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Published: December 27th 2011
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Xmas Lunch 1
Elizavet, Aleka and George Tuesday 20th Dec we headed into Salonika on the bus and I noticed that it must have been pension pay day, as saw queues of people waiting outside a bank, waiting to get through the security door. You enter the secure space, close the door behind you and have your photo taken, then are allowed into the bank proper. Then the same when leaving the bank. It is all automated, but won’t allow you to enter if you wear sunglasses or helmet, etc. In Salonika I tried to get some preserved ginger or crystallized ginger, but no luck. So I cooked a Dutch Ginger Cake (with out ginger), but added diced, dried pineapple in its place
We asked at an icon store about Saint Elizabeth and the salesperson said indeed there was one. I said in an earlier blog that there wasn’t one, but this was my mistake. During our walks, we noticed a furniture removalist lifting floor rugs and an exercise bike up to the fourth floor on one building. It is like a roof tiling lifter and goes over the balcony of the designated apartment, and people are there to collect it. Guess it is a lot quicker than
carrying it from truck, up to the internal lift and then again to the apartment. Mama said that they were not allowed to carry heavy things like fridges in the internal apartment lifts, as it may damage them. So have to use the external lifting machines.
Thursday I went up to the new supermarket which has opened close by. I arrived at the given opening time, at 10am, only to be told it was opening at 10.30am. With the wintry weather, I was not going to wait outside in the cold, so returned at 11.30am and there were lots of people there and parking was difficult (well not for me, being a pedestrian) Seems an upmarket supermarket. It is like most Greek Supermarkets, with descending stairs and also an internal lift to the basement where soaps, laundry products are kept, plus pasta and tinned foods, etc. This means that the floor space for products is effectively doubled by using the basement area. Thursday 22nd Dec Aleka rang and confirmed what we had seen on the internet weather station. That there were cars covered in snow on her street in a suburb of Salonika. Later that evening we saw a station
wagon with roof racks that still had snow about 10cm deep all over its roof. Guess the roof rack helped keep the snow in. But you could see the snow on the mountains about 40km away when walking to the bus station. It was 4C at 10am, 2pm and still 4C at 10pm, so stayed the same temperature all day.
Friday 23rd Dec
Today it actually snowed when we got outside our front gate and Michael came back in to show Mama the snow flakes on his jacket. It had been zero degrees overnight.
There was a Christmas tree, about a metre high near the local council’s official Xmas decorations. It had electric lights on it and plenty of paper sheets tied to it. It was complaining about the taxes on everything. The tied sheets were examples of the electricity bills and other bills showing the added taxes. Food has a 13% GST, and other supermarket items such as paper towels have 23% GST . Saturday 24th Dec Michael went down to get 3 loaves of bread, as none till Tuesday. Sunday is always a day when the bakers get a break - only in Summertime and in tourist designated
Xmas Carols
The neighbour's grandchildren singing carols areas is there fresh bread baked on a Sunday.
I made my version of Kourambedies ( Greek shortbread biscuits) today and also a pavlova. I asked Kaity, our next door neighbour if she had an electric beater and luckily she did and loaned it to me which made it easier to beat up the egg whites. When we were having lunch, Kaity’s daughter and grandchildren turned up at the door, singing carols. The youngest one had a little bell jingling whilst they sang the carols. It is a tradition that young children go around and sing carols and get rewarded with some coins.
Well the pavlova initially rose up magnificently and then collapsed. I asked Michael to go up to the new supermarket to get half a dozen eggs and some cornflour and I made another pavlova.( the chooks are on a go slow laying session during winter) This would be our contribution food wise, to Christmas lunch.
25th Dec Christmas Day. George, Michael’s brother, came to pick us up and take us to their apartment for the midday meal. En route we made a detour to light a candle near a Greek Church, then on to Neapolis, a suburb
After Xmas offerings
Morning tea or mainlining sugar of Salonika . Aleka had made roast chicken and potatoes, with a lovely rice stuffing. Also coleslaw and jajiki. ( a yoghurt/ cucumber dip) Elizavet had made a lovely chocolate mousse torte and of course I took my pavlova along and decorated it with cream, pineapple and kiwi fruit.
George took us home around 6pm and stayed here in Perea till 7pm before returning to Salonika. It sounds like Melbourne with its severe hailstorm on Christmas Day afternoon, had more of a white Christmas than we had here in this part of Greece.
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