Vrélis

Today we have our food tour which is across the island. I have woken up a bit under the weather. This is the first time since Munich that I have felt off. I stayed mostly in the shade yesterday and do not have a sun burn anywhere. However, my stomach is just not right. My head is a little off as well so this might be just too much heat.

We head off to the food tour. The place is called Cretan Vibes (https://cretanvibes.com/cookingtour). It is about an hour and a half away from where our place is but takes us up a mountain and into the interior of the island. Life looks very different here. There are fields of olive trees, various produce, some goats and then barren rock faces. We go through some small villages and see people going about their daily lives. It is much less glamorous than what you see on the coast or in Heraklion. The roads here are very twisty and wind through like our switchbacks up and down the valleys and hills. We are almost there when we end up in a market area. Apparently one town shuts down the street Google told us to take for a market every Saturday. We have to back up, turn around and find another way. Laura of course is a very cool Kitten and this doesn’t faze her in the least.

We finally make there and then get lost on the road to the farm. We went a little too far and had to come back up through the olive grove to get to our outdoor kitchen. The place is run by Marianna and her wonderful Mother. Marianna speaks very good English, her mother does not. It doesn’t seem to matter though because we can immediately feel the welcome from both of them. They let us stretch our legs and use the bathroom. We chat for a while just getting to know each other. They serve us two different drinks from a syrup that they make right there. One has cinnamon, anise and sugar, the other is lemon juice, sugar and water. They mix these with water and serve them to us. The drinks are very different but both are very refreshing. They have built a large gazebo with a washroom (with running water) and several tables that they can set up with cooking stations. There is a lovely breeze blowing through the valley which is wonderful since the temperature is climbing up to 34 Celsius!

They are going to help us create 3 Cretan dishes. One is a lamb stew, one a potato and egg dish and finally a goat cheese pastry for dessert. Cretan food is slightly different from Greek food and it uses less ingredients and has simpler flavours.

First up is the lamb stew. We need to start this early because it takes the longest to make. We don our aprons and take our stations. We sear the lamb in olive oil over high heat and then turn it down. We chop and add some onions, fresh herbs that are growing 3 meters away from us. Then water is added and we let that simmer for an hour and a half.

Marianna takes us on a tour of their farm. They have two different types of olives and she explains how they are harvested and sent for processing. They have a very large farm that was started by her grandfather many years ago. She tells us how they propagate new trees and what the seasons are for pruning, spraying and then harvest. They also have 4 greenhouses where they rotate crops like watermelon, tomatoes, peppers and beans. In addition to this they have open fields where they grow artichokes, more tomatoes, watermelons, peppers, zucchini, squash, herbs and potatoes. They have pretty much everything they need to live right at their fingertips. Other then meat which they get from a local butcher. You stand back and realize that not only do they run this farm, they also run the cooking tours. This is a massive operation and you don’t see a lot of farm hands working here. I’m sure they get help in for harvest but you quickly realize how hard these people work all their lives.

After the tour of the farm, Marianna brings us back to start the other dishes. We head back to the stew and add a potato, tomatoes and some fresh picked artichoke hearts. We even learned how to peel them. We are doing a potato and egg dish as well. The potatoes are from their farm (of course!) and are beautiful white potatoes. Okay, let us get excited about potatoes. These are solid, large, white, without eyes potatoes. The kind that we can only get for about a week and a half back home. We peel our potatoes and then are shown a different way to cut them, that will make them into very thin French fries. Marianna’s mother then fried them up in their oil (made from their olives!) and then completed the dish with some farm fresh eggs.

After this we made a pastry dish with goat cheese, cinnamon and honey. It was also very yummy. After everything was complete, they pulled out a bottle of red wine and we all sat down for dinner. The lamb stew was great. We had some fresh greens (wilted in olive oil and then drizzles with lemon) called horta. The egg and potato dish were a hit with Laura and both Nicole and I enjoyed the pastries. The whole tour took about 6.5 hours. After many hugs and goodbyes, we make our way back home.

We leave very early tomorrow; the cab comes at 6:30 AM; to catch the ferry to Santorini. I am feeling better but stay home to pack. The girls head out for a walk and some shopping. Talk to you all later.Read more