I always give my bird a generous butter massage before I put it in the oven. Why? Because I think the chicken likes it, and, more important, I like to give it. — Julia Child (1912 – 2004)

I think they would enjoy it as well

Last weekend i wandered up to Whidbey Island to visit my god-parents and soak up some beautiful scenery and yummy food.
Before i had even set my bags down, my GM Peggy was taking through all of her craft rooms, of which she has 3 right now, and showed me the incredible projects she has been working on over the past few months. Gorgeous quilts, embroidery, curtains, towels, and then there was the jewelry. Peggy likes to make woven beaded jewlery to relax…she must need to relax a lot because she has hundreds of the most complicated ornate pieces i have ever seen. i have always admired them for the hours of work that goes into each piece.

After i had set my bags down and grabbed a glass of water, Peggy asked if i would like to join her for her beaded  bead class the following day.  A beaded bead you may ask? Oh lord let me tell you! if it can be made, it has been and these ladies are very serious about their craft. i thought sure, why not. it will be a nice time to spend with Peggy doing something she loves and i am always up for a craft.

Peggy took me  to the “bead room” of the house. i was asked to pick out 3 colors-size 11 beads and 1 color-size 14 bead. this was like trying to pick out a puppy at the animal shelter and just when you find the one you want, they take you into another room filled with more perfect puppies to love. Boxes and bags and drawers full of every shade  bead imaginable.

After scarfing down a pb&j we headed down to the local library for our class. Everything on Whidbey is cute and has a beautiful view…the library was no exception.  We settled into our room with windows on 4 sides and got to work. As i was reading the instructions that could have been written in russian for all i cared, i started to get nervous. i hate getting behind on a new project. i was anxiously trying to figure out whether i weave the 2 A beads up through the B bead and down through the next two C beads,  or i skip the A bead and move to the next “ladder” and then add 2 A beads. I just looked at Peggy, happily plugging along as i pulled off all of my A beads and started over. She does this to RELAX??? what the hell is a ladder?

Then i figured it out! i loved it! i was having so much fun that when i would finish a row, i would make these deep throated giggles. i was channeling the craft gods and they were responding. We only had time (in  a 3 hour class) to make 1/2 of a beaded bead. The other half would have to be finished at home. I was so excited that after drinking the majority of a bottle of wine, i made 2 more beads and went to bed after midnight.

i think they look like tiny chinese lanterns and i am going to string them up and hang them in my window. i also think they would be really pretty over a christmas tree light.

I got an email from my friend Nicole who told how much she enjoyed driving around Chicago on this gloriously beautiful fall day. The sun is shining, the leaves are just starting to change and it is COLD! but not too cold. She decided that we needed to resieze fall.

so me, being a virgo, I made a list.

here are all the things i can think of, that  i LOVE about fall. these are things that make me giddy and when i am feeling like a complete pill, can pull me up and dust me off.

Kale sauted with bacon

Sweaters (especially my new blue cardigan)

Scarves

Changing Leaves

smell of burn piles

Boots with tights and cute skirts

Down comforters and big wooly blankets

Sunny cold days

Freezing clear nights

Apples/hot cider

Soup! ohhh thank god for soup season!

harvest moons

pumpkin patches and corn mazes

Squash

Knitting

Meatloaf and casseroles

craft projects by the fire

bundled up Hikes

Putting the garden to bed

Drives in the country

Farmers markets in the mornings

Fleece

Brusselsprouts

Wearing sweats, socks, slippers, old thermals and sifting through seasonal magazines while drinking hot tea

Putting away all the summer clothes and pulling out all the winter clothes

Not feeling guilty about sitting at home all weekend in the rain to watch movies while doing any of the above.

thunderstorms

my birthday (of course)

So that is that. Hope if you are feeling like a pill, it will pull you up and dust you off too.

It has been brought to my attention that i forgot to produce pictures of my naked chicken. Gladys spent a good part of the summer desperately trying to be a mama. i tried all sorts of things to remedy that, save get her a baby chick (i wish!) but when she finally came to terms that her sweet eggs would only be used for my cooking adventures, she began to molt.

I left for Greece and all was well, Miss Gladys was eating and strutting around like a chicken should. The day i returned from Greece, my yard and the coop looked like someone had set off chicken bombs. I had downy white and red feathers everywhere! even the dogs and cats were bringing them into the house.

