Annie's Villa

After last year's adventures to Vietnam, we are just as excited this year to be going to our own Villa in Crete.  It's been a long time since we have been out in the Summer, and we are combining it with a week in Santorini, where we've never been.

Cannot wait!

We are always asked if we rent it out, and we do, details here!  (And yes I ought to do a course on positioning of pictures on blogger *adds to list*

Crete, has it succumbed to some British tourists expectations of food.........

Don't get me wrong, you can still get great food, fresh vegetables, fish that were probably still swimming locally a few hours ago, and meat that looks and tastes like meat.  Not a white, insipid piece of plumped up pork in sight!

However..............

Back in the day, after a great meal, you would traditionally be served some fresh fruit, maybe with honey, and some Greek yoghurt, to accompany the slug of Raki of course!  This holiday it appears it's all change.   Gone are the fresh figs, or pomegranates, grapes or apples, it is now chocolate cakes and waffles drowned in Nutella, in huge portions, to which my kids of course fell in love with. Problem is, they would previously have devoured the fruit and yoghurt just as eagerly............

what would you chose?

Portion size, in some tavernas, also seems to have gone into the humongous regions.  We ate in one of these recently and it made me feel sick at the sight of it - I was brought up having to eat everything "because there are starving children" somewhere.  Last night I saw some children being served food on huge platters, with mounds of chips, the size even my dear old dad would have struggled with.



Yes, I know, you can leave food, and we all did, it just seems such a waste.  The amount we left probably would have fed us for the week!  We may not be going back to that taverna for a while!

Luckily, our favourite place hasn't succumbed to this war over bigger the better!  It's about quality, not quantity, however they have given into the chocolate cakes for dessert.

Whether it's what the tourists demand, or what the Cretans think we expect, I'm not sure, but either way it's a sad, sad thing..............And it's evident that some of the local ex-pats have markedly put on huge amounts of weight too.   Wonder why, hmmmmmmmmmmm

Rant over, now back to the sunshine, which thankfully no-one can mess about with (not going there ha)!

UPDATE:  Since writing this post I have discovered that you can still get the fruit and honey option if you ask for it, but the chances are the waiters will try to upsell you to some cake or waffles etc. Last night we had the fruit and honey, and without the option of anything else, the kids loved it.

Annie x

Crete April 2012

You probably know I mainly blog about our Villa on www.rentavillaincrete.com But thought I'd transfer some pages over to here under my travel page :)

Wine Tasting

Ta Aptera Taberna

Aptera Ruins

English War Cemetary

Limnoupolis Water Park

More to add, but that's all for now :)

Annie

Greek Pork Meatballs in a Tomato Sauce with a spicy twist!

Ingredients

We are flying back to Crete in 2 days but I had the urge to cook some Greek dishes myself - crazy really, I'll be eating them for a week, but hey!   I have adapted a couple of recipes to suit, and added chilli flakes to give it a spicy kick, otherwise Greek food can be fairly bland and over-oregano'd!

Ingredients - meatballs
500g pork mince

3 slice white bread into breadcrumbs

1 medium egg

1 medium onion, chopped

2 garlic gloves, chopped

Flour - enough for covering the meatballs, plain or SR!

Half a level tsp died oregano

Half a level tsp ground cumin

Half a level tsp chilli flakes

2 tbs of olive oil Prep Method Ready for chilling Apart from the flour and olive oil, combine all the ingredients with your hands, then form into meatballs to your choice of size, I did them around a thumb width across.  Then roll in flour, put on a plate (or 2) and chill in the fridge for half an hour! Ingredients - Tomato Sauce 1 medium onion 400g of chopped tomatoes - can or carton 150ml pork or vegetable stock 2 tbs of tomato puree 1 bay leaf Method, combination Pre-heat slow cooker to high. Heat the oil in a frying pan on a medium heat and fry the meatballs turning them frequently to seal - you may need to do in 2 batches! Remove the meatballs with a slotted spoon and place to one side. For the sauce, add the onions into the pan and gently fry until soft. Add the chopped tomatoes, tomato puree and stock then turn the heat up slightly and cook for a minute or so until the sauce boils. Add the tomato sauce to the slow cooker, then gently add the meatballs so they don't fall apart.   Turn the slow cooker down to low and cook for 7 hours or so. Serve with a green salad and crusty bread! Annie x

Rent A Villa In Crete www.rentavillaincrete.com

My latest venture, with the greatest invaluable help from @mediocre_mum is 
http://www.rentavillaincrete.com/
I'm very excited to see if I can direct traffic with my own site rather than paying to be on others - we will see!  We are going out on Sunday so will be taking lots more pics.
Thanks for looking!
Annie x