Saint Basil or Aghios Vasilis and Hogmanay

 In keeping with Highland tradition at Hogmnay, I have the oatcake, liqueur and candle at the ready for our guest to bring in after the bells. In turn they symbolise the wish that the household will enjoy food, drink and warmth during the coming year. We send him out just before then allow him in after the bells. Could that be deemed pushing your luck?  

                                              

In addition, in accordance with local customs, our first-foot will smash a pomegranate to bring good luck – and make a bit of a mess on the balcony tiles! He will also bring us a smooth stone – a custom carried out in his home area, Serres. It echoes a line in the Greek carol where the carolers express the wish that ‘in this house may no stone crack’. So, in this sense, it’s the actual building that is being blessed.

I have my freshly decanted, home-made liqueurs of mint and pomegranate on the bar, ready to serve our guests at the end of the meal, along with the vasilopita which will be cut and shared round the table. The excitement will be to see who wins the lucky coin inside, thereby ensuring good luck for the entire year. Just like our own Scottish dumpling.             Oh, that life were so simple!    

                                       

In Greece tonight children impatiently await the arrival of Saint Basil or Aghios Vasilis. He is the gift-bringer and delivers on New Year’s Eve, prior to his name-day on the following day.  In this house we also somehow refrain from opening our presents until January 1^st, so there is our stash, still miraculously untouched!

                                               

So, let’s look at the man behind the myth. Aghios Vasilis (329-379) was the Bishop of Caesarea - now in Central Turkey – and played an important role both spiritually and socially.

Spiritually he took strong stands in ecumenical councils, arguing against what would become the heretical doctrine of Arianism – the belief that Christ was not co-substantial with God. A great believer in monasticism, he opposed the hermitical role, in favour of offering to society. He founded charitable institutions to assist the poor, the sick and the underprivileged. Well-educated and from a wealthy family, he gave his fortune to the poor.

 The story I like best, is that he was extremely upset when the authorities imposed such heavy taxes that people were obliged to hand over their jewellery as  forms of payment. He interceded and demanded that the valuables be returned to the people. Since it was impossible to ascertain what belonged to whom, Vasilis came up with the solution that cakes be baked and jewellery be placed inside them. (Vide the vasilopita-cutting tradition.)                                                                                                                                           Thus the unjust tax was redistributed to the people.

                                                         

Now we see the role of Santa Claus ‘explained’.  I particularly like that the act of unjustly imposed taxation was redressed. It would be wondrous were our current governors to see the errors of their ways and thus compensate for their wrongdoing to us taxpayers.                                                                                  Sadly, I don’t see the canonization of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on the cards for 2019!

However, Z and I wish you all health, prosperity and happiness for the coming year.                                                                 

                                                 

Discomfort and Joy _ Restless Leg Syndrome at Christmas time! !

As someone who has practised both yoga and Pilates, relaxing my muscles is something that comes quite naturally. Try doing that, however, when someone is sticking needles into your abdomen! And why would you put yourself in that position, anyway? A long-term sufferer of Restless Legs Syndrome, I was intrigued to hear a friend was undergoing acupuncture to relieve back pain and so I decided to give it a try.

The first challenge was a linguistic one: trying to explain in Greek what it means to have RLS. Michaelis is a doctor specializing in radiology and Reflexology, while his wife, Eleni, is a bio-pathologist who also practises acupuncture. I was impressed when, at the outset, Michaelis confessed he’d never heard of the condition – it is normally the domain of neurologists - but once I explained what its causes are, insofar as we currently understand them, he was ready to apply his knowledge and experience to help me. I really had nothing to lose.  In fact, my Mull-based cousin who is a physiotherapist/acupuncturist, felt I was really privileged to have two orthodox and alternative medicine practitioners working together to hopefully alleviate my symptoms.

Acupunture is a form of alternative medicine and a key component in traditional Chinese medicine, whereby thin needles are inserted into specific parts of the body. The theory is that placing needles at particular acupuncture points helps to stimulate or realign the life force, or Chi, flowing through meridians in the body.

                                  

 

 By the way, the red effect is from the heat lamp! You can see me all ready to attempt auricular acupuncture, where little beads are stuck  on massage points and you are instructed to apply pressure on them for some seconds about four or five times a day.

