Our Trip to Gevgelija, Part 2.

 

 As I said in the last post, we celebrated our birthdays in Gevgelija and Z was offered a sweet with pyrotechnic décor at the restaurant.                                    

          

But what amazed/alarmed me was that on returning to the hotel that evening, my system was able to come up with this photo below: the square outline in the picture shows the picture I took in the restaurant while above on the left shows the name and location of our hotel. Big Brother is everywhere!

                                             

Our hotel was called Paint It Black and their main focus was of The Rolling Stones – don’t they look young here?                                              

But they also displayed posters of other rockers of the 70s era.

Here is Tina Turner with a provocative pose and look in her eye.

                                                  

This one of Grace Jones was one of my favourites, capturing her heightened sense of style and drama.                                          

I found the houses had an interesting design. Though most had a yard in front and though space did not appear to be at a premium, they were huddled fairly close together.                                   

We enjoyed excellent weather while we were there. We left Thessaloniki in light rain and were welcomed up north in brilliant sunshine. On the morning of our departure, however, changes were in evidence. The temperature had dropped and a snell wind was blowing down from the mountains which sported a fresh coating of snow.                                         

In Macedonia when the north wind blows, we call it the Vardaris, coming as it does from the former Yugoslavian area of Vardar. This is the River Vardar which flows nearby Gevgelija. I wonder what the locals call their cold winds from the north.

                                                  

Despite the northerlies, we left with a warmth of memories and a surfeit of good food. We really enjoyed our trip up to the area of Lake Doirani and next trip on my list will be further west to visit their other tourist spot, Lake Ochrid.                                             

A trip to Gevgelija

 And so we set off due north to visit the republic north of Macedonia, aka North Macedonia. We also unknowingly crossed a time zone.  Since we were watching Greek television channels. It wasn’t until the following day there we realized we were GMT+1 and not the Greek GMT+2!                                                                

    The tourist season had not really started yet we were not the only visitors – this poor stork perhaps regretted his early flight north while the cold wind blew round him.                                                         

Our previous trip in this country had been to Prelip, a less-developed region with tobacco production being the main activity. Here it was clear on entering the town that tourism had two facets: dental as evidenced from the prevalence of dental clinics around and almost every hotel had its casino.  Presumably club members can request the stretch limousine services!                                                   

The nearby Lake Doirani also attracts visitors. We had glorious weather there, particularly enjoying the combination of the beautiful gold of the rushes and the blue of the lake water.                                           

One of the reasons for our trip away was to celebrate both our birthdays. The waiter was kind enough to help in that but it seems ‘candle' translated into ‘pyrotechnics’ there!
 We discovered a lovely local wine, Tramnec, described as ‘aromatic and juicy’ - indeed, it was.

                                            

 And we enjoyed some fine meals there from steaks and chicken to pizza and pasta.

                                     

Here you see Z was eating in good company with Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix looking on!

                                      

This is the reception area of our hotel and the darkness of the photographs taken inside can be explained by the name of the hotel: Paint it Black – for so was the décor.                                     

Clearly the hotel owner was a fan of the music and musicians of an earlier era.                                         

What was certain was that with the amazing posters on display and the awesome music being played, our hotel in Gevgelija really, really rocked!

Spring Has Sprung !

 Spring has sprung and nature is awaking, generously  providing us with her beauty. This tree, just beyond our front gate, is a perfect shape and laden with wild cherry blossom.

                                                   

My favourite scenes at this time of year are of blossom and buds on a backdrop of an interesting skyscape.                                                     

Let’s have a close-up of this: it’s blossom of the pear tree, aka pyrus.  Known since pre-historic times, this tree is found throughout Europe, N Africa and Asia, preferring coastal and temperate climates. It produces clusters of white 5-petalled flowers and its wood is used to produce instruments and furniture. It is seen as symbolizing divine sustenance, abundance and longevity.

                                                  

Next we have the prunus dulcis, the sweet almond tree. This is native to Iran and surrounding countries, including the Levant. It is one of the earliest domesticated fruit trees and, given the right conditions, can live for up to 100 years. In Jordan there is evidence of domesticated almond trees dating back 5000 years. Its blossom is a delicate pink and Van Gogh was in its thrall, creating many studies of it. The almond kernel, or drupe, enjoys a superfood profile, being an excellent source of vitamin E and magnesium as well as being capable of strengthening the immune system. It is understandable, then, that it symbolises sweetness, charm and delicacy.

