The bee and bird dance

Summer is coming! Nature is in uproar: not only are the plants shooting up to the sky, the dogs also feel spring in the air, the bitches are on heat, and the cats are meowing everywhere. After some showers lots of snails are crawling around and you see plenty of beetles, amongst them a funny striped one I have never seen before. And then there are the birds who all seem to be into dancing.

In the evenings we enjoy sitting in the twilight that throws a red glow over the mountains and gives the rare little passing clouds an edge of gold. And under those clouds are other clouds: swarms of birds which nosedive in formation into a treetop. They twitter loudly as if participating in the Eurovision Song Contest. And then suddenly another swarm appears, moving in frivolous patterns, also nosediving into that same treetop, adding its numbers to the overpopulated tree. Branches are moving heavily, not disturbing the birds who are apparently partying. And when everybody has found his place in the tree, some lonely birds are left flying above. Could they be the directors who twitter excitedly and announce what is next to happen? Because suddenly a swarm of hundreds of birds shoots out of the tree, taking to the air in elegant movements, looking for the next treetop. A little later another swarm follows, and then another, until the tree is emptied and silence is restored. More swarms come from quite another direction, join the group and they twitter and twitter, like they are the main choir of Lesvos in rehearsal. Only when darkness really settles in Eftalou, do they fall silent and peace is restored in the trees and the air.

Those thousands of birds, performing dances in the air, formed an amazing spectacle. Although I had no idea which birds they were. They were flying too high or too fast to get a good look at them. Even when passing under a tree with hundreds of birds singing in it, they are so well covered by the greenery that still you cannot get a good look at them. I thought they were sparrows.

This morning I encountered another loud swarm, but this one gave me the creeps: it was no swarm of birds but rather a swarm of small and fast moving missiles, buzzing loudly and barring my path: wasps! Not for a million euro would I step nearer to them. I am not afraid of a wasp, but I am when there are thousands of them. I was happy that I met them on my way to the sea and not the other way around, otherwise I would never have dared go home.

A little later I went looking to see what had became of them: they were now huddled together around a tree branch in a huge knot. I called for a friend because I was now too afraid to pass that tree along the path to my home. My friend Jan van Lent armed himself with his camera and took pictures of this buzzing ball of creeps. But when I sent a picture to Joris at the Wildlife Hospital of Lesvos, he accused me of being a city girl: it was a swarm of bees!

Bees might be less threatening than wasps and Joris might say: ‘They will not hurt you as long as you don’t threaten them’, but my reasoning is that when I panic they will panic and I don’t want to run for my life. And I will never be as courageous as the person who understands bees and encourage them to cloth him in a lively bee coat like the man in this movie.

On the internet I learned that this must have been a spring swarm where they all (40,000 to 80,000) attach themselves to their queen (called a beard of bees). And yes, I am originally a city girl: I have never encountered this amazing phenomenon in the cities in which I have lived, not in Paris, not in Amsterdam.

With the help of a hazy photograph Joris also identified the partying birds: starlings, birds that I do know from the city. Because of their massive performance and their sing-songing I didn’t recognize them, and I still doubt it, because up-close they more resembled a bunch of sparrows celebrating a Dutch Queensday.

I then had to wait to see what the swarm of bees was going to do. Would they stay, I had to call in a sturdy beekeeper to take them away. I first enjoyed a lovely lunch at the seaside with friends and when coming home I found that the bees had fled. Danger was gone and the next day it was back to a normal life and enjoying beautiful Lesvos.

(with thanks to Mary Staples)

@ Smitaki 2012

Discover unknown Lesvos

In April and May there is an explosion of flowers on the island. Right now bright yellow broom bushes and pink and white clouds of blossoms give colourful accents to the mainly green landscape. Red anemones and poppies, white marguerites and many kinds of yellow flowers colour the fields under the olive trees. Small jewels of orchids hide between tall grasses and along the foot paths and crest hyacinths and lupins provide the blue accents.

