Cooking Al Fresco
A while ago I promised to write more about our visit to Crete. Somehow the time got away from me. Here is more about visiting a wonderful paradise.
After our two nights in Athens, we flew to Chania, a lovely coastal town with the second largest airport on the island. We spent one night in town and enjoyed walking around the harbor and visiting shops and great places to eat. I won't say too much here because I might write more later, no promises.
The next morning our rental car was delivered to us and we were off on our own. This is probably a good time to mention that I have the worst possible sense of direction. Neal does pretty well but there is a lot of trial and error. We brought our GPS. We checked before we left and there were Greek maps. When we turned it on, in Crete, there was just a big blue ocean with absolutely no island let alone something as obvious as a road. We were in trouble. The signs are all in Greek and every town has at least three spellings. If there was English on the sign, the English was covered with creative spray paint.
We were spending the next four nights in Vamos a traditional village. Their web site is http://www.vamosvillage.gr
It is worth checking this place out on the web. Several years ago, Vamos, a small village known for their handicrafts, received a grant from the EU to convert their hometown to a tourist destination. They rebuilt several old cottages into lovely places to stay. The cottages are wonderful old stone buildings set up in a very simple way with modern kitchens and bathrooms. Ours was two stories with two terraces. It was small but perfect. This was our favorite place on the island.
We did something in Vamos we had never done before - we signed up for a cooking class. It turned out that we were the only students. The season was ending and there were actually not many tourists around. Of course, there are still plenty of locals. Our class was held in an ancient stone olive press; actually, it was in the yard of the ancient olive press. We were going to cook and eat outdoors. Ms. Koula was our teacher. She started by telling us about how healthy Greek food is. She said that every family on Crete has at least one family member well over 100 years old. All the cooking ingredients were beautifully displayed on the work table: fresh vegetables and large bunches of herbs and chunks of cheese. This was going to be a very sensual experience. Ms. Koula handed me a sharp knife like she had worked with blind people all her life. There were no comments or questions about what I was going to be able to do. We cooked enough food for ten people. I guess she prepares for a full class even if there are only two people. We made stuffed grape leaves, that yogurt cucumber sauce, zucchini fritters, a chicken pasta dish, dumplings filled with cheese. I am sure I am forgetting something.
I will share something I learned. If you take a tomato and cut off a small piece so you have a small flat surface, and grate it with one of those cheese graters with four sides, using the side with big holes, you can almost instantly grate the tomato and have only the skin left in your hand. This is an amazing way to add fresh tomato to soups and sauces.
Neal and I really felt like we were kids playing with food. We made a huge mess and Ms. Koula just kept cleaning up after us. I'll bet I washed my very messy hands at least 20 times. Finally it was time to sit down and eat, again outside. It was dark but there were lots of little lights hanging everywhere. All the food was artfully placed on the table and the power went out. Ms. Koula was totally unnerved. She had no idea how we would ever eat in the dark. She called the electrician right away like we might want our money back if we could not see our food. It took a while for it to dawn on her that I never saw my food. Eventually we all sat down and tried our best to eat as much as we could. When we finished the electrician showed up just in time for clean up. We were not allowed to help with that part. We left with a huge plate of leftovers and two cookbooks.
We are still eating the Greek way; meaning we are eating red meat no more than once a week and lots of yogurt and fruit and vegetables. Don't forget the olive oil and red wine. Not a bad way to stay healthy.
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