Thursday, July 31, 2014

Greece- Santorini

Oh Santorini. 

Whenever Greece was mentioned two things came to mind, the first was Athens and the second was Santorini. I enjoy perusing pinterest and more than once, beautiful magical looking photos of Santorini would pop up. We knew the island would be more expensive than others because it is a popular destination and I suppose is like the Cannes of Greece, so ritzy. 

The island was even more beautiful than I had expected. 

Fortunately we were able to find a reasonable priced hotel right on the Caldera View. Santorini isn't known for it's beaches. It is the remains of a volcanic eruption and so first of all all the towns are built up high on the cliffs and the few beaches that do exists have black sand. 

When we arrived at the port, we immediately rented a car. Even though we would have enjoyed another quad to scoot around the island, we knew that with all the hills we would have trouble! The man at the car rental tried to help us with the location of our hotel but told us it was in Firastefani, and after we stopped and asked for help, we learned it was actually in Fira. 
view form hotel terrace
view from hotel terrace - Fira
After we finally arrived hot, sweaty, and pretty exhausted we headed out soon after to check out the town Oìa. It's the best place to watch the sunset. It's a small town and so it didn't take long to walk through and enjoy the breathtaking views. Then we settled down to watch the sunset. 

Our second day in Santorini we decided to drive around the island and visit the few beaches. They are called by the color of their sand. So first we stopped at "Red Beach" and then we tried to stop at "White Beach"- it was rocky white but we're not sure if it was the white beach. Then lastly we drove on over to the other side of the island to Perissa to see the most popular "Black Beach" but it was disappointing, full of beach umbrellas and chairs.  

While we were driving back we saw some horses, donkeys, and goats so we had to get some photos. 
The second night we decided to have homemade aperitivo. We stopped at the Carrefour which was near out hotel and picked up some white Greek wine and peanuts. We sat up on the terrace of our hotel and enjoyed watching the sunset and sharing a drink together. We had to ask the older greek lady at the reception for a corkscrew and when we were walking up to the terrace she met us with two wine glasses which was really sweet of her. 
We also saw on more than one occasion the classic image of an old greek man sitting on a donkey, leading a trail of donkeys behind him. A few times they passed right in front of our hotel room door. Thankfully they didn't leave any smelly gifts behind, because despite the picturesque view, walking along the caldera streets of Fira it was rather unpleasant. 
Two nights in Sanotrini was the perfect amount of time. We were able to walk around Oia, Fira, and Firastefani and visit the most popular beaches. When we return we'll have to go on a super special occasion and get a hotel with the private pool right on the edge of the cliff... hopefully! 

p.s. a lot of photo credit goes to Luca 

Monday, July 28, 2014

Greece - Paros

This summer Luca and I are able to take two shorter holidays with the time off Luca can get from work. So we decided for the first week to go to Greece, which also fell over our anniversary- we couldn't have celebrated a better way.  

Luca had already been to Greece, but it was my first trip. We knew we wanted to visit the islands and Santorini was a definite must. But other than Santorini we weren't sure which islands to choose. There are so many and our friends talked about each visiting different ones and so it was hard to decided without feeling like maybe we'll miss out on something.  

We were able to find a cheap flight with Vueling to Mykonos. Mykonos is known as a party island and our flight was full of high schoolers or recent graduates who were going to have a good time, but that wasn't our aim so we stayed there just a night, since we got in late, before catching a ferry to Paros the following morning. 
We choose Paros because it's "on the way" to Santorini and because between the island of Naxos and Paros our research told us the Paros was a smaller quieter island. 

As soon as we got off the ferry in Paros we knew we would need a means of transportation to get around the island. We were ripped off by the taxis in Mykonos so we immediately rented a 4-wheeler to get from the port to Naoussa. However there aren't really street names on the islands and so it wasn't so easy finding our hotel. We had to stop three times and ask for help and finally at the last stop the shop owner offered to call the hotel and ask for directions. 
We had four nights in Paros. Each day we visited a different beach. 
On our first full day we visited Kolybimthraes beach. It had a nice cove and there were beach chairs to rent for 2 euros which is a great deal! We relaxed in the shade of pine trees.  On a hill nearby there was a church and we were able to walk on the roof and take some gorgeous photos. 
 In the evening we meandered around the the historical center of Naoussa which is rather small but very quaint and picturesque. We were able to catch a traditional dance performance and found a great spot for happy hour. 
overlooking Naoussa 

Happy Hour bar 

The second day, we ventured out to the complete other side of the island to visit the "famous" Golden Beach. The name probably comes from the long white sandy beach that runs along the coast. It was different from the day before; a lot bigger, super windy, and tons of wind surfers taking lessons from the wind surf school located right there. This time we got 2 beach chairs and an umbrella and enjoyed a nice long lazy afternoon.
Our last full day on the island we visited the other large city where the port is, Parikia, and  in the afternoon we stopped at Parasporos beach. Parikia was absolutely beautiful. It is everything you would imagine Greece to be. There were flowers everywhere and the narrow streets leading you around the white town was dream like. 
Thankfully we didn't run into any problems with the 4-wheeler the whole time as we did see a group of teenagers in a moped accident. The food was great, but I'll probably end up writing a post just on greek food alone. And I can definitely say that we don't feel like we missed out on an island because Paros was pretty amazing. 

Thursday, July 17, 2014

The Bread Project #4 - Guest Post

I thought it would be a good idea to have a guest post from none other than the woman who taught me how to make bread- my mother! 

