thekristydave

A follow-up to our earlier post on Easter Sunday here in Chania. Wish you could have been here in person, but perhaps you can join us vicariously… here’s how it went down.

Dinner was a success, despite on-and-off rain all day that nearly put the kibosh on our barbecue plans. We finally caught a break by mid-afternoon, as the rain stopped long enough to allow for a fire to be lit. From there, the triumvirate of BBQ masters (Ata, Stephane, and myself) went to work, while Kristy wrapped up her cooking in the kitchen (which had started hours earlier in the morning).

On the menu this evening:

• Something like ratatouille (but not exactly) consisting of fava beans, eggplant, tomatoes, onions and misc. spices
• Barbecued chicken, marinated in red wine, lemon juice, oregano, and salt
• Barbecued lamb/pork or maybe it was pork/lamb… we actually asked the local butcher for lamb (“αρνί” στα ελληνικά) but upon inspection it may have been pork. We settled on pamb… or lork.
• Homemade bread (Kristy’s been baking A LOT)
• τυρόπιτα – “tyropita” or little cheese pies… yummy
• Dakos – dry bread husks, topped with lots of olive oil, tomatoes, and feta cheese
• Eggplant wrapped around graviera cheese
• and of course… plenty of wine and beer!

For dessert, we had coffee and fattened up on a box of sweets that Stephane and Ata brought – “super sweets” is more appropriate, I think; only the Greeks would take baklava (a pastry made with chopped walnuts and almonds, cinnamon, cloves, and phyllo dough, drenched in light syrup and/or honey) and cover that in chocolate!!!

A (surrogate) Family Tradition

As I’ve said many times, the best part about living out here is the quality hang-time (usually spent drinking and BS’ing – “boro boro” as the Greeks say) with friends who literally come from all over the world.

Tonight, we had some fun discussing language and cultural idioms, and Ata taught us the Arabic names for several common vegetables (there will be an exam later).

And we explored weighty linguistic questions such as idiosyncrasies in how different languages represent the sounds animals make — just what noise does a cow make in French? In Arabic? Not “moo,” as it seems there is no international standard for “Old McDonald Had a Farm” – a topic that most certainly needs to be explored further.

We ended the night with a tradition we will try to repeat many times over our remaining time here in Crete – an official “family portrait.” Goofy exaggerated smiles (Stephane!), ugly sweaters, and embarrassing holiday hats are optional.