Olympics and The Marathon, ancient and modern!

One of the most anticipated and watched events of any Olympic Games is the Marathon and the London Olympics’ Marathon will be no exception – it somehow always seems to bring out the heroes, which, actually, is the way it should be – not everyone is aware of this event’s history and to some it is just a Long, Tough Race (and that it definitely is) that sometimes is associated with fund raising!

In the autumn of 2010 Athens celebrated the 2500^th anniversary of the original Marathon and I wrote the following piece for the Periscope Post (The Periscope Post newsletter@periscopepost.com) and thought I would add it to my ‘coverage’ of the current Games:

“The Athens Classical Marathon: 2500th anniversary and still going strong

1 November 2010

For a few glorious hours Greeks forgot their financial misery (oh dear, the misery, sadly continues!) and basked in the sunshine and blue skies and pride associated with the 28th Annual Classic Marathon that took place on Sunday 31st of October.

“Marathon” is a word used all over the world to describe endurance and determination to succeed in a given task – fundraising ‘telethons’ abound and there are over twenty actual Marathon races held each year, not just the high profile events in Boston (that has held Marathons regularly for over a hundred years!), New York, or London but from as far apart as Dublin, Honolulu and the Great Wall. It is probably safe to say that many people are unaware of the history of this major race – even the modern version that has spawned so many copies worldwide is traced back to the first of the modern Olympics in 1896 and has been the highlight of every Olympic Games ever since – who could forget the drama and excitement as the leaders enter the main stadium after what is always a grueling test of willpower?

For a short while on this sunny day in perfect conditions, it was Greece of the 2004 Olympic Games when everyone was smiling and proud of Greece’s achievements and history

But that is just the modern Marathon and what is being celebrated this year is the 2500th anniversary of what one commentator today described as a turning point in history when a handful of Greeks defeated the masses of the Persian horde and effectively assured the ‘legacy of European civilization’. Which long distance runner wouldn’t want to follow in the footsteps of that original messenger, Pheidippides, who ran the 42kms in 490BC from the Battle ground at Marathon to Athens to announce the victory – 42kms, much of it uphill, of very different terrain from today’s paved road that nowadays takes little over two hours for the leaders to complete.

The Athens Classic Marathon is unique as this is where it all started. There may be bigger and better Marathons but where else can you retrace history, where else does the Mayor of Marathon start each group with the cry “Let’s go, have a good race, have fun, take care of each other” to the sound of well loved Greek music. Where else does the Prime Minister take part in the 10kms run and where the runners are welcomed at the finish line by the President of the Republic, in the magnificent marble stadium, packed with cheering spectators, built for the first of the modern Olympics?

For a short while on this sunny day in perfect conditions, it was Greece of the 2004 Olympic Games when everyone was smiling and proud of Greece’s achievements and history and when everything was deemed possible – all it takes is resolve and courage, as proven by the oldest of the 22,000 participants at 91, the runners with special needs (who will be having their very own moment of glory in 2011 when Athens hosts the Special Olympics World Summer Games) and the group of pregnant women. Runners, organisers, volunteers from all over the world all happy to be part of this amazing and unifying challenge.

The excitement and festive spirit might be over for another year but the inspiration should and must last for much longer.”

So, as you watch the Marathon this weekend and cheer on these amazing Athletes, give a thought to who did it first!

Wishing the runners Sunshine and Courage, whatever the weather!

The Acropolis with the Parthenon, photo by yours truly from a helicopter



Panhellenic Stadium built for the first modern Olympics in 1896 (photo, again, mine, from helicopter!)

2012 London Olympics v 2004 Athens Olympics

I know that the Olympics are well underway but I wanted to share the following that I had posted on Facebook in an attempt to get people enthusiastic about the forthcoming Olympic Adventure - I certainly got some nice comments, especially from people who had been at the Athens Olympics in 2004 and remembered nostalgically those magically days when everyone was smiling!

" Moments to go before the London Olympics and still some people who are rather indifferent to this great event. There was a touch of ambivalence here in Athens before our Olympics in 2004 – oh, I’m leaving town, not interested, too much inconvenience etc., etc. And then, once it had started and everything was going perfectly (in spite of all the doubting Thomas’s) Olympic Fever took over, everyone was smiling, observing the Olympic road lanes, using public transport, totally, but totally, committed to making it the greatest especially being in the home of the Olympics. And it WILL be great in London (maybe not as great as Athens, but there you are!) and everyone will have a great time and they may even go into the complete depression that everyone suffered from at the end of the Paras and everyone had gone home – we all felt so flat after the excitement. So, Londoners, Brits, enjoy this wonderful event and spread Peace and Goodwill during these unique and special days!"

