Hello and Goodbye

Καλή χρονιά είπαμε? Δεν είπαμε!

Καλή χρονιά λοιπόν και μακάρι να είναι γεμάτη υγεία, τύχη και όμορφες στιγμές για όλους. 

Για μένα η χρονιά που πέρασε ήταν ίσως η πιο ανατρεπτική της ζωής μου. 

Caramelised Onion & Goat Cheese Pie / Πίτα με Καραμελωμένα Κρεμμύδια και Κατσικίσιο Τυρί

(Συνταγή στα Ελληνικά στο τέλος της σελίδας)

For my first post in over 3 months you would imagine that I would be bursting with words. Words about my last weeks in Croatia, our cruise along the beautiful Dalmatian coast and our road trip to Athens. And then about our search for an apartment and the whole process of moving in and trying to turn it into a home.   

Raspberry & Vanilla Jam / Μαρμελάδα Βατόμουρο με Βανίλια

(Συνταγή στα Ελληνικά στο τέλος της σελίδας)

I've been away for a long time again. Inspiration left me to fend on my own and I blew it. Thoughts could not transform into words and images could not be tamed through the lense. It felt lonely and tasted bitter. Creative hibernation in the middle of summer. Everything ceased  and I waited. 

Elderflower Cordial - Σιρόπι από Άνθη Κουφοξυλιάς

(Συνταγή στα Ελληνικά στο τέλος της σελίδας)

This post is going to be short and sweet. Sweet like the syrup I made from the white flowers of an elderberry tree.

Elderflowers are very special to me. They remind me of spring in London and are in a way responsible for getting me hooked on following food blogs and ultimately starting my own.

Gluten Free Banana & Walnut Cookies

It has been quite an indulgent week on my part.

I made the most amazing Salted Caramel Chocolate Cake for my birthday - thank you all so much for your wishes (heart) - which I followed with a classic French pastry filled with the most amazing praline and vanilla cream, the by now famous Paris-Brest. 

This has to end soon! 

My body is not as forgiving as some years ago and my spine has started to complain again about the extra kilos I am forcing her to carry around these past few months.

If you have lower back issues like I do, whether those are a simple pain when you get up from a sitting position that goes away after a few steps or a persistent pain when you bent which has unfortunately moved down your leg, the first thing you have to do is book an appointment with a physiotherapist or an osteopath and then begin exercise to strengthen your core muscles but most importantly lose some weight. Believe me, I know what I am talking about. After two lower back operations and three years of physical therapy I think I have earned my right to talk about this issue with authority

There was a time when I did not spent too much time worrying about how I looked and how my weight might affect my health.

We were posted in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, at the time. Life there was so different, to say the least, from everything I had experienced thus far. I had to wear an abaya whenever I was out in public, there were no movie theatres, no bars, no coffee shops, at least the type of coffee places we are used to in the rest of the world, where men and women (even married to each other) could sit and enjoy a cup of coffee, seeing other people around them. Every cafe and restaurant has a "singles section" where only men are allowed, and a "family section" where women with their husbands are allowed to enter. Each table is curtained off and very private. Imagine eating in a place where you hear other people eating around you but you don't see them. It is a very peculiar feeling. And don't get me started on religious freedom or the lack thereof...

Since there were virtually no ways to entertain ourselves outside our house we went to restaurants on a regular basis. There were not many to chose from, no let me rephrase that, there were not many quality restaurants to chose from. Saudis love American fast food ironic given the recent history, but not really because before the 1980's America practically build the country. But in any event, this is primarily a food blog and I do not want to delve deep into the political intricacies of the Saudi-American relationship. I promise to talk more about the everyday life in Riyadh in many posts to come, but for now if you are thinking of moving there and need more information and an unbiased opinion about living in the country you are welcome to contact me by email.

Now where was I? Going out to restaurants and eating our hearts out because we were frankly too bored to care and was too hot to do any type of physical activity. That was our lifestyle and in three years I managed to gain 30 kilos - that is 66 pound for you, my American friends. 

