Sometimes it takes the simplest of meals to remind you what real, good food actually is.  I had this revelation last night as I tucked into my dinner for one of scrambled eggs on toast.

Mr Rigg was away for the night and my dinner choice was based on the fact that I really couldn’t be arsed to make anything more just for myself.  We have a lovely farm up the road who produce organic eggs, so I always have a large tray of their eggs on hand for quick meals.

This time I had treated myself to some of their white Leghorn eggs, which I scrambled in my own sweet fashion – melt a healthy amount of raw butter in a saucepan, crack the eggs directly into the hot butter without whisking prior (I had two whole eggs and an extra yolk).  Next I turn the heat down and let the eggs cook a little in the butter without touching them, then I use a spoon to break them up.  This way you end up a mixture of quite distinct ‘white’ and ‘yolk’ but also some standard pale yellow scramble as well.

I considered skimming some cream off the top of our raw milk to add to the pan of eggs, cream in scrambled eggs is divine – don’t bother with milk! Anyway, that seemed like too much effort, so I just seasoned with salt and pepper and added generous amounts of snipped mint and chives from the garden, plus some pretty purple chive flowers.

This mixture was piled onto two pieces of rye sourdough toast from the farmers market, slathered with raw salty butter.  And because I’m a girl, I sprinkled on a few extra chives flowers that I’d saved especially.  I might be making a lazy dinner for one, but I still want it to look good.

It was eating this simple and quick dinner out on the patio that I realised actually how good it was.  How tasty it was, and yet comprised of only a few simple ingredients, made in less than five minutes, and making only one saucepan and a spoon dirty in the process.  It also made me wander into the garden to pick some herbs, a refreshing lull in the cooking process.

By tomorrow I will have no doubt forgotten the joys of eating such simple meals and Mr Rigg and I will be banging our heads together as we attempt to plan out another week of meals – it always seems to be so much effort, I’m always in search of creating the perfect dinner.  Maybe at least if I record this revelation of simple food here on my blog, it will be a reminder to me.

So, here we are in the final instalment of my ‘food memories’ of Greece.  If you’ve not read the previous posts, you can read part 1 about our beautiful hotel Kinsterna, part 2 about our day trip to the island of Elafonisos, and part 3 our journey exploring the Mani Peninsula.

Now, on to Athens.

The journey back to Athens from the Peloponnese was much the same as the journey out, but this time with a brief stop off for lunch at what can only be described as one of the world’s quietest motorway services.

I remember driving on motorways in Sweden was pretty pleasant because there were so few cars on the road, but where in the UK you stop a services and hear constant traffic whizzing past, here we stopped and it was silent. Eerily silent.  Then once or twice you’d hear a car pass.  And then more silence.

I’d like to be the kind of traveller who only goes off the main roads to find lunch from a local eatery, enjoying their lunch in some scenic spot – maybe one day I will.  But for now we still stop of motorway services, even abroad, and eat bog standard sandwiches.

What I often find is that abroad the food is usually of better quality, even at motorway services.  I ate my cheese filled pastry coil in the car as Mr Rigg drove on towards Athens and it was actually quite pleasant.

For our two nights in Athens we booked into the Marriott.  I would much rather support local people by staying in B&B’s or Greek run hotels, but it seemed a nightmare in Athens and I just went in circles reading very mixed reviews about hotels that all seemed to cost a fortune.  I decided if the prices were all about the same, I’d rather stay at Marriott – having worked with the Marriot staff in a previous life I know them to be friendly and the hotels nice wherever they are.

Driving into Athens had been fun in itself – Greek drivers seem much like Italian drivers (Mr Rigg swore he would never drive in a big Italian city after taking a taxi through Naples from the airport) in their disregard for any kind of rules or regulations, or agreed etiquette of driving.  We had spent many moments discussing our plan of attack as we drove into the city – our advice is to keep alert for all kinds of craziness and hold your own.

Dropping our hire car back at the city centre car hire office was the most fun – we could see the office which was situated right on a very busy road through the centre of Athens, with no clear place to pull over and park.  We did a few circles, before I jumped out while Mr Rigg went round the block again.  On entering the office in a bit of a flap, I was told you just put on your hazard lights and pull over…even with three lanes of traffic storming up behind you.  It worked.

After dropping off the car we wandered into Athens and towards the Acropolis. Although we didn’t go up to the Acropolis, I love that you can spy it from different parts throughout the city, and at night it looks stunning lit up (a few pictures of that below).

Again, there was more of Mr Rigg’s favourites…cats.  Lots of cats everywhere around the Acropolis, lounging about, looking out for tit-bits and even a lady playing music to a crowd of them.

My favourite cat in Athens…he’s the one you don’t mess with…

Like you, Mr Rigg is wondering if I’ll ever stop taking so many photos of those damn cats…

It’s like one of those pictures where you have to spot a certain number of things – in this case, it’s cats…

And finally, the lady playing music to a crowd of kitties…

We also had our weird holiday moment near the Acropolis – wandering along we passed another young couple who we had only a few days before seen all the way down at the south of the Peloponnese taking the same ferry to Elafanisos, on the same beach we went to, and even eating dinner at the same taverna we ate at.  Now, here they were, many miles away from Elafanisos, walking down the very same street as us in Athens.  They looked as surprised as us!

For dinner we headed to Monastriki Square which has many touristy restaurants around it, and not the normal kind of area I would try and look for food, but there was a restaurant here that Jamie Oliver had visited and recommended so we thought it must be pretty good.  Turns out this restaurant – Thanasis – now owns most of a street with what must be hundreds of tables.  Even if we hadn’t been planning on eating there it would have been pretty hard to turn down the big bellied man who almost dragged us in to a table.

Mr Rigg and I both ordered the Thansis kebab which was moist skewers of beef and lamb served on warm pittas and served with blistered tomatoes and finely sliced red onion.  The pittas were nothing like you’d find here in England, they were soft and pillowy flat breads with dimples all over them.

After taking a few photos, the big bellied man (I think he might have been the owner) came over to our table, took up my knife and fork, prepared a forkful and popped it into my mouth before I had a chance to know what was going on.  I recall he might have even used my napkin to dab my face…but perhaps that bit I’ve dreamt up in my mind.  Whatever happened, it was a pretty surreal moment!

