Risking The Seajet

We've booked all our ferry tickets for our trip to Greece. We decided to take the Seajet 2 (of which we'd read mixed reviews) from Paros to Tinos, mainly because there's only two boats a day (at least in the advertised schedules) and that one is the first boat. The theory is that if the boat you're going for is cancelled, it's better that it's an early boat than the last boat of the day. Reduces your chance of getting stuck.
Anyway, wife had ordered Greek Island Hopping "The Island Hopper's Bible" from Amazon. It came today. I looked up Seajet 2. Their advice: "Do not book tickets in advance for this boat, it's quite prone to cancellation". I think even with this warning in mind I'd still do what we did, I think my own advice of "always book the earlier boat" takes precedence over theirs.

P.S. We've now been and the crossing was great; on time, comfortable and fast, no complaints really. Seajet 2 is now in a nice pink livery!

Seajet 2 at Tinos

Galadoboureko(Sometimes known as Galaktoboureko)

We made a lovely dessert last weekend, a trial run for having some friends round this weekend.

On our travels around the Cyclades the other year we visited the island of Tinos. In the beautifully picturesque marble village of Pyrgos there were several tavernas that served what was seen as a local specialty - Galadoboureko. I think in actual fact this dish is common to a lot of areas of Greece, but perhaps Pyrgos & Tinos make the best examples.

It's basically a custard slice - a good layer of solidly thick custard layered between crispy filo pastry and - in typical Greek fashion - smothered in a sticky syrup. It's best eaten on the day it's made, but not immediately after making it. It needs to sit for several hours for the syrup to incorporate its way into the rest of the pie. Eat it too soon and the syrup is still separate and way too sickly and cloying.

The recipe is as follows, and we're indebted to this site for their version of it.

(Use the same glass for measurement throughout - i used a half pint which goes well with 2 eggs)

Syrup:

4 glasses of sugar
2 glasses water
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 stick of cinnamon

Filling:

6 glasses of milk
1 glass cornflour
1 glass sugar
2 eggs
1/2 glass of rosewater (or orange-blossom water)
1lb (450g) filo pastry
6oz (180g) unsalted butter or 1/2 glass of ground nut oil


Method:

1. First make your syrup, put the sugar, water, lemon juice and stick of cinnamon into a pan and bring to the boil for 10 minutes. Allow to cool 
2. To make the cream filling, beat the eggs and mix with the cornflour to make a paste using a bit of the milk. 
3. Heat the rest of the milk to boil. 
4. Pour a little of the hot milk into the paste, stir well, and repeat until the mixture is quite runny and smooth then pour it all back into the pan. Stir continuously until the cream is smooth, taking care not to let it burn the bottom as this will taint the flavour. 
5. Add the sugar and rosewater. 
6. Take off the heat 
7. Take 6 sheets of pastry, butter or oil in between each one and place at the bottom of a deep baking dish 
8. Then pour in the milk mixture 
9. Cover with 5 or 6 sheets of pastry again, buttering in between each one. 
10. Place into a moderate 150C oven for 1 hour, turning up heat a little at the end if it needs browning. 
11. Take out of the oven and while still hot, pour over cold syrup. 
12. To serve cut into wedges, can be eaten hot or chilled.

Trapped

My sister & brother-in-law, Baby Niece and Minstrel Boy are trapped in Gran Canaria by the Ash Cloud. They've been checked out of their original self-catering accommodation and are now staying full board (including a drink with meals) at the holiday company's expense, so at least they don't have to worry about running out of money to buy food with.

Who knows how long it will be before they can get home. At the moment there's the prospect of them having to fly back to Spain and come home on Ark Royal or something. Very exciting for many children I'm sure, but something most people would rather do without.

This whole Ash thing is casting a cloud (see what I did there?) over my own holiday plans. We're not due to go until June, but will it be clear even by then? And I still need to book loads of things up for that holiday (it's independent travel). Is it a bit risky to book anything now? Maybe I should consider an overland holiday instead...

Decisions, decisions.

Bishop Auckland

We went to Bishop Auckland on Saturday. It's the first time we've been there in almost 20 years. The thing that drew us there was The Bishop Auckland Food Festival. These food festivals are everywhere these days, particularly in market towns, but we enjoy them and they're a fairly cheap day out, if you can resist spending too much on the stalls.

Auckland Castle

It was a particularly warm and sunny day, which made the day all the more enjoyable and also a lot cheaper! The warmth meant we were unable to buy much as it would not keep well in the hot car for the rest of the day. So bang went Sticky Toffee, Lemon and Marmalade Puddings that we might otherwise have bought! We did get a couple of pieces of Chocolate Brownie from the Burtree House Farm stall (who also make those puddings that I just mentioned), possibly the finest brownie I've ever had (their puddings are delicious too).

My favourite thing, as usual, was trying out the various stands that sold hot chilli sauces. There seems to be a growing number of these, and that suits me. My mouth was well warmed up by the time I left the festival! "Best In Show" for me was Trees Can't Dance who do a number of sauces, dips and marinades of varying strengths, all of them delicious.

The event also allowed you free entry to the chapel of Auckland Castle, a beautifully decorated chamber (above).

I have to say that I was quite pleasantly surprised by Bishop Auckland. I don't really know what my memories of it were from when we visited those 20 odd years ago, but it strikes me now as a very pleasant town. It has a good array of shops, with very little on the main street (Newgate Street) that is disused or looking tatty. The buildings in the market square are all quite interesting architecturally, even though most of them have been converted into pubs and bars. The Town Hall would not look out of place in some Northern French town or village.

The main shops included a good number of "family bakers", which I always find more interesting than a whole town full of Gregg's. Some of the cakes and pies looked absolutely fabulous and I was sorely tempted - but we already had that brownie! There were also a number of what you might call "greasy spoon" cafes, but they weren't so "greasy spoon" as to be unattractive. Quite the opposite in fact and I was tempted by a number of them. I could have had an all-day veggie breakfast at one of them for £2.80, but instead opted for a different cafe that had some nice outside seating and who's veggie breakfast included Quorn sausages for £3.20. Absolutely delicious, as was wifes cheese toastie and chips and our two cappuccinos. Simple, quality food at an affordable price, just what we were looking for.

I could go back to "Bishop" again, just to have another breakfast!