Here is a picture of me at a very important occasion. The President of Greece was on an official visit to Saudi Arabia. We hosted a reception at our embassy and I look horrible because they're nothing in my closet that would fit me. 90 kilos is A LOT to carry around and that is when my back gave way at age 29. I started to suffer terrible back aches. In just one year the pain spread down my left leg. It went numb and was very very very irritating. Disc hernia was the diagnosis and operation the treatment. 

But I will save this story for another post. 

What I wanted to say before I got so carried away - damn you A.D.D - was that I managed to get back on my feet and feel normal again with lots of exercise and weight control. Here is a picture of me and George at a friend's Halloween party a couple years ago where we won the prize for best costume!

See what difference a bit of exercise does? 30 kilos in three years!!

If you are still with me reading my ramblings please stay a little longer to read the recipe for the Gluten Free Banana &  Walnut cookies. 

This is recipe No3 in my series of baking all the recipes in Robyn Ryberg's The Ultimate Gluten Free Cookie Book. 

I made them just after the New Year, hence the festive golden background and they turned out very well. 

I am not saying that because they are gluten free are good for a diet. There is sugar in the recipe and eggs and oil so not a typical diet food but as a person who managed to turn her weight around, I want to tell you that for me the most effective diet is not to starve and deprive yourself. 

Have just one cookie with your coffee in the morning or as a sweet treat after a meal and not the whole box.

Moderation is paramount to losing weight in a healthy manner. So don't forget to treat yourself to something nice once a week. 

Here is the recipe.

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Gluten Free Banana & Walnut Cookies

Adapted from "The Ultimate Gluten Free Cookie Book" by Robyn Ryberg 

Makes about 30 cookies

Ingredients

1/3 cup (65gr) oil

1/2 cup (100gr) sugar

1 1/2 cups (185gr) brown rice flour

1 egg

2 ripe bananas, mashed

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 xanthan gum

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup (60gr) chopped walnuts

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350F/180C. 

Lightly grease a cookie tray.

Combine the oil and sugar in a medium bowl and beat well. Add the flour and beat very well. Add all the remaining ingredients and beat well. Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again. The dough will be soft.

Drop rounded teaspoonfuls of the dough (it is quite sticky don't worry) onto your prepared tray. Wet your fingertips and press the cookies to 0.5cm/0.25inch thickness.

Bake the cookies for 10 minutes until they begin to brown. Let them cool on a wire rack before serving them.

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Recipe Sharing Monday
Monday Block Party
Craft-O-Maniac Monday Link Party
WoW Me Wednesday
Wednesday What Is
Fresh Food Wednesdays
Wonderfully Creative Wednesdays
Friday Frenzy

Deep Fried Caramel Bananas

I made a firm commitment to myself. 

Let's call it a "35th birthday resolution". 

I will try to post something new at least once a week. 

Between The Ultimate Gluten Free Cookie Book Bake and Photograph Challenge and my weekly (strike that - bi-weekly) participation to the French Fridays with Dorie online cooking community I will have plenty to keep me occupied.

Since I will be spending a lot more time in this small corner of the blogosphere I decided to take a long, hard look at my blog. My shabby looking Box of Stolen Socks is in desperate need of a "beautifying" intervention. 

But I live in a foreign country were people speak a beautiful language which I have yet to master. Five and a half years in Croatia and I can only manage to greet people good morning, say thank you and basically trick everyone into thinking that I can speak their tongue. I am able to understand about 1/5 of what they say to me provided that they speak slowly and don't use very extravagant words. 

To my defence it is a hard language to learn. At least that's what all my Croatian friends are telling me to make me feel better, I guess.

My rudimentary knowledge of the language is enough to see me through my daily shopping trips to the market, but for more adventurous endeavours like let's say  finding a web designer and working together to create a new look for my Box or even help me move to a self hosting WordPress platform (oh the dream!!!) feels like deciding to climb mount Olympus in my flip flops. 