He also accosted my camera – this is about the time when all my father’s drumming into me about being careful with my possessions when I’m on holiday or just out anywhere in general flew me into a moment of panic!

He literally walked up and grabbed it off the table, walked out into the street and took a picture of us sat at our table…wonder if you can tell that some big Greek man just stole our camera…

We also had a big plateful of tzatziki and beer for Mr Rigg.

As it begun to get dark we had a final wander around Athens, with these beautiful ancient churches that appear out of nowhere, quite un-at-home amongst the bigger, modern buildings that surround them.

There were also quite a few street carts selling corn on the cob.  Wish I’d be brave enough (and hungry enough!) to try some.

The next day was our only full day in Athens before our flight back to the UK.  I had prebooked us onto a guided food tour of Athens – going on guided tours is not usually top of my holiday to-do lists, in fact they are probably somewhere near the bottom, but knowing that we knew absolutely no Greek I was worried we wouldn’t really get to experience food in Athens properly left to our own devices.

After a slightly botched attempt to get the metro to Panepistimiou station (turns out we were waiting for a tram to begin with…and that the tram drivers were on strike…many thanks to the nice man who literally walked us to the metro stop and showed us how to validate our ticket), we were finally stood out in the morning heat keeping a look out for our tour guide.

Another young couple – Canadian’s on their honeymoon we later found out – came cautiously up to us and asked if we were waiting for the food tour.  I love how tourists stand out to each other.  It was a lovely small group in the end, Americans, Canadians, Australians, and us British.  Our tour guide Despina was so lovely and bubbly and full of knowledge, and most of all it was lovely to visit local places that we probably wouldn’t have ordinarily gone into.

The first stop on the tour was actually just beside Panepistimiou metro station, at a koulouri stand.  These snacks look a bit like a pretzel and are topped with sesame seeds.  Despina bought a couple and we all tried some, they were surprisingly nutty and tasty.

Our next stop was a fantastic deli/grocery shop called Pantopolion tis Mesogiakis Diatrofis (1 Sofokleous St & Aristidou St) which specialises in traditional Greek products, most of which are organic.

We took home a tin of this Santorini tomato paste – SO good!

If I remember correctly these were local liquers from the area of Greece that our tour guide comes from, all made by a handful of ladies in a small village…

We got to try a variety of items, including Peloponnese olive oil (also in lemon and orange flavours), feta cheese drizzled with olive oil and thyme, a Gruyere type cheese from the Peloponnese, and Kalamata olives that are unlike anything I’ve tasted at home in England.

We got to browse the shop (Mr Rigg and I returned to stock up on a few items later after the food tour had finished) and on the way out we tried yoghurt with quince jam swirled into it – it was sweet and delicious, and I have a jar sitting in my cupboard ready to try out on yoghurt.

Next we visited a traditional home cooking restaurant called Doris (30 Praxitelous St) – it was the kind of place you’d never know about, nor probably consider going into as a tourist, which was what I loved so much about the food tour.  Just some of the food on offer for lunch that day…

Here we tried loukoumades, an ancient Greek snack, which this restaurant is famous for.  They look like mini doughnuts, drizzled with honey and walnuts and dusted with cinnamon.

Once you bite into them your discover that they are in fact super light and crispy, with only a small doughy centre.  Delicious!

Next we made our way through the local markets, we didn’t stop but it was an incredible experience.  We started in the central meat and fish market – Varvakio Agora (42 Athinas St), which are undercover and a complete shock to your senses.  It was loud and crowded and full of smells and weird and wonderful products to buy.

I particularly liked how the fish was being packaged up in these paper cones.

There were a number of people sitting in the entrance to the covered market selling just a few items – green olives and bundles of greens.  I like these kind of stalls best.

Out on the other side of the covered market is the the fruit and vegetable market (Armodiou St), as well as stalls selling nuts and olives.

The difference between these two pomegranates (if I remember correctly!) is ripeness…

Such an amazing selection of produce – I’m always jealous of cities when I go to markets like this…

From here we headed to Miran (45 Evripidou St), a traditional meat deli established in 1922 by an Armenian family.  The shop itself was a sight to behold, with hundreds of meats (not real, I might add) and strings of garlic hanging from the ceiling.

We were treated to a speciality of the deli, a cure meat made from beef called Pastourma.  Traditionally deep cuts are made in the meat which is filled with handfuls of salt, then pressed between two pieces of wood over a period of days while it looses its moisture.  Then it’s covered with a cure made from paprika.

You eat it as a nibble, rather than cooking with it.  We had it with ‘rusks’, dried croutons type bits of bread that seem to be a popular way to eat it.

We got a few slices packaged up to take away with us…

Miran also had this beautiful display of spices in the middle of the shop, other than the peppercorns and possible cumin, I could only hazard a guess at the others!

Further down the road we went into a small herb shop called Fotsis (39 Evripidou St), with beautiful displays of dried flowers, herbs and spices.

They told us about Mountain Tea, a herb used to make tea, often with a bit of honey and lemon (we bought some teabags home to try – unfortunately you’re not allowed to take the bundles of dried mountain tea home on the plane with you).  We learnt that tea isn’t drunk by the Greek’s unless they are ill, and only then herbal tea.  Despina the tour guide told us, if you ask people for tea in Greece, people will ask if you’re feeling ok!

We also got to try mastik, which is a resin from a rare tear that comes out as ‘tears’.  It’s got incredible healing properties for all kinds of ailments, and is especially good for the stomach.  It can be used in cooking in powder form, you can chew the little ‘tears’ of it, or you can make your own powder by blending up the ‘tears’ and adding flour or powdered sugar.  It’s recommended that you take it in powdered form once a day with water, which is very good for you.

Look at the selection of dried rose buds on offer…

Our final stop before lunch and the end of our tour was to Bougatsadiko (1 Iroon Sq) which on my tour sheet is described as a ‘traditional fast food store’. They make bougatsa, a thin flaky pastry made with lots (lots!) of butter and filled with a custard mixture before being baked.

It was wonderful to be able to watch them make the bougatsa, first using incredible skill to stretch the pastry out so it was super thin and almost see-through.  Then a series of blobs of soft butter and folds were made, adding in a dollop of custard mixture and before you knew it a tray of them were made and into the oven.

