos ti allo tha prepi na paro
but I've run out of cash / afou emeina me adia tsepi
I go to the ATM to see if I can get money out / stamato kai sti trapeza na do an ehi lefta
but I don't have the PIN number / ma ksehasa to pin
Thoma, are you there? I'm calling (your mobile) but it's engaged / Thoma ise spiti? giati se perno kai milai
If we go to Hawaii after all / an telika tha pame sti Havai
you need to bring money with you / tote pare lefta ap'to spiti

Thoma, are you there? I'm calling (your mobile) but it's engaged / Thoma ise spiti? giati se perno kai milai
If we go to Hawaii after all / an telika tha pame sti Havai
you need to bring money with you / pare ki esi lefta ap'to spiti

Hawaii is considered the top exotic destination for Greek people of my generation: it's got long sandy beaches and palm trees and is far enough to remain a dream for most of us. Personally I blame Hawaii 5-0 for this. It's the first American show I watched and it's certainly left its mark.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the song. If not the lyrics, at least the music!

Wordless Wednesday 96

2010-06-30T16:18:00.000+01:00

Parthenon lit by lightning

2010-06-29T19:45:00.003+01:00

A bolt of lightning illuminates the sky around the 2,500-year-old Parthenon temple, high on the Acropolis during a heavy rainfall in Athens early yesterday morning. Fortunately, the temple is believed to have escaped any damage.

In a reversal of the norm, the skies over Greece were heavy with the threat of more storms, and the temperatures dropping overnight to 21°C (70°F). Meanwhile the usually overcast and cool skies over Britain have been startlingly clear, with temperates set to break heat records this week.

For once, I'm delighted to be in London rather than Athens!

Read more here.

Wordless Wednesday 95

2010-06-16T23:01:00.001+01:00

Thought of the day

2010-06-15T10:10:00.002+01:00

"Do not keep anything in your home that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful" - William Morris, founder of the English Arts and Crafts Movement.

This is my new mantra.

Wordless Wednesday 94

2010-06-09T11:46:00.000+01:00

I want!

Authentic Greek salad

2010-06-08T23:05:00.013+01:00

I remember a while back having a discussion with Karen about how to prepare a Greek salad. It's something that people often ask me about, especially after they've tried to recreate this very simple dish at home, only to find it tastes nothing like what they had on holiday.

I've been wanting to do a post about Greek salads for sometime. Luckily, we've had some nice, warm weather recently and I've been inspired to cook Greek, so I took a picture of one of my (hastily prepared) Greek salads to show you what the real thing looks like. You can improve on the looks by chopping and arranging the ingredients more carefully, but this is the basic idea.

First, some things you might not know about Greek salads.

Greek salad or village/rustic salad (horiatiki in Greek) is a summer dish. In Greece, you'd never serve a Greek salad in winter time, the reason being that its ingredients are only in season in the summer, and Greek cuisine is very much seasonal. It has to be, because it relies very heavily on the natural taste of the primary ingredients, since herbs, sauces and spices are rarely and sparingly used.

Greek salad isn't made with lettuce. Ever. Lettuce is in season during winter, so by definition (if you're cooking with seasonal ingredients) you can't have fresh lettuce and fresh tomato in the same dish. Either your tomatoes are grown in a greenhouse and fertilized to within an inch of their lives, or your lettuce has been imported from South Africa. If you see lettuce in your Greek salad, it's because lettuce is cheaper than tomatoes.

Greek salad isn't an appetiser or a main course. It's meant to be eaten as a side dish, shared amongst a group of people.

You need the following ingredients to make an authentic Greek salad for 3-4 people:

2-3 Beef tomatoes - organic, cut in wedges
half a cucumber - peeled and sliced
1 green pepper - sliced
half a white onion - sliced
a handful of black olives
a slice of feta cheese - the best quality you can afford, made with sheep's and goat's milk, not cow's milk
a generous sprinkling of dried oregano
some extra virgin olive oil - best quality

Optional ingredients: capers, lemon juice or vinegar, a tiny amount of fresh parsley.

The most important ingredients are the tomatoes, the feta and the olive oil. If these don't taste like they should, your salad will never taste right.

Prepare the ingredients as outlined above and place them in a big bowl in order: first the tomatoes, then the cucumber, then the pepper and onion, the olives, finally the slab of feta cheese. Sprinkle oregano all over and season with salt, if using. Finally, drizzle with olive oil and serve.

Once the salad is at the table, you can break the feta up with a fork. Bon appetit!

Satellite

2010-06-04T13:58:00.006+01:00

It's been almost a week since this year's Eurovision final took place, so this is old news, but I couldn't not have a post dedicated to the winning song. The title is Satellite and it was sang by Lena Meyer-Landrut for Germany. The last time Germany came first was in 1982 and the last time they finished in the top 10 was in 2004, so it was a much awaited win.

Lena seems pretty crazy, but I like the song. It's got a great beat and a catchy refrain. I'm sure it will be a big hit in the summer clubs all over Europe. It's already on my iPod playlists.

Of the countries I mentioned in last week's Eurovision post, Armenia finished in 7th place with 141 points, Greece finished 8th with 140 points, and the UK sadly finished 25th with just 10 points.

Wordless Wednesday 93

2010-06-02T23:17:00.000+01:00

Opa!

2010-05-29T10:59:00.003+01:00

Yes, it's Eurovision time again. I've not been paying much attention this year, mainly because I've been working for the last couple of weeks and I've also had a couple of busy weekends with guests, which have meant more cleaning, cooking and going out than usual. So this post is more of a reminder for me than anything else, but I also thought you might want to see the Greek song being performed - it's a scream!

The countries that are competing in tonight's final are:

Azerbaijan
Spain
Norway
Moldova
Cyprus
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Belgium
Serbia
Belarus
Ireland
Greece
United Kingdom
Georgia
Turkey
Albania
Iceland
Ukraine
France
Romania
Russia
Armenia
Germany
Portugal
Israel
Denmark

The competition is taking place in Oslo, as Norway were last year's winners.

The UK will be represented by a fairly nondescript song called That Sounds Good To Me (wishful thinking or simply aspirational?) performed by a boy barely out of school - or perhaps I'm getting older. Anyway, this is the video for anyone who's interested.

Greece's song couldn't be more different. Like it or not, nondescript it ain't. Plus the singer is my age, so I don't feel like a granny when I sing along to it.

I have no idea who's the favourite to win (personally, I favour France's Allez Olla Olé) but my prize for weirdest lyrics goes to Armenia's Apricot Stone.

I have more guests arriving tonight, so not sure when I'll next get time to post. In the meantime, enjoy the music and share the moment!

Wordless Wednesday 92

2010-05-26T00:02:00.005+01:00

Click on the photo to enlarge it and read the note...

Speechless Thursday

2010-05-20T07:32:00.002+01:00

Meet Wenlock and Mandeville, the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic mascots. Words fail me.

Catch up

2010-05-13T23:18:00.001+01:00

Since my last post, it seems our parliament has unhung itself and the weather has improved marginally, so things are looking up.

I've not done much blogging in the last few days, as I've been busy with other fun things. Yesterday, I spent all day watching old "24" episodes with my friend Pamela. We had a marathon session with twelve episodes back-to-back, a real treat!

Earlier today I went to Heathrow airport to meet my friend Kostas who was transitting through London on his way to Dubai via Athens, Hungary and Croatia. Kostas is a jet-setter. He also enjoys good food and wine, and I've shared many an excellent meal with him. We spent three happy hours at Carluccio's at Terminal 5, having lovely food, great wine and lively conversation. Apologies to the people sitting closest to us, I know we were quite animated but we hadn't seen each other for over a year and we had lots of catching up to do. Plus we're Greek, so we're loud. It's in our DNA.