That's why I decided to spare myself the anxiety and the cost of lingual and cultural misunderstandings and wait until we move back to Athens, in the summer, where I would be able to have equally frustrating misunderstandings with my web designer there. Hey! at least they will be in Greek and I will be able to understand what  they are calling me behind my back and cordially reciprocate :) 

I had given up on the whole beautifying intervention idea and then last week I came across a blog called Something Swanky and a very helpful tutorial about how to create your own blog header using PicMonkey.

I  did not need a lot of persuasion and after a few minutes .... voilà.... I uploaded my very own, custom made header. It is nothing fancy. Very minimalist and clean but I now know how to adjust and redesign it if I need to. Next stop background!!!!

Now you are right to ask me what do bananas and blog headers have in common? Nothing really. I just though of sharing with you my experience with making something for the first time. And I am sure many of you will find this tutorial quite useful. 

So designing my blog  header was not the only thing I did for the first time these past few days. 2014 started with a string of  firsts for me. On day 1 I decided to make a desert that I have never ever thought I will ever make at home. 

Deep Fried  Bananas.

 Deep fried like the ones you have at a Chinese restaurant and say to yourself that this is an indulgence you are only allowed to have once a year! 

Not only did I made them at home, I also made caramel for the first time in my life. It was scary. I was whisking the sugar and the water for more than 10 minutes and then suddenly it started to take colour and I had to act quickly and get it out of the fire before it turned black. I regret to say that I was not so quick enough and I might have burned it a bit --actually a lot--  But ultimately it was a very rewarding experience!

I don't care how cheesie it sound but yes the first time is always difficult. Chances are that you are not going to get everything right and you are going to mess up a bit more but what I learned from my brief encounter with hot sugary water is that if you decide to move past your fear of disappointment and self pity and try again you are going to make it better and better every time you try. My Caramel Bananas are the most delicious proof of that.

Have you done anything new and for the first time in these first 20 days of 2014?

I really don't have to say much about this recipe. Sweet, soft bananas, deep fried in light - did I mention gluten free?? batter and then coated with hot, crispy caramel! Sinful but I could eat this everyday for breakfast, lunch and dinner. 

