Perfect pastries
15:11:2011
Every restaurant and market I came across in Greece was selling Baklava – beautiful little golden squares of filo pastry layered with butter and nuts and gilded with super-sweet sugar syrup
Winter warmers
01:11:2011
The stew was rich and thick, packed with Greek flavours – cinnamon, cloves, tomato and plenty of herbs. The meat was tender and soft with bones that cried out to be picked over by hand and sucked clean!
Gourmet Greece
01:11:2011
As winter sets in I must admit to having greeted the increasingly cold, dark nights with glee. For me it heralds the season of unctuous, slow cooked dishes that warm the soul.
Sun, sea & slow cooking
20:07:2011
Slightly stumped at the prospect of digging a firepit in my small city garden, I have instead created a summery lamb Kleftico recipe perfect for slow cooking at a low temperature in the oven, leaving the cook to enjoy the best of the English summer outside.
Essential oils
19:07:2011
‘Butter’ I am told in Chania market ‘is never used’. Instead pastries, cakes and desserts are all made with olive oil and if the dainty morsels I tasted, fresh from the oven at 6am in the local bakery are anything to go by, this is a secret well worth discovering!
Going Greek
19:07:2011
As I began planning my odyssey one discovery in particular aroused my attention more than anything else – the rumour that the inhabitants of the Greek island of Crete are some of the fittest and longest living in the world!
Fish tales
03:08:2010Surrounded by beautiful, clear blue sea, Crete has long relied on its fishing industry to provide food. I wondered whether a diet rich in fish and seafood was the X factor that made Cretan’s so healthy and full of vitality. So after an early start, I headed to one of the nearby harbours, Nea Hora, a short walk from the centre of Chania old town.
Read moreTreats from the Taverna
27:07:2010Just a short drive west from the old town, along the coast road, you will find great beaches and the inevitable modern hotels to go with them. But only a couple of brave minutes by car inland (I say brave as the local driving is pretty feisty to say the least!) and you are instantly transported into something altogether more local. Rows and rows of olive trees cover the rocky landscape, on terrain where little else manages to grow. I can’t say the area is beautiful, but it has a bare, rugged charm about it, and it feels instantly authentic compared to the strip of hotels nearer the coast below.
Read moreThe charm of Chania
21:07:2010Rumour has it that the Greeks have an unparalleled passion and zest for life and that they are enviably healthy, so I want to know what their secret is! With low-cost airlines now travelling to many of the Greek islands there’s never been a better time to find out. I’ve heard amazing things about Crete, in particular it’s unspoilt western coast, so I headed for Chania to find out what all the fuss was about.
Read moreThe people of Crete
15:06:2010I’ve heard that the people of Crete simply love life – just as well as rumour has it they live longer than most of us! Could their amazing home-grown food, glorious weather, or local olive oil be responsible? I want to know what their secret is, so I’m heading to Greece’s largest island [...]
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