                                                   

My favourite is the peach tree or prunus persia which produces the most beautiful blooms, ranging along the entire pink spectrum. It was when Alexander the Great conquered Persia around 3000 BC that this tree first became known in Europe. Native to China, that culture holds it dear and believes it to represent immortality. Its wood is used to ward off evil and manufacture weapons, while the blossom is used in the production of cosmetics and perfume. It is associated with luck and prosperity.

                                                 

But this is not just the time to gaze at and admire the surrounding blossom. Just like Nature herself, we have to shake off winter torpor. There is an entire vineyard out there to care for. Here is Minas, having sprayed his vines, ploughing the area and clearing out the weeds.

                                              

And, since we’re talking of tasks, I must go and tend the rosebushes. They’ve been pruned down, their beds cleared and they’ve been fed. Now I see there is too much growth so the foliage needs to be thinned out to allow a free passage of air through the branches to avoid moulds, etc.

                                                

I can’t wait till we can enjoy fresh fruit and beautiful, scented blooms. 😊

Unusual Recipes

 

The courgette is native to South and Central America and was first brought to Europe in the 15^th century. Isn’t that amazing?  Last week I was given a bag full of courgetti flowers and my first reaction was: What on earth do I do with all of them? I used to think it was wasteful for chefs to use them for ‘gourmet’ dishes when the plants should have been left to produce full-blown vegetables. But having read around, I realise that this is not always the case.

Apparently early in the season, these plants produce only male flowers since the female flowers like more warmth and sunshine. So cutting male flowers leaves the plant with more strength to produce female flowers later on.                                             

Now it happens that I was given mostly female flowers. Our kind donor has greenhouses and that’s why there are such blooms so early in the season. It was exactly for that reason he was thinning out superfluous blooms so it was a benefit for the plants rather than a sacrifice. The female flower is easily identifiable by the baby fruit at the base, whereas the male flower grows straight from the stem.

Above you can see these immature babes - I left a little bit on as they serve as little handles in the washing and cooking processes – you just don’t eat them. You do remove the stamen inside which look like little golden balls on stalks. They are too bitter to eat.                                                  

I washed, cleaned and then dabbed the flowers dry before filling them with crumbled feta, dill and a little lemon zest. You need to work carefully at this stage as the petals will tear easily but they twist nicely to enclose the stuffing.                                                  

 They are then doused in a batter of flour, eggs and seasoning, with milk being added to dilute the mixture a little. You can see their handy little tails in the picture above. Fried in hot oil, they crisp up nicely and make a nice meze with bread, feta and  a rocket salad.

As I said we were given more than we could immediately use so below you see cleaned and stuffed flowers, layered in baking parchment, ready for freezing. When required you simply generously coat the still-frozen flowers in batter and fry them.                                                           

The final batch of blooms was cleaned and cut into fine strips. I fried some onion and garlic in oil, added seasoning with lemon juice and  cream to thicken. Finally the flowers were added briefly to heat up. These made a delicate sauce served with pasta.                                                      

To be honest it was a wee bit of a faff but, bearing in mind these tasty suppers, I am looking forward to receiving more courgette flowers in the future. 😊                                               

          

Making a Mess of Music ..... a frank appraisal of my progress so far !

 Funny how my focus was on decoding notes – that was what I thought would be the big hurdle. – especially since I was familiar with the EGBDF/FACE note-placing rather than the doh, ray, me. fah, soh, lah, te, doh. In terms of solfege, or sol-fah, in exercises you have to recognize notes, their value, length, pauses, etc.  

Thankfully at the beginning you practice reading music with notes as they are in the scale order. When that begins to change and you are working with notes that are not in sequence- either ascending or descending, that is when the seas get rough.

So, I can recognize the notes most of the time and I can make a reasonable stab at singing – though a lifetime of incorrectly projecting my voice in the classroom and recent covid cough have wreaked havoc with my vocal chords.

Now, unexpectedly, my bete noire is actually playing the piano. It’s not about reading the notes, that is coming along – at its own pace, but it’s happening. But there is a right way to make key contact and failure to do it correctly can apparently cause damage – especially carpal tunnel syndrome –by putting excessive strain on the median nerve in the wrist.

                                          

In order to play each note correctly, you use the weight of your finger, activated from the arm, not the wrist.  Your hands should be as in a clasp and contact is made with the tips of the fingers and the outer edge of the thumb. Essentially your fingers are cupped and in their doh->soh positions and must be raised individually before making contact with each key. That in itself needs a lot of practice.