I am not a huge pastry fan, nor of pastries or doughnuts that have a custard filling, so I bit into them convinced I wouldn’t like them.  I loved them!  Maybe it was watching them make it that made them taste so good, or perhaps they just were delicious, but I would definitely recommend a visit to this bakery to pick up a little tray of bougatsa, which you eat with a wooden fork.

The tour finished at a traditional taverna for lunch – Dia Tauta (37 Andrianou St) with the Acropolis watching over us.  Everywhere you go in Athens, you seem to turn a corner and catch a glimpse of it.

We sat together and ordered drinks and lunch – Mr Rigg and I shared zucchini (courgette to us Brits) fritters which I had been wanting to try whilst we were in Greece, and these ones didn’t disappoint – they were incredibly light and filled with flecks of shredded green courgette and tomato.

We also tried the eggplant baked with tomato and onion with feta cheese crumbled over the top, and some pitta with tzatziki.

Another dish I had really wanted to try whilst we were in Greece was feta cheese baked in filo pastry and drizzled with honey and sesame seeds.

I always like the idea of this combination of salty crumbly cheese with sweet honey, but it’s one of those things I wonder if I just like the idea of, but don’t actually like it when I try it.  It was scrumptious.

In the afternoon Mr Rigg and I returned to the deli to stock up on some nice goodies to take home, we went into a few nice clothes shops, ate frozen yoghurt and generally just pottered around Athens.

I rate Athens highly as one of those lovely cities to just wander around and soak up everything going on around you.  These are my favourite types of cities, where you feel happy to just potter.

Before we headed back to our hotel we sat at a cafe in Syntagma Square and drank peach ice tea and a fruit smoothie.

The final part of our visit to Athens was to head up to our hotel roof that night to get a beautiful view of the city lit up.  It was pretty magical to see the Acropolis up on its hill, lit up with lights and watching over the city.

You can read my full Greek trip by clicking here on Food Memories Greece.

We British are always talking about the weather, it seems we are unable to have a conversation with anyone without mentioning it.  So here I am, talking about the weather – but what incredible weather it has been this past week!

Mr Rigg is convinced this is our summer, last year March was stonking hot, this year maybe it’s May.  I do hope this isn’t the end of hot, sunny weather for the rest of the year, just a few more occasional weeks like this would satisfy me.

Like everyone I’m sure, we’ve been out in the garden, down on the allotment, cooking and eating outside, and quickly getting in a tan in case this really is our one and only week of warm, cloudless skies.

Some of our many meals eaten outside (and some even cooked outside!) have included this new favourite pasta dish of prawns, rocket and sundried tomato paste…

A rather scrummy and also new favourite omelette with colourful cherry tomatoes from our local farmer’s market, crispy Serrano ham, shavings of sheep’s cheese and snipped chives from the garden…

Slow cooked pork (sadly not homemade) with new potatoes, salad and Marmande tomatoes…

The pork was finished off on the barbeque – Mr Rigg with beer in hand and faithful hound…

I ate quite a few breakfasts/brunches last week outside on the patio, what a treat!

These lamb merguez sausages were picked up from The Artisan Meat Company and were eaten along side a zingy herb and preserved lemon couscous salad, some green leaves, and grilled mini peppers from the farmer’s market…

I also accidentally spent an exorbidant amount of money on British asparagus from Waitrose (only place I’ve seen it so far, come on farm shops!) but thoroughly enjoyed every mouthful covered generously in raw melted butter and lots of black pepper…

The bunnies have also been enjoying this gorgeous weather, munching on dandelions (he ended up with a yellow nose and chops)…

I’ve seen a lot of sunbathing bunny bottoms and outstretched paws over the weekend…

And even Buddy has been persuaded to come outside on occasion for a short spell of relaxation (he’s usually too busy hunting for bees, he’s rather paranoid about them)…

When it comes to going outside he’s much happier out on a walk in a field or along a hedgerow, at home he’d rather be lying in the cool living room…

The garden is finally blooming with apple blossom and cherry blossom thick on the little trees we have, I’m awaiting the crab apple bursting into flower as it is absolutely chocker-block with buds…

Even the allotment which is pretty barren due to our neglect is throwing us bundles of ruby red rhubarb at the moment…

We’ve been doing some baby shopping as well, with a recent trip to my favourite eco shop in Manchester, the Dojo Eco Shop – it’s a rather hidden gem, it’s only open at a few select times during the week and you have to ring a bell to be let in.

We ordered a mattress (they specialise in making mattresses  and we figure we’ll buy an excellent quality one that will hopefully last all the babies we might end up having), bought cot sheets, some lovely Earthborn paint to paint the cot we are planning on tweaking, and our babies first toy – a rather sweet duck.

They also have this rather nice restored Singer sewing machine table in their shop, which they’ve decorated the top of with vintage stamps – we have one we rescued from an alley and I’m hoping to one day transform it into something as beautiful as this…

Talking about babies, the bump has grown!  This was yesterday at 23 weeks…

I am so in love with this baby, it squirms around and is getting up to who knows what inside my belly, but I love feeling it and carrying it, and as someone who works alone from home it’s lovely to have that feeling of not being so alone any more.

I’ve recently come to learn and appreciate the importance of getting some sun every day, or at least as often as possible, to ensure we keep our vitamin D topped up.  Working from home has enabled me to spend at least 20 minutes every day outside in the sun, with my baby bump out (it’s now a rather nice bronzed colour).  Getting this much quality sun time has also meant my candida symptoms have been held at bay – yey!

When I said I’m alone at home, it’s not completely true, I have Buddy who keeps me company and entertains me with his cuddly duck when he gets bored of me working.  He also is doing his bonding with the bump…

At the end of this week of beautiful weather, I am feeling rather loved up with life.  It’s funny how a stretch of decent weather can transform your mood like that, but Mr Rigg and I have had moments of feeling truly content this past weekend (it’s helped that our neighbours have gone away and aren’t playing loud annoying music in the garden).

Unglamorous, but happy.

I have been dying to tell you this friends for so many weeks now, but finally it has felt like the right time.  Our little menagerie is growing – this time to include a tiny person rather than a furry animal friend.  I am 21 weeks pregnant!

As you can see from the picture above taken on the weekend, I only have a tiny bump so I’ve placed my hands in that typical pregnancy photo way so you can actually see there’s something there – honestly, I’m not just fat from eating too much clotted cream and butter

I am just so pleased that I can openly mention being pregnant here and also share some of my experiences (yes friends who read regularly I am drinking raw milk and pregnant, please don’t be alarmed I’ve read all the pro’s and con’s and made an educated decision that’s right for me).

