shain

Parnitha mountain, just North of Athens.

Tea braised tofu and eggs (braising liquid includes tea, soy sauce, brown sugar, anise, fennel seeds, coriander seeds, Sichuan peppercorns, bay, cassia cinnamon). Mushroom stew with rice, inspired by Taiwanese braised pork rice. Includes ginger, shallots, oyster sauce, anise, rice wine, pepper.

Mango kulfi (mock) soft serve. Mango, frozen and blended with some cream and a bit of cardamom.

Frittata with carrots, ginger, mozzarella, five spice, pepper, basil. Rice (steamed but flavored akin to fried rice) with dried chilies (hot and sweet), lots of garlic, some douchi, some soy sauce, cashew, scallions. Chili oil. Dry hopped lagers. I love silicon bakeware. This frittata was mixed and baked in a single small loaf pan.

Breakfast. A cheese filled pie with flaky pastry. And a bougatsa (puff pastry) with custard and cinnamon. Decent, but phyllo pastry is still the best. Cold cappuccino freddo.

Yes. I would not like to try the latter.

A beautiful late hour dinner in Piraeus. Ouzeria "Το υπερωκεάνιον". House specialty chickpea salad with local salty cheese, probably goat milk going by taste - salty, grainy, a bit like ricotta. Dill, herbs, onion, lemon, garlic. Grilled shrimp, simple and good. Amazing mussels, huge and plump - with feta, ouzo, herbs, garlic, lemon. 🤯 Sea urchin, with plenty of rustic bread. Like butter that was dropped into ocean. Ouzo! Helps to keep the appetite. Bucket of ice to chill it. Some cold watermelon (complimentary) was the perfect finish. The last picture taken not long before midnight, the Greek do indeed eat and drink into the night. Dinner service is often until 1-2 AM. Though during covid they are rrequired to close by 12.

Same with what sold here. And they are way expensive considering that they are easy to grow in our weather... With shipping and retail times, a vine ripened one will sure go bad before it's eaten. I do think that pineapple ripen well off the vine, though I had my share of under-ripe, tasteless pineapples. I can't imagine that in tropical countries customers will settle for green. 70 TWD, that's 2.5$. Lucky them. It'll be at least 14$ here.

Some are planted, but they seem to dare well in pots, and it's a bit more convenient. Though We might need to transfer the larger ones.

Still not full sized. I counted 10 pineapples! Though most are smaller than this one. They are of two variates (originated from two cuttings). Though I'm not sure if there's a difference in flavor. You can also notice the greenhouse skeleton, used to protect them from rain damage in winter.

Thanks! Defiantly no chicken there. It was actually labeled simply "tom yum", which as far as I understand is usually coconut-free.

I'll snap a picture soon.

First pineapple of the season. Out 3rd ever This is also the first decent sized one, since the plants are now older (almost 5 years old). It was *very* tasty. Here's last years' for comparison:

Again at our lovely local Thai restaurant. There's a boom of more authentic Thai restaurants lately, mostly in Tel Aviv. I didn't sample many, but the few I did were a treat. Thankfully, we are lucky to have one close to home. With it being a few good years old, I believe that it was one of the 2-3 first restaurants of the like in the country. Nam Kao - Fried rice balls salad. Lot's of herbs. Sticky rice on the side. Dumpling with sun-chokes and another ingredient I can't recall. Garlicky chili oil. Tom kha gai. Pad Kee Mao - Drunken (rice) noodles. With stir fried vegetables and tofu (tomatoes, chili, cabbage, Thai basil, pickled peppercorns).

Makhlouta. A Lebanese dish with many variations - from stews to hummus like spreads. Always made with a mixture of legumes. My take is on the variation common in Northern Israel (though not really very common), where very soft fava and chickpeas are mixed with tahini, lemon, garlic and olive oil. Served with pita much like hummus. I opted to add some fenugreek (more common in Egyptian ful). And to keep the chickpeas on top. Topped with an egg, home made lemony schug of sorts (green chili, garlic, lemon, coriander seeds and parsley). A generous sprinkle of cumin. Olive oil added after the picture was taken, it's a must with fava beans (ghee also works). Pita breads, sliced vegetables and pickles.

Quick dinner. Bean curds with tofu-ru (fermented tofu, spicy kind), scallions, garlic, a bit of soy, rice wine, sugar, MSG.

Thanks! ☺️

Made some Indian style amba. Green mangoes with fenugreek and other spices. Sour, swee, salty, spicy. Do you think Lao Gan Ma would approve?

Grilled corn. It's rare to find multi colored corn around here.

One pana cotta. Many desserts. Honey, walnuts and cinnamon. Cherries and Amarena syrup. Strawberry preserves and hazelnuts. We also had some not pictured: Carambola preserves and almond slivers. Honey and olive oil.

For a 25cm (10") round pan. 300g AP flour 145g water 5g salt 6g vinegar 2 tsp (8g) oil Apx 20-30g butter or apx 25g olive oil (or more as needed) - mixed with apx 20g water Knead the dough until smooth. Let it rest for an hour or so (covered). Prepare a 25cm (10") round pan and grease it. Divide the dough into two. Roll each piece as thin as possible. If it is sticky, brush it with some fat. It's ok if it's thicker on the edges. Place a sheet over the pan, and push it towards the edges. Cut the edges of, leaving enough overhang to cover the pie back up (i.e. it should go over 12-13 cm in every direction). Brush with fat, including the overhang. Repeat with the second sheet. With the cut-off dough, form two balls and roll again into two sheets, as thin as possible. Place one sheet in the pan. Put in the filling. Place the second small sheet on top. Brush with fat. Fold over the overhang to close up the pie. Brush with remaining fat, or more if needed. - Bake at 200dC for 10 minutes. Cut the pie into slices or squares. Once fully baked, the dough is hard to cut. Bake for 30 minutes until deep golden. You can now leave the pie until ready to serve, you can also freeze it or chill overnight. For serving bake another 20-30 minutes, until deep golden-brown and crisp.

More like being a messy, rugged and unpleasant port city. There are many warning about pickpockets, etc. Now there are also many write-ups that contradict those stereotypes. And we choose to trust the latters, as well as our own judgment - as every place has it's good and bads. It's not rustic, but still authentic to itself.

Some Greek. Melitzanopita - eggplant pie. Home made "rustic" (i.e. thick) phyllo. Filing of fire-roasted eggplants, feta, a little Gruyere, browned onions, some pepper, oregano, and some more spices. The thick phyllo is crunchy-crisp (rather than papery) and substantial, with the inner layers being a bit like lasagna sheets (or sue borek). I find it works better in those kinds of pies. Salad of green beans, tonato, walnuts, sirene cheese, capers. Ouzo. Panna cotta with honey walnuts. Some cinnamon.

Piraeus. It has some bad rep, but we found it to be a quiet and pleasant city. Some serious SF vibes. It was quite a chilly evening, but something in the mood called for ice cream. A very recomended store proved worthy of the praises. Dark chocolate ice cream was one of the few chocolate ice creams I ever enjoyed. I usually really dislike chocolate ice cream, and even "dark" ones are often too muted. This was bold. The other was my favorite - Ekmek Kataifi - clotted cream with orange-blossom syrup soaked brioche-like bread.