The Mani

I have just returned from Greece, or more precisely from a section of the the Peloponnese known as The Mani. It is a most beautiful land of high mountains, deep gorges, cyprus and olive groves, tower houses, tiny churches, of welcoming villagers and hardy fishermen who get their livelihood from the Gulf of Messinia, an inlet of the Ionian Sea.

I stayed with friends who have built themselves a house there. We explored high and low and ate and slept well. In fact for the first time in several years, I slept each night like a child.

Having gotten home, I bought a cookbook I had seen in Greece, in the house of the friends with whom I stayed. In the last couple of days, I've made various meze and cooked Chicken Baked With Yogurt (and many spices) and tonight I'm cooking Sesame-Crusted Roast Chicken (in tahini and caper sauce) I have not yet cooked fish in the Greek style nor yet had the opportunity to gut freshly caught red mullet as this chap is doing in a waterside taverna.















Oh, and I imported some superb olive oil from the press to which my friends take their olives at harvest time in November. Here are some of their trees.