It is such an exciting time and for the past couple of week’s I’ve been feeling it move around and I receive daily reminders it’s there and growing in the form of punches/kicks.  It would be lovely to hear from anyone else expecting their first baby.

This is our first baby and so quite an experience and journey for both myself and Mr Rigg (who know’s what Buddy and the bunnies will make of this small new creature once it arrives!), and I’m looking forward to sharing little tidbits of this next adventure with you all.

Recently I’ve been trying to wean us off cereals – by wean, I mean I’ve just stopped buying it, which for poor Mr Rigg has meant going cold turkey on cereals at breakfast.

If you’re interested why I’m keen to steer away from cereals it’s because I’ve come to realise that there isn’t much good in them, despite what they like to tell us on their TV adverts.

We had this lovely recipe for granola that we used to make, which was delicious both with milk and yoghurt.  The only problem is that I’ve also developed an interest in how grains were traditionally prepared, and how they used to be soaked before drying.

This is because things like grains and nuts and seeds have enzyme inhibitors in them, which unless soaked first, prevent us from absorbing all the goodness in them like vitamins and minerals.

I am no expert on this subject, if you’re keen to know more I recommend taking a look at the Weston A Price Foundation to do your own reading.  I would just like to think that if I’m attempting to eat better and more ‘healthy’ that the foods I’m choosing are giving me everything they can.

Lacking in cereals and with only sourdough toast for Mr Rigg’s breakfast, I decided I needed to attempt our granola recipe (adapted from a fab little book called A Cook’s Guide To Grains by Jenni Muir) but with the addition of the soaking and drying process.  So after a quick online search I decided to use some advice from this recipe for raw soaked granola.

Rather than tell you how I made it and then post the recipe or let you decipher it from my garbled instructions, I’m just going to attempt to clearly share the recipe below.

All in all, it has made an incredibly delicious granola that I am personally addicted to.  The main downside of this is that what was made for Mr Rigg is now being consumed at a great rate by myself also (5 bowls within 24 hours of making it…) and as such it is going down quickly!

*Please note, this recipe requires overnight soaking and a great deal of patience for the drying out process!

If you don’t want to do the soaking and drying process, do try my original granola recipe which just involves mixing everything together and bunging in the oven.

Homemade Soaked Granola

For the grains:

4 cups of jumbo oats
2 cups of barley flakes
2 cups of rye flakes
8 cups of water
6 tbsp whole organic yoghurt

or

8 cups of jumbo oats
8 cups of water
6 tbsp whole organic yoghurt

1. Take a large bowl (or two if needed) and add your grains, yoghurt and water.  I mixed my yoghurt into the water first.  I also used 4 cups of oats and 4 cups of other mixed grains, so I kept these separate and divided up the water/yoghurt mixture.

2. Cover with a clean tea towel and leave to soak overnight.

3. The next day, preheat the oven to no more than 50°C.

4. Drain the grains through a sieve and use a spoon to squeeze out as much water as you can.

5. Spread the grains out as thinly as possible on a tray(s) and pop in the oven.

They will take at least 6 hours to dry out, maybe more (I’m a bit impatient and gave mine about 6 hours).  During that time it’s worth checking the grains and breaking them up and moving them around (the top tends to dry out and the bits touching the tray stay moist).  I found that the oats worked well but that the mixed grains really clumped up, which is why I gave the above recipe for just oats only – do this if you want an easier time of it!

6. Once they are dry leave them to cool.

(left) grains soaking; (right) soaked grains ready for drying

For the nuts and seeds:

1 cup of hazelnuts
1 cup of sunflower seeds
1 cup of pumpkin seeds
5 cups of water

Start the nuts the same night as you put your grains on to soak.

1. Take a large bowl and add your nuts, seeds and water.

2. Cover with a clean tea towel and leave to soak overnight.

3. The next day, preheat the oven to no more than 50°C.

4. Drain the nuts and seeds through a sieve.

5. Spread them out on a tray(s) and pop in the oven.

Like the grains, they will take at least 6 hours to dry out.

Other ingredients:

Raisins and dried apricots (however much you want), cut into small pieces
Jar of honey

(left) granola going into the oven; (right) bowl of granola with raw milk

How to make the granola:

Once you have done all the processes above you can now make the granola.

1. Preheat your oven to 180°C.

2. Into a large tray mix together the soaked and dried grains, nuts, seeds and the cubed dried fruit.

3. Mix well.

4. Take your jar of honey and drizzle generously over the granola.

5. Pop in the oven and cook for 20-30 minutes stirring occasionally.

6. Take out of the oven and allow to cool before putting it into a big glass jar with a lid.

Best enjoyed in our household with lashings of raw milk!

I am on a roll with sharing our Greek holiday (just a few months late!) and by the end of the week I’ll have shared it all.  I’ve told you about our lovely hotel Kinsterna and our visit to the island of Elafonisos, today we’re off to the Mani Peninsula…

When I was doing my pre-holiday research I was already intrigued by the Mani just because of it’s name, which seemed to have an air of mystery to it.  The Mani Peninsula is a bit of the Peloponnese which is apparently distinguishable both geographically and culturally.  On doing my research prior to our Greek holiday (you can reads part 1 and part 2 here) I loved the sound of this bit of the Peloponnese because it was described as being rugged, rural, and inaccessible.

I think poor Mr Rigg would have preferred another day of lounging by the pool at Kinsterna, but I dragged him off on a road adventure around the Mani.  I think Mr Rigg worries about these kind of day-out-adventures that I come up with, because unlike our day trip to the island of Elafonisos which had the clear aim of sitting on a beach all day, my plans to go to the Mani didn’t have a destination nor aim.  This usually translates into a lot of a driving.

And it was a lot of driving.  We spent the whole morning pottering along the winding coastline to Gythio, down to Kotronas, and then through the mountains to Aeropoli.  I thoroughly enjoyed all this wiggling along the coast, watching the scenery change, seeing a few towns and villages along the way, but it’s not Mr Rigg’s ideal way to spend the day.

We did come across this pretty cool ship wreck on a beach somewhere around Gythio…

Then as we started to climb into the mountains to cross the Mani Peninsula to Aeropoli on the other side  we found beautiful olive groves with some truly ancient looking trees.

