At twilight in Summer-Fall no matter where in the world I always remember the great, slow sunsets over the Aegean (here in So Cal the sun sets in minutes) from the Greek islands where we spent 6 weeks anchored off several islands, this spectacle was witnessed every day with simple awe.....
...long days of guests swimming from the yacht or them slipping ashore in the boat's Dory ( small motorboat) or as I found on larger yachts....the boat's full sized speed boat!....
...or when we were sailing off Santorini, watching the sharks swim along the undersea streets of what is now believed to be the remains of Atlantis ....
..it seemed that everything stopped just to see the sun go down, far into the west.
Tomorrow I am creating the traditional "Greek" Salad with feta cheese that has been marinated in herbs and spices, own grown tomatoes, peeled and seeded cucumbers (the hard cucumbers that one finds on the islands), pitted kalamata olives, oregano, chopped parsley, romaine lettuce, purple onion ( I prefer it to scallions which never seemed fresh on the small islands), good extra virgin olive oil and a So Cal twist, fresh lime juice.
I am also making a roasted beet with fresh ginger-orange dressing, which comes with romaine and spinach leaves...this reminds me of Australia where I first had roasted beets with an orange dressing by Sydney harbor along with a "carpetbagger" ( stuffed with fresh oysters) steak!
The soups are from everywhere too:
from France a great potato-artichoke heart soup; a Spanish blended gazpacheo made with vegetable stock and raw vegetables; and from India a spicy vegetable daal.
Tonight I made American oatmeal raisin cookies..these are cake-like and great when used as an ice cream sandwich, or with a good cup of coffee.
I am also fermenting for 6 hours a sourdough bread mix with caraway seeds, that I might bake at 5am, (as I have to "knock it back"shape it first) tomorrow..it is made with the sourdough starter I began 2 weeks ago from a friends organic plums. ( see blog July 2nd)
In the morning I am preparing the rice cakes from Ibiza ( see previous blog April 11th Asian style pancakes from Ibiza) and a mango-pineapple pudding...photos are of my prep so far:
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| Beets being roasted on rosemary, with coarse sea salt, I Blanche the beets in boiling salted water to make them peel easier |
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| the daal simmering |
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| the roasted beets with spicy green peppers |
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| these 2 roasted eggplant, tomato sauce |
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| side view of the daal |
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| the artichoke heart and potato soup |
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| top view of daal |
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| American style oatmeal-raisin cookies made with local sun dried "flame grape" raisins |
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| the organic plum sourdough starter |
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| sourdough caraway bread fermenting 4 hours |
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