Later I went for a walk by the Thames in Greenwich. It was 9 PM by then and it was still light, so I took some photos for my other blog. I love the longer days we get in summer, and can't wait for them to grow even longer.

The tide was out, so the Thames foreshore was exposed. Not very inspiring as beaches go, but it's the best we have. It can be pretty good on a warm summer day, not that we're getting many of those at the moment, but there's no harm in dreaming.

All in all, this has been a good week, and here's hoping for an even better weekend!

Pray, pray, pray

2010-05-09T22:46:00.004+01:00

You may have heard that there is a lot of political activity in the UK at the moment, as no one party achieved an absolute majority of seats following last week's election so we have ended up with a "hung parliament". I won't bore you with the details, suffice to say that every newspaper, every news report on the TV, every "top story" on the BBC website is about the election and the formation of the new government. I had to smile when I saw this poster outside a Baptist church yesterday. It seems to me that praying for the men and women at Westminster is an excellent idea in the circumstances.

In case you don't know, Westminster Palace, aka the Houses of Parliament, is the meeting place of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom - the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The Clock Tower of Westminster Palace, commonly known as Big Ben, is one of London's most famous landmarks. In reality, Big Ben is the name of its main bell (weighing 13.8 tonnes) - the official name of the clock tower is St Stephen's Tower.

Earlier tonight, I checked the long-range Met Office forecast for the UK. This is what the weather appears to have in store for us later this month:

A northwesterly weather type is expected to bring some spells of unsettled weather with temperatures starting normal for the time of year but becoming relatively cold again as we move into June. There are indications of above average rainfall amounts during the period, firstly over parts of northern UK but later southwestern and central parts appear to be the wettest. Otherwise rainfall amounts will be near normal.

To be honest, I think we really ought to be praying for drought....

Wordless Wednesday 91

2010-05-05T10:18:00.001+01:00

Jack-in-the-Green

2010-05-02T14:20:00.014+01:00

Yesterday we celebrated May Day by attending a Jack-in-the-Green procession. I imagine you have no idea what that is, so let me give you some background information.

Jack-in-the-Green processions have their roots in the milkmaid May Day celebrations of the mid 17th century. At that time, milkmaids would go out with the utensils of their trade (cups, pots, spoons) decorated with garlands and piled into a pyramid, which they carried on their heads. Later on, other groups such as chimney sweeps also started taking advantage of May Day as an opportunity to collect money.

At some point during the 18th century, the separate garlands of flowers and leaves were transformed into a structure, like a large beehive, covered with foliage which was carried by a man and which became known as a Jack-in-the-Green.

By the 19th century, May Day had come to mean chimney sweeps with a Jack and music provided by drums, fiddles and whistles. However, by the end of the century, these celebrations had come to be considered too disorderly and were often suppressed by the police. Jacks became a rarity after the First World War.

A revival started in the 1970's and there are now two well-known Jack-in-the-Green celebrations in South East England, one in Rochester and another in Hastings. London has its own Jack-in-the-Green procession, organised by the Deptford Fowlers Troop. This is the one we attended.

The route we followed took us along the South Bank and over the Millennium Bridge to a pub opposite St Paul's Cathedral, where we stopped for a well-earned drink or three.

Along the way, we met a group of Morris Men (folk dancers) heading in the opposite direction. They kindly stopped to be photographed.

The man inside the Jack also came out when we reached the pub and posed for photos. I also took a short video showing him twirling to the music. The big structure in the background is St Paul's Cathedral.

Tradition says that as long as the drum can be heard, the rain will hold off. I took this photo shortly after the procession finished, so perhaps there is some truth in that belief. Funnily enough, it started raining an hour or so later - and hasn't stopped since.

The historical information for this post came from a booklet titled "Fowlers Troops and the Deptford Jack-in-the-Green: A history of an old London May Day tradition" by Sarah Crofts.

Tackle-it-Thursday

2010-04-29T22:40:00.008+01:00

As you may have noticed, I'm going through a period of limited blogging activity. This is because I've been too busy sorting through my photo files, following a burst of photo-taking activity in the first two weeks of April. More on that later.

One of the posts I've been meaning to write and not got round to, is the story of the.day.I.tackled.the.condiments.cupboard. This was last week (either Tuesday or Thursday, can't remember exactly) but I still have the photo and the notes, so here goes.

The condiments cupboard provides a home for our wine and, by association, anything else that comes in a bottle. It is in the least accessible corner of the kitchen, next to the washing machine, and never gets tidied. I've long suspected that it is the toilet of my kitchen: things go in and never come out. Until now, that is.

I was dreading emptying it, but it wasn't so bad after all. Or rather, it could have been much worse. These were my findings:

2 small bottles olive oil
1 large bottle groundnut oil
2 small bottles groundnut oil (one almost empty, both expired)
2 bottles white wine vinegar (one of them looking manky)
1 bottle cider vinegar
1 large bottle vegetable oil
1 bottle rice vinegar (expired 2007)
1 bottle rice mirin
1 bottle balsamic vinegar (expired 2009)
2 bottles sesame oil (both expired, one since October 2005)
2 pots of olives
1 jar Madras curry paste (expired)
1 small bottle malt vinegar
2 small bottles red wine (for cooking)
1 bottle balsamic dipping oil (expired)
2 bottles chilli garlic dipping oil (one expired August 2004)
1 bottle hot peri peri sauce (expired February 2005)
1 bottle hot Tabasco sauce (expired August 2009)
1 bottle Jamaican jerk sauce (unopened and expired August 2006)
1 bottle soy sauce (expired December 2007)
1 bottle lime and coriander marinade (not expired)
2 bottles frying spray

My observations as follows:

The previous clear-out of the condiments cupboard must have been ca. 2003. Ouch.

I have a "thing" for vinegar. Any and all types.

I must stop buying fancy oils and sauces on a whim (the only possible explanation for the Jamaican jerk sauce).

It's amazing how much space you can create in a small cupboard by binning foodstuff that's no longer fit for consumption.

Wordless Wednesday 90

2010-04-28T10:06:00.001+01:00

Ash cloud, you say?

2010-04-22T23:41:00.005+01:00

Several people have asked me what it's like to live under the Dark Cloud from Iceland, so I took some photos to show you.

Yes, the sky is clear! So clear, in fact, that you can make out a plane flying overhead - as well as the moon. Blue skies made an appearance a couple of weeks ago, before Eyjafjallajökull decided to sprout debris into the atmosphere, and have continued almost uninterrupted since. Apparently, the ash cloud is there, but it's too high up to be visible.

There is plenty of evidence that spring has sprung, and not just in the clear blue skies. The flowers are in full bloom, particularly the tulips and pansies, and trees are turning a tell-tale green colour.

I quite like this photo I took at a park nearby. It's a woman returning home from work, walking through the park while checking the messages on her mobile phone. I wonder if she's noticed the flowers?

Wordless Wednesday 89

2010-04-21T23:18:00.000+01:00

Wordless Wednesday 88

2010-04-14T00:46:00.001+01:00

Venetian shoes

2010-04-10T23:09:00.001+01:00

My sister-in-law, who's just returned from a fab weekend in Venice, Italy, sent me the following email:

"I'm just looking at Athenian shoes on your blog - compared to Venice, an absolute bargain!"

Attached to the email was the following photo:

In case you can't read the price tags, the shoes are 785 € and the bag is 1,420 €. That's 1,067 USD for the shoes and 1,930 USD for the bag. Maybe the shiny things on the bag are precious stones. The shop was closed at the time, so she couldn't go in and ask.

I must say, I don't care much for bags, but I do love shoes and will pay good money for the right pair. Even so, I think I'd have nightmares if I walked around with 785 € worth of leather between my feet and the ground. Eeek.

