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Lifestyle
Time to Go for a Walk!
We know we have said this on many previous occasions about many different months (except July and August, for obvious reasons!), but April is really one of the best times to get those boots on and to go out and explore the countryside. And for those of you who might be thinking of visiting Rethymnon soon, it is worth knowing that given the timing of Easter, organised guided walking tours are starting somewhat earlier than usual this year. Check out local agencies such as Winter in Crete and The Happy Walker for details. And after the Easter rush, you’ll still have several weeks in which to ramble around the area marveling at the spring flowers in relative peace and quiet. Enjoy it while it lasts!
Recipe: Lunch with Lemon Cheesecake
| This is actually really just an excuse to make a lemon cheesecake all by itself which could be raided from the fridge in the middle of the night using only a spoon and a stealthy approach (think Pink Panther theme tune here, Henry Mancini you are sadly missed), but this is not allowed in Northern Europe and certainly not in the US (allegedly!), so we thought we’d better add a ‘lunch’ recipe, too, to make this hedonistic delight a bit more socially acceptable to some of our far flung international readers. There is of course another way to avoid the guilt trip of making and eating this cheesecake on its own without eating lunch, and this is if you are making this cheesecake for a worthy cause - see our Community Page for details of how you can contribute a cake to the Red Cross Coffee and Cake Morning in May for example. And this cheesecake doesn’t just have to be lemon cheesecake, there are many other flavours you can use instead. Anyway, we’re getting ahead of ourselves here. Let’s get back to the issue at hand - what you need, what to do and how to do it. This recipe is adapted from one that you will find on the www.nigella.com website (never say that we don’t do our homework!) but is possibly even more indulgent than hers. As ever, we do not give exact quantities of ingredients in our recipe, but you really can’t go wrong with this one - and, anyway, experimenting is fun! Oh, yes, we nearly forgot. For your virtuous lunch you will need not too much salad and a glass of iced mineral water. You can have dressing, but nothing creamy. It goes without saying that ‘Thousand Island’ is a no-no. Actually, when the salad is as fresh as it is here, the oil and vinegar so tasty and the mountain spring water so refreshing, the virtuous lunch is no hardship at all! Better still you can legitimately claim that you are treating your body like a temple before embarking on the calorie fest that will be dessert! |  This is not a pink panther Ingredients and Method For the base, you need: a flan tin (one with a push out bottom is good), some digestive biscuits - and for our British purists, no you do not need McVities, Greek digestives will do just fine (and the Greek for digestives is….? Have a guess), some butter, and a bit of brown sugar. Melt the butter along with the sugar, and bash the biscuits. Mix the butter, sugar and biscuits together and press out into the base of the flan dish. For the filling you need some Philadelphia cheese (two or three tubs), a couple of eggs, zest of lemon, lemon juice and / or lemon curd (yes I know you won’t find lemon curd in a Cretan supermarket, but you can make your own or order it online. Google it!), some cream (one or two tetra bricks) and white sugar (it’s supposed to be castor sugar, but good old granulated is good enough). Use a blender to whizz the cheese, lemon flavouring and eggs together. In a separate bowl whip the cream with a bit of sugar. Add the cream to the cheese mixture, then spread the whole lot on top of the base. Decorate with lemon slices. Put it in the fridge and then leave the house for at least four hours - this is to try to give the cheesecake a chance to set before you dive in. It may never set, actually, but that doesn’t matter. At least you will have given the impression that you are able to demonstrate just a little bit of will-power. ‘Delicious’ is possibly the understatement of the century. Ideas for alternative flavourings for the filling include fresh cherry preserve from Gerakari - and it will be cherry season in a couple of months. Yippee! |
Cocktail of the Month: ‘Something Nice with Gin and Homemade Lemonade’
Our creativity consultant, Laina, (thank you!) suggested that to follow on from the lemon theme of the recipe, we should use lemons in our cocktail too. As she wisely pointed out there are plenty of lemons on the trees right now, and even if you don’t have your own lemon tree, if you are living in the Rethymnon area you are bound to have a friend that does (organic unwaxed lemons would be our choice). For this cocktail you will obviously need to make your own lemonade: good lemons, water, ice, sugar, a clean tea towel and a hammer are all that you will require for this (and a jug/barrel to put the lemonade in). If you want to make it fizzy, you can top up with soda. As for the gin - well, Gordon’s is our preference, but the generic gin in Lidl with the label that looks like the Gordon’s one will be perfectly adequate. Garnish with a sprig of mint and a smile.
Music to drink this by? Brian Hyland: “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini”.