There was also a rather friendly horse who although having his front hooves tied together (assuming to ensure he didn’t get too far!) looked healthy and well cared for.

It was this journey across the peninsula that I loved the most as it felt very rural and very different to the bit of the Peloponnese we had already seen.

Going through one village on the road to Aeropoli we came across cows in the middle of the road happily grazing on whatever they could find.  And weren’t they handsome!

Cue photo moment complete with attractive wheelie waste bins.  I love that life reminds you it isn’t always picture perfect.

In Aeropoli we parked in what seemed to be the main square, and then wondered through the streets.  It felt quite old – its name means “city of Ares” after the Greek god of war.  Funnily enough, before we set off for Greece I was imagining this ancient landscape full of myths where legendary Greek gods and goddesses resided, which wasn’t at all what I found.  However, of all the places we visited Aeropoli had that ancient air about it.

I’m not sure if this was someone’s house…but I fancied living there…

Aeropoli sits beneath this towering mountain backdrop…

There were also some pretty nice looking fruit and vegetable stalls – I always get so jealous about the fresh produce people ‘elsewhere’ have on the doorstep.

Unsurprisingly lots of citrus fruits as you would expect with the number of groves we passed driving down to the Peloponnese.

And just look at this selection of greens!

I wasn’t sure what this place was, but I loved it’s street garden full of herbs and sunflowers.  Whenever I see little street gardens like these abroad, I always think of my lovely friend Caroline and imagine that she would love them.

I also loved how people had their pet birds in cages hanging outside their homes – I guess the weather is nice enough and it’s probably a lot nicer for them than staring at someone’s living room.  Plus they were all so tuneful, making wandering the streets very pleasant.

Tiny restaurants even had pots of tall basil growing on their windowsills – if only we had summer’s warm enough to grow basil like this here!

Back in the square we decided now was the time to embrace a kebab, and so we went to a takeaway style place that I have to admit, if it was back home in England, I would never venture into.  However, the meat on spits could be clearly seen a pieces of meat, different bits individually stacked on top of each other, rather than some homogeneous lump that you see here.

What I think of as a kebab, actually seems to be souvlaki…or is it…I got a bit confused over the holiday, but whichever it was it was tasty.  We ordered one with chicken and mayonnaise…

…and one with pork and tzatziki, which we shared and both thoroughly enjoyed.

On the way back to the hotel, we made one last stop.  All throughout our day in the Mani we had spotted these colourful beehives up on the hillsides, and as we rounded a bend on our journey back there was a small lay-by with a beehive painted with the words ‘honey’ and a jar of amber coloured goodness sat on top.

There was an old van that had been converted into a mini shop, a small cabin above the lay-by with a man and lady sitting in the sun, and beside them all along the hillside were more of the fabulous colourful beehives.  We knew no Greek, the man was friendly but knew no English, so we got by with smiles and pointing and exchanged some money for a rather large jar of his golden coloured honey.

This jar of honey lasted us a long time once we were home, topping our yoghurt for breakfast and bringing back a little of that Greek holiday memory every time we ate it.

Our final destination this day, was the old walled city of Monemvasia, nearby to our hotel.  We’d thought about doing a day trip there, and so thought we’d ‘pop in’ on our way back to see if we’d like to go back for longer.  When you get to the new bit of the town, you drive out along this long road built up above the sea to this rocky outcrop.

You follow the road round the rock and suddenly you are greeted by this huge wall with an arched entrance leading into the dark.  It’s pretty impressive.

Once through and into the old city, it is a maze of narrow streets and higgledy-piggeldy buildings.  It is like something out of a film or fairytale.

It’s incredible to think it’s all still lived in (whether they are holiday homes or full-time homes I’m not sure) – we couldn’t help but wonder as we went deeper into the town how on earth people move in!  There aren’t roads and I’m pretty sure the only way in is via that one entrance, and everything is so steep with steps up and down.

We wondered if these signs we saw were ‘for sale’ signs…

There were lots of cats chilling out everywhere and pretty flowers.  There were a few shops and restaurants, although when we went it was very quiet, just a few people having a drink.  I can imagine in the main tourist season it’s heaving, so I’m pleased we saw it in a more peaceful and quiet moment.

Looking back from old Monemvasia to the new town…

Our next stop on our Greece trip was back to Athens for two nights before we flew home – we went on this incredible guided food tour and ate more delicious foods, so that will be my next and final instalment of this holiday.

I’ve finally embarked on sharing my holiday memories from our Greek trip last autumn, if you didn’t read the first part about our beautiful hotel Kinsterna and the Peloponnese just click the link.  Today we’re off to the island of Elafonisos, right down at the tip of the Peloponnese.

Like most people I like to do some research once a holiday is booked, and with the wonder of the internet you can find all manner of gorgeous looking places to visit near to where you are staying.  I like to do things visually, so I used Google Images and Pinterest to do my research, and made a list of places we could go to based on pretty pictures.  Ah, girls.

One of those places was the island of Elafonisos.  Do a quick Google search and you’ll see why it was on my list – those fabulous beaches and crystal clear water.  Who wouldn’t want to visit somewhere like this.  So a few days into our holiday we set off in our little hire car to the ferry port at Neapoli Vion.

Whichever way we went, it seemed to be the scenic route, but in this part of Greece I’m not sure there’s many quick ways of getting anywhere – leave plenty of time for travel!  It might not look very far on the map, but the roads wiggle and vary from nicely tarmacked to dirt lanes.  I insisted we stop at various points to take pictures.  What I would give for blue skies like that right now!

Stopping to admire the views and take pictures of some of the local flora…

From the place where you catch the ferry from, you can see Elafonisos – it only takes about 5-10 minutes to cross.  Sitting in the car with the windows down, waiting with a few other travellers for the ferry to arrive, was blissful in itself.

The waters around the beaches here are turquoise and clear, and even though their not as pretty as those on the island it had already got me anticipating what awaited us across this small stretch of water.

As we got closer to the little town on Elafonisos it reminded me of arriving by ferry to the island of Amalfi in Italy when I was eighteen. They are both so picturesque, Elafonisos with its pretty whitewashed church jutting out from the town on a tiny island so low in the sea you fear it could get swept away with a gust of wind.