Shoes, shoes, shoes

2010-04-07T23:49:00.006+01:00

Tonight I went for a walk through Ermou street - home of the designer shoe shop. As I had my camera with me, I took some photos of the latest fashions for Sandi, who famously bought five pairs of shoes in just three hours when she visited Athens last June. I thought I'd post the photos on the blog in case anyone else would like a little sneak peak of the styles and colours of Summer 2010.

Last year's shoes are on sale at discounted prices. I was tempted by quite a few of these. Lucky the shops were closed!

Finally, a photo of a children's shoe shop window, in case anyone is interested in kids' fashions. Red is a popular colour for kids' shoes at Easter time.

So, Sandi, have I enticed you to return to Athens for a spot of retail therapy?

Wordless Wednesday 87

2010-04-07T09:43:00.001+01:00

Fasting food

2010-04-01T21:28:00.001+01:00

During Holy Week, most Greeks (even those who haven't fasted during Lent - ahem) cut out meat from their diets and eat food that is plainer and less rich than usual. When at home this involves various types of soup (fish, lentil, chickpea, beans, you name it) and things like vegetable stews, boiled potatoes and pasta. Not terribly inspiring, but I guess that's the idea. This is what we eat when we go out for a meal at a taverna:

Every good meal starts with a generous bread basket. This one also includes some mini-sandwiches. Not sure what the filling was, but it was suitable for those fasting from dairy, so it definitely wasn't cheese, and it was also very spicy.

Then comes the salad. Vegetables in Greece are for the most part seasonal, and it's too early for tomatoes, so we had lettuce instead.

Meat is substituted by seafood. Grilled octopus is a delicacy worth fasting for!

Fried squid is another popular dish.

This is prawn pilaf, a dish made with rice, tomato sauce, herbs and prawns.

As you would expect, there are also several vegetable dishes. Fried courgettes are served with garlic dip.

So is boiled beetroot. Beetroot is usually served with a yoghurt sauce, but for fasting purposes this is replaced by a generous helping of garlic dip, made with mashed potatoes and crushed garlic. Smelly but nice.

These are patties made with fish roe, the same stuff that's used in taramosalata. Very salty and (according to hubby) very much an aquired taste.

A church service and a walk in the park

2010-03-31T23:53:00.007+01:00

Today is Holy Wednesday, traditionally the day when children in particular receive a sacrament called Euchelaion (from the words euche meaning "prayer", and elaion meaning "oil"). This involves attending a short church service, followed by a blessing. The priest dips cotton wool in specially blessed olive oil and uses it to make the sign of the cross on children's foreheads. After a morning spent shopping for Easter gifts, the goddaughter and I attended this church service.

We arrived early to have a look around the church. As you can see, it's decorated in purple - the colour of mourning in Greece, along with black.

Hundreds of people attended the church service. Luckily everyone made orderly queues (well, by Greek standards anyway).

There was a stand outside the church for those who wanted to take some of the blessed oil back home to those members of the family unable to attend.

What you had to do is take a piece of cotton wool, dip it in oil and wrap it in aluminium foil for safe carrying. Easy peasy.

After the service, we went for a walk at the local park.

Spring has definitely sprung - a little early this year it seems. Not that we're complaining, the weather's perfect at the moment, not too hot and not too cool.

There were peacocks roaming freely in the park, and we got to see several with beautiful fanned-out tails.

The birds seemed used to having people walk around them, trying to feed them or take photos. This young man in particular was keen to pose for us.

Easter candles

2010-03-31T22:54:00.010+01:00

One of the most imporant traditions of Greek Easter is the Easter candle, a decorated candle that children (and sometimes adults) take to church on Saturday night for the midnight Easter service. The candle is lit just after midnight once the priest announces that "Christ has risen". It is traditional for godparents to buy Easter candles for their godchildren, along with special Easter bread and shoes or clothes.

Today my goddaughter and I went shopping for her candle. After looking at way too many Easter candle displays and arguing over a Hello Kitty candle that came with a cushion, a hula hoop and a dizzying price tag, we chose a more moderate fuschia candle with a necklace wrapped round it, which she will be able to wear after Easter. When you're 9, fuschia pink and sparkly bits are a winning combination, even if your heart's set on a HK Easter box.

We also bought tsoureki, a rich brioche-like bread traditionally eaten at Easter. Tsourekis are decorated with eggs, dyed crimson to remind us of the blood shed by Christ. Note the matching nail polish.

New trainers completed the gift pack. We chose a pair with fuschia pink and silver straps to match the Easter candle.

Afterwards, we stopped at a cafe for refreshments and a well-earned rest.

Luckily it was warm enough to enjoy cold drinks al fresco. Some of us even pretended they were on a lounger.

Wordless Wednesday 86

2010-03-31T07:16:00.000+01:00

Signs of Easter

2010-03-29T22:22:00.004+01:00

Easter is round the corner and there's evidence of it all around.

Easter candles are on sale. Kids will take these to church for the Resurrection sevice on Saturday night.

There's an abundance of special cakes in the cake shops. Many people give up dairy products for Lent, so can only eat sweets made without milk or butter. Syrup sweets made with nuts, filo and sugar, are commonly consumed during this period.

And for those not fasting, there are chocolate bunnies and chickens on a stick!

What does Easter look like where you are?

You wore what?

2010-03-25T19:29:00.010Z

Today is a major Greek national celebration, a day commemorating the start of the war for independence back in 1821, following 400 years of Ottoman occupation. It is traditionally celebrated with student and army parades throughout the country. The biggest military parade takes place in the centre of Athens and usually involves tanks and other army vehicles. This year the parade was rather less elaborate, as befits a country in serious financial trouble, and lasted just 45 short minutes.

Even so, thousands of people turned up bright and early to watch the good men and women of the armed forces marching through town. As a result, those of us who enjoy a lie-in (ahem) had to put up with other people's heads in our line of sight as well as (sigh!) in our photos. Still, I thought you might like to see some of my pics, so here is a small selection:

This is the Presidential Guard, dressed in national costume which includes a pleated mini skirt, an embroidered waistcoat, red fez, tights and shoes with pom poms.

These guys carried their guns AND their ski gear. James Bond, eat your heart out!

The Underwater Demolition Team came ready for a dive in the deep sea - some of them even brought their flippers.

As it was 23°C (73°F) by midday, I wasn't sure who to feel sorrier for, the skiers or the divers! I had long trousers and a T-shirt on, spent most of the time in partial shade and still wished I'd sacrificed fashion for comfort and put shorts on. But I'm not complaining. It's nice to have a bit of summer in the middle of spring, and I know from experience that marching in the sunshine is much more pleasant than marching in the pouring rain.

Wordless Wednesday 85

2010-03-24T16:29:00.003Z

It seems I spoke too soon.

I didn't have any pictures this morning, but then I went to the bakery for a (very late) breakfast cheese pie and saw that they'd decorated their breads and cakes with Greek flags. Tomorrow is a major religious and national holiday so flags are the order of the day, but I'd never seen any on bread before! Needless to say, I had to return with my camera to take a photo.

There we are: Wordless Wednesday isn't pictureless any more. Or wordless for that matter. Hee hee.

Pictureless Wednesday

2010-03-24T08:43:00.005Z

How can it be Wednesday again?!! Forget wordless, I'm speechless - and pictureless to boot.

Time is moving way too fast for my liking.

Wordless Wednesday 84

2010-03-17T14:11:00.000Z

Happy birthday, bro!

2010-03-14T12:17:00.002Z

My brother knows I've remembered his birthday this year, because I called him yesterday. This is a reminder for me to remember to call him today too. Apparently a call in advance of the actual day doesn't count. Hmphhh!

