Vine harvest and wine juice in Greece

Vine harvest - Atalanti, Greece

See the Greek version of this postI don’t know if you’ve watched old films with vine harvests and wine juice making or wine making but they always seem to contain plucky villagers without shoes stepping on the grapes. That’s all very well and dandy but apparently it hardly ever happens any more.

The team in Atalanti, Greece, went about finding out what actually does happen nowadays to get wine juice. This is effectively the process before one starts wine making. A lot of people in Greece with their own grapes will just take them to a patitiri (the place where the grapes are literally ‘stepped on’) to get wine juice. They then take the wine juice and make their own wine at home.

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The Real Greek moussaka, their souvlaki and the gossip

Chef Alan is funny too!

See the Greek version of this postSo this might seem a bit weird. Why would a Greek go to see The Real Greek chef make moussaka? “Isn’t it like your national dish?”, “Don’t you know how to make it from birth?” Yes, thank you I get the point, even though I learned how to make it when I was 23.

When I got the e-mail for a moussaka making experience from the lovely Megan I thought exactly that. However, I’m always learning so I really wanted to see this staple of the Greek family table done from a professional chef. Secondly, I had completely stopped going to The Real Greek three years ago so I was super curious.

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Walking around Borough Market

Borough Market

The entrance – some work is going on now

This Saturday we went for a walk to Borough Market in London, a fantastic food market.

If you are in London and like food (seriously, who doesn’t?) it is definitely worth a stroll. Have some cash on you too – you will definitely be buying stuff.

The smells and the photos are really great but people are the best feature. You end up chatting with everyone, they explain, invite you to take photos, tell you what kind of wine to choose to accompany what you bought.

Here are some photos (there is a full set on flickr)

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How is it possible that when it comes to Chinese I eat for two!

Some friends and I went to grab some Chinese yesterday. We initially wanted to have some Thai but that option was rejected after we saw that the Thai restaurant was bursting at the seams.

Anyway we went to the Jade Cottage in Hendon. Somewhat in the periphery but ultimately a lot better than expected.

We left the restaurant almost unable to walk. Fine I eat a lot but this group of friends is on another level. We got there at 9.30 and managed to stagger out past midnight. We were the only ones left really.

Here are some pics for you gossipy types, I’ve also uploaded some on our Facebook page

Jade Cottage

Duck at the Jade Cottage

Chinese at the Jade Cottage

Mint Tea and my fortune