There aren’t many route options on Elafonisos as it’s so tiny, but one of them leads to the other side of the island and some beautiful beaches.  We found the tiny car park easily, and although there were a number of other cars once we got onto the beach everyone was so spread out it was almost like having it to yourself.

We pitched our towels under some wooden structure (perhaps it was a lifeguard seat, I can’t remember) to give ourselves a bit of shade – everyone else had umbrellas an item we couldn’t fit in our Easyjet luggage allowance.

For lunch we had briefly nipped into a bakery in the little island town.  Mr Rigg ate a cheese and ham pastry pie, and I had a spanakopita, which is a Greek filo pie filled with spinach and feta cheese.

It wasn’t the most authentic looking bakery as I imagine the seafront gets quite touristy and as such small shops seem to cater to these crowds, but I was pleasantly surprised by how tasty it was.

The rest of the day was spent doing what you would imagine – sunbathing, swimming, getting a little burnt (we are British!), and reading books.  I am not a huge fan of swimming in the sea but with such clear waters I wasn’t afraid of getting in.  Mr Rigg on the otherhand had me in kittens as he swam out until he was just a little speck.

Top marks to anyone who can spot the ‘speck’ that is Mr Rigg in this picture…he really is just a black spot in the middle somewhere…

He assured me it wasn’t that deep, but I still had a moment sat there on that Greek beach panicking about what I would do if he suddenly started flailing his arms all that way out and shouting for help.  Thankfully that didn’t happen and we made our way back to the town for dinner.

We chose a little harbourside taverna for dinner, sitting outside on blue and white painted chairs with lots of friendly cats for company.  There were all those sorts of characters you imagine you’ll see on a Greek seaside town, fixing their nets and chatting with friends.

Mr Rigg ate a big plateful of meatballs and chips, and I had pastitsio which is like a Greek lasagne with a cinnamon scented tomato sauce.

We also ordered tzatsiki, a garlic dip, and a Greek salad, imagining that these would be small dishes…they weren’t, they were huge.  We had this massive bowl of Greek garlic dip skordalia which had never tried before, and the size of it knowing it was garlic was pretty intimidating – but it was divine.  I don’t think we managed it all but we gave it a good try.

After dinner we wondered along the harbourside at all the sweet little fishing boats and taking a few pictures of ourselves looking rather frazzled after a day in the sun.

Finally we caught the ferry back to the mainland, with the sun setting behind us over the island.

I didn’t really take many pictures on the journey back to Kinsterna, but I wanted to mention this trip back as it will always stick in my mind.  At one point on the road between the ferry and the hotel we’d had the option to take a quicker route along a more ‘rustic’ road – we did this both on the way there and back in the end because of a tiny little village and Mr Rigg liked the excuse of a bit of ‘rally’ driving.

Plus we came across tiny cyclamen growing wild…

This tiny little Greek village was halfway down a mountainside on this bumpy road.  It had been very cute looking on the way down in the morning, with houses right up against the road, and on the otherside of us these funny little sitting areas on the edge of the mountain with views out over the sea.  I say funny because they seemed odd at first to me, but when you saw the view you could quite imagine why everyone had their garden chair on the opposite side of the road.

On the way back, dusk was falling and it was a magical drive back up this road and through the village.  There are these roadside shrines all over the Peloponnese and some were lit with candles as we drove past.  Going through the village you got glimpses through doorways into courtyards with piles of logs all stacked up, and around one bend our headlights caught an old lady sitting on a wall stroking a goat.

I was completely besotted and the moment we got back I noted down all these special little moments we had glimpsed along this journey.  I never want to forget them, I think they are what makes life magical.

My next instalment of our trip to Greece will be about our journey around the Mani and exploring the old walled city of Monemvasia.  If you’d like to read all about my Greek food memories click on the link.

From the beauty of Greece yesterday, to the slightly drearier shores of the UK today.  This past weekend we actually got down to our allotment and planted four rows of Charlotte potatoes.  We always seem a little behind on planting our potatoes, but were reassured when our local farmer told us he was only just getting his in the ground.

In the process of uncovering the soil Mr Rigg came across a frog.  First he thought it was dead, turns out it was just enjoying the heat beneath the plastic that had been covering the ground (at least I think that’s what it was doing).

After an attempt to pick it up it leaped down a hole and disappeared.  It made me realise there were a series of ‘tunnels’ that had been created in the soil and I wondered if this was the frog who had made them?  Anyone know?

There was also a bit of time for sitting and reading – Buddy was busy on bee patrol…

There’s not much growing on our allotment at the moment, mainly because we only have a few things that come back year on year.  Our handful of fruit bushes are budding up nicely, my sage plants seem to have died off (lack of rain recently?), but there are foxgloves and Welsh onions pushing through.

The rhubarb in the middle of the allotment is doing well, whilst those we replanted to the end of the allotment are only just beginning to peep out.

And I’m delighted to see that both angelica plants I added last summer are coming through.  This one is looking particularly healthy, whilst the other has been a little drowned out by the grass and is only a few leaves.  Now cleared I hope it will catch up a bit.

After a nice walk around the allotments, admiring everyone else’s predominately neatly tended beds, Buddy spotted a rather large bee and scarpered into the boot…big wus…

Over the weekend we also cooked and ate some good meals – I finally got down to some proper meal planning at the start of last week and it really paid off.  Which reminds me I must do it again for this week!

From top left: mini scones made with sour milk, topped with clotted cream and raspberry jam; roast pollock with leeks, pancetta and goose fat potatoes; roast lemony chicken; mixed vegetables before roasting.

The mini scones have been a fantastic discovery in the back of the freezer – a whole tupperware of these bite sized mouthfuls of yumminess.  Sadly there are only two left now as they were a regular feature of afternoons last week when Mr Rigg got home from work.  This is the only way to eat them in my opinion – mostly clotted cream sandwiched between a bit of warm scone and a dollop of raspberry jam…

The roast vegetables were eaten with a pile of lemony couscous, wild rocket and minted lamb chops.  The recipe comes from Hunstile Organic Farm (here’s the recipe) where we stayed this time last year and Lizzie the lovely owner cooked us this meal for dinner.  It’s divine, better eaten at Hunstile and made by Lizzie in my opinion, and please don’t look too closely at how ‘well done’ my chops are – I prefer my red meat falling apart.