How to manage without hair straighteners

2010-03-10T09:07:00.004Z

Say you have slightly wavy hair or hair with a bit of a kink in it and you'd like to wear it straight but have no hair straighteners or no time to mess around with vent brushes and hair dryers? The solution is simple: use shampoo and/or conditioner for curly or wavy hair - the ones that promise to give you bouncy curls.

The result is instant and amazing - just blast your hair with hot air, comb through and everyone will think you've spent ages straightening it.

I used Umberto Giannini "Curl Friends" Smooth Curls Conditioner, but I reckon any other shampoo or conditioner formulated for curly hair will have the same effect on slightly-wavy-want-to-be-straight hair.

You heard it here first.

Come again? once more

2010-03-06T07:41:00.009Z

Yesterday I bought a pack of DVD+RW discs at the supermarket. On them was a yellow sticker with the following cryptic message:

Remove film before putting in microwave

What's even more mind-boggling is that ALL the packs on the shelf had the same sticker on.

I was only planning to use the discs in my computer's DVD drive, but perhaps there are other uses that I'm unaware of?

Although to be honest, after the earlier incident with the order that had been updated to the status Archive, I'm starting to wonder if I've reached that time in life when the world stops making sense? *shudder*

The check-out girl took the sticker off, otherwise I'd be showing you a picture of my microwaveable DVD discs.

Red kidney bean soup

2010-03-04T15:54:00.002Z

Kidney beans don't exactly set my heart on fire, but I usually have a can in the cupboard for use in chili con carne. Sometimes I only use half a can, and then I have to find something to do with the other half. I have a great recipe for a chicken, avocado and red kidney bean salad, but that needs prior planning due to the fanciful ingredients required. So the other day, with half a can of kidney beans and no avocado or chicken in the house, I decided to make soup instead. I searched the Internet for a kidney bean soup recipe and found lots on offer, all fairly similar. In the end I chose three recipes that I liked the sound of, and combined them to make my own version. The result was truly yummilicious, so I thought I'd share the recipe with you.

Ingredients
(quantities are approximate)

1-2 tbs olive oil
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
1 carrot
1 red chili (dried)
1 stick celery
1-2 large red peppers
A few fresh tomatoes
Tomato paste or passata
Red kidney beans
1-2 pints vegetable stock
1-2 bay leaves
Thyme
Parsley
Oregano or "Italian herb" seasoning
Salt & pepper

Instructions

Heat oil in a large pan. Stir in chopped onions, garlic and carrots.
Cover & sweat over low heat for a few minutes. Add finely chopped peppers and celery. Cook for a couple of minutes more.

Stir in the chopped tomatoes, tomato paste & kidney beans. Add chilies and herbs, mix well, cook for 3 to 5 minutes over low heat, stirring occasionally.

Pour in the stock, season with salt & pepper & bring to boil. Let it boil hard for 5 minutes, then reduce the heat & simmer for half an hour or so.

Once cooked, you can cool the soup and then blend it with a food processor. You could also serve it with a dollop of lime yoghurt (made by combining plain yoghurt, lime juice and finely chopped coriander). I prefer chunky soups and had no lime or coriander handy, so I had mine as it came out of the pan.

To say I was surprised by the result would be an understatement. Who would have thought that combining red pepper, red kidney beans, tomatoes and a few herbs you could get such a mouth-watering combination?

The recipes I used to create my version of red kidney soup are:

Chef2Chef Red Kidney Bean Soup
Allotment Growing Red pepper and kidney been soup
WHFoods Red Kidney Bean Soup with Lime Yoghurt

Wordless Wednesday 83

2010-03-03T17:12:00.000Z

Come again?

2010-03-01T23:52:00.009Z

Last weekend I placed an order on the internet for a new outfit which I'm hoping will arrive by Friday.

The supplier sent an email to confirm my order and everything seemed fine. I was expecting another email today or tomorrow advising me of dispatch and giving me an estimated delivery time.

What I got instead was an email with just one line of text. It said:

Your order has been updated to the status Archive.

Any idea what that might mean? Like, in English? I hope it's not code for "we've messed up your order and you're never to see the items, or your money, again". That would be heartbreaking.

There's nowt as queer as folk

2010-02-28T11:44:00.011Z

It is a well-known fact that shutting large numbers of people in a metal tube which moves at great speed 30,000 feet above ground can create a certain amount of discomfort, and occasionally lead to tempers flaring up. But even rage has extremes. Take, for example, the Ryanair passenger who became so enraged when he was told he could not claim a scratchcard prize on his flight that he ate his winning ticket.

Ryanair, an Irish low-cost airline that operates throughout Europe, sells scratchcards as well as duty-free on their flights. The man in question was flying from Krakow in Poland to the East Midlands in the UK when he won 10,000 euros (£8,765 or $13,620) on a scratchcard he had purchased on board. For some reason, he got it in his head that the crew should be taking his winning scratchcard from him and handing over 10,000 euros in cash - then and there.

When the crew explained that they didn't have the necessary cash on the aircraft and therefore he had to wait until they landed to claim his prize, he got so frustrated he decided to eat his ticket instead.

Since the prize will now go unclaimed, the money will be donated to charity. Ryanair have asked the public to choose from a list of five charities by voting here. Voting will be open until 5th March.

God only knows what was going through the man's mind at the time, or why he thought eating his ticket would made him feel better! As far as I can work out, this incident has created an awful lot of free publicity for Ryanair and will in time make a group of charity bosses very happy indeed. As for the rest of us, I guess it's left us wondering if the world's going to pot, or as Karen put it, to hell in handbasket!

For those of you wondering how the title of this post matches the text, "there's nowt as queer as folk" is a British expression meaning "there's nothing as strange as some people". The ticket-munching incident proves that there's a great deal of wisdom in that statement.

Would you wear this?

2010-02-26T14:29:00.010Z

Or even a high street version of it?

According to Spanish designer Isabel Mastache, the hottest accessory for men next Autumn/Winter isn’t a man bag, a belt, a scarf, or even a hat. Oh no. It’s a big fake woolly willy. And how about a jumper that covers your face to go with it? Or maybe a fake arm?

The above text is shamelessly copied from Heatworld.com. Many thanks to Caroline for emailing me the link.

If by any chance I've piqued your interest, click here to see more of Mastache's creations at CIBELES Madrid Fashion Week.

Whoever said a catwalk model's job is glamorous ought to think again.

Wordless Wednesday 82

2010-02-24T20:09:00.000Z

Sunday brunch with a difference

2010-02-21T13:10:00.015Z

You know how there are cookbooks (and, by implication, cookery authors) who claim that you can cook a multitude of dishes just using ingredients from your cupboards? Well, I'd like to see one of these clever people rustle up 600 calories of nutritious breakfast at my home this morning, because I certainly couldn't come up with anything sensible.

Here's what I had to play with:

In the cupboard: flour, rice, egg noodles, kidney beans, baked beans, Weetabix, chickpeas, peanut butter, coconut milk, a jar of pasta sauce and another jar of fajita sauce.

In the fridge: salad sauce, butter, mayo, ketchup, 2 eggs, celery, spring onions, 4 cans of lager, three apples, a foil bag with five prunes (dried), a few cherry tomatoes, mushrooms that had seen better days, carrots and two lemons.

In the freezer: ice cubes, oven chips, fish fingers, peas and half a tub of vanilla ice cream.

In the bread bin: a small bag of milk chocolate buttons. If that wasn't a sign, I don't know what was.

I thought of making pancakes or muffins, but had no milk. Weetabix was also out of the question, as I didn't have anything to put on it. Baked beans needed toast, as did eggs (although I guess I could have had an omelette on its own). There was no hope of a continental-style breakfast, as there were no croissants, bread, biscuits, pastries or cake, no milk for coffee and no orange juice.

I briefly considered finishing off the ice cream, but saw sense.

