Indoor and Outdoor Pursuits

Here on Crete in the autumn, we are often very lucky with the weather (and even when the locals are sporting sweaters and mittens, you will still see a few die-hard tourists in swimwear desperately trying to bronze those goose-bumps). Being realistic, though, it’s not the prime time of year to be playing beach volley-ball. From the picture on the right, you can see the summer sport paraphernalia being cleared away from the ’Old Town Beach’. But the drop in temperature means that our energy levels have returned, so it’s time for those long romantic strolls searching for driftwood once more. Indoor café and taverna life comes to the fore (if you haven’t already learnt how to play backgammon - or ‘Tavli’ as it is called here - now is your chance to do so) and the winter music venues are already starting to open up. We see good times ahead!

On the Bookshelf

Fantastic news for bookworms (or so we think)! In September, trade magazine The Bookseller announced the winner of its Diagram Prize for oddest book title of the last thirty years, which was:Greek Rural Postmen and Their Cancellation Numbers. The runner-up was People Who Don’t Know They’re Dead and third place went to How To Avoid Huge Ships (pretty easy, in Rethymnon right now, come to think of it, given the current absence of a ferry connection). Previous annual winners have included Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice along with How Green Were the Nazis? and Bombproof Your Horse. Aurum Press (online at www.aurumpress.co.uk) have just published a special illustrated collection featuring some of our favourite titles, which include The Book of Marmalade: Its Antecendents, Its History and Its Role in the World Today. Happy reading!

Recipe: Thai Lamb with Broccoli and Special Noodles

Some time back (May 2007) we gave you a recipe for Thai pork with beans, This month, for a number of reasons (which have absolutely nothing to do with Prime Ministers and Cookery Programmes as this would be in poor taste), we’ve gone South Asian again. Funnily enough, the recipe is quite similar to Thai pork with beans — except that it uses lamb and broccoli instead. But this is not a cop out (honest) as we are giving you a noodle recipe too!

Ingredients: Decent lamb, onions, garlic, fresh ginger, broccoli, sesame oil, corn or sunflower oil (not olive oil), lemon grass (if you can get hold of it here in Rethymnon — see note at the end of this recipe) Thai curry paste (which you can get hold of in Rethymnon — see second note at the end of this recipe), coconut milk, stock and additional seasoning to taste.

Chop the onions, garlic and ginger (and lemon grass if available) and sauté in a mix of sesame oil and corn / sunflower oil. Add a couple of tablespoons of the Thai curry paste. Cut the lamb into cubes, and add to the pot. Brown the meat on all sides before adding coconut milk, stock and seasoning as needed. Cook on a moderate heat until the lamb is tender. Cut the broccoli into florets and add them about 15 minutes before you are ready to eat.

Now for the noodles. To make them really special, we suggest you don’t go down the route of using the ‘Lucky Me’ brand of instant noodles (especially the ‘artificial chicken’ flavour variety) that you might come across in certain supermarkets. Basically, we like to jazz up plain egg noodles by tossing them in an oriental mélange of shrimps, mushrooms and spring onions that can be made ahead of time — the usual seasoning rules apply: Soy sauce, fish sauce and five spice are good, mango chutney and piccalilli less so. The whole combo is surprisingly easy to make in large quantities, and, should you have any leftovers, the lamb dish freezes well.

As for lemon grass: We have seen the dried version occasionally in certain stores (Eastern European mini-markets are worth a try), but are loath to send our readers on a wild-goose chase by citing a definitive source. It is, however, easy to grow from seed in a pot, and you can buy the seeds online from major UK gardening outlets such as Suttons and Thompson and Morgan.

You will generally find Thai curry paste and other oriental goodies at the big Moka in Rethymnon, which is on the main road going out of town towards Perivolia, near the Sprider store.

Cocktail of the Month: Mai Tai

According to many sources, this classic cocktail was invented by Victor J Bergeron – ‘Trader Vic’ in Oakland, California in 1944, though others claim that the drink was actually first created by Don the Beachcomber’ in 1933 at his bar in Hollywood. And “Maita’i” is apparently the Tahitian word for good. So now you know.

The official recipe goes as follows: Six parts white rum, six parts dark rum, three parts orange curaçao, three parts Orgeat syrup and two parts fresh lime juice. Shake all the ingredients save for the dark rum together, strain over ice and float the dark rum on top. Garnish with a pineapple spear mint leaves and lime peel. Now for those of you who are wondering what Orgeat syrup might be (and we didn’t know) and how on earth one might track it down in Rethymnon, don’t worry. Orgeat syrup is apparently a sweet syrup made of almonds, sugar and rose water / orange flower water. If you’re not up to making this from scratch, try substituting Amaretto instead, which is relatively easy to get hold of here.

Music to drink this by: Rolf Harris “Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport” and/or Tony Orlando and Dawn “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree” (sorry!).