As I've recently been very interested in cooking, I thought about posting a Greek recipe every Monday as well as some information on Greek food and nutrition. I know there are hundreds or thousands of Greek recipes on the Net, however the ones I have chosen to post on Mondays are taken from my mother's cooking notebook and translated into English.

THE OLIVE AND OIL IN GREECE

The olive tree is the blessed tree ofthe Greeks and its fruit has been an irreplaceable daily food since ancient times. Olive oil, on the other hand, is a basic ingredient of the Greek cuisine and can be found in almost every household to such an extent that the words "olive oil" have become synonymous to the word "oil" as we hardly ever use vegetable oil in our cooking. The Greeks, accustomed to using olive oil for centuries, have realised its considerable advantages over the other kinds of oil of vegetable origin and have the top position in the per capita consumption all over the world.

A factor which contributes greatly to the superior tasty quality of the Greek cuisine is theuse of pure olive oil. I even use it for french fries. Therefore, the cultivation of the olive tree is of a special financial and social interest, since thousands of Greek families - mainly in the south and on the islands - base their economy exclusively on it. On a world scale, Greece is second in the production of edible olives - I'm sure most of you have heard of the renowned Kalamata olives- and third in the production of olive oil.

TODAY'S RECIPE

FASOLAKIA LADERA

(Green beans in olive oil and tomato sauce)

5-6 servings

1 kilo (2lbs 4 oz) fresh green beans

2 medium sized potatoes (to your liking/ you may omit them)

2-3 ripe tomatoes finely chopped

2 garlic cloves

2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

2-3 dry onions finely chopped

1 1/2 teacups olive oil

salt - pepper

1. Using a sharp knife, top and tail the green beans, cut off their edges and slice them in two - lengthwise.

2. Sauté the onions and garlic cloves in the olive oil, in a pot, until transparent (not brown !)

3. Wash and strain the beans. Add them to the pot and let them cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.

4. Then add the potatoes (peeled and sliced) bearing in mind that you may omit them, the tomatoes, the parsley, the salt and pepper, and some water ( about 2-3 teacups)

5.Let everything cook for about half an hour on low to medium heat.

6. Serve hot or cold with some feta cheese and yogurt or tzatziki (yogurt with sliced cucumber, garlic, some olive oil and fresh or dry mint) and some freshly baked bread !

KALI OREXI - BON APPETIT !

My fasolakia ladera are ready. They look good ! Well...there's always a first and I really hope hubby likes them ! I did not add potatoes but mum does.

I began to be interested in blogging in September 2004 when I posted my first blog ever on Typepad. I wasn't sure then how a blog functions but I really enjoyed and still do my Typepad experience. Then, a year later, "Sealink" , an online friend from Belgium, introduced me to Yahoo! 360. At the beginning, I just copied and pasted interesting material I came across on the Net. My priority was my silly electronic diary on Typepad , so I wouldn't spend more than 5 minutes on 360.

However, I gradually made friends there, friends I thought they'd be for ever. This might sound naive as true friendship is so rare nowadays. Personal interest seems to prevail, not only in real life - this is a given fact - but, funnily enough, in our virtual life as well. So when Yahoo! 360 started having some bugs last November, almost everyone fled to The Grand Saviour ...Holy Multiply. Just to make sure that in case 360 closes down , they won't lose their blogs. I really don't blame anyone for that. This is electronic communication!

Seeing that I was losing my friends to Multiply, I signed up as well, hoping that I'd keep in touch. Silly me ! Very soon I was pretty disappointed by the site. Too crowded, too impersonal. Many of my so-called ex 360 friends would leave me comments on Multiply at the beginning, surely because they wanted my comments back ! With only a few rare exceptions, most of those "cherished" 360 friends never bothered to say hi on my 360 page. Either I got to their Multiply page or ....end of "friendship".