Ancient Olympia in the Spring

Panhellenic Stadium (Kali Marmaro) home of the first of the Modern Olympics in 1896

Thoughts on the Opening Ceremony:
Having been privileged to experience the Athens Opening and Closing Ceremonies first hand I know that 'you have to be there!' - there is so much going on in the the huge stadium - look there, over there, watch that etc! Seeing it on TV is fine but you only see what the producers allow you to see through their cameras. Seeing such a show on the minute screen of my very trusty IPad is something else again, especially as the signal kept going off! However (my choice not to have a television on the island) I thoroughly enjoyed the spectacular show, loved (for once in my life) Mr Bean who was brilliant, so many memories of my childhood and all the things that make up a very Great Britain. The Queen, well, what can I say, a STAR, as always, God Bless her!

I have been trying to imagine the meeting Danny Boyle had with HM the Queen when he outlined his idea of parachuting her into the Opening Ceremony:

“Do you mean, Mr Boyle, that I should go off with a Spy of dubious repute, in a helicopter, zoom over London and then jump out of the helicopter with this 007 person over the Olympic Stadium with a Union Flag parachute in time to declare the Games open?”

“well, Ma’am, that’s the general idea”

“will I have time to straighten my hair as it will probably be blown around on the way down?”

“definitely, Ma’am”

“All right then, Mr Boyle, it sounds like fun – my grandchildren will be so proud of their Super-Gran”.

“Thank you, Ma’am, I will keep you ‘in the loop’!

“ Goodbye Mr Boyle – oh, and by the way, this spy, can he manage a parachute or will I need to help him?”

Photo captured in my IPad from the BBC coverage of the 2012 London Opening Ceremony

There is, of course, no other news but the Olympics at the moment - maybe it's a throw back to the original ethic of Peace during the Games when everyone laid down their arms for the duration..... except that, so sadly, awful things are still happening - do let's try to stop the horror. And if you ask what can one person do remember the effect of one mosquito in your bedroom at night! (not my quote, someone much wiser - probably HH the Dalai Lama - now there's a force for good!)

Wishing you, as always, Sunshine and Peace during the Games and after, whatever the weather.

What with Facebook and Instagram and the Blog I forgot to mention my very own participation in the start of the 2012 London Olympics!

At 08.12 when ALL THE BELLS rang out from Big Ben to the Hebrides to Cornwall and Antarctica, I rang my little bell on the remote Cycladic island of Serifos - so I was part of the living sculpture devised by Martin Creed to welcome in the Olympics!

Hey Pesto - so Where are the Pesto Recipes??

Nearly two months ago, over the Whitsun weekend (Aghiou Pvenmatos), I came to open up our summer house on Serifos in the Western Cyclades.

Arriving after the whole winter’s absence (due in large part to the difficulty in getting here, few ferries, bad weather, risk of getting stuck for days – which actually wouldn’t be as bad as all that!), always makes me anxious as I wonder what has happened during those long months, leaks, encroaching development, phone/internet not working, internal and external damage to our old stone house that has stood for over a 100 years. As I approach up the hill, round the corner, into the path and finally through the gate (still on his hinges), my heart in my mouth but less so with every step – the house is still standing, the front door opens and the house seems to say ‘oh so you’re back! Summer must be coming! Lovely to have you home again! Have you noticed all the glorious flowers?’

And, yes, I had noticed the glorious flowers, masses and masses of white oleanders laden with their spring blooms, the end of the wisteria dripping (and dropping) over the pergola and veranda, and the mint, a crazy plant in a large pot to stop it from taking over the whole garden, just ready for Mojitos, Pimms and tzatziki and Moroccan tea and all those wonderful things made more wonderful with the addition of MINT – what a welcome!

The Basil plants don’t survive the winter so I had brought a new batch with me that were ceremoniously planted in their special pots and spots to be brushed and touched by anyone passing to give off their heady scent and the watering attached and tested.

It was a busy weekend, made doubly so by trying to watch the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations and justifying that by saying it wouldn’t happen again, but, God Willing, the sea would be there for swimming another day and the house things waiting to be done definitely would be there another day!