The original recipe calls for a flour mix made with potato starch, brown rice flour and xanthan gum. I could not find potato starch in my local healthy food store so I used a commercial universal gluten free flour. I have used it before and I was quite happy with its performance. 

~~~~~~~~~~

Deep Fried Caramel Bananas

Adapted from "Seriously Good Gluten Free Baking" by Phil Vickery

Serves 4

Ingredients

100 gr gluten free flour - I used this brand 

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder - make sure it is gluten free!!! It should say on the packaging!!

300 ml vegetable oil, for frying

4 bananas

2 tablespoons sesame seeds

200 gr sugar

Instructions

In a medium bowl, mix the flour with the baking powder and gradually stir in 150 ml of cold water until you have a thick, smooth paste. It should be thick enough to be able to coat the bananas so it is better to add the water little by little, stir, see the consistency and add as much as you need. 

In a medium but deep saucepan, heat the oil until it is very hot - Phil Vickery in his book suggests that "the oil is hot enough when a cube of bread sizzles and turns golden in a few seconds" - 

Slice the bananas into 4 pieces each and dip them into the batter. Carefully put one or two into the hot oil and deep fry them for about 1 1/2 minutes until they turn golden. Turn them with a clean spoon so that they fry uniformly. 

Pull them out using a slotted spoon and let them drain of any excess oil on kitchen paper. Deep fry all the bananas is batches of 2 or 3 and then prepare for the caramel.

In a small heavy based saucepan, put the sugar an 4 tablespoons of cold water. Stir gently over low heat until all the sugar crystals are dissolved. This might take some time! It is very important not to stop stirring until all the sugar is dissolved!!! Then stop stirring and let it bubble until it turns into a dark golden colour. Then remove from the heat. 

Pick up the bananas with two wooden toothpicks or longer skewers and gently roll them into the hot caramel sauce. Transfer them onto a sheet of baking paper set over a wire rack, sprinkle them with sesame seeds and leave them for a few minutes until the caramel hardens. Serve them with ice cream !

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I am sharing this recipe at

Catch a Glimpse Thursday 

Frozen Nature

I woke up today and everything was white.

No snow. Just fog and frost.

I put put my camera around my neck; wore my gloves and earmuffs and went out into the white.

Bled in June...

Bled castle on the top of the hill with breathtaking views of the surrounding valley and the Julian Alps

... was imposing, green and so refreshing! After a couple of scorching hot days in Zagreb we found this densely forested area at the Northwest of Slovenia to be exactly what we needed to cool down and recharge, even if it was only for a day.

St. Martin's Church from a distance

It felt good to be on the road, travelling again, with George and our little black Volvo. It felt good, but if I want to be completely honest with myself, my eagerness for exploration and new experiences was somewhat  covered by a thin, yet potent, layer of anxiety.

I am not the world's most relaxed traveller and as much as I want to let myself experience the exhilaration of the unexpected, there is always a part of me that wants to, or at least wants to be able to, be in control. That means you will never find me with a backpack, wandering the trails, sleeping under the stars. As romantic as this sounds I need a proper bed to sleep at night and a fixed destination for next morning.

Little porcelain bells around the church tower 

I am not going to go into the whys and hows of this - if an eager therapist out there wants to contact me by all means I am always open to suggestions :) :)  I am kidding, off course, but seriously when we left Zagreb on Saturday morning I was definitely starting to feel the familiar embrace of this unpleasant emotion...

We headed north of Zagreb towards the Slovenian border. It was really a lovely Saturday morning a bit on the hot side but that was not a problem; we knew that in a couple of hours we were going to arrive at a place where the landscape and the dense forest prevents the temperature to rise to more than 30 degrees C. We were on our way to Triglav National Park, part for the Julian Alps at the border between north-eastern Italy and Slovenia. After Ljubljana the landscape changed and I could see the imposing mountains at the end of the horizon. Some of the mountain picks were still white with snow.

Imposting rocks massifs

Maybe it was the beauty of the nature or the fact that we were having so much fun with George in the car making jokes and talking about how much we missed each other while we were apart that I forgot about my concerns. The blanket of fear and anxiety had lifted and I was able to enjoy this miraculous place with my whole heart!

Charming boat house by the lake 

Ducks cruising the lake with the Julian Alps in the background 

Bled Town Hall they could not get the colour of the flowers more right!

Horse carriages for hire for rides along the shore 

Calm and beautiful

Water-lilies like those in my painting

Ducks reign supreme in lake Bled

Fairytale castle and lake

Lake Bled and the small village that surrounds it is one of the most beautiful and picturesque places I have visited. Ducks, swans and water-lilies prevail here - there are places where people can swim but thankfully the rest of the lake is off limits and guarded so there are no sweaty tourists jumping in where ever they fancy. Overlooking the lake, Bled Castle makes the whole scenery seem like it was copied from a fairytale book. And the view from the castle....simply breathtaking!

On the island there is a church 

Boats come and go between the shore and the small island

Lone boat on its way to the island

High up in the castle

Well at the castle courtyard

Bled castle is one of the most popular wedding venues in Slovenia!

The power of green

Twenty kilometres from Lake Bled there is another lake. Lake Bohinj is longer, deeper and untamed. The mountain above commanded my attention. And the nature around the lake was imposing and aerie. We drove along the shore for about 11km and then climbed the 850 metres to the spot where you can see the spectacular waterfall that constantly feeds water to the lake. The sound of the waterfall in my ears; the fresh air caressing my face; climbing up the steep path; the magnificent views of the lake and the valley with the huge mass of bare rock hanging menacingly over our heads; it was an experience I will always remember!

The perfect coexistence

Imposing and menacing  

Force of nature

View of the lake valley on our way to the waterfall

The Julian Alps in all their glory

A statue of the elusive chamois a type of goat the grassy slopes of the Julian Alps

Lake Bohinj at dusk