Agricultural August

Aspassia from Cretan Diet took us to a festival in Chania, located about an hour outside of Rethymno. All sorts of producers gathered to peddle their Cretan wares. Aspa of course knew everyone there and we stopped and chatted at almost every booth. This was of course accompanied by the obligatory tasting and the even more obligatory farewell glass of raki. Suffice it to say by the end of the night we were full and drunk. Need I ask for more?

The festival took place in an emptied out dam, just across the street from the ocean. 

various honeys 

a raki production 

cheese!

pies! my favorite are the green pies. they're filled with indigenous greens, oregano, garlic, and mint. I'm addicted.

Cretan wedding pastries

a man in traditional garb compelling random passers by to down shots of raki

Cretan cheese in olive oil

more cheese!

yep, that entire table is raki. normal raki on the left, different kinds of spiced raki in the middle and on the right.

Cretan herbs

Traditional Taberna

the little cove where we ate

some of the fish on the menu, none of which are local or sustainably  fished, though they insist they are caught that day

left: arugula and mint salad with tomatoes and a cretan cheese similar to a pecorino.

right: melted sheep's milk cheese with tomatoes and peppers, very similar to queso fundido

lamb souvlaki and a calamari fritti plate

the obligatory watermelon and raki to finish the meal

Travel Breakfast

Our breakfast at the Torino train station before our flight to Crete. Cappuccini, an apricot "muffin", and a blackberry panier. Breakfast of champions!

Cretan Bakery

we happened upon this glorious sight while stumbling to our car at 7am for a roadtrip 

cretan breakfast pizza perhaps?

I'm in Crete!

With 6 weeks off from university, a friend from the program and I decided to venture to Crete. Naturally, our trip was inevitably to be centered around food; we are on an adventure to track down and research this crazy fermented goat milk mixed with Bulgar wheat, a Cretan specialty. It's called xenohodros, and is as difficult to find as it is to pronounce. More on that later. Here are some pics of our first meal. We stopped off in a little tiny town called Fodele. It is between Heraklion and Rethymno (where we are staying), and is the birthplace of El Greco.

fried cheese..how can you go wrong with that?

bean mash

our meze sampler

greek beer. meh

Mushrooms and Truffles

I ventured to Cuneo last week for some administrative bullshits and was actually enchanted by the city. We happened upon this little vendor on the side of the road. Mushroom season is upon us! Early though as it may seem. 

Chanterelles and porcini

Black truffles- the white ones will be ready around October

A Craving

There is nothing like a hankerin for asian cuisine in a country that has none. Italy has seriously no decent Asian food. So after a lazy day of  watching Dr. Who we decided to go ethnic: udon in an utterly nontraditional yet utterly delicious broth of homemade chicken stock, regular soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sriracha, sesame oil, homemade sambal oelek, ginger, garlic, and scallion.

Hit the spot.