I forgot to eject Fido before bedtime so was awakened at around 03:00, which used to be 02:00, by his bladder clock. He hung around outside a little so I encouraged him inside as I was fed up standing freezing out of my bed. At least I went almost straight back to sleep. Note-to-self: remember to eject Fido at bedtime for an uninterrupted night’s sleep.
I was up just before 06:00 so we were on our way across the field just before half-past. I need to adjust the getting up time as we could be out a lot earlier on a bright morning. The walk was unremarkable other than the bright moonlight and the lack of wind. It was fresh although there were currents of warmer air lurking in some places. The sea was very calm and the views magnificent.
I’d considered going to Krios and to Petrakis later but decided I wasn’t up for two bike rides so went to Petrakis instead. I’d been shopping recently so needed bulky stuff including 5kg flour and more rice. The store was quite busy and almost everyone was wearing a mask. I completed my shop and set off back to Grammeno.
The water bowser had passed over the working area of the road so I didn’t need to grope through clouds of dust and could actually see where I was going. With no rain for a couple of days, the dust soon comes back unless the road surface is sprayed regularly.
I released the dogs, fed Isabella, made dough and fed the others after I’d started my breakfast going. I’d purchased the remaining ingredients for the banana bread recipe left for me by the departing Germans with the small boy and smaller dog. With the assistance of the nice Canadian lady at the checkout, I managed to locate baking powder and apple vinegar which had hitherto eluded me. I’d found some whole flour which will hopefully yield better sourdough as I now have 5kg of it. The starter I made up using that flour appears to have got a move on.
Elias appeared at the gate bearing his latest sourdough example which was a massive improvement on the first one. It was light and airy but unfortunately had a burned bottom which is a result of the fierceness of his gas oven. My oven is smaller so I have to bake on a tray. He uses a Dutch Oven which is a great way to get the bread to rise so long as you can get around the burned bottom problem.
Elias returned a little later with a large mug having heard that I now had whole flour. I gave him a mug-full then invited him into the madhouse to meet the dogs. They didn’t bark at him, even Oskar, just made a fuss of him and Isabella and Skinny showed off their playfulness. He went off back to his sourdough and I ate my breakfast.
I put the reclining chair onto the decking, sat in it and promptly went to sleep in the warm sunshine.
My next activity, other than periodically stretching and folding my latest sourdough attempt, was to make some banana bread from the recipe left by Nana, Matti’s wife.
This is the recipe:
2 x cups oats
1 x cup plant milk
1 x cup nuts
1 x cup seeds
1 x cup dried fruit
3 x ripe bananas (one for on top to decorate)
1 x chia egg (1 x tbsp chia and 1 x water)
1 tbsp baking soda
1 tbsp apple vinegar
salt, cinnamon, grated dark chocolate and vanilla
Chuck it all together and stick it in the oven at 180C for 40 minutes
I sliced the banana on top then squeezed the juice of half a lemon to stop the banana from discolouring. I have yet to successfully extract it from the baking pan and test it.
I went for a pleasant shower as tomorrow is forecast to be cloudy and Wednesday will be showery with heavier rain at night. Better to make use of the water after a long sunny day. The crazy twins came into the next-door cubicle as I was finishing up. Their mother, sensibly, used one of the cubicles further away to avoid the racket they make!
Someone, presumably Tony, was using a strimmer somewhere in the camping so has started making the place look sensible for the coming season. Whenever that will be, probably after Orthodox Easter.
The Government has announced free self-test kits for those who have a social security number as there is an estimate that one-third of the population might be asymptomatic. All well and good except for the invisible, huge, undocumented population who might still be unwittingly carrying The Plague. Furthermore, teachers and other key workers will be required to take a weekly self-test as will those in the hospitality and other tourist-related businesses. The hope is there will be some form of EU-wide CoVID passport scheme for those who have received their vaccination. This might reduce testing and make travel easier.
The Doggy Rice has completed its cooking cycle but remains in the Pot. The banana bread remains in the oven but needs releasing from its tin which might be tricky…
The dogs are currently silent but most likely looking forward to their evening excursion.
We have now walked and they have been fed. The walk was mostly uneventful other than we met a small group with a Shepherd and a smaller dogs right near the start of the walk so there was a degree of silliness not helped by Isabella’s initial excitement which spreads to the others. She and Skinny start off on the lead as the group is too difficult to manage if they are all at large.
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