My return to Serifos took longer than originally anticipated so when I finally set up summer residence, complete with cat and dog (and joy of joys, my daughter and son, albeit just for three days – serious ‘quality time’) six or so weeks had passed and a lengthy heat wave and the break down of the watering system! Everything looked a little sad at first inspection – not a flower to be seen except for the plumbago – oleanders give a fantastic show in the spring, then relax for a bit and then do it all over again late summer/early autumn – takes more than a heat wave to kill an oleander but they did look a bit thin. 10 loads of those useful blue Ikea bags filled with dead leaves! But just look at my beautiful mint! My crazy mint – twigs!  The Basils had completely dried up – and I hadn’t brought any of my spares from the Athens jungle as really there was no room in the overloaded lorry (aka car!).

Could this really be my same
Crazy Mint??

 What had happened to the watering? Well, firstly it wasn’t on often enough and my very dear gardener who was absent from the island had told his boy to set it for 10minutes every two days – fine for the spring, but not for a heat wave; and somehow these sensitive timers seem to have given up in spite of new batteries.

 I have to say a word here about my very dear gardener, Antoni, whom I have known for years and years, first as a taverna/café owner and then thanks to his plant nursery – always reliable and helpful (the times I would arrive with heavy stuff in the car and he’d come and help me unload, mirrors, tables, all the stuff that gets carted around between homes!) and often during the winter I would see him at receptions in Athens where he worked as a barman. When I spoke to him during my pre-summer visit, he was in town and sounded a bit strange, but wouldn’t say in spite of my pressing ‘Antoni, are you all right, I don’t hear you very well?’ – ‘I’m fine, Kiria Brigitte, I’ll see you back on the island soon’.

Sadly this was not to be and I cried and cried when I heard that he had passed away, as did the whole island. This fine, honest man, always with a ready smile, will be sadly missed; he leaves a wife and two student daughters of whom he was, rightly, very proud. Watch over my/our garden, Antoni – I shall tend the lemon tree you planted last autumn with great care in your memory.

 I was going to tell of an automatic watering fiasco in my previous home, well, why not, just to lighten the mood: I had installed this magic answer to my watering needs on all the large balconies, laden with my usual jungle planting, in my top floor apartment and off I went for a work weekend out of town. Saturday evening, when mobile phones were quite new and the coverage not very reliable, I received a call to say that water was pouring into the apartments below me (all five floors!) – I was on an island with no means of getting off it mainly because there was a festival in the village on the mainland and everyone had gone to enjoy themselves (nothing wrong with that!) and in any case I was a good 4hours drive from home had I been able to get ashore! Luckily I was able to get hold of the lady who helped me in the house, and she in turn called her boyfriend and they jumped in their trusty steed (named BMW) and whizzed over to the flat in the middle of the night – water everywhere because the chap who had installed the automatic system had set the Time On but not the Time Off – I suppose I should be thankful for small mercies (and I AM, regularly!) that it was only on one of the four balconies that he slipped up! Hours of mopping up and eventually negotiations with the neighbours below, one of whom, thought he could get his whole flat redecorated and new drapes into the bargain, but lessons to be learned: automatic watering is GREAT, as is all technology, when it works and is used correctly – as my IT professor taught me, eons ago, ‘rubbish in, rubbish out!’

PESTO Recipes??? Well, if I had any Basil plants (!) I would be adding their fragrant leaves to everything. A simple tomato salad (and I do like to skin my toms, they taste completely different) is fit for royalty when tossed with basil leaves (and not straight from the ‘fridge!). Roasted tomatoes and red peppers with oil drenched leaves are sublime with fresh ones sprinkled over before serving, warm.

 I, when I actually have my basil plants, make a sauce by processing a large bunch of leaves with a little bit of garlic, salt and pepper and oodles of the best olive oil that I keep in the fridge and it is ready for serving over sliced tomatoes, with or without mozzarella or our local Ksino Mizithra goats cheese (Heaven), or with the additional of  parmesan and pine nuts or (my preference) walnuts – and there you are, instant Pesto. Everything summery benefits from the addition of Basil – no wonder it is used as a Holy plant for sprinkling Holy Water on the faithful by the priests.

PS I have cut back my mint ‘twigs’ and am watering and Reiki-ing the pot and I know it’ll be fine for next year and a new Basil has been planted (yia to kalo [for the good] as they say here) as no garden is complete without one to touch in passing, although it wont grow enough to use for cooking!

Wishing you Sunshine (and, yes, I know there is another heat wave in progress and most of us would love some rain! Or at least a cool refreshing wind) whatever the weather. Enjoy the sunshine in your heart and Basil in your pots!

Down in the Jungle, eating Bread and Jam!