I regularly use the local bus service, and on board I frequently do little hand exercises, raising my fingers individually in turn while cupping my knees. The hard bit is to maintain the finger-cupped position. Try doing this with your non-preferred hand – not easy!   I find it frustrating that movements I thought I’d mastered get messed up when you practise them on the keyboard.

Still trying to achieve that skill, and the teacher gives me a homework assignment to play full scales. A scale is a sequence of eight notes, but we only have five fingers. :o To compensate there has to be a quick cross-over of the thumb or the middle finger to account for all the notes on the scale. So far, that has proved fairly manageable but I fear the moment when we start playing in different keys and the notes magically change position on the pentagram or staff. ☹

I really enjoy my lessons and I love my teacher: she is fun, patient and sensitive – a powerful combo in the classroom.

                                                            

    

At one point she was even placing my errant finger in the correct position on the correct key – she literally is holding my hand through this challenging  ever-changing process, bless her!

L-O-N-G COVID

 Lovely design: flower heads, magnified snowflakes? These pretty things are SARS-Cov2, the virus that causes Covid-19. Why have I selected this as a topic today? Because as you may know from my last post, Z’n’me both fell prey to this virus over the New Year. Sadly, it seems I am now suffering from L-o-n-g Covid. ☹

Apparently the symptoms are:

·         Brain fog

·         Headache

·         Sleep problems

·         Dizziness when you’re standing

·         Pins and needles sensations

·         Change in smell or taste

·         Depression or anxiety

Well I seem to have dodged most of them. For me it has opted for a dry cough and fatigue.

                                           

Now we had had flu jabs and Covid boosters exactly two weeks previously. Sources say that one may need 7-14 days to be fully protected after the shots. So we must really have been on the cusp. They say that 3+ doses reduce the risk of Long Covid by 73%. Clearly I am one of the select few. :o

We were staying at a hotel with all our food included and at the time we did not feel at risk as we kept ourselves to ourselves and spent a lot of time just the two of us walking great distances, enjoying the beautiful weather and scenery in the Mont Olympos area.

We know the  ilness is spread by respiratory droplets and so we thought we could well have contracted it from the buffet spread – so to speak ! - but currently there is no evidence that the virus is transmitted through food.                                              

However, it can survive on different types of material for different periods of time – some of this information is quite alarming!

We passed through several toll gates and thought that coin exchange could be the culprit but that seems statistically less likely since the virus can survive on coins for only about four hours.

But the concerning stats are that the little monster can survive on drinking glasses, dishes and silverware for up to five days so this looks like the most likely source of contamination.

                                       

Our current score lies at Vaccinations: 5; Covid :2

LC symptoms are said to endure from several days to some weeks. And the more severe the symptoms, the longer recovery period required. However, it’s very much an issue at the individual level and hard to predict. I’ve heard of the 100-day cough which might indicate I still have two months of hacking and spluttering ahead of me!

The chronic fatigue is said to come in waves and I have felt it lift, only for the incredible sense of tiredness to engulf me once more. Bearing in mind ones system is battling with the virus and needs to use its energy in that field of combat helps one try to conserve ones strength and just take things easy.

Yet another wave of Covid -19 is said to be on its way so: mask up and sanitise assiduously!!

 

                                                  

Robert Burns - Auld Lang Syne

 We had a fun evening with friends recently – a delayed Hogmanay do. And a special one too: first of the year, first meal in our new dining room, and first use of Z’s dinner service and golden :o glasses bought in Kuwait in 1990 and unused!

                                                  

 The meal, as usual, ends in a wee dram for the lads with whisky preferences being expressed.   Here Z displays his collection of miniatures.                                               

Cutty Sark was mentioned and someone said that was the name of a ship moored at Greenwich, which it is of course. But ahah – time to educate our guests on our national bard!

                                                         

When I explained that Auld Lang Syne, a universally known song, was an old traditional Scots air revised and recorded by Robert Burns, another guest confessed she thought it was a Greek song that had been given English lyrics!

So, there you go. To honour the Bard on his birthday and to share the positivity and warmth of the lyrics, I’m sharing a rendition of Auld Lang Syne  I posted on Facebook.

And so, my joes, may we appreciate our current need for sharing a ‘cup o’ kindness’ and giving others a ‘hand o’ thine’ as e enjoy the haunting tones of Highland Saga’s Maeve Mackinnon. (If the link doesn’t work, you’ll find her on Youtube. Ignore the ads – the video is grand !! )

Happy Burns’ Day! Slainte  

https://youtu.be/xX47kd9L6oc?si=ewwJwLlm2KIIhbOe