Our guide Castos arrived at 10 and we all piled in for our Greek Culinary adventure.
Our first stop was an old olive oil pressing facility.
Eggsare’s Oil Press. The island has been pressing olives into olive oil since 1884.
This huge stone was pushed and pulled around the circular base to crush the olives into a smooth paste. Obviously you also spent a lot of time scrapping the past of the stones.
The paste was then placed in these bags. The bags were originally goat hair and the giant press was used.
Eventually they connected that press to this so 2 men could work faster
Finally they attached this crane to the press and really sped things up.
The oil was pressed into these tanks and hot water was run over the bags as they were pressed. Let it sit for awhile and the olive oil floats to the top. Pull the drain on the right side which is slightly lower and let the water drain out.
The oil could be stored in these clay pots for an extended period of time, without loss of quality. The lady told us up to 3 years.
Activating my calves to move this stone.
The fruits of the labor. Olive oil with truffles, olive oil with garlic, the list goes on forever.
From the Olive press to the cooking class. We headed to the town of Galini for our Greek Cooking class at the family owned restaurant Platià. We were greeted warmly by our host and treated to a little appetizer before getting to work.
Olives and 3 types of Naxian cheese. The island has a lot of goats, sheep and cows so it has a lot of cheeses. I would say generally all are delicious as well.
The set up. The baller was used to scoop the insides out of the eggplant, zucchini, peppers and tomatoes. Those were combined and puréed.
Katie receiving expert instruction.
The vegetables have been emptied.
KT stirring olive oil, onions and garlic. Once that is ready we will add the purée and rice. To make this more authentic I would occasionally yell at KT, “Is the onion station ready?” She would then yell back “No, not yet chef.” Finally it was ready
Onions, garlic, olive oil puréed vegetables and the rice going in.
Ashley making meatballs. Bread, meat, mint, parsley and Naxian Cheese. After that you roll them in flour.
“Are you having fun?” The answer, “Yes, chef!!”
Frying the meatballs. This Greek lady doing the frying is so tough the oil landed on her arm, apologized and then fell to the floor.
This is artsy.
Before and after meatballs.
With the meatball making nearly complete and the stuffed vegetables ready to go in the oven, we made some Tzatziki. Greek yogurt, olive oil, shredded cucumber with no juice, finely chopped dill.
Grace mixing the tzatziki
Look at those biceps stirring. Power up G-money.
Now we had some free time to explore the farm which supplies this restaurant’s fresh fruit and vegetables.
Plum tree.
Queen fruit, not sure about the spelling, tastes a lot like an apple in baking.
Citron like a giant lemon. The fruit is better but the leaves are pressed into a liqueur, Citroen. 3 type white, green (added sugar so it is sweeter) and yellow which is double distilled.
All the tree trunk’s are painted white with a dye to keep the bugs from the fruit. #allnaturalfarmingingreece
Nico, our farmer friend with the girls under the grapes
Kari and Nico. Is Mrs Anseth tired of big city living?
On Naxos they use bamboo hedgerows to protect the fruit and vegetables from the wind. The Bambi grows thick, fast and tall. Above you can see how 1/2 the tree isn’t producing fruit because of how the wind pushes on the right side.
The girls with Nico. I can’t keep up with this guy he gave them fresh fruit, vegetables and now flowers.
On the farm there was this doorway from the original building dating back to 1884
Love this doorway photo from the farm.
You can put a cucumber peel on your forehead to cool down in a pinch.
After our tour we returned to the restaurant to enjoy our efforts.
Out the window of the restaurant
Stuffed vegetables
Eggplant up close. This is stick to your ribs food
Our meatballs
Tzatziki
Desert: light flour dough fries and covered with honey and cinnamon. Ooh my god were these good!
The family and Castos, our guide.
Back at the hotel, we relaxed and read. I laid in the sun with my mouth open like a Nile Crocodile to full to move.
A little sunshine to help process some Vitamin D
We finally felt like a little dinner around 9 PM. We are really starting to adapt to Greek life.
Eating outside in the wind
Grace was not excited about these shrimp in her pasta
This is Salatouri.
Dreaming of Butter noodles and a Dr. Pepper
The statue where our cab picked us up.
We all agreed this was one of the best things we have ever done on vacation. The experience, the hospitality, the curiosity and the result all made for an unforgettable day.
Plans are changing for tomorrow so we will see what happens next.
καληνυχτα
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