By day and night Chania is both gorgeous and charming - considered by most the most beautiful city of Crete. Absolutely!
Top: Sunset viewed from a fish taverna favored by locals on the waterfront. Middle: Creative wall in a lunch spot we found within the heart of the old port.
Bottom: A typical villa in the old city, with the ubiquitous motorcycle parked out front.
Dinner at The Red Bicycle Restaurant in Oia was marvelous. By now we are used to and enjoying the late night dining starting sometime around 9pm. Unique menu, risotto with crab and asparagus (that Aidan said rivaled Jeff's seafood risotto), romantic setting and gorgeous view, finished with a decadent custard dessert made with mastic. Mastic is a resin from the lentis shrub found on the island of Chios, the only place the resin solidifies naturally. It is used today for chewing gum and liqueur but was once prized for paints and varnishes as well as cosmetics and medicine. At 11pm we strolled back to villa along the charming cliff walk. No parking, no driving, no cars.
We have arrived!
View of the caldera from our cave villa at Filotera Villas in Oia.
Sun is setting and we are enjoying the local wine of Santorini. The convergence of a felicitous climate and soil to produce an excellent local white wine of which our innkeeper Nikolas has generously provided us a bottle from his own organic vineyard. The vines grow in a low spiral pattern adapting to the winds on the island.
This is the life.
This is our view - dining by sunset at the Best Western hotel in Ancient Olympia. Yes, I said Best Western. For Americans, forget everything you know about this hotel chain if you plan to visit Ancient Olympia. This is an absolutely wonderful family run place to stay and eat. We had the apartment suite with two rooms.
Great view of valley and pool. Pool was delightful with bar service for refreshing drinks. The restaurant was amazing. Had reserved table for best view and everything we ordered was delicious.
Not to be forgotten and worth noting for other travelers in need of a good meal in Delphi, is the Taverna Iniochos. Highly
recommended by National Geographic
guide book, this is a rare find in a town with not-so-great tourist fare. We were there in the early afternoon and had a quiet table with beautiful view and lovely breezes. The service and food were excellent! Shown are Greek specialties of baked eggplant and shrimp cooked with tomatoes and cheese. Nothing was left over. Heavenly.
Shannon and Aidan by the sea in the town of Itea, Greece. Restaurant recommended is Maistrali and we bypass the tourist menu. Waiter takes us into kitchen to see tray of fresh fish. For 10 euros each, Ed and I enjoy the name-unknown fish grilled whole with a delicious lemon herb sauce. Mosquitos bite us off the beach soon after.
Like wine? Hate waste?
Found a fantastic use for all those corks you've been tossing in a drawer or stockpiling up at home!
Yemm & Hart has been recycling cork stoppers since 2004. Unless you consume as many bottles as a restaurant goes through in a month, you won't get any money for the corks, but you'll feel much better knowing they won't end up in a landfill and will be enjoyed comfortably underfoot by someone else after being made into cork floor tiles. And after you've shipped them your box of corks (real cork, not the fake plastic and foam ones sometimes used now), you can visit Yemm + Hart's website and see your town and amount you shipped and got recycled. I was able to find us on the list just now - about 3/4lb real cork in November of 2007! Very cool.
I have a ”beef” with Wolfgang!
I’ve noticed for a number of years that often when an item in a store gets replaced with the same thing in newly designed packaging, the contents change as well. And often NOT for the better. Typical changes involve increased salt or sugar. An example? There was a pickled Green Tomatillo relish that my husband really liked. One day the label design changed. Same product? No – they increased the amount of sugar dramatically. How did I know? I had an older jar, with older label, in my fridge. That was the last time I bought it, my husband survives without it just fine, and I’ve since forgotten the brand.
I try to buy healthy food and I prefer to make my own soups. But for the few times when I can’t make it happen, it’s worth having a spare can or two in the cupboard. I discovered that Wolfgang Puck made a delicious Mexican Tortilla style spicy soup that I thought was delicious. Don’t recall what it contained exactly, but it got me to try his other soups. One is Organic Chicken with White & Wild Rice.
New can (on right): older Wolfgang, still smiling, now on left side of soup image.
The company promotes new label design, while claiming it’s the “same great soup.” It is not. Aside from label change (sadly less appealing – sorry soup label designers, but you blew it on this one), what’s the difference? 190 mg of Sodium per serving!! The newer soup (same size 14.5 oz cans) has 830mg SODIUM per serving, which is 60% of the can contents. The older soup has 640mg Sodium per serving. That’s a lot of salt – 1,392mg if you finish the whole can of soup by yourself. Unfortunately I can’t say it tasted any better than before.
According to the staff at the Mayo Clinic, “various organizations, including the National Academy of
Sciences'
Some background on “old” and “new” cans above: “Old” can bought a few months ago for $1.99 with expiration (or best by) date of Jan 14 2012. “New” can bought last month for $2.29 with expiration date of October 20 2011. Interesting that the “new” soup is being distributed by a different company as well. So why have they chosen to add a significant amount of sodium, while decreasing the product’s shelf life?
Labeling can be tricky…and can be designed to trick. The cans – both old and new – state total net weight of 14.5 oz, serving size of 1 cup (245g), and “about 2” servings per container. That little word “about” is important. The can doesn’t really contain 2 servings. It contains 14.5 oz (411g), which is more accurately 1.67 servings.
Bottom line is Beware of new packaging and health claims and Read labels carefully.
Remember that slogan from the....80's? These lovely eggs are from our own 4 backyard chickens.
A sure sign that spring really is around the bend is the increased egg production from laying hens. It was a dismal winter with only an egg or so once in a while - maybe 3-4 per week. Had to supplement our supply with store-bought eggs - ugh! If you've tasted the free-range backyard egg, you know there is nothing like it with its rich super orange yellow yolk.
Things are looking up with 3-4 eggs per day! Thank you girls!