After discovering that when chickens go through a stressful event (i.e. failed mother-hood) they like to shed their feathers and start anew. I liked this idea. i wish i could do that, just shed all my skin and hair and start from scratch. all better.

Unfortunately glady looked like hell. she was angry and naked. she stomped around the yard growling and wouldnt let me near her.

frankly, i cant blame her. She had all of these quills poking through her soft pink skin and they looked painful! she was like a science experiment gone wrong trying to breed a porccupine and a chicken. ick! everytime i looked at her i would get chills and she would growl at me.

I did take a picture for you.  these photos were taken after she had started to feather out again. You can see little puffs coming out of the quills. it is fascinating…and really creepy! I can tell you that if your hens do this, it will remedy itself. Gladys looks gorgeous now and her new red feathers are so lovely. she is also much happier and gaining weight again.

 What to do with the 50 extra pounds of tomatoes you harvested? So after getting my fill of Caprese and fresh tomato salads, sandwiches and sauces…

My very favorite thing to do is make paste! Yes it is long and messy process but it is so worth it. When this gorgeous weather finally passes and we hunker down to soups, stews and hearty meals, just tossing in a cube or two of homemade tomato paste makes it so much better! I even toss a cube in with some fresh pasta and whatever i have handy in the fridge. You cant find this flavor in a can or a tube.

Start with your tomatoes and press them skins and all through a food mill.

Take the mush and pour in onto a cookie sheet sprinkle with tbs of salt and place it in the oven at 200 degrees for about 6-8 hours. stir it every hour. It will get dark and the edges will get crispy but dont give up. The picture here is about 1/2 way through. you can tell the paste is getting darker.

when you have about 1/4 of what you started with scrape the paste into ice cube trays and freeze. pop out the cubes and store in a plastic bag. SO GOOD!

Nicole and I in the Amari Valley

 As we left the main highways and wound our way up into the hills of the Rethymnon, Kostas spent his time educating us about the region, her people and of course, the food, always with a sparkle in his eye. He loved this land and it showed.  It was contagious.  Crete’s Amari Valley is gloriously fertile and  supplies food for Crete as well as many other areas of Greece. Coming up around a bend, we rose over the lush valley and i instinctively drew in a breath of delight as we looked for miles down into its green folds. I knew we were in for a fantastic day!

Today i will describe our experiences with bread, pastries and, well all things good and baked!

Breakfast of fresh cheese, honey, nuts and fruits

After a delicious breakfast in Panakron (more to come on this place!) consisting of local delights, we headed up into a tiny village where we stepped into the aromatic bliss of fresh baked goods. 
  
Outside our shop were buckets of tiny wild berries and inside were rows of cookies, pastries and fresh breads. YUM!

Maria forming her pastry on the bottom of a crystal bowl

 This is where we met Maria, our baker. Being that the following day was the feast day for Mary, Maria was incredibly well organized and knew that after we left, she had a long day of baking ahead. Yet she never rushed us. She was enjoying us as we were enjoying her time.

 

 After bringing out a bubbling mass of batter in a large bowl, Maria added olive oil and flour and heated up a  pan of olive oil. Maria skillfully pick up a handful of the sticky goo, squeezed it through her fist and quickly spooned up a small a ball of dough to toss into the fat. I am pretty sure this could have been preformed in her sleep.

Perfect. My turn. Not as easy as it looked! she let everyone give it a try. 
 

After getting our fill of pastries and boxing up the rest for later, we headed to Thronos where we met Lambros, his lovely wife, their milk goats, fat pig, chickens, bunnies, dog..

who am i missing? Oh Mr Mentios the donkey! He apparently enjoys being taken for walks.

Lambros was the first entrepreneur in the area who understood the concept that if he builds it, they will come. His gorgeous facility houses rooms for rent, a taverna, a small store with local products and beautiful views in every direction. It was here that we attempted to milk a very patient goat, walked into the surrounding hills for a history lesson as well as an agriculture lesson and learned to bake bread in an oven heated slowly with olive wood.

After Lambros brought out a beautiful sourdough mother , we all got our hands in the dough and kneaded 3 huge bags of different  flours  with some olive oil and water. there was no such thing as too many cooks in this makeshift kitchen. I had flour in my hair, on my nose and on my feet?? this should not surprise those of you who know me

I wish i could post the smell in the air and the breeze that knocked my hat of numerous times. It was so beautiful up here.

