Cheezin’ (Wed. 7/11)

This was the earliest day I’ve had so far- woke up around 7:30ish to go to a guy who has a little goat farm! We basically just went, milked the goat, and went back to Diane’s house for a breakfast while the guy filtered the milk and brought it over to us later. After the ate, it was step 1 in the cheesemaking process- putting up the milk to boil/get really hot. I took a little respite inside during this time, and Lizana came back with bread that was just out of the oven and was still warm- omg. So, so tasty. I sat in a corner (no? I was sitting at a table, inaccurate, but left in for hermit-imaging sake) and read my email and nommed away in fresh bread heaven.

After they left, it was around 1ish, and Lizana and I went grocery shopping for the night. We also stopped at the butcher shop to get rabbit for tonight and lamb for some future endeavor, which was…an experience. I am going to save details and leave it at that. We came back, had the leftover eggplant salad and made a quick tomato/feta salad and ate it with some of that delicious fresh bread. Then it was briefly nap/shower time before coming back to prepare the ingredients for the evening cooking lesson.

Tonight’s menu: barley rusk salad (a classic Crete dish- basically super hard bread, dipped in water, topped with olive oil and a tomato/onion/apple/etc salsa-esque thing and was my favorite of the night), rabbit stew (did not taste because bunny but it smelled SO GOOD, one I make Smell-o-vision I will broadcast an entire channel for this one dish, it had cinnamon, allspice, bay leaves, and oranges and smelled like a perfectly timed hug), sauteed peppers (just whole peppers put on top of the stove with tomatoes/spices/etc and topped with some feta, simple but so tasty), tagliatelle with yogurt and caramelized onions (a classic of a nearby island, did not try as requested by my lack of lactase) (lacktase?), and for dessert sauteed peaches (in ouzo, rose geranium which I don’t know what it is but it smelled like Beauty and the Beast, sugar, and butter) served with mastiche ice cream (a local spice-ish thing, in both normal and peach flavors). New accomplishment- longest sentence on this blog! Woot. (<– shortest sentence?) Oh! (<–jk that's shorter) And we served the curds from the cheese that we're making with dinner.

One thing I underestimated was how much Diane and her family would speak in Greek to each other- I had expected to mostly be using English this week because all the guests are American. But I'm really glad that I'm still getting the opportunity to learn- I'm especially learning a lot of useful cooking/food words. Lizana (who by the way is dating the father of my Greek tutor SMALL PLANET) helps me with Greek that I don't understand, and I help her with some English, like how to pronounce "recipe." Also I'm starting to be able to make slight jokes/understand humor now, which is good. It makes conversation a lot more interesting, especially since I spend a lot of time with Lizana, so it's not just like "hi what's your name where are you from bye." But yes, it's such a wonderful way to spend the week. I'm eating restaurant-grade food every night for free, and I get to help make it. And I'm surrounded by a wonderful, kind family that makes me feel so welcome. And the people taking the class are appreciative and interesting.

I am super tired and headed to bed- we're cooking in the morning tomorrow to make lunch, so I have to be physically and emotionally awake. Also I just reread this and am realizing my English is turning to mush. Even more so than it was previously. I don't know how to use apostrophes. Whatev'er