The best way to enjoy this natural beauty is to go walking. Big hiking organizations don’t offer hikes on Lesvos but believe me — this North Aegean island is a secret Valhalla for walkers. Englishman Mike Maunder has known this for years. He published the first hikers guide for Lesvos in 2000: Mithimna walks, with walks around Molyvos (Mythimna). The edition of 200 was stencilled and sold out in one morning. Since that year new editions with new walks and titles have been published. Last year On Foot in North Lesvo,s describing 25 walks around Molyvos and Petra, was published in co-operation with the Dutch Sigrid van der Zee,.

In the mean time the English couple Brian and Eileen Anderson have also been pretty active with publishing their Sunflower guides, describing not only walks but also car tours: Lesvos, car tours and walks was published first in 2004. The Andersons not only write about walks and tours on Lesvos, but have also published books about other Greek islands like Rhodes, Kefalonia, Zakinthos, Corfu, some Spanish islands and even books about food in North Cyprus, orchids on Lesvos and how to publish travel books.

Knowing how much time Mike Maunder spends to keep his walks up-to-date I am wondering how the Andersons manage with so many books. Their latest book is an e-book (Kindle edition): Lesvos: a Visitors Guide.

I do not have a Kindle, so I haven’t seen the book. But yesterday I was presented with the newest book by Mike Maunder and Sigrid: On Foot. Circular Walks on Lesvos.

Mike and Sigrid have been preparing this book for years by finding walks all over the island and believe me, that was not always easy, because although there are many roads on the island, lots of them just finish abruptly at a farm or in a meadow, or are so in decline that they are unsafe to walk. As they say in their foreword: “This is a lively landscape in progress”. Roads seem to come and go, dependent on what the farmers – the main users of the country of Lesvos – do with their land, like fencing or neglecting it. Often Sigrid and Mike took up the challenge to find a way from point A to B, which cost them days of walking, not always with success. But finely they managed: in the book 27 circular walks are described, going to the furthest corners of the island, passing through beautiful landscapes, along breath taking views and witnesses of the rich past of Lesvos.

I myself have only recently discovered Avlonas, where the Gulf of Yera starts, in the region where walk number 15 passes. I have seen with my own eyes magnificent views over the capricious coast, that has many capes, beaches and an azure blue sea which keeps on inviting for a swim. Because of these wonderful views it does not feel like being on Lesvos, which elsewhere has rather straight coastlines. The walk goes along idyllic places and (Greek) holiday houses where you immediately want to go and live.

But you can also choose to retrace the footsteps of pilgrims, a walk going along very old stone foot paths connecting the different monasteries built around the Limonos monastery nearby Kalloni. There are walks that take you along the hot water springs of Lisvori and Polichnitos (walks 11 and 12), through the age-old forests above the airport (2) and the pine-scented woods nearby Vatoussa (22) and Achladeri (10). The last one brings you along the famous Pessos waterfall. Walks starting in Lafionas (24) and close to Mandamados (27) will bring you to other waterfalls. The walk around Eresos goes along the monastery at the reservoir, while the walk starting in Melinda will take you to the little church of the Hidden Maria (Panayia Krifti) at the foot of a steep mountain, which can only be reached by boat or by a steep foot path.

It is not only nature that you will discover, taking these walks. Picturesque and traditional villages like Vatoussa, Vrisa, Lafionas and Liota are the starting point for the walks 22, 13, 24 and 20, while number 7 passes through the mountain villages of Agiasos and Asomatos.

Even the city has not escaped a walk: number 5 goes straight through the old part of Mytilini, a tour that helps you discover the treasures of the capital of Lesvos — like old mosques, churches and the castle.

So if you want to get to know Lesvos, you’d better take your hiking shoes with you, because this walking book guides you all over the island and shows you the most beautiful sides of the island. Even sitting lazily in a comfortable armchair, reading the book makes you want to start immediately. For more information, see: Lesvoswalks.

(with thanks to Mary Staples)

@ Smitaki 2012

Almost Greek

Last week the weather was so cold that Lepetimnos was again dusted with a snowcoat; while this week mother nature organized another spring attack, with temperatures going above 20˚C. As much as I like to see a white Lepetimnos, I do hope that this time spring will win because - like many others - I’ve had enough of the cold.