After we had started the oven fire crackling and shaped our breads, we headed up in to the hills with our certified mountain guide Aris Koutakis. As we walked through the village to our trail head, Aris lectured us about breathing techniques while hiking in the mountains of Greece and how not to overheat.. I thought, where the hell are we going??? We were surrounded by huge mountains and i was wearing a skirt and sandals! Always the worrier, i of course had nothing to worry about. As we foundour way to the trail he passed us wild plums, walnuts, figs ,berries, carob, thyme, and oregano. He pointed out wild hemlock and up to the mountain where Zeus was raised, hidden from his father. He pointed down the valley where the willow trees touched the river that Zeus had bathed in and the huge olive trees where he had sated his lusty appetites. It struck me suddenly that we were in the heart of greek tradition and Pan still lived in the caves above us. I got goosebumps.

  

After a short beautiful hike, we came up on a plateau which contained the ruins of Ancient Syvritos where the first coins were cast. Unlike  other ruins, these were silent and empty of  people, just a goat or two. There were bits of pottery on the ground and no fences ommiting our curious feet. Aris sat us down on an ancient wall and passed out information about the site and a map of the area.  As the wind raised around us, I felt like part of this place in history. It was lovely.

Walking down the  precarious goat trails back to town, we passed an ancient church and gobbled up plums from the trees. Mr Mentios also received several pats on the bum.

By the time we returned  our breads were hot  out of the oven and ready to eat. They look beautiful and tasted even better!

So ends my journey with gluten in the Amari Valley. Next stop, the glorious world of CHEESE and SNAILS!

I think i posted this a year or two ago but it is worth posting again!

I am trying hard to embrace the end of summer. i love fall …so i am thinking pears and walnuts and warm tights with cute skirts and a pair of boots…you know whatever gets you through right?

this is another fantastic thing about fall…free walnuts,figs, pears, apples, blackberries and more!

http://urbanedibles.org/ 

Urban Edibles takes you around the city and maps out all the fruit trees and wild herbs in the city that are up for grabs! there is a mango tree and huckleberries, figs, all aorts of yummies for free! i want to collect my walnuts for the winter and make walnut tortes and preserves and freeze a bunch for salads. mmmmm
um, free weed on the corner of 30th and hawthorne? who knew? Urban Edibles, thats who!

If i keep saying that, it will be true right? I always love birthdays, no matter where you are in life, having a birthday always makes me feel special. Yesterday was no exception. I spent the morning with Mieke making friendship bracelets, watching sponge bob and drinking cocoa. in the afternoon, i went to see Julie and Julia with my girlfriends and we LOVED IT! it was so much fun to watch it with friends who love to eat and cook as much as i do and Julia Child is really incredible. I hope someone writes a movie just for her some day. she certainly deserves it.

After the movie, we were all starving (big shock) and went to eat at Andinas, my second favorite restaurant in Portland. Andinas is a delicious peruvian restaurant my friend Heather introduced me to after her visit to Peru. Most items are made with Quinoa in some magical fashion, or yuca or fresh seafood, like crab and shrimp stuffed avocados… We stuffed ourselves with such goodness. We ordered several dishes tapas style and picked at what we wanted to eat. i love to eat this way!

I do have a picture of me with the girls coming but in the meantime, here is a sampling of our meal of course

we have quinoa stuffed peppers with cheese and jamon.

Next we have succulent beef, raisin and spice stuffed empanadas with lime juice. the pastry was sooo light and flaky

this is my favorite…cheese stuff yuca with cheese crack sauce. i LOVE these things!

we had several other dishes but i was too excited to take pictures i guess.

I did get a picture of dessert. How absolutely beautiful is this?

3 Creme Brulees; orange, cinnamon and caramel.

this is a collection of all the desserts we ordered. So lovely. i will have to remember the chocolate and fruit puree on the plate idea. that was fantastic!

the desserts are a goat cheese custard with lemon cake and a mango canoli with mango lemongrass sorbet. YUMM!!

Bon Appetit!

Can I take them home with me?