Mr Rigg took charge of sorting out my collection of vegetable and flower seeds…it seems I have hoarded quite a lot.  Hopefully this year most of them will make it into the soil and bring us platefuls of homegrown veggies and bunches of flowers…

My other main task of the weekend was soaking and preparing nuts to make this nut topping for my breakfast yoghurt.  I insisted on saving money by buying the organic almonds still in their skins, rather than ready skinless, so I spent a whole hour taking off their skins once they’d been soaked overnight.

I’ve confessed before to enjoying repetitive jobs such as podding peas and broad beans, but I must admit they are more enjoyable than skinned almonds. It is worth the effort though when you end up with two large jars of ‘nut crumbs’ (am thinking of renaming them Greek nuts as this was where I got the idea from) that should last me quite a few breakfasts.

I hope you all had a lovely weekend whatever you got up to.  Next weekend we are being quite social with a birthday meal of tapas to go to, and lunch out with friends.

Wow, this is really overdue and I’m looking forward to reliving this holiday with you all.  Last October Mr Rigg and I set off for 10 days in Greece.  Mr Rigg had done a sailing holiday with friends around some of the islands when he was back in his teens, but for me it was my first visit to this beautiful country.

He’ll probably not be very impressed with me sharing this piece of information with you, but last year Mr Rigg reached that grand old age of 30.  To celebrate his mum kindly gave us a very generous budget for a holiday – a decision which was incredibly difficult for us because it was a budget that we could have gone almost anywhere on.  Should we spend most of it on flights to the other side of the world with meagre accommodation?  Or should we spend most of it on staying somewhere really special?

In the end, we opted for the latter – we decided that we should spend the majority of the gift on staying in the kind of place we’d never ever be able to afford normally.  I’m not sure how other people plan their holidays, but I like to find somewhere I want to stay, I fall in love with it, and then we attempt to figure out how we’re going to get there and what there is to do around it. Perhaps not the best way to plan a holiday, but it’s my way.

Last summer I fell in love with this goat farm in the Dordogne and it was quite a palaver figuring out flights there, so it can be a bit of a pain.  Mr Rigg set me off looking on the Mr & Mrs Smith website (oh my gosh there are some stunning places!) and this is where I came across and fell in love with Kinsterna.

Kinsterna Hotel & Spa is a 5* boutique hotel in the hills above Monemvasia. Monemvasia is a small town with an ancient fortified city out on a large rocky island way way down the coast of the Peloponnese in Greece.  Drive from Athens?  About 4-5 hours.  We weren’t fazed by a bit of a driving adventure in Green with what the hotel promised from its website, plus the added extras we got through booking via Mr & Mrs Smith.

So at the beginning of October last year we arrived at Athens airport and headed off to find our hire car.  We enjoyed a picnic lunch in the ever-so sexy car hire car park and studied the map of where we were going.  The lady at the car hire desk had looked at us like we were mad when we said we driving to Monemvasia that afternoon – she said it would take 7-8 hours (she was wrong).

Despite a long hot drive through miles of Greek towns and countryside, we got to see the incredible changes in landscape – some of which I hope you’ll see from my pictures.  One minute it’s huge mountain ranges shrouded in dust and heat, then next you’re surrounded by acres of lush citrus groves.

You know when you’re getting close to Kinsterna because you come around a bend in the road and there is sea ahead of you, and this massive rock just off the shoreline.

You can’t see the old walled city at this time as it’s on the opposite side, but it’s like a beacon that says after 4 hours driving you are almost there.

The drive up to Kinsterna from the road is interesting to say the least.  I’m sure you begin to wonder whether you’re really going to stay in a 5* luxury hotel as you wind and bump along a dirt road that continues to get more ‘rustic’ and dusty the further you go.  You begin to think you must have taken a wrong turn, but if you keep going you will eventually arrive at the pretty gates to Kinsterna.

Beyond these gates it really is a little oasis – it’s hard to believe it’s hidden away at the top of this long dirt track, but you soon forget about the rest of the world when you get welcomed in to the hotel.  The old bits of the hotel date back to the Byzantine era and our room had this incredible old domed ceiling.

We had our main bedroom with a little lounge area, a patio and small garden with views down to the sea beyond, a dressing room and bathroom.  We even got a complimentary bottle of wine and truffles displayed on the cutest mini glass cake stand and dome for booking through Mr & Mrs Smith.

Being terrible romantic and wanting to embrace the beautiful Greek weather, I flung open the patio doors for the afternoon – we later paid for this misdemenour as we were plagued by mosquitoes ALL night.  Worst.  Mistake. Ever.

It was seriously one of the worst night’s sleep we ever had – you could just hear them buzzing round your face, so you slept with the sheet over your head (or at least I did!), then you got to hot and got mad and turned on the light and insisted on hunting the f*@%£$’s down and killing them.  In the process you peed off your husband who by this point didn’t care if he got bitten and just wanted to sleep. Plus, with the brick domed ceiling it was almost impossible to see them…I feel stressed just thinking about it!

Thankfully before this sleepless night we had spent a wonderful evening meal on their terrace.  Part of the restaurant is built out over the ancient cistern which gave the hotel it’s name, so you sit at your table enjoying your dinner with trickling water and a shimmering pool beneath you.

Being the nerd I am, I have carefully noted down what we ate each day (after all, my holidays do focus around food!).  For dinner that first night I had a Laconian salad with mizithra cheese and this Greek cured pork – now I wrote down what I thought the name was of this pork, and on Googling it I have clearly remembered it very incorrectly.  Thankfully, I did a search for cured Greek pork and I believe what I ate was called syglino.  At any rate, it was delicious.  Mizithra is a traditional, unpasteurized fresh cheese made from goat or sheep’s milk.

Mr Rigg had a started of veal fillet salad, and then we both couldn’t resist having the organic chicken for our main which came with homemade pasta and a tomato sauce.

This was our first taste of the food at Kinsterna and I was so pleased that it was all so tasty – I appreciate you would expect this from a 5* hotel but if you read my recent personal post I was pretty anxious about being reliant on someone else for all my food needs.

Happy and on holiday – post dinner but before the night of the mosquitoes…

The next two days were spent firmly ensconced on one of the hotels (amazing!) poolside loungers.  Imagine a double bed outdoors with a sun shade, next to a blissful infinity pool with views out to sea.  If you can’t imagine, here’s what it looked like from where I was sat for two days…

The fab poolside loungers…

It seems that at this early point in the holiday I was beyond taking pictures of our breakfasts, they do come later though!  So we just relaxed by the pool with our books and the sun for two whole days.