On the other hand, I was glad to see Yahoo! 360 getting quieter. I'm the kind of person who hates crowded places. But then again, some people on 360 had a bright idea ! They took advantage of the 360 bug to say that ...they are unable to post comments! Well....why was I never unable to leave comments on my friends' blogs on 360 ? OK , fair enough, I sometimes had to click twice , or copy my comment in order to paste it if it ...just disappeared. It only took half a minute ...What's half a minute for someone you call "friend" ? Or perhaps ...I'am the odd one out ...or maybe I am simply Yahoo! 360's pet !!! LOL ! Or ..wait a minute ! I forgot ! I am a Greek goddess ! OK ....I really meant semi-goddess... Haven't you noticed ? I am in Yahoo! 360\s Terms of Service ! Paragraph 3. 5 (z) which says that I have qualified as a Greek semi- Goddess on 360 so ...they spare me the bugs !!! Ha ha ha ...lucky me !

On a more serious tone, since the bugs started on 360 , I've almost invariably been the first to visit a friend's blog (even on other blogsites!), the first to leave a comment, the first to say hi.... the first to pay back a comment. Many of my friends said in their blogs that due to Yahoo ! 360 problems , they are unable to ...post comments. Not that comments matter. They don't to me. And I really do not want them if they are not heartfelt. In short, I'm sick and tired of people taking advantage of some minor 360 bugs in order to justify their lack of interest.

Unfortunately, Yahoo! 360 has promoted the culture of numbers. I wonder what some people would say if I ever decided to advertise my views...But I won't. Some search engines do ...like Google, but, believe me, I did not tell them to ! I just subscribed my page! This said , I don't mean to be ungrateful and , please, don't make a drama out of it - this not venting ! This is simply a heartfelt blog on how I feel about blogging !!!

Blogging, after all, has become a kind of morale booster for some insecure people. The more viewers or the more comments I have the more popular I become ! Who cares about friends ? Well, I do. For just one very simple reason : true friendship doesn't need to be advertised. True friendship survives always. Through email as well !!!

NOTE : Please bear in mind that most email addresses haven't been infected...yet by the nasty 360 bugs ! No need to disinfect !Filakia !

Everything is brand new in September. The school year to begin with, the new TV programmes, the new football matches, the new plays at the theatre, the new films at the cinema... the first winter clothes in the shops ! Not that I feel like shopping winter clothes right now , not when it's got 34 * C. I'd rather shop some more bikinis ! Some people are looking forward to watching the new episodes of their favourite TV series while lying comfortably on the sofa and some others are dreaming of rainy days ! Wishful thinking , huh ! In Cyprus, September also marks the culminating point of the tourist high season .

And while we still swim in the crystal clear waters of the Eastern Med, something has definitely changed in the city of Larnaca. Humidity has started to drop, the traffic has come back to normal, the boutiques are launching the first winter fashion trends, the malls are advertising back-to-school equipment, the cafes and bars are packed again, you suddenly realise you need a woollie on those cool September evenings at the seafront.

Just like the first day of a new year, September seems to mark the change to routine : people wish each other "happy winter" even though in my part of the world what most people call winter is still far away ! Unlike January, September may not mark the beginning of a new year but it definitely marks the beginning of a new season and the return to routine. It's probably the most important month of the year since it also defines new aspirations.

In September , I'm dreaming of :

A happy new school year

Cool nights under the stars

Dining out with friends

Going back to gym

Adopting healthier eating habits

Going to the theatre

Having a great pedicure PLUS a massage !

The village of Platres is situated on the fringe of the forest on the southern slopes of the Troodos mountain range, at an altitude of 1,200 metres above sea level. It has an ideal climate that is dry during the summer months, with temperatutures much lower than on the central plain or the coast. During the 1930s and 40s, visitors from Europe mainly used to spend the summer in the mountains of Cyprus to relax and unwind. Among the resort's famous visitors were Winston Churchill, the late King Farouk of Egypt, the Greek princess Irini and the Greek nobel prize winning writer and poet George Seferis who referred to Platres in his poem "Eleni", noting that "in Platres, the nightingales won't let you sleep" if you visit the place between mid April to mid June.