She is the bread maker master. And the following recipe is delicious and amazing! We always wake up on Easter and Christmas morning to the smell of these delicious buns coming out of the oven. 

Enjoy! 

“Good bread is the most fundamentally satisfying of all foods; and good bread with fresh butter, the greatest of feasts.” 
James Beard

There are very few things in life that have the power to directly connect you to your
ancestral history. Every time I make “Three Day Buns” I can’t help but think that I am
doing the same thing my foremothers and forefathers did hundreds of years ago. Well,
maybe not exactly the same thing, for today I have the convenience of pre-packaged
yeast. My Norwegian ancestors didn’t have that luxury, thus the name “Three Day” buns.
My Grandmother Inez claims that it really did take three days to make these amazingly
tender and slightly sweet, rolls. 

Day 1 - the starter was made. I’m assuming this was similar to a sourdough starter – a
way to cultivate yeast when you couldn’t go to the store and buy it.
Day 2 – use the starter to make the dough, and let it rise. Because it was organically
cultivated yeast, it took a lot longer to rise than present-day dough.
Day 3 – Form the dough into rolls, let them rise again. Then bake them and enjoy the
fruit of your hands and your patience!
I love the thought that I am carrying on a tradition that is centuries old. Three day buns
have been a special treat for our family – made only three or four times a year – mostly
on holidays. They are best eaten right from the oven and slathered with real butter.
Leftover buns can be sliced in half, toasted, and topped with butter, honey, or jam for a
tasty treat. They keep for several days if wrapped in a plastic bag, and they freeze well. 
As I made Three Day Buns today, I was reminded that I am the keeper of the rare gift
of an ancient bread recipe - A recipe representing a long line of bakers symbolizing the
value of life, hearth, and home. As I dream about the day I will teach my grandchildren
how to make Three Day Buns, my hope is that this tradition will continue on for several
more centuries!
Because this recipe has been passed down through the family and is a cherished treasure we prefer to keep it within the family for now, so there isn't the recipe listed. We can't share our best kept secrets! 

Monday, July 14, 2014

The Bread Project #3

This time, my attempt at making bread failed. It's not so fun to write about something that didn't turn out, but hey, it happens. I went for pretzel bread. It seemed simple enough and I love pretzels. During the school year when I have a break I walk to the closest bakery and get a pretzel stick. I always thought that making pretzels was difficult but it's really not... if you do it right! 

"With bread all sorrows are less” - Sancho Panza, Don Quixote 

I associate pretzels with Germany even though I've never been, however I imagine that if I were to go to Germany I would eat a lot of brats and pretzels. So I did a little research. Some accounts say that pretzels originated in Italy, others in France and Germany. The only place though that has historical documentation is Germany from 1111 ! 

Do you see the pretzel? 
Hortus Delicarum- 1185 from an abby manuscript in Alsace
The pretzel is considered a very spiritual type of bread. Many records of pretzel making come from monasteries and in the traditional looking pretzel the  knot is like folded hands praying and the three holes represent the Holy Trinity. 

I didn't roll out the dough and make traditional pretzels, instead I found a recipe that was for a loaf of bread. 
 This recipe also called for the KitchenAid and some kneading. 
The problem was that my dough didn't rise. I used some yeast which I think is supposed to be instant. It needs to be kept in the refrigerator. The recipe said not to dissolve the yeast, so I didn't. However this, having been in the fridge and not dissolved I don't think it mixed well or had the right properties to do what yeast does. 
 But since I had already made the dough and waited at least 4 hours to see if it would rise, I thought I might as well finish the process and see how it turns out. What's interesting about pretzels is that they are "cooked" in a baking soda solution for 2 minutes to create the Maillard Reaction. This is what gives it that tough, thick, brown outer coating.
 So I baked my two tiny little pretzel loaves, but not having risen they were heavy, dense, and felt like rocks. The taste wasn't so bad, but it definitely isn't how a pretzel should be. It was easy enough to make and now I know I'll either use dry yeast or try to dissolve the refrigerated kind the next time I attempt pretzels!  

I looked around for a few recipes and this one from Allrecipes seemed to give the smallest quantity and the most simple. I didn't have Fleischmann's RapidRise yeast and so that might explain why it didn't rise....
Pretzel Bread
Prep Time: 20 Minutes
Cook Time: 27 Minutes
Ready In: 1 Hour 49 Minutes
Servings: 12
INGREDIENTS:
Dough:
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 envelope Fleischmann's® RapidRise
Yeast
2 teaspoons salt
3 cups all-purpose flour, or more as
needed
Boiling Solution:
3 quarts water
3/4 cup baking soda
Egg Wash:
1 egg
1 teaspoon water
DIRECTIONS:
1.Heat milk and butter until warm (100 degrees to 110 degrees F); the butter will not completely melt. Combine with undissolved yeast and brown sugar in a large mixer bowl. Stir in salt and 2 cups flour, beat for 3 minutes. Gradually add enough remaining flour to make a soft dough. Knead on a floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, cover and let rise for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
2.Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
3.Combine boiling solution and bring to a boil. Punch dough down and divide into 2 equal pieces. Form each piece into a tight, smooth ball. Boil each loaf in the solution for 2 minutes, turning after 1 minute. Remove loaves from pot using a slotted spoon and place on a greased baking sheet.
4.Brush with egg wash and cut a cross in the top. Bake for 15 minutes then reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F and bake an additional 10 to 12 minutes until the loaves are evenly browned. Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack.

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