While the weather is messing around, I rattle with pans and ladles behind the stove and the computer. As I have already mentioned, I am writing a cookbook. Well, writing is not the correct word, because it is already written. I am now to finalize it.

I am a cook who opens her refrigerator, sees what’s there and starts cooking. Cookbooks do give me ideas, but it’s my provisions that determine what and how things will be served on a plate. And I am in the luxurious position of not only having to check my cupboards for stock, but also of being able to see what the fields surrounding my house have to offer.

My favourite kitchen accessories are the wok and a wooden ladle: which can be a problem, as last winter my wok needed to be thrown away and I couldn’t find a new one on the island. Someone brought me a cheap one from IKEA near Athens, but already, after just a few weeks, the inside has started to flake. The wok now waits outside for a new home somewhere in the garden.

There is a cooking shop in Mytilini and another in Kalloni, but neither had a big wok in stock (I have to wait until the end of March), so now I am making do with a small one; and although its of very good quality, the spinach does not fit in it . I will manage as always and I am now cooking mostly with conventional pans, which is in a way better, because my cookbook is not about wok cooking.

I had originally thought of making it a crisis cookbook. You can turn lots of simple ingredients into lovely dishes and Greek nature is full of free ingredients. I am not a person who runs immediately to the shop, when missing an ingredient mentioned in a recipe: I prefer to replace that ingredient. But I do sometimes like to add a dash of cream or cognac and those are not exactly crisis ingredients.

This winter I discovered the woodstove and its oven. Since the stove has been burning, my electric oven is not used anymore. Baking, making stews, warming up — it all happens on the wood stove, that’s a considerable economy.

But it’s not good for the cookbook, because the woodstove does not work the same as an electric oven in which you can regulate the temperature and time exactly. I did find an alarm clock that helps me to take the bread out on time from the oven, but it does not tell me the temperatures.

So what I did last month was check all the recipes for amounts, cooking and frying temperatures and times. I am a cook who never checks amounts and just splashes some oil in a pan nor sprinkle salt and herbs over a dish with a spoon. I cut from the vegetables what I need and cook what I gathered on the fields without having it weighed.

I have already written that I have given up cooking Greek dishes. That is the same as making a French vinaigrette, which demands a certain flourish, and that I still cannot master. Greeks have a kind of Greek flourish of cooking: even though lots of recipes are very simple, I don’t get the same results, even when it’s the simple preparation of a white cabbage that simply boiled and served with some olive oil and lemon. So I am not going to pretend that I know how to cook Greek.

I cook ‘Almost Greek’, which will be the title of the book, make with Greek ingredients I make my own recipes. Well, that’s not the right word, because until last summer I was never into making recipes, just having fun with cooking. So it was quite some work to get all those dishes, which were never the same, written out into recipes.

This work is now done and I have a colourful range of recipes that can be made with all those delicious Greek ingredients — like orange mousse, feta cream, squid salad, sauce of wild asparagus and shrimps, fig fingers, tomato sorbet, Aegean rice, sardine salad, watermelon cocktail, almond cake, quince liqueur, spicy mushrooms and olive bread — only some of the 92 recipes.

I do know that most ingredients are not typically Greek, but more South European or even global, like most vegetables. But by combining them with Greek yoghurt, feta or Metaxa: that does give the recipe something Greek. And truth is that it’s this country (and especially Lesvos) that has inspired me to create these dishes.

I do hope that this cookbook will be an inspiration for all ex-pats living in Greece (or elsewhere in the South of Europe), for the tourists who love Greece, for the people who have never been to Greece but who like the Mediterranean kitchen and for Greeks who just want to eat something different. The book will be published in three languages: Dutch, English and German.

I’m not good at making dishes look like they come out of a magazine –which is a whole artform in itself – so I have chosen to have the book illustrated with drawings. A friend and well-known Dutch illustrator Sylvia Weve (who worked amongst others for the Volkskrant) made the drawings, and was constantly hungry while doing them. I hope to present the book sometime in May.

Because of all the cooking I’ve been unable to regularly write a weekly column. My thoughts were only about food. I do hope that at the beginning of the summer I can write again on a regular basis about things other than cooking.