Today Platres is a popular mountain resort not only amongst Greek Cypriots but also visitors from all over the world. The evergreen village with its luxuariant vegetation mainly consisting of fir and pine trees is ideal for hiking, cycling, horse riding, skiing and ..painting. The cherry blossom in spring, the rich fruit harvest in summer, the snow in the winter, the excellet wines produced in the area, the authentic Cyprus cuisine and the "agrinon" - the mufflon - a species to be extinct but protected in the area. Mufflons live free in the forest, their natural habitat, and are protected by law in specifically designed areas on the slopes of Troodos. Anyone caught hunting the mufflon will face, according to the law, a heavy fine AND up to 6 months of imprisonment. Mufflons are endangered species and can be found in their natural habitat only in the Troodos mountains in Cyprus.

Naturally, I was delighted when a few days ago Alkis surprised me(yes ! he loves to surprise me ! ) with a romantinc getaway to Platres on my last holiday weekend . We set off on Friday at about 11:30 am and agreed to travel through Nicosia rather than take the shorter route through Limassol as we usually do. On the outskirts of the capital, there was quite a lot of traffic which somewhat delayed us, but once in Astromeritis (No ! We did not miss the turn! That's my paternal grandfather's village...how could I forget?) . Ah right ! I was the one to look at the map and give directions to the driver...To tell you the truth, I'm wreckless at Geography and very bad at reading maps ! we both remembered the time when we were travelling by car from Geneva to Rome and we suddenly saw that...shocking signpost : Monaco 80 km !!!!! I had made a small mistake in reading the map....but this time, I was cleverer ! I read the road signposts !

After travelling for about one hour, I was dying for a coffee and a smoke ..so we stopped at Chrisanthis Cafe-Restaurant at Kakopetria - a small village - on our way to Troodos.

It was such a peaceful and romantic cafe. It was already much cooler than on the coast, slightly overcast...I was a bit worried and prayed we'd have no rain when driving much higher. We arrived at Platres just about at lunchtime and we were both starving ! The cool mountain air and the tantalising barbecue smell attracted us to the terrace of a very romantic restaurant: The Riverdale .... just on the edge of the cliff !

After a great lunch and happy to see the sun going on and off, we headed to Forest Park Hotel where we had booked a room.

The Forest Park Hotel - the only 4 star hotel in the area - is an imposing building recently renovated and dating back to the early 1900s. It is a family run hotel which stands in one of the most alluring pine forests of the area.

That was the breathtaking view from our room...such a pity we missed the nightingales this year. Last year we visited the place in May and the nightingales would sing till dawn. After a great breakfast on Saturday morning served on the beautiful veranda of The Forest Park Hotel, off we went for a fun day to yet a higher altitude : Troodos ! At about 1,850 metres, the air was much cooler and while enjoying our espressos, I really felt like putting on a wollie. But, no need..later on , Alkis and I went back to the past and became kids again !

Not a great performance , I know. But the swing was broken and I wasn't sure it could support my weight ! It's supposed to be for kids !

That was ...much better , I think !

Well, Alkis says he did much better despite his actual age ! Did he ?

The truth is ...we had such fun ! Then we went back to Platres and had a great, traditional lunch at Kalidonia Restaurant.

Clockwise : katsikaki ladorigano - that's goat with olive oil and oregano, crispy chips, pligouri or pourgouri (cracked wheat pilaf) and our national meat balls called Keftedes. That was only the main course. For starters we had a village salad, tzatziki (yogurt with cucumber and garlic), elies tsakistes (green olives in olive oil and coriandre), halloumi (local white cheese) on the grill, tahini (sesame seed paste) and of course some of their divine local red wine ! We were back to the hotel at about 4 pm and had a long siesta ! In the evening, we thought we'd have a ..light snack at the hotel. We odrdered their salmon sandwiches on brown bread , served with horseradish sauce...ah well that turned out to be yet another great dinner ! With some more ...of their local wine ! We enjoyed it on the beautiful veranda of The Forest Park Hotel while listening to the oldies played by the home band. And we danced the night away to the tunes of the Bee Gees.

Today, Sunday, we got up early and had a huge breakfast on the veranda. It was 8 o'clock and , although the hotel was packed , there were few people then. It was a bit chilly but sunny, so off we went hiking !

To this beautiful forest nearby ...

More photos on flickr