 I love to travel. I love seeing how other people  live and am always so astounded and pleased to see how similar people are all over the world. It doesnt matter if we live in mansions or mud huts, people want the same basic things in life; sated bellies, happy families, love, a sense of well-being. There is something comforting in this fact no matter how many thousands of miles you are from home. We can find connections anywhere, if we want to.

fresh veggie market crepe. perfection

That being said, i love to come home from my travel. I have not once landed at PDX and thought CRAP I’m home! This last trip was no different. Of course I am always a little sad to have ended my journey and am always discombobulated from time changes and airplane food. But it sorts itself out when i ease into my own bed and wake to see what has been happening around home.

On my first morning home, I ventured into the garden to see the girls and my veggies etc. I found some beautiful produce and a very bald chicken. Poor Gladys molted and there were feathers everywhere! Her poor little body was covered in quills without feathers and she looked like a very angry porcupine. I was so happy to be home! even with the dead rotting possum under my house…yup

whats for dinner

The following week i spent unpacking, readjusting to work and catching up on sleep. This is also harvest season! i came home from a land that is teaming with beautiful foods to a home that is teaming with beautiful foods! I felt soooo lucky to live here.

The farmers market on saturday morning was at its peak. I walked around in a delighted daze listening to music, people watching and sampling everything i could get my hands on!

After we left the market, we headed to Sauvie Island to pick peaches. I wanted to learn to can and figured peaches would be my first attempt at this mysterious piece of my heritage.

Kruger Farms is always entertaining and this time the Mobile Beer Bus was open…so why doesnt this come into the neighborhoods like the icecream trucks? i could totally see adults chasing it down the street with their empty mugs held high.

The peaches were ripe and juicy and the fields had so much bounty.

At home Jill and I blanched and pealed peaches. We sliced them up and boiled gallons of  water. It was stressful! I imagine it will get easier as i become more confident that i wont poison myself or my loved ones.

I think they look really pretty. and i added some cardamom pods to give them just s smidge of spice.

tomorrow i return to the land of Crete  to describe my incredible “slow” day in the Amari Valley…sigh

This blog post is long overdue but it has taken me this long to go through most of my 788 pictures and figure out how to present my trip here. Of course i begin with my favorite topic: FOOD! My first several days were spent on the magical island of Crete. I am pretty sure i could live there on my own little farm with my goat and chickens and olive trees. After milking the goats and preparing the day’s cheese, i could venture into town for my morning shot of Raki with a pastry and Greek lesson with the locals. Then work in the garden before the afternoon heat sent me down to the sea for a dip and a late lunch of stuffed vine leaves and fresh tomatoes. Sigh…a girl can have dreams right?

After Crete we spent 5 days in Santorini which were consumed with breath-taking views, hiking into volcanoes and wine tasting. There was also a great deal of shopping to do. Our trip ended in Athens; a gorgeous city merging the ancient with the modern and nestled around the Acropolis.  

Greece is a cornucopia of food bliss and ironically the originator of the cornucopia itself!  From my first day in Crete i was in awe of the fresh local produce available for consumption around every corner. Most people have heard about the Mediterranean diet and its amazing health benefits.  I had the pleasure of experiencing it first hand.

Everything you hear is true. The olives, capers, tomatoes, peppers, oil, melons and cheese are all bursting with flavor and color. Many of our meals were cooked at home after spending the morning in a local town picking up produce from local farmers in the market squares. Buying our food from the people who produced it, gave me the greatest sense of pleasure and glee.

In my humblest opinion, Crete was the greatest example of local food done well. There is a passion for the land by the people who live there and a strong desire to keep tradition and heritage intact. But i will detail that in another posting.

For now i present my plethora of  food images…why did i do this before lunch! i am starving now!

WELCOME TO SARAH’s FOODS OF CRETE!

my first meal after becoming coherent from a long travel day was in the harbor town of Chania on the northwest side of Crete. The town was lovely and this restaurant epitomizes the magic of wandering around on the back streets of town. If you ever make it to Crete check out Steki Taverna…the food was excellent!

 this was my first salad. the feta was soft, almost like a salty chevre and the capers were bursting with flavor!

 this was my FAVORITE thing ever! a slab of feta was wrapped in light crisp filo fried in olive oil, drizzled with thyme honey and sprinkled with sesame seeds. it was served hot and salty. SO GOOD

the following day we ventured into the village of Argyroupoli to sample their avocado products and see this town that is build on the side of a mountain and surrounded by waterfalls. so beautiful and about 20 degrees cooler! I could imagine what it was like there a thousand years ago…less tavernas but same water and trails and smiling faces i hope

 Our lovely Taverna owner was plucking fresh trout for lunch. As the meal progressed it became apparent that anyone could take a try with the net but the children had a real knack for it. these fish were fried and served whole with yogurt sauce, capers and lemon.

 we dined on the traditional Crete rusk bread (read really dry wheat rolls) covered in  fresh mashed tomatoes and fresh feta. we also had rice and herb stuffed zucchini blossoms. SO FRESH!