(with thanks to Mary Staples)

@ Smitaki 2012

Market revolution

(Vatoussa)

Some days ago Bruno Tersago, a Belgium blogger living in Piraeus, wrote about the Potato Movement (only in Dutch). It was about farmers who could not sell their potatoes because they were said to be polluted. The farmers took their potatoes to Athens and distributed them for free. Farmers from another part of Greece were having the same problem and also took their potatoes to the capital. They sold them for cost. Many people welcomed this opportunity for cheaper produce because normally most brokers triple the prices.

It seems a new revolution: farmers coming to the cities to sell their own products. Which is what usually is done at a markets. However, a market stall will cost you and not everybody has money lying ready in their kitchen drawer.

I remember visiting markets in Chania (Crete) and in Athens and I am sure there must be others in Greece. But on Lesvos, the third biggest island of Greece, there are none. Why? It might be because most of the people here have their own little gardens where they grow their own vegetables, whilst one of their neighbours will have sheep and goats and most families on the island have olive trees for their daily consummation of olive oil.

It is also said that the shopkeepers oppose a farmer’s market: they are afraid of loss of income. Like the shopkeepers of Kalloni are opposing a bypass because they fear than no-one will come into their city for shopping. Meanwhile, most travellers to the north frequently get stuck in traffic jams in Kalloni.

All those shopkeepers should be sent abroad to take a look at foreign markets. In the South of France, the local markets, where you’ll find the most delicious local products, attract lots of people who also go into the local shops because not everything is available on the market stalls.

Here on Lesvos you could say that we have a mobile market. A few vegetable growers sell their products from their pick-ups. There are also some men selling fish from their cars. And there are gypsies and Chinese people travelling around selling chairs, clothes, knifes, tools, poultry and so on. They are like the peddlers of the Middle Ages. When you see those poultry vans, you believe yourself to be in another time. The poultry is kept in tiny cages and should be forbidden, especially in the soaring summer heat, when it’s pure animal cruelty.

Those other driving ‘marketcars’ are okay, but where are they when you need them. Years ago I went hunting for the mobile fish seller, but after chasing him with blazing horn for ages and to no-result, it’s no longer fun.

And then there are the tourists who ask frequently where the island markets are. The Dutch love to visit markets abroad to see all the local products. You can send them to the cooperative shops, but they don’t carry all products, especially no fresh vegetables.

Here in Molyvos they tried to organise a market, without any result. Last week I discussed this phenomenon with friends who work in the tourist industry and they told me that one of the most popular excursions on Las Palmas (Gran Canarian) is the one to a faraway local market.

So that’s it: don’t plan a market too close — but faraway! Lafionas for example is a picturesque village above Petra, where you could organize a market. You could make it into an attractive excursion where tourists, once up in the village, can also take the Alexander walk, an easy walk around a mountaintop with splendid views over the region.

If the sub-municipality of Petra doesn’t approve of a market in Lafionas then you make a market in Vatoussa, one of the most beautiful villages of the island, and which has a large parking lot. Or in Andissa, where they say that they have the most beautiful square. They wouldn’t object to having the most cozy market of the island. Because a market brings lots of life and where there’s life, there’s business.

Yesterday in Skamnioudi I tasted a one-day-old feta, and I nearly ate a kilo, it was that delicious. I get honey in Karini, but I am sure you also can find the same good quality elsewhere on the island. Lisvori makes a very special bread, like the bread from the wood stove in Megalochori which also is famous. The region around Mandamados is famous for its cheese, Agios Dimitrios (close to Agiasos) is known for its in sugar preserved vegetables and fruit (gliko toe koetalio) and the womens’ cooperative of Anamotia makes delicious cakes. It will take you days to buy all your favourite products here on the island.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have all those different cheeses from the island gathered in one market, along with all the different products of the many womens’ cooperatives, or to see all the honeys on a row, or all the olive oils, all the wines, all the horta and so on . . .

During the Ottoman Empire Greeks were known as being smart and good business people. Where did that business spirit go? Huge national and international enterprises have made Greece poor. So change the laws and the bureaucratic systems so that small entrepreneurs can build up Greece again with honest commerce and old-fashioned mercantilism.