Sub-title: Well, actually not eating Bread and Jam but a cool lunch with cool friends! But the jungle part is accurate (see photo towards the end)

After the Greek elections on June 17^th that the world watched with bated breath, I, and probably most people in Greece (Greeks and foreigners alike) wondered ‘what next?’

 What next? How about lunch? So I invited the ladies from one of my Book Clubs for lunch in the garden/jungle before they all disappeared for the summer, (Just by the way, the years of ‘where are you going for the summer?’ meaning the whole Summer, not just two weeks on the Costa Brava, are long gone, but family homes on islands or in villages still exist and what else are you going to do with children on three months’ holiday?)

And they all accepted which was great. But what wasn’t great is that a heat wave got stuck on Greece, and, more specifically, on my house, or so it seemed and I was cooking in 40C as the aircon was out of order, of course!

 I wanted it to be cool, fresh and easy to serve so I decided on the following:

 Mezes (hors d’oeuvres) of bowls of taramasalata, houmous and melitzanasalata (egg plant dip) with home made toasts.

 Salmon poached in a fennel flavoured court bouillon, with a quinoa salad featuring lots of parsley (my take on Tabbouleh), lots of basil, chopped red and green peppers, cucumbers, tiny tomatoes, celery and fennel. With a Pesto mayonnaise, strips of pickled cucumber and capers from the garden.

Poached salmon, cucumber and capersw

Quinoa salad, parsley, basil, cucumber, fennel, celery tomatoes

Roasted, stuffed red peppers and roasted tomatoes – again with lots of basil.

 And finally, because I had made mayonnaise I had also made meringues (see previous Post) which I served with a good dollop of vanilla flavoured whipped cream and baked and caramelised peaches, apricots and plums.

 All fairly simple, but some rather lengthy in preparation.

 Melitzanasalata:

Whilst roasting the red peppers and tomatoes, I put the egg plant into the oven to cook. When softened and finally cooled, scoop out the inside and combine with a little spring onion, lots of parsley, salt, lemon juice, olive oil, a little mayonnaise and give it a quick pulse whizz in the processor – just enough to combine but not to purée – needs texture.

Houmous:

I prefer to use dried chick peas that I soak overnight in water with a teaspoon of bicarb. Next day, rinse and then boil in fresh water without salt, until softened. Strain, reserving some of the liquid for thinning the final purée.
Put chick peas into the trusty processor, salt to taste, a little crushed garlic, whizz, add tahini (lots), olive oil and lemon juice and thin with some of the reserved cooking liquid if too thick and whizz away until you get a smooth-ish cream.
If I don’t have time to use dried chick peas, cooked and canned chick peas that are always lurking somewhere in the store cupboard, are fine as long as you rinse them thoroughly removing the canning liquid and proceed as above – for thinning use water.

Roasted Red Peppers:

Delia Smith’s recipe (from her summer recipe book) is the very best, stuffed with tomatoes, anchovies and basil.

Roasted Tomatoes:

I think Delia has a recipe for these too which is bound to be perfect as are all her reliable recipes, but I just remove the skins, cut in half horizontally, douse with olive oil and sprinkle with basil.

Whilst roasting away all the above, make the toasts:

I use French baguettes that I slice into ½ cms rounds, lay out on sheet pans, drizzle olive oil all over the bread and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Put the timer on for 10 minutes and watch them, they need to be golden and some could be a little more so just for flavour!

Again, whilst roasting away, prepare the fruit, peel the peaches, stone them and the apricots and plums having cut in half horizontally; place them in a pretty terracotta baking dish in which they can be served, sprinkle liberally with caster sugar and lemon juice; if you like the idea you can add some white wine. Bake until beautifully caramelised and soft.

 We are a very noisy (lively!) group – twelve girls who have been friends for a long time – one I was a school with and reconnected out of the blue here in Greece (one of her sons and mine, totally coincidentally, were given the same name and baptised by the same godfather!). I had not judged the sun’s orbit very well, in spite of inviting them for 2pm but fortunately one of my friends arrived with an enormous umbrella that covered the whole lunching area.

 I served very cold white wine, home made lemonade and an assortment of iced teas, jasmine, white and my personal favourite black flavoured with hibiscus flowers that gives a good impersonation of red wine!

 It was Lovely and a good start to the summer. We shall regroup, God willing, in September with tales of holidays, all the books read and adventures experienced – or maybe just the chance to relax before we take on whatever the politicians have in store for us!

Wishing you sunshine, crystal clear seas and huge Basil Plants, whatever the weather!

Aghios Sostis, Serifos Island, Western Cyclades

Just a typical Cycladic sea, this one of many beaches at Serifos Island