Round about 12:30 PM I decided to scrap breakfast and have brunch instead, but there was no chicken or suitable veg for fajitas, no pasta, ham, bacon or sausages, no pizza in the freezer, no pot noodles in the cupboard, and not even a tin of soup anywhere in the house.

In the end I had egg noodles with "sundried tomato, garlic and basil" pasta sauce, an apple, five prunes and, in desperation, a handful of chocolate buttons. Hubby had a black coffee and the rest of the buttons, before rushing off to the supermarket with a long shopping list.

For some reason, he didn't fancy the noodles and pasta sauce combo, but really, it wasn't as bad as it sounds.

Valentine's Day (the movie)

2010-02-19T11:44:00.023Z

This morning, I thought it'd be a good idea to watch Valentine's Day at the cinema tonight.

Tonight, I'm thinking I should have gone to the pub and had a couple of drinks instead. Or stayed at home and watched a DVD.

OK, it wasn't awful. Most of it was quite bearable. But it was 30 minutes too long, messy, lackluster and nowhere near as funny or heart-warming as Love Actually.

Credit where credit is due, the acting was good. Taylor Swift was painful to watch, but she was an exception. Anne Hathaway was amazing, as were Queen Latifah and Jamie Foxx. Emma Roberts was cute. Kathy Bates was brilliant in a tiny role. Bradley Cooper and Patrick Dempsey didn't disappoint.

Shame that Ashton - the babe - Kutcher and Jennifer Garner have too little on-screen chemistry to be convincing as a romantic couple on the brink of falling in love.

Shame also that the pacing was so poor. There were certainly plenty of entertaining scenes throughout the film, but there were too many boring, indifferent scenes in between, all syrupy sweet and extra sugar-coated to ensure the audience feels the luuuurve. Sadly, you can have too much of a good thing. Not to mention too many Hollywood A-listers, all demanding their fair share of screen time.

If you're in two minds about whether to watch this on the big screen or wait until it comes out on DVD, I have two words for you: no rush.

By the way, can someone explain to me why all American actors have perfect tans and glowing white teeth? Surely it's not natural for all your teeth to be the exact same shade of whitest white? Creepy.

Wordless Wednesday 81

2010-02-17T10:53:00.000Z

Time for stew!

2010-02-15T23:43:00.007Z

Last week, my goddaughter and I cooked a beef stew together. We used this recipe for a basic beef stew with carrots and mushrooms. Karen introduced me to it and it's become one of my staples.

The goddaughter showed impressive culinary skills for a 9-year-old. She peeled the carrots, browned the meat, prepared the stock and even offered to chop the potatoes, but I thought she was too young to play with knives.

Over the last year or so, I've made this recipe on several occasions, each time improvising a little on the ingredients and measurements. The resulting stews have varied slightly in consistency and looks, but have always tasted yummy. This one was no exception.

As they say, the proof of the pudding (or in our case, the stew) is in the eating. Here is the goddaughter's younger sister, a notoriously fussy eater, proudly posing next to her empty dish. I don't think there can be a better endorsement than this!

Happy Valentine's Day

2010-02-14T15:36:00.018Z

I hate to admit this, but we've exceeded the £10 budget this Valentine's Day by at least £2, as hubby went all out with a card, flowers AND chocolates! Make that £7 if you count The Notebook DVD I purchased while doing the weekly shop yesterday evening.

The flowers (placed in the vase by the hub, who's obviously never taken a flower arranging class) are a gorgeous deep red colour and my card is really sweet: on the front there's a picture of two teddy bears on a sofa - as you open it, one of the bears moves so they end up cuddling. Awwww.

The flowers and chocolates were there when I got home from the supermarket last night. I opened the box and had some while watching The Notebook. Although not a masterpiece, it was better than watching Starship Troopers, and more romantic than So You Think You Can Dance - the only offerings on TV besides Star Trek, CSI, NCIS and other such staples.

Today we got up late and exchanged cards over brunch. Then, hubby went off to the pub to watch England play against Italy in the Six Nations rugby championship. Sport is stronger than romance.

Money=love?

2010-02-12T12:17:00.011Z

According to the paper (OK, just the Daily Mail, but still) Brits spend £4.9 billion on Valentine's Day, with the average couple spending £550. That's 635 EUR or 860 USD.

For my part, I've paid £2.85 for the card I bought my husband. I expect he'll spend a similar amount for mine, perhaps a bit more if he splashes out and gets me some flowers or a box of chocolates. Between us, we'll have spent no more than £10. Does this mean that there's a couple out there spending £1,090 to celebrate their love for each other? Or maybe we're simply below average?

Elsewhere in the paper, I spotted the following snippet: pupils at a primary school in Somerset have been banned from celebrating St Valentine's Day - to protect them from the emotional trauma of being dumped. Any cards found or exchanged in school will be confiscated.

I guess sending electronic VD cards isn't considered a suitable alternative, although I don't think anyone was ever traumatised by not receiving one of those.

So... what have you got planned for Valentine's Day, and how much are you spending on it?

Wordless Wednesday 80

2010-01-27T23:46:00.001Z

Watched in 2009

2010-01-26T15:23:00.016Z

This was an interesting exercise, as there isn't one place where I've recorded all the films I've seen in 2009. I had to look through notebooks, diaries and Excel spreadsheets, hunt for ticket stubs in pockets and handbags, and when all else failed, use my memory. This is the list I've come up with:

Watched on the big screen:

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
The Informant!
The Ugly Truth
Eden is West
Twilight
New Moon
The Proposal
Slumdog Millionnaire
The Reader
Confessions of a Shopaholic
In the Loop
Star Trek
Angels and Demons
My Life in Ruins
State of Play

Watched on DVD for the first time:

The Darjeeling Limited
Reservation Road
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Breakfast at Tiffany's
The Thomas Crown Affair (original)
Changeling
Arizona Dream
Grand Torino
The Painted Veil
The Good Shepherd
Night at the Museum
Easy Virtue
Taken
Firelight
Run, Fat Boy, Run
WALL-E
The Shawshank Redemption
Rosetta
Jersey Girl
Yes Man

My favourite new movie was without doubt The Reader, closely followed by Twilight, Eden is West and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Of the chick flicks, The Proposal gets my thumbs up.

As for the films I watched on DVD, I liked Reservation Road, Changeling, The Painted Veil, The Shawshank Redemption and Easy Virtue.

The wooden spoons go to My Life in Ruins, which was laughably bad, and The Darjeeling Limited, which was unbearable. In fact, The Darjeeling Limited deserves special mention as the only film that I've not managed to watch to the end. As someone easily mesmerised by the moving image, this is quite an achievement.

In 2010, I'm looking forward to watching The Girl Who Played with Fire, Eclipse and Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows: Part I (sequels, respectively, to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the Twilight saga and the HP series), as well as Remember Me, for no other reason than I happened to see the trailer and liked it. The fact that Pierce Brosnan and Lena Olin are in it, is totally coincidental :-)

I'm looking for the movie equivalent of librarything.com or goodreads.com. If you know of any such websites, please leave a comment!

Read in 2009

2010-01-22T19:53:00.015Z

I don't usually bother with past year reviews and new year resolutions, but I thought it'd be a good idea to put together a list of the books I've read and films I've watched over a certain period (in this case, 2009) for future reminiscing.

So, here are the books I've read between January and December 2009, grouped in three categories depending on the impression they made on me. Movies to follow.