 So there we were, my friend and I lying on beds in their surgery: me looking like a hedgehog and she more porcupinal, bristling with rather more metal! The needles went in fairly smoothly, being placed in the appropriate spots with the assistance of a guiding tube.  The ones at the side of my hand nipped a bit on insertion – I guess there are more nerves in that area. With one placed in the middle of my forehead, I felt I had acquired unicorn status!

                     

 

All fine, but it was when I saw the leads – narrow, albeit, but electrical, nonetheless! -  being attached to some of the strategically placed needles, I felt a little …. wary. When I saw Michaelis going to switch on the machine from which these leads were emanating, I visibly tensed and so he explained that they were only carrying low-level voltage and that I was not being hooked up to the national grid! Well that, in itself, was a relief!

 I have now undergone 4 sessions of treatment and am charting my physical responses as we go along. For the time being, my symptoms seem to be milder and less frequent. I remain cautiously optimistic. Which seems a nice note to end my medical meander on.

 The tree is up, Santa’s socks have been filled ……

                               

 

…and our delightful  Mr Mao, beside his snowman pal,  joins Z’n’me in wishing you                                                        a very  Merry Christmas!

                                                 

Change of Season : Change of Cuisine

 I love it when summer segues into autumn - and we’ve had a languorous, elongated mellow autumn this year. What I enjoy most is the change of seasonal produce and so, accordingly, the change of food fare. We are also very fortunate to have green-fingered, generous neighbours who regularly send over home-grown supplies. Lettuce is, of course, for us an autumn/winter veggie so it features in our ‘ecological produce box’ with the peppers, spring onions, and parsley. The bell peppers were incorporated into that day’s menu of chicken and pepper souvlaki, roasted on the grill pan, while the conical, green flask peppers graced the tomato salad along with the onion, while the parsley garnished the rice.

                                                  

  

I began including tahini, a paste made from sesame seeds, in recipes when catering for the non-salt dietary needs of a visiting cousin. I regularly make our own version of pesto using our ground, salted almonds (instead of the traditional pine-nuts) and basil leaves, to which are added cherry tomatoes, parmesan cheese and olive oil. This is a lovely fresh sauce with pasta of your choice. For our cousin, I felt the omission of cheese would mean something was missing from both the flavor and texture of the pesto, so to compensate I added some tahini, which has since become a regular ingredient in many dishes.

With eggs,cream, tahini, cheese, peppers and mushrooms, I made a savoury bake -  rather like a quiche filling - delicious accompanied with roasted red peppers as a salad.                                              

 

Another vegetable that our neighbours grow is Swiss chard or seskoula.  This boils up very quickly and can be served with oil, lemon and salt The sweet red peppers, here called florines as they are widely grown in the northern Florina area, are dry-roasted in the oven, stripped of their skins, then salt and a little vinegar are added to their own delicious oils.

                                                             

Below you can see grilled chicken breast with caramelized onions, kritheraki – a rice-like pasta type – cooked with leeks and a healthy swig of lemon juice, served with fried pepper and Swiss chard salads. Savouring with that a nice, chilled Macedonian wine - what more can you ask for?                                                      

   Below, with the leeks, you see the lotus fruit which I’ve made mention of before. I got tired of only making cookies with them and cast around for other options. This first one is a recipe I adapted: was for apple, now makes lotus muffins.

                                  

                           

 

Fate seemed to conspire to have me acquainted with pasta flora, aka pasta frola. Two years ago, when in Aegina with Angeliki, a neighbour presented us with her home-baked version which was delicious- as was the version our cousin served up when we visited her last year. Then during our stay at Amanita Guest House in Pelion, for breakfast Marianna served us a cherry-filled one which was memorable. Since then it’s been my quest to produce the beautiful base which is not short-crust pastry as some recipes would have it, nor is it a base of  sponge, the texture of which I’ve strangely got an aversion to. It falls somewhere in between the two.    

My first attempt, below, with lotus fruit filling, was too thick, making the tart a bit heavy. My second attempt, playing with lotus and raspberry jam fillings, had a base that was thinner but needed just a touch more baking time.

 I’m very fortunate that our neighbours are happy to be culinary guinea-pigs and also give me useful post-delivery feedback! My dream would be that some kind Argentinian can provide me with an authentic fail-safe recipe. In the meantime, both Z and neighbours may continue to be on the receiving end of further variations while I strive for pasta flora perfection!