Cold weather, Carnival and Clean Monday

On Sundays we like to sleep in and then make something delicious for breakfast/lunch. Since the weather had been cold, we decided on a sturdy meal of homemade biscuits and gravy. Although we pictured light, fluffy, flaky cakes, we came out with butter flavored hockey pucks instead. More like a hefty cracker than a biscuit, but we ate it just the same.

Matt decided that he was going to make gravy from the leftover drippings from our Midnight Chicken (the schmalz). He found a recipe online and made a tasty, heart-clogging gravy that was so good we licked the plates clean.

After our heavy meal, we thought it would be good to do some hiking. Since there are only a few hills in Athens--The Acropolis, Lykovittos Hill and Filopappou Hill--we decided to take the train downtown and walk up Lykovittos Hill to see the sunset and have a glass of wine at the top. Well, then we got lost. All of those metro stops sound alike, don't they? Anyway, it took a really long time to get to our destination and by the time we exited the metro, it was dusk and very cold.

We started walking up the hill and up and up and up until we reached the top. It was dark and we were out of breath, but thankful for the exercise. We took pictures of the Acropolis but they didn't come out. Here's the church at the top of the hill.

While standing around we noticed that the wind was really cold, so we sought shelter at the cafe at the top of the hill (in Greece it seems that, no matter where you go, there is always a cafe nearby). We had a drink or two and took the funicular train back down to the metro station.

The next day it snowed in Athens. Yes, we chose probably the coldest night of the year to climb to the top of Lykovittos Hill. The irony.

That night we warmed up by making Grandma Nellie's Homemade Tortillas--thanks Grandma!

We didn't have a rolling pin so we used a wine bottle.

As is the tradition in many parts of the world, Greeks celebrate "Carnival" before Lent. Since the Greek Orthodox Calendar is a little different, Carnival was this weekend. We decided to drive to the sea and take in the sights. We rented a car and drove about an hour outside of Athens to a town called Loutraki. It was fun to get out of the city and be near the ocean.

Carnival clown behind us

The promenade at the water front

The beach was made up of little stones

We found a restaurant with a fireplace!

One thing about us is that we think we are fun people, but we really don't enjoy being in super crazy situations. SO, we skipped Carnival in Loutraki and spent Sunday traipsing around the ruins at Ancient Corinth. It was a beautiful day and there weren't too many people around. We made the right decision.

Temple of Aphrodite at the top of hill in Old Corinth, looking down at New Corinth

We drove back to Athens, parked the car at our apartment and decided to walk around our neighborhood to see what people were up to. We found the streets empty save for the cafes which were bustling around midnight. We must have heard the song "YMCA" blasting from at least three different cafes!

Then we walked by a seafood shop which was open. We stopped because it is never open that late. People were lined up in their cars to go to this shop. We walked up to get a closer look at the action and the store owner asked if we wanted to buy something. We panicked and pointed to an octopus. Why not? we asked ourselves. Eight euros (about $12) later we were walking home with our octopus. What the heck were we going to do with this thing? Matt opened up the paper wrapping to stare at it. It was quite impressive.

The next day was called "Clean Monday," a holiday that marks the beginning of Lent and during which most Greeks eat "bloodless" seafood, like octopus. We looked up a recipe for our octo-meal and found one for Greek Octopus Salad. First, Matt had to prepare the thing. Matt had to do it because Teri would have thrown up or something. Besides, Matt was the Biology major--hasn't he disected worse things? He had to remove the ink sack, the stomach, the beak, and the eyes. Gross. Yes. We didn't even know that an octopus had some of these parts.

Next, we had to boil it for 10 mins and then remove the outer membrane. Again, Matt biology major = mebrane remover. Next, we were supposed to cook it in a pressure cooker for 10 mins. We actually have a pressure cooker! But the handle was missing and, apparently, that is a really important part of a pressure cooker. So Matt being so clever and convinced that we were going to cook this "sucker" (hee hee), had the idea to unscrew the extra holder on the pot and screw it into the spot for the lid handle. We did it and set the pot to boil with the octopus. Then we learned online that pressure cookers can explode. We went back to check it and, when we heard the hissing sound we both ran for cover. Teri was peeking out from behind the door post and Matt was wrapped in the curtain for fear he would be sprayed with scalding hot water. It was actually really hilarious! We turned off the heat and waited for the hissing sound to subside. It had only been a few minutes but we decided we would rather live without burns than eat an octopus. We ran the pot under cold water and opened the lid. The octopus was cooked and tender! We made a marinade with lemons, olive oil, vinegar, thyme, garlic, salt and pepper, and left it in the refrigerator overnight.
The next day--VOILA! Greek Octopus Salad!