Books I enjoyed very much and might read again sometime:

The Twilight Saga: Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn and Midnight Sun - Stephenie Meyer
Chasing Daisy - Paige Toon
Millennium Trilogy: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played with Fire - Stieg Larsson
The Godmother - Carrie Adams
The Reader - Bernhard Schlink
Stephenie Plum series: Fearless Fourteen - Janet Evanovich
The Room of Lost Things - Stella Duffy

Books that I liked, but reading them once was enough:

Rumour Has It - Jill Mansell
In Death Series: Naked in Death and Glory in Death - Nora Roberts
This Charming Man - Marian Keyes
A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini
The Associate - John Grisham
Shame and Daughters of Shame - Jasvinder Sanghera

Books that I didn't like much or left unfinished:

One Hundred Strokes of the Brush Before Bed - Melissa Parente
Q & A - Vikas Swarup
The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Milan Kundera
Sophie's World - Jostein Gaarder
Shame on You - Clara Salaman
True Blood Series: Dead Until Dark and Living Dead in Dallas - Charlaine Harris

Do you ever wonder what it is that makes you like a book? Is it the quality of the writing, the believability of the characters, the excitement of the story, a combination of all three or something else entirely? If a book is part of a longer or ongoing story, does this make you more or less likely to want to read it?

Looking back at the books in my top list, I can remember the characters in each book very vividly, not just the main ones but the secondary ones too. I can remember what they looked like, what they behaved like and even some of their names, which is surprising as my memory for names is sieve-like at best. The storylines are an eclectic mix - romance, crime/thriller, chick-lit, literary fiction, comedy and mystery are all represented, so obviously I'm not loyal to one genre. The literary quality of the writing doesn't seem to be important either, otherwise Twilight wouldn't be in my top group, and Sophie's World wouldn't be in the bottom.

Interestingly enough, I seem to have got acquainted with a number of series for the first time this year - Twilight, Millennium, True Blood and In Death. Up until last year, the only series I was into were Stephanie Plum and Harry Potter. I guess my reading habits must be changing.

As for what 2010 might have in store, I'm looking forward to The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest (part 3 of the Millennium Trilogy coming out in paperback in April and not a day too soon), more books from the In Death series and last but by no means least, Finger Lickin' Fifteen, the next episode in the Stephanie Plum series. Roll on, 2010!

Guess who...

2010-01-21T17:01:00.010Z

...went to work in black trousers and a navy-blue jacket yesterday?

Yep, it was me.

No, I wasn't making a fashion statement, just chose my outfit in a hurry during the hours of early morning semi-darkness. It appears that 8 Watt energy-saving light bulbs aren't much help when there's virtually no light coming in through the windows.

Yes, my colleagues noticed - all except Gina, who claimed she was colourblind (but I suspect she was just too kind to laugh). It was impossible to miss really. If you place black and navy side-by-side under fluorescent lights, you'll know what I mean.

I also had a massive toe hole on my ladder-resist tights. I guess the packet didn't make any claims regarding toe holes, just ladders.

At least I had matching shoes on, both in excellent condition (no visible scuffs, heels attached etc.).

I kept the jacket off and shoes on all day long, and thanked my lucky stars that those were the only mishaps of Day 3 in the office.

Day 4 went without a hitch. Maybe, hopefully, I'm getting the knack of it.

Too eager or what?

2010-01-19T20:41:00.005Z

For the next ten days or so I'll be temporarily joining the local workforce, which, you may remember, I left 11 months ago. I've not yet started looking for a proper job (I admit I'm enjoying life in the slow lane way too much) but occasionally a little bit of work comes my way, and I don't like to say no to some extra $$.

Today was supposed to be my first day.

What did I do yesterday morning? Why, I got up, showered, put on my power suit and went to work. Yep, you've guessed it, I got my dates mixed up and went in a day early.

This has got to be one of the most embarrassing things ever - it certainly makes my personal Top 10 of idiotic moments. I mean, I know some people are too early for appointments and stuff (BTW I hate these people) but whoever heard of reporting for work a day early?

Luckily, I was saved from total mortification by someone else's bad planning: the project I'm supposed to be helping with went majorly wrong yesterday morning and they needed all hands on deck. Just as well I turned up nice and early at 8:55 AM. I was welcomed with a puzzled look and a sigh of relief by my boss, and no one else stood still long enough to wonder what I was doing there. After all, who questions the presence of an extra lifeboat when they're sinking?

So, as of yesterday, I'm a worker, and the project is back on track.

A belated new year's eve party

2010-01-15T18:06:00.021Z

You may recall that last Saturday we celebrated new year's eve... a few days late. Here is photographic evidence of a very enjoyable evening.

The Christmas decorations came out in force... We didn't have time to put up our XL Christmas tree, so we settled for our compact Greek Christmas boat, complete with a small army of Santas - because in Greece Santa comes on new year's eve, not Christmas day. The orangey thing with the tassel is a pomegranate. It symbolises prosperity for the coming year.

This is our drinks station. In case you're wondering, these weren't all the drinks we had. Everything that needed to be kept cold (white wine, rose wine, aquavit, beer and soft drinks) we left outside on the balcony, as it was colder outdoors than inside the fridge.

I bought the festive tablecloth and matching napkins and paper plates half price at the post-Xmas sale. There are definitely advantages to celebrating late :-)

Mini millionaire shortbread squares, mini cappuccino brownie bites and glazed cinnamon stars (zimtstern) were also half price.

Loops made the vasilopita, traditional Greek new year's cake with a hidden coin, to be cut and shared out amongst those present. He or she who finds the coin is supposed to enjoy good luck for the next 12 months.

We also had traditional English Christmas cake (half price), gingerbread Santas (BOGOF) and a selection of Greek "syrup sweets", like kantaifi, touloumba and ravani (not discounted).

Needless to say, we had a lot of food too. No one thought to take any pictures.

We ate, linked hands and did the Auld Lang Syne thing (no photos either), then we cut the vasilopita.

Manni found the coin in her piece and is now looking forward to a good 2010. The rest of us just ate cake.

As we weren't sure if the the vasilopita would turn out OK (neither Loops nor I had ever made one before) we'd ordered a new year cake from a bakery. This one we had for dessert.

Looking at these photos, you may jump to the conclusion that our new year's party was all about eating cake. We did however also have a lot of food and drink, and we danced a bit too. But yes, we ate a lot of cake. In fact, even though most guests took food and cake home with them (Chris and Owen even took a whole veggie pizza), and our neighbour Jenny came round again the next day to help us finish off the leftovers, there is still party food in the house.

Anyone care for a slice of Christmas cake? Or a mini sausage?

Wordless Wednesday 79

2010-01-13T12:20:00.000Z

How many times...

2010-01-12T11:39:00.015Z

...can a sane person listen to jingly music and the following recorded messages at 20 second intervals and not go crazy?

Due to high call volume, it is taking longer than expected to answer your call. Please continue to hold and your call will be answered as soon as possible.

Our agents are busy at present. You call is important to us and will be answered shortly.

I lasted 18 minutes. It's a new record as far as I'm concerned so I'm really proud of myself. Didn't have much success once I got through, but that's another story.

God, I hate Oyster.

I mean honestly, what do you answer to the question "how did you take the train"? Ermmm.... went to the station, waited on the platform for a train to arrive, and once the doors opened I hopped on? How else could anyone take the train??

For those not in the know, Oyster is the clever way our local transport chiefs have come up with for overcharging unsuspecting rail and bus passengers. You put money on a charge card that looks just like a credit card and you have to tap in and out every time you make a overland train journey so the correct amount for your fare can be deducted. Most train stations aren't gated, so it's up to you to remember to find a machine to tap on entering and exiting the station.

If there's a snow blizzard at the time you happen to be exiting your station and you're carrying a cake in a paper bag and no umbrella, chances are you'll forget to tap out. If you do, the system automatically charges you a penalty fare, which could, if your balance is low, mean that you're left with no money to pay your bus fare home.