(with thanks to Mary Staples)

@ Smitaki 2012

February 28 – Archipelagos

(Molyvos at the Aegean)

Every day I walk along the sea, even when it rains or storms. One day I walked even while snowflakes were whirling down.

After a few days of spring – it was such beautiful weather we had lunch outside – winter started a new offensive and now the Siberian wind is back and blows without mercy over the island. It has spoiled lots of fun; yesterday this attack came with rain and in the mountains even with snow and a few of the carnival parades were cancelled. In Molyvos the festivity was removed indoors, but the schoolchildren, who had been preparing for weeks, were unable to show their dances.

The last days of the carnival before Lent and Clean Monday (Kathara Deftera) were, as I said, warm and for several days lots of people were able to put aside their sorrows over the crisis and have been celebrating. And, even on that icy cold Kathara Deftera, restaurants for once were booming.

The highest mountain here in the North of Lesvos, Lepetimnos, still had some white snowy spots but now has been redecorated with a new white blanket. In Turkey too some mountain tops are snow white, glistening against a fresh blue sky, just like the sea, which is coloured blue and white, its white crests, like fiery horses, rushing towards the coast.

One of the twelve Titans in Greek mythology was Oceanus, master over all the oceans and seas. When the Greeks began to understand more about where the world oceans were, he became the master of all faraway oceans and Poseidon got to rule over the Mediterranean sea, of which the Aegean Sea is part.

This part of the Mediteranean used to be called Master sea or
archipelagos (arkhi in old Greek means Chief and pelagos sea). The modern word for a group of islands, archipelago, comes probably from archipelagos, because the Aegean Sea has plenty of islands.

They are hundreds and the Greeks islands (Turkey has only three islands left in the Aegean) are divided in seven groups: the North Aegean islands to which Lesbos belongs, the Sporades, Euboea (Evvia), the Saronic islands, the Cyclades, the Dodecanesos and Crete.

There are different stories about how the Aegean Sea finally got its name: the sea might be named after the ancient Greek town of Aegea (nowadays Aigio which is in the north of the Peleponessus), it could have been named after Aegea, a queen of the Amazones who drowned in the Aegean sea, or it could have been named after king Aegeus. This Greek ruler was told by an oracle that his son would cause his death. That is why he had a son in secret, Theseus. The boy was brought up far away from Athens. Theseus would only be allowed to come to Athens when he was able to lift a heavy rock, beneath which were hidden a pair of sandals and a sword. This happened when Theseus was 16 years old and so he went to Athens where his father recognized him. Like a real Greek hero this young man had many adventures and he also wanted to defeat the Minotaurus on Crete. There he met Adriadne, the daughter of king Minos. She helped him with a wire to escape the labyrinth where he killed the monster. He then set back to Athens taking his love with him. At Naxos they stopped to have a party, where Dionysos kidnapped Ariadne. This confounded Theseus so much that he completely forgot what he had agreed with his father: that should he survive his adventure – he would return to Athens with white sails. Aegeus saw his son’s ships arriving with black sails, and thinking Theseus was dead, he threw himself into the sea. And that is why this sea was called the Aegean.

The Aegean Sea is still full of history. Whole towns have disappeared into its waves and the extended bottom still hides plenty of treasures and ship wrecks. The Aegean Sea is still said not to be trusted because of sudden storms that can make problems for seafarers or can mean a watery grave for unstable ships. The sister ship of the Titanic, the Brittanic perished on November 21, 1916 in the Aegean, as did the SS Heraklion on December 8 in 1966, the MS Express Samina on September 26 in 2000, the Sea Diamond on April 5 in 2007. And even two weeks ago a large luxurious yacht disappeared in its waves: bye bye Yogi!