Every so often one of the lovely hotel staff would appear with ice cold glasses of water, and we also drank freshly squeezed orange juice and even this fab drink which I think was just a blitzed up peach with ice.

A couple of evenings we had a lighter meal sat on the terrace.  It was such a blissful place to hang out, especially as the hotel was so quiet at this time of year.  We ate things like burger and chips (Mr Rigg), Club sandwiches (for me…more than once) filled with smoked turkey, bacon, and omelette; salads; baguettes and so on.

Oh, and some very good ice creams for pudding.

Me enjoying the ice cream

Some friendly local wildlife…

I could just scoff this right now…

We also explored a little around the hotel, finding a very sweet pony who as I understand it pulls a cart for those having their wedding at Kinsterna, as well as being hooked up to the old-fashioned grape press to help with the wine making.

What I also loved about the hotel is that there are edible things growing almost everywhere you look – they are lemon/lime trees around the pool, trailing squash and pumpkins plants behind a wall, and pomegranates hanging from branches – I always get excited on holiday to see ‘exotic’ fruits growing.

On the third day we took a trip out to an island called Elafonisos for the day – I’m going to save that for my next post as it deserves a full one to itself.

Two more days were spent lounging around at the hotel, with another day trip out to the Mani (again, I’m saving that for another blog post).  We both went for a complimentary massage in the hotel spa, which was a bit of a surreal experience – I think it’s just not my ‘thing’ despite how nicely we were looked after, and a bit weird to be sat in a dressing gown sipping herbal tea with your husband in a spa.

We did a lot of this during our holiday…by the end of our stay at Kinsterna I can quite honestly say I don’t think I’ve ever felt so relaxed and unwound.

And quite frankly, who could blame us when there was such pretty views from the hotel and such nice food?

Now, onto breakfasts.  Breakfast at Kinsterna is a feast, and I guess you would hope so for the price you are paying to stay here.  As with all places abroad it took us a little while to get into the swing of how they did things at the hotel.  Mr Rigg trying to decide what to have from the menu…

You could basically have a three course breakfast – yoghurt to start, followed by either a cooked breakfast or filled crepes, and then rounded off with cake and pastries.  We soon realised if we ordered everything together it arrived all together.  Some days this was fun and you can see our greedily filled table!

The menu included the following (and I think we tried pretty much everything during our stay!): Greek yoghurt with honey and nuts or fruit; crepes with cheese; crepes with cheese and turkey; crepes with chocolate praline; all kinds of full English combinations; waffles with chocolate praline; pasties including croissants and pain au chocolat; ‘sweet pie’ which was filo pastry filled with some kind of custard; chocolate cake…and breathe.

Sadly there’s no picture of the giant waffle topped with thick chocolate praline that defeated Mr Rigg – I’m sad that I didn’t capture that on camera, and there was no persuading him to have another one another day so I could get photographic evidence of how immense it was.

The very beautiful view from our breakfast table every morning…

Whatever we chose at breakfast, we always started off the same way – Greek yoghurt and honey.  For him – with fresh fruit.  For her – nuts.

Those days we stayed at the hotel we also ate dinner there too, a combination of early evening relaxed meals on the terrace from their bar menu (more burgers, Club sandwiches and ice cream), and smarter evening meals.

At the risk of listing of menu items, I want to share some of the other dishes we ate (despite lack of pictures – it was too dark) as they were as delicious as they sound: Monemvasia stonefish bouillabaisse, garden vegetable soup with saffron and airiani milk foam, langoustine salad, scallops and crayfish with vegetable spagetti, creamy risotto with sweet pumpkin mousse (heavenly!!), pork fillet with Manouri cheese and celeriac puree, and chocolate Mille-feuille with orange.

The risotto with sweet pumpkin mousse…

Mr Rigg’s pork fillet with Manouri cheese…

I really liked the hotel’s emphasis on local and regional products, as well as their own garden grown vegetables.  Plus each dinner was started with a small bowl of the hotel’s own extra virgin olive oil and a variety of bits to dip and nibble on.  Even breakfast which had it’s fair share of standard breakfast items that you’d find all over the world, still had a few regional/Greek specialities included.

I hope you’ve enjoyed sharing in the first part of our Greece adventure and for a few moments have been swept away to the beautiful Kinsterna hotel. Looking back through all the pictures I just want to return there even more.

Next up in our food memories of Greece – our day trip to the pretty island of Elafanisos…

I am a huge mushroom fan in all their shapes and sizes.  I have found a way to cook them that I just love – I’ve had too many of those soggy watery mushrooms that I was determined to find a way to make them taste how I like them.

I cook them over a really high heat in a big knob of butter until they release all their juices.  Then I continue to cook them until all the juices disappear, then they start to brown and caramelise a little around the edges.  This is how I like my mushrooms.  Once their like this they are delicious and you can then do all kinds of things to them (aside from eating them just like this) to make different meals.

Getting a little bored of my usually fry-up egg brunch that I’ve been having for lunch these past months, I decided a quick bowl of pasta was in order.  I’m currently trying to not eat too much wheat, and although I was convinced that anything other than ‘normal’ pasta tasted minging, I’ve actually discovered I really like the corn pasta – plus it’s a gorgeous golden colour.

With the pasta cooking, I set about to my mushrooms, cooking them just as I mentioned above.  Once the pasta was done and drained (I always reserve myself a mug of salty pasta water to add to my sauces), I stirred in some cream cheese to my mushrooms.  I have discovered a French cream cheese in Waitrose (yes I costs quite a bit more than your standard cream cheese but it’s worth it for the taste) that is utterly heavenly, so until I make some attempts at making my own this will do fine.

To make the mushrooms and cream cheese more ‘saucey’ I added some of that reserved pasta water just to loosen it up to the consistency I wanted. We quite heavily salt our pasta water, so I am always cautious around seasoning my pasta sauces until I’ve added the cooking water.

Next I mixed the pasta and sauce together, adding more pasta cooking water to get a nice glossy sauce.  Finally I tasted the seasoning, added lots of black pepper (I love the stuff!) and topped it off with grated cheese and cress for a bit of green.

Not bad for a weekday working lunch.