In order to have the penalty fare reversed you have to call the Oyster helpline 24 hours after the incident (to allow their computers to catch up, because these machines were made in the 20th century and are staying there thank you very much). Once the 24 hours have passed and you try to ring, you're subjected to the jingly jangly music and recorded messages telling you how important your call is to them.

Well, if my call is so important to you, why don't you answer the bloody phone? Eh? And how about being able to help me once you do answer? That would have been nice.

Signs of the times

2010-01-09T17:42:00.006Z

You know you're homesick...

...when you put up your Xmas decorations on 9th January to celebrate new year's eve again with your friends. The neighbours may think you're mad, but who cares.

You know you've had too much of the white stuff...

...when you see snow falling from the sky and your first thought is that people won't be able to come to your party if the roads ice over.

You know it's too cold...

...when you decide to store your cold drinks on the balcony rather than the fridge, and it works because the temperature on your balcony is way lower than that of your fridge.

Happy new year -- once more! If you're in the UK, make sure you wrap up warm. It looks like it's going to be another frosty night. Brrr.

Mushroom? I ask you!

2010-01-08T18:50:00.017Z

This morning, as soon as I logged on to Facebook, I noticed that a number of my contacts had started talking in colours. At first I thought it was the latest fun thing -- "post your favourite colour" like "pick up your nearest book and post the third word on the 10th line on page 54" which was doing the rounds not that long ago.

Then, as the caffeine from the morning cuppa hit my brain, I noticed that some of the colours couldn't really be favourite colours at all. Sure, I have no trouble believing that Sal favours Emerald Green, but Eleni loving Baby Blue over and above any other hue or tone? No way. Plus, what sort of colour is Pink and White, unless of course you're a strawberry cheesecake?

So I emailed my friend Sal and asked her what was going on. And I stopped myself posting Barbie Pink until I got a reply from her.

As it turns out, women Facebook users are posting their bra colours on Facebook is an innovative way to promote breast cancer awareness. You can read all about it here.

All for a good cause, all the more reason to participate. Thinking back to what I'd put on earlier that morning, I realised that my bra was a weird grey/taupey colour (not from washing whites and coloureds together, I might add). So I figured I'd check the label to see what the colour's called. The label said: MUSHROOM.

I am now the only one amongst my friends who instead of posting a colour on her Facebook status bar, has posted a vegetable. Nice one, M&S!

Greek Epiphany carols

2010-01-06T14:42:00.019Z

OK, this is a self-indulgent post, I'll admit it and give you fair warning.

Today is the Feast of Epiphany. If I were in Greece, I'd be having the day off, and kids would be knocking on my door all morning long to sing the Epiphany carols in exchange for money to buy presents.

Carol singing is an important holiday tradition in Greece. It takes place on Christmas eve, New Year's eve and on the Feast of Epiphany. I have many fond childhood memories of singing carols with my friends and using the money to buy presents for my parents or contribute towards my own Christmas present.

This picture, painted in the 1870's by Nikiforos Lytras, is the most well-known Greek painting with a Christmas theme and one of my personal favourites.

Since I'm in England at the moment, no one has turned up to sing on my doorstep, so I'm having to recreate the sounds of the day via the magic of YouTube. This is what the Epiphany carols would sound like (if a children's choir paid me a visit):

The lyrics roughly translate as follows:

Today is the day of light and enlightment
There is great joy and holy blessing

Our Lady the Blessed Mary
Is down by the Jordan River
She's carrying a harp, a candle she's holding
She's pleading with St. John

St. John, lord and Baptist,
Baptise me, make me a child of God
So I'll be able to ascend to heaven
To gather roses and incense

Good day, good day!
Good day to you, master and mistress!

Since this is an indulgent post, I could even close my eyes and imagine that a cute Cypriot singer turned up to sing for me. This is what he would be sounding like:

I think I know which version I prefer ;-)

The world's gone to pot

2010-01-05T16:41:00.008Z

Today is the 12th Day of Christmas - the last day for decorations to be taken down, as Christmas celebrations traditionally end on Twelfth Night. So I guess, technically, in England it's still Christmas.

In Greece, the holiday season is going strong, culminating in the Feast of the Epiphany on 6th January.

In Russia, most people haven't even celebrated Christmas, as the Russian Orthodox church still uses the Julian calendar, which has Christmas falling on 7th January.

In Spain, kids are waiting to open their Christmas presents tomorrow, during the Fiesta de Los Reyes Magos.

The Met Office is predicting snow all over the UK (up to 15 cm in places like Manchester and Ceredigion, Wales).

Meanwhile....

...supermarkets across the UK are selling Easter eggs and chocolate bunnies. You may be blissfully unawares, but it's only 88 days to Easter - that's a fact. If you don't start buying your chocolate eggs now, you may soon run out of time and have to endure (shock, horror) a chocolate-less Easter.

In case you think this is too weird to be true, I have photographic proof for you. Yes, I bought Easter chocolate on 5th January. Unbelievable but true.

In my defence, it was for a noble cause (i.e. blogging) - and I managed to resist the temptation of the buy-one-get-one-free packs of freshly baked hot cross buns.

Those Cadbury's Dairy Milk Caramel Bunnies are actually rather nice. Just saying.

Festive Athens

2010-01-01T17:45:00.018Z

Happy new year 2010!

Syntagma Square in central Athens at 12 AM on 1/1/2010

When things go according to plan, hubby and I spend Christmas in England and New Year's in Greece, getting the best of both worlds. Christmas is the bigger celebration in England and a relative non-event in Greece. The opposite is true of new year's eve. This is why we try to see in the new year amongst our Greek family and friends, something we decided against this year (I don't know what we were thinking).

Unsurprisingly, we had a very boring new year's eve and an even more boring new year's day - it was so bad that I've promised myself never to spend new year's eve in England again, even if it means I fly out on the 31st December and back on the 1st January!

In case you're wondering why Christmas isn't celebrated much in Greece, this is because in the Eastern Christian (Orthodox) tradition, Christmas isn't considered to be the biggest religious celebration of the year. This position is claimed by Easter, on the basis that it's the ressurection of Christ, not His birth, that made a difference to humankind.

Even Epiphany, which falls on January 6, is considered to be a more important religious feast than Christmas. So from a celebratory point of view, Christmas heralds the start of the holiday season which culminates in Epiphany and has New Year's Eve and New Year's Day in its centre.

Add to this the fact that the Greek Santa Claus brings kids' presents on New Year's Eve rather than Christmas day, and you can see why the 31st December becomes the biggest party day of the year, for children and adults alike.

Preparations are slow before Christmas (no Santa chocolates appearing in Greek supermarkets in September, thank God) but the atmosphere between Christmas and new year is amazing. Everyone's out shopping for new year presents, but not with the same consumerist fervour you see in England. When we lived in Greece we used to go out and do all our shopping in just one day - none of this "147 Shopping Days To Christmas" malarkey that seems to send everyone in the UK in a frenzy round about October time.

Anyway, I digress. The point is that this morning I was feeling rather sorry for myself for not having spent any part of the holiday season in Greece. Then I logged on to Facebook and found that a friend of a friend had posted a load of beautiful photos taken in Athens during December. So here they are: instead of am extra-long new year's day tirade, I've made a photo-post instead.

All photos have been taken by Antonis Toutouzis, who has kindly given me permission to post them on my blog. Many thanks, Antoni, and a happy new year to you!

Christmas is over

2009-12-30T22:53:00.009Z

We've...

eaten the last of the mince pies

drunk copious amounts of Glühwein and Aquavit, along with several cans of Carlsberg and a few bottles of Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon

eaten more turkey than the rest of the year put together: roast turkey, cold turkey, turkey sandwiches, turkey stew (enough said)

watched Love Actually - along with the Matrix trilogy (well, hubby watched the trilogy, I watched Keanu Reeves)

been to the Christmas market - twice

listened to and sung carols

met up with friends for Christmas drinks

pulled crackers, laughed at silly jokes, wore paper hats and played board games

spent time with the extended family

sent and received Christmas cards

exchanged presents

eaten more satsumas, nuts, chocolates, biscuits, cakes and puddings than it's possible without bursting

Things that we've not done (must make note for next year):

We've not...

put up a Christmas tree or any Christmas decorations at home

seen a Christmas pantomime

watched the Queen's speech (Ooops!)