The various sea creatures that are fished out of the Aegean and end up on our plates are a gift from this turbulent world that gives and takes. Lent has started and the fishermen are out because, according the Orthodox Church, for the coming six weeks you are not allowed to eat products from animals with red blood, nor from fish with bones. So its not the favourite time for molluscs and shellfish: for they are, along with vegetables, the chosen food these days,

Some days ago it was so warm and the sea so invitingly calm and transparent blue that, for a split second, I thought I would have a swim. But now during these icy cold and stormy days its not even funny to walk along the shore. The water gets stowed into high waves and the horses of Poseidon blow their foam over your head. You cannot believe that in just six weeks the summer season will start: it will then be Easter and not long after that the first bathers will arrive to stick their toes into the now wild and cold water – that on a hot summer day would be such a blessing.

(with thanks to Mary Staples)

@ Smitaki 2012

From Pirate to Prince

Molyvos and its castle

Once upon a time there was a pirate, named Francesco Gattilusio. He originated from a Genoan patrician family. He crossed the seas with his bandits and arrived at the island of Telendos in the North Aegean where he met John V Palaiologos, once the emperor of Byzantium, but overthrown by his father in law. Palaiologos was plotting his return to power, so who better to meet than the pirate Gattilusio. The two entered an alliance. Gattilusio sailed to Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire and by bribing the military watchmen was able to enter the city and instill a revolt in favour of John V. John V regained the throne of Byzantium and Francesco got to marry his sister. As a wedding present he got the island of Lesvos (1355). And this is how the dynasty of the Gattilusio’s of Lesvos kicked off.

Those were turbulent times: the Turkish already fighting for the Byzantine Empire and within that mighty empire there were plenty of conspiracies against the throne. And then there were those pirates, like Francesco once was, but now he was officially called Francesco I Gattilusio, Lord of Lesvos.

The Gattilusio rule was not so bad on the Lesviot people. The castles were made stronger and the people faced a century of relative peace and prosperity.

Francesco himself was not that lucky: he died with his wife and his two eldest sons in the earthquake of 1384. His third son Jacopo became his successor as Francesco II. Nor did he rule for long: in 1404 he was bitten by a scorpion. He could have survived this bite, but his death was even more bizarre. Having been bitten, he called out for help; lots of people hearing him, rushed to his rescue and flooded his room. The wooden floor not up to the crowd, collapsed taking down the crowd, including Francesco II, who did not survive.

His eldest son Jacopo then became the new Gattilusio in power: Jacopo of Lesvos. I don’t know how he died, but I know that in 1428 his younger brother Dorino reigned as Dorino of Lesvos. He died in 1455 and was succeeded by his son Domenico, who did not last long because after three years his younger brother Niccolo had him strangled and took over power. Niccolo however was also not lucky because three years later – in 1462 – the Turks conquered Lesvos and Niccolo and his family were captured and brought to Constantinople (by then under Turkish rule). Niccolo converted to Islam, called himself Prince and gathered a retinue, However Sultan Mehmed II ordered him killed because of a dispute over a ‘favoured’ page.

However, the Gattilusios, by then an extended family, were impossible to erase: many of the children having married people in power all over Europe. When I look up the genealogical tree of the Gattilusio, some of the descendants did very well and were famous. Prince Rainer of Monaco, the archduke Otto von Habsburg (the last Crown Prince of the once so mighty Austrian-Hungarian Empire), Brooke Shields and the famous French writer the Marquis de Sade: they all had Gattilusio ancestors.. (http://www.wargs.com/essays/lesbian.html).

What remains of the Gattilusios on the island now are the castles that they had rebuilt, like the castle of Molyvos. This used to be the stronghold of Mythimna (the more ancient name of Molyvos), a city state that became famous in Greek history as the only Lesviot ally of the powerful city state of Athens during the Peloponnesian war (431 - 404 BC). The castle of Molyvos, a ruin after so many other wars following the Peloponnessian, was rebuilt and enlarged by The Gattilusios. Today we still can visit it.

Some years ago the castle was restored and when the scaffoldings went down people could visit it again. However recently, visitors have often been met with a closed door. I do not know if this was because of mismanagement or the crisis. However, now whilst roads cannot be restored and when more than one household no longer has money for heating or electricity, the municipality of Lesvos has decided that the castle should remain open all year long. This is good for employment because they have hired people to ensure that this cradle of many a Gattilusio can still be visited. So people can dream about this dynasty that started as pirates but ended up in more than one European Royal family.

