Volume 3, Issue 8, August 2009 Journalism as never before  

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Lifestyle

Cretan Photographic Exhibition in Panormo

Rethymnon Coffee Morning Bugle - Photo Exhibition in PanormoContemporary photographic exhibitions are often a great way of getting different perspectives on local lifestyles, culture and history. So many thanks to Brod and Carolynn for telling us about this one in Panormo. Brod and Carolynn write:

“The Hellenic Photographic Society of Crete has just opened an exhibition of the work of 25 award-winning Cretan photographers at the Carob Mill Centre in Panormo. Greek, Cretan, and international themes are all represented in this stimulating and impressive collection of photographs, which has been on display in Heraklion for the past month.

The exhibition is sponsored by the Cultural Association of Panormo (President; Korinna Miliaraki), and is open from now until September 5th, from 7.30 to 9.30pm every day. Entrance is free. The venue itself , the Old Carob Mill, is a fascinating restored historic building, and now plays host to many events as The Cultural Centre. The building is in itself well worth a visit. Why not make a day of it?! Panormo village is still very picturesque, and there are some great tavernas in the heart of the village, and also overlooking the harbour. We've just been to the opening night of the exhibition, and it really is excellent. you must come along to see it!!”

Recipe: Cucumber Salad Soup

Rethymnon Coffee Morning Bugle - Courgettes for the recipeWe’re so glad that this recipe actually worked!. As with all great discoveries (and yes, modesty is absolutely our strongest virtue) this dish came about more or less by accident. It will take you two days to make this soup (well actually it will take you quite a bit longer than that if you start off from the beginning) you’ll see why in a bit. You might be a bit sceptical when you see the list of ingredients. Have some faith, gentle reader. We haven’t tried to poison you so far….

Ingredients

For the salad:
A garden with a vegetable patch and home-grown gherkins. But if you don’t have a garden I wouldn’t necessarily move house just for the recipe. A shop bought cucumber will probably do OK too. Plain Greek yogurt, garlic, wine vinegar and seasoning.

For the soup:
Bacon, onions, more garlic, blue cheese, a courgette (don’t worry too much about this, we just happened to have one in the fridge), cream, chicken stock, white wine, fresh herbs (we used sage, basil, oregano thyme), olive oil and / or butter.

Method:

Sow some gherkin seeds in the spring, wait for the plants to grow, and panic when you discover that you have a glut of the things in the summer (at this point, some of you may recognise a familiar tale from the Bugle garden….). Stare at the gherkins and scratch your head. Slice the gherkins, place them in a colander and salt them. Then set about making the salad in a vague fashion. Chop the garlic, thin the yoghurt with some wine vinegar and season well. Cover the cucumber with the dressing, and put the salad in the fridge to cool. Eat some of the salad, and decide that it probably would have tasted a bit nicer if you had peeled the cucumber first. Put the salad back in the fridge. The next day, reconsider the salad. Come to the conclusion that an economical way to use up the leftovers would be to make the salad into a soup. Then, in a less economically minded vein, ask your spouse to go shopping for all the additional ingredients that you need. To make the soup: Chop the onion, garlic, courgette and fresh herbs finely and gently fry in oil and butter on a low heat. When the onion and garlic have softened, add the cucumber salad to the pot. Let the mix do its thing for a while, and then add the chicken stock, wine and additional seasoning to taste. When you are nearly ready to serve, add the cream. It may be preaching to the converted but if you want to stop the soup from curdling, it’s better to add the hot soup gradually to the (cold) cream rather than the other way round. Let the soup heat through but do not allow to boil. To jazz things up a bit you can accompany this with a rouille and croutons. We liked it!

Cocktails of the Month: ‘Iceberg has a Traffic Accident’

It being the height of summer, we tried to think of cooling and soothing drinks that would help you chill out and relax. Unfortunately we seem to have had a bit of a Titanic moment. Oh well, it’s too late now. So we bring you two cocktails that when combined could probably cause quite a bit of damage, but we haven’t tested this theory out (are we getting overly cautious in our old age, or just a little bit wiser?), so once again we are relying on some of you to let us know. First off is the iceberg. For this particular concoction you will need equal measures of gin, peach schnapps, Malibu and blue curaçao, and, of course a lot of crushed ice. Mix the spirits together and pour them over the ice. Watch your preferred version of the ’ship hits ice’ disaster movie –we prefer ’A Night to Remember’ rather than the one with Leonardo di Caprio in it. If you don’t have either of these to hand pretty much any disaster movie will do (except Rethymnon Coffee Morning BugleTowering Inferno of course). The original version of the Poseidon Adventure and The Cassandra Crossing are particular favourites in this house.

The second cocktail: ‘Traffic Accident’ is very simple to make. All you need is a shot of Baileys, a shot of Tequila and some ice. According to the source we consulted it’s called ‘Traffic Accident’ because of the way it makes you feel if you over indulge. You have been warned!