Valentine’s Day Menu: Dessert!

Pear in Sweet Red Wine Sauce

Ingredients: (for 2 persons): 1 big pear for half a person or 2 pears: for a whole person. Look for the two extra cocktails that you made at the beginning of the evening, and if somebody has already drunk them then make two new ones pouring in some additional red wine if desired. You will also need 2 big tablespoons of red jam (strawberry, cherry, raspberry,….), 1 cinnamon stick, strawberry ice cream if desired.

Preparation: (if you can, start off in the morning so the pear can absorb all the spices). Cut the pear lengthwise in two, peel and remove the core. Bring the two cocktails to the boil and add the cinnamon stick, put the pear in and bring it again to boil. Turn off the heat and let the pear cool down in the liquid, the pear will become nicely red. Before serving you take the pears out of the red wine and arrange them on a plate. Heat the liquid and let it boil and reduce—this will concentrate the flavours. Add the jam so that the liquid turns into some kind of sauce, add sugar if you feel like it. In the meantime send your loved one out to Meli or Mona Lisa to get two portions of strawberry ice cream. Pour the hot sauce round the pears and put a scoop of ice cream into the hollow of each pear. Enjoy!

Crossword Competition: The Leader Board

Our 2010 crossword competition seems to have got off to a bit of a slow start. But anyway, many thanks to Trevor and Linda Sanders for sending in their entry. They are this month’s leaders with five points! Submit your entries to us by the copy deadline and each month we will publish a running tally of top five scorers. At the end of the year, the top scoring contestant(s) will win a meal for two at a restaurant in Rethymnon courtesy of the Bugle. You will find the solution to last month’s crossword on our Fun and Games page, and, if you are very lucky, we might even supply some hints towards the end of the month on our Facebook group wall. Keep those entries rolling in!

Red Palm Weevil: Coming Very Soon to Rethymnon?

Thanks to Bob Wright for this contribution alerting us to the potential ecological danger posed by the Red Palm Weevil. Bob writes:

‘This insect, Rhynchophorous ferrugineus, came to Crete mainly on Egyptian palm trees imported for the Olympics in 2004. It has already caused extensive damage and death in Iraklio, Agios Nikolaos, and Roumeli (which is only 20 km from Rethymnon), and it also threatens the dwarf native palms of Vai at the eastern end of the island. Its main host is the Canary palm, Phoenix canariensis, but can also attack other palm trees. The first signs of damage may be small holes at the base of the leaf stalks near the crown. This is when the female lays her eggs, which rapidly hatch and destroy the heart, which is the growing point. Soon all the stalks hang down, and by then, it is too late to save the tree.
Next month, hopefully before the warm weather starts the weevils off again, we hope to bring you an aricle written by Gianni Kalogerakis, from the Garden shop in Missiria [ opposite Zisi ], explaining the preventative strategies with chemical sprays, and the use of pheromone traps when an infestation occurs.
It is very worrying that most municipalities are not taking this threat seriously, even though it has already caused widespread devastation in mainland Greece and many other Mediterranean countries that have palm lined sea fronts.

Where Can I Recycle Waste Items?

Apart from using the blue and yellow recycling bins for household waste other items can be recycled as follows:
Disposal of broken electrical goods. There is a depot just outside town which will take anything ‘that had a plug on it’ (including washing machines and fridges). Drivers, take the National Road towards Heraklion in Misiria. Turn off the highway after about 100—150 metres, hang a right and you should soon see recycling bins etc. The depot is open from 6am to 3pm on weekdays, and from 6am to 12 noon at weekends. For further information call 28310 57940. For large objects that need collection call 195 from any phone.
Old telephones and small telecoms items. There is a green bin in the entrance of the main OTE office..
Batteries. various places in town including OTE, DEI, Germanos, Marinopoulos and Champion.
Old cars. DRAKOS on the left hand side of the National Road a short way out of Rethymnon (going towards Hania). They even pay you as they recycle the spares and give you a paper for tax purposes!