For dessert we had fresh melon kept cool in a local stream. i wish i had caught a shot of this melon, it was sooooo red and juicy and cold. the tavernas just throw half a cut melon on a plate, stick forks in it and place it in the center of the table…that is what i call good eats!

 note the fig tree growing out of the same stream bed. fig trees would grow out of the roof of your car if you let them! they were everywhere.

i opted not to go for the roasted lamb roasting over the open fires about 1 inch from the side of the road.  yup i know…big weenie.

on our way home we stopped in the town of  Georgioupolis to pick up dinner and cheap beach towels for 2e.

While in the grocery store, I was quite mesmerized with this little contraption! Why oh why do we not have these at every market in town? i have discovered another reason to live on Crete. Just grab a container and select your spigot of choice for local red, local white or local retsina….mmmm retsina. thank you thank you thank you for your Retsina wines. Who cant love wine that is made with the tears of wood nymphs?  huh, I wonder what is in the top barrel? i missed that one.

The markets in Iraklion were incredible. we were able to get all of our produce for dinner and breakfast for the next couple of days.

  the grapes were so juicy! look at all the bean options!

this woman in her typical black garb was my very favorite. if i had more time…I would have loved to meet her. She brought her own cart to the market. in her cart were fresh eggs, live snails, zucchini blossoms, figs, tomatoes, pears, garlic, oil and wine in recycled water bottles and a variety of herbs. When we came back later in the day, she had packed up and gone home. I hope because she had sold all of her items. I wanted her to take me home and teach me to cook!

that night, i made a ragout of eggplant, tomato, onion and oregano, fresh figs with a local semi hard sheep’s milk cheese and these bitty little pears that packed so much flavor i am still craving them, and a fresh Greek salad with feta…of course! 

 we dined on the patio of our villa as the cool evening breeze came in over the sea. it was pretty much perfect. we were also working our way through the vast quantities of local Cretan whites.

after an incredible “slow” day in the Amari Valley (which i will blog about extensively) i discovered that the wild vine growing near the pool with the 1 inch spikes was a wild caper plant!! i was so excited that i sat with it for a good long time poking and tasting and sniffing. it really did smell like caper berries!

in crete they eat the buds and the leaves. I have seen pickled caper berries in the states but i didnt see anyone eat one in Crete and after i opened it, i wasnt going to venture either.

 they are like tiny ripe watermelon. Can we eat them??

At this point i am taking a giant leap to the north and mycontinued quest for food in Santorini.

I discovered quickly that food is not the main focus of Santorini, it is a place for lovers and sun worshippers and shoppers. Although it was quite gorgeous, i only had 2 meals that stand out and one of them was simply because the view would have made a 4 star Michelin meal pale. So i will begin with what i loved best, the wine!

  The grapes on santorini grow close to the ground in small clumps to collect the morning dew from the sea and hold it safe through the hottest parts of the day.

we were lucky enough to tour a local winery called Gavala Vineyards. Gavalas has been producing wines here for 300 years!! lucky for us we were the only people there that day and were given a tasting of 5 delightful wines including a Vinsanto dessert wine that i brought home. I am very much looking forward to the occasion i get to enjoy this!

 they still use the old grape stomping vats to produce their wines which pour through the lower right tube into hte basin with a basket to capture the seeds and skins…which of course then become Raki! ohhh Raki…but that is a tale for another time

 this was my first great meal in Santorini; Pork Souvlaki with a roasted broccoli and cauliflower salad and lemons…everything had lemons. YUM!

I will leave off this wild food extravaganza with a gorgeous sunset over Thirasia Island and a pair of wineglasses full of local Santorini white. if i squint, i can almost pretend i am still there.