Looking at this list, I'd say all in all Christmas has been successful. Roll on the new year!

The holiday so far...

2009-12-27T19:33:00.006Z

On Christmas Eve we attended the Midnight Eucharist service at the Cathedral Church of St Andrew in Wells, Somerset, along with 950 other people. It was a beautiful service and the ambience was amazing - despite the low temps both outside and inside the church.

Christmas morning - time for presents! Although we had a £5 upper spend limit, we all enjoyed our presents.

The two elves whose boots you can see on the left hand side of this photo produced an impressive selection of home-made mince pies and truffles.

Christmas lunch about to be served. Christmas crackers were pulled with much gusto - I won both times!

As you can see, we had all the trimmings: roast potatoes, parsnips, Brussels sprouts, carrots, cranberry jelly, crackling and pigs in blankets. We forgot the stuffing balls, so we had them for tea instead.

Christmas pudding and Christmas cake were served for dessert.

When we run out of Christmasy desserts, we made a maple syrup fondue. Fruit pieces and stale bread were perfect for dipping.

Finally, a walk to see the Paul Toole Holiday Light Show - easily the most elaborately decorated Christmas house we've come across this year!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T00:01:00.002Z

NATIVITY by Terry Gabbey

Christmas is forever, not for just one day,
for loving, sharing, giving, are not to put away
like bells and lights and tinsel, in some box upon a shelf.
The good you do for others is good you do yourself.

(Written by Norman W. Brooks)

Wordless Wednesday 78

2009-12-23T22:23:00.000Z

The food diaries: part 8 - Christmas party

2009-12-22T22:29:00.010Z

Last week we went to our first Christmas party, organised by hubby's employers. Instead of a simple affair at one of the local hotels, this year we were invited to a fancy ball which included a sit-down 3-course dinner followed by live entertainment and a casino.

The food was OK, not exceptional, but certainly an improvement on last year (local hotel = mediocre food). Here's what we had:

Starter was a carpaccio of raw beef. I wished I'd pretended to be vegetarian and had the filo-pastry-with-something-or-other instead (not photographed, as we had no veggies at our table).

Main course was traditional turkey with veg and a generous helping of cranberry sauce. It took us a while to work out that the veg wasn't coming separately, but was hidding under a patty made of stuffing and two slabs of turkey. D'oh!

Dessert was a choice between a mini bread and butter pudding with Baileys (which sounds lovely, only you couldn't really taste the Baileys)...

...or a colourful fruit salad.

I had the pudding, but in retrospect the fruit salad would have been a better choice. Never mind. I'm sure I burned the extra calories on the dance floor.

Belated Wordless Wednesday 77

2009-12-18T01:25:00.001Z

Getting ready

2009-12-11T10:22:00.001Z

I've had a manicure - got my nails painted a vampy dark purple.

I've had my hair cut short and dyed black.

I've lost enough weight to go down a dress size.

I'm ready for the Christmas party season!

His and hers shopping

2009-12-06T14:32:00.004Z

I walked past this quaint little shop earlier today and couldn't resist taking a few photos to share with you.

One side of the shop is dedicated to kitchen equipment and assorted cook's gadgets...

...whereas the other is assigned to DYI tools.

The shop was closed at the time, so I was only able to look through the windows. I might go back another day - I'd like to take a closer look at the Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix jars.

If any of you are in London, the shop is called Bert and Betty and is located in Greenwich, not far from the mainline station.

West Country carnival

2009-11-27T08:56:00.005Z

The West Country Carnival is an annual celebration in SW England which features a parade of illuminated floats . The first celebration was held 404 years ago, to mark the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. It started as a procession with wax torches and over time evolved into a series of fabulous nighttime parades.

There are at least two different circuits that I'm aware of, one in Wessex and another in Somerset. The Somerset one (also known as the Bridgwater circuit) is by common admission the better one, with a larger number of illuminated floats, whereas the Wessex carnival has more walking entries.

There are more than 100 floats in the Somerset carnival. They move to a different location every day until they have appeared in 8 separate local carnivals, namely in Bridgwater, North Petherton, Highbridge & Burnham, Shepton Mallet, Midsommer Norton, Wells, Glastonbury and Weston-super-Mare. The photos are from this year's Weston-super-Mare finale.

There are two types of float, tableaus (motionless pose) and features (dancing and movement). I've already shown you pictures of the best tableau (To The Trees) so for this post I have used only pictures of features, namely Parade, Check Mate and Joust. Gremlins CC's Joust and To The Trees were voted joint overall champions by the judges. According to the local press, Joust took 12 months to construct and features 20,000 lights.

If you're interested, you can see (lots) more photos of the carnival on my Flickr account. I took 600 in total, and of those 436 made the Flickr mark.

To The Trees

2009-11-23T23:46:00.006Z

Last Monday the weather was much more amenable that it's been today, so I was able to attend the finale of the Somerset Illuminated Carnival that took place in Weston-Super-Mare, a pretty seaside town in SW England.

There are mainly two types of float taking place in the Carnival, tableaus (motionless pose) and features (dancing and movement). All floats are illuminated, as the Carnival takes place at night.

By far the most impressive tableau was Gemini CC's To The Trees, with a Robin Hood theme. The detail in presentation was amazing, and the poses were challenging and very well executed. I mean, how long can anyone stay with their mouths open, staring into space?

Apparently, some people can keep going for more than two hours!

Unsurprisingly, To The Trees won first place in the best tableau category and were also joint overall winners.

I generally prefer features, but couldn't fail to be impressed by this particular tableau. I stood really close to it at the end of the procession and I swear it was like looking at waxworks.

It was only when you looked into their eyes that you could tell they were definitely humans.

I bet they were really happy when they heard the STOP command and could finally relax their poses and give their poor muscles a rest!

Wet and windy Britain

2009-11-22T22:26:00.006Z

When I saw this car last week during a sunny day I wasn't too bothered about a holiday apartment in Spain. But after a wet and windy day like we had today, with more of the same to follow according to the weather forecast, I'm very seriously tempted.

Click on the photo to enlarge.

Le Beaujolais Nouveau and other stories

2009-11-20T19:12:00.014Z

Today we were invited to a charity event to celebrate Beaujolais Day and raise money for the local branch of the MS Society. The event was hosted by our friend Greg, who drove to France to pick up the wine himself.

Beaujolais Nouveau is a lightweight red wine made from Gamay grapes in the Beaujolais region of France. It is the most popular vin de primeur, fermented for just a few weeks then officially released for sale on the third Thursday of November, known as Beaujolais Day. It is intended for immediate drinking, and should be consumed by the following May after its release.

Our event took place at The Taste of India restaurant in Greenwich, with an Indian buffet and plenty of Beaujolais wine for tasting. Well, they said tasting, but I had two glasses and I don't even like wine that much. So I'm guessing others tasted rather more of it.

It was a great event, but as soon as I got home all I could think of was sleep. I slept for 1.5 hours and woke up feeling very disoriented. What's worse, we have a birthday party to go to tonight which promises to be another major drinking session. So I've made a cup of tea and checked that we have every remedy known to drunken men for tomorrow morning: tea bags, milk, coffee and coffee filters, toast, bacon and Alka-Seltzer. Let's hope they're enough.

I'm off now to get ready for the party. Cheers my lovies! Hope you all have a great Friday evening xx