(with thanks to Mary Staples)

@ Smitaki 2012

Mushrooms filled with Milk Thistle

(Marlboro sea)

Real winter conquered the island some weeks ago. Mt Lepetimnos got sugared with snow for the third or fourth time, Agiasos was covered under a pretty thick layer of snow, as was Megalochori and other places in the Middle and West of the island and on an early morning the snow even visited Eftalou, a place not really known for such a white blanket. Now there’s a Siberian gale blowing over the island and I have heard somebody say that the wind chill is -10 °C, although the mercury only sits at 0 °C.

This morning I woke up to see that the sea was smoking. The first winter I spent on Lesvos and seeing this phenomenon – the ice-cold air above a still warm sea produces smoke above the water – I called it a ‘Marlboro Sea’. Because I didn’t speak Greek well enough to explain to my Greek neighbours that the sea was steaming, I told them that the sea smoked Marlboro cigarettes.

Whilst the sea lights another cigarette and I bundle myself up as if travelling to the North Pole (I still have to walk my dogs) the spring has opened up another offensive. And this is what I like so much about Greek winters: it is never only winter, it also is a little bit spring.

During the winter period the months were pretty dry and even now not enough rain has fallen to encourage the thirsty plants hiding under the ground to lift themselves out of the earth. Other years there were plenty of anemones around by now, but this winter there have been very few. Until last week, when serious rain wet the landscape and they came with abundance—the quite happy anemones, showing their pretty colours in the winter land.

Because of the drought there were only a few wild mushrooms in autumn and even the meadow mushrooms, which are not usually winter shy, barely appeared. Only after the rain of last week, did they spring out of the ground and I was able to pick a basketful.

The almond blossoms also don’t care for the cold. Some of them, quite courageous in view of the ice cold wind, have already opened their delicate pink petals. I do hope the tiny flower buds that they hide are frost resistant because the weather forecast predicts that in the coming days temperatures will go a lot below zero.

The icy winter landscape is perked up with the brightly coloured oranges, mandarins and lemons hanging in the trees, ready to be harvested. They will provide lots of vitamins C, a good protection for this long cold snap.

And then there’s the horta, the wild vegetables, that grow in abundance. Like the young nettles that are wonderful in an omelet. Last week I picked a horta, even more prickly than the nettles: the young leaves of the milk thistle.

Milk thistles are very healthy to eat: they are good against liver and gallbladder disease and they even seem to protect your liver when you consume too much booze.

The story goes that the white spots on their leaves are thanks to the Virgin Maria, who on her get-away from the Romans to protect baby Jesus, spilt her mother milk on the leaves of thistles.

Milk thistles in the summer can grow as high as two metres. Their leaves are pretty prickly; even their starting rosettes, from where their purple flowers (butterflies love them) will grow are already pretty prickly. It was no easy job to collect these milk thistles. But somehow you just learn how to collect them; although washing them was another dangerous job. As their rosettes lay nearly flat to the ground while you cut them there will always be some earth with it and they do need a good washing before you throw them in their hot bath to be cooked. Put on some gloves! On the internet I read a recipe that stated that you had to cut all prickles from the leaves. I think that would be a lot of work because those small rosettes have lots of leaves and those leaves have even more prickles. I certainly didn’t intend to cut all those prickles; collecting and washing them had already been a long enough job. I suspect that the writer of that recipe had never actually cooked thistles, because when the leaves are boiled, their prickles become soft and tender and glide smoothly down your throat.

So after the prickling preparations and the boiling, I removed the stems from some big champignons (the meadow mushrooms were too small to be filled), chopped the stems and fried them with diced onions and bacon. I fried the champignon caps until they shrank and removed them from the pan. I finely cut the thistles leaves, added them to the mushroom-bacon mix and seasoned it with some salt, pepper and thyme. With this mixture I filled the mushrooms: champignons filled with milk thistle! It is a nice side dish or a fine meze to go with a glass of ouzo and very good for people intending to hit the bottle.

So you see that a Greek winter does not offer only cold.

(with thanks to Mary Staples)

@ Smitaki 2012