Holiday feeling...

Here great trees cool-shaded grow, pear,
pomegranate, rich apple, honey-sweet fig and
blossoming olive, forever bearing fruit, winter and
summer never stripped, but ever blowing the western
wind brings fruit to birth and ripen others.
pear follows pear, apple after apple grows,
fig after fig, and grape yeilds grape again.
                                                              Homer.


Food can be a wonderful memory trigger, and something as simple as natural yoghurt with flaked almonds and a good squeeze of orange blossom honey took me back to the Greek island of Zakynthos, which we visited back in 1990.

Suddenly I was back on the bikes we hired, pedaling through the Greek countryside, through olive groves and  lush green fields. Past sleepy taverns and tiny, gold-laden churches towards the summit of the island. Not a cloud in the sky, and the sun beating down on our backs, it truly was memorable.

(image from: www.123.rf.com)

However, this still triggered the memory of stopping near one little church that was on a 'tourist trail' where coaches stopped and emptied out its contents, who scuttled off to snap anything standing still with their reels of film.Nearby, stood a little shop, where one could buy local Greek yoghurt in a pot, scattered with almonds and drizzled with honey from the bees nearby. It was wonderful!

I remember replicating it very often on my return, as we all do when we have returned from a holiday - attempting to feel that we have not returned to reality and the mundane 9 to 5 work hours but are still experiencing the sunshine factor...

So my simple desert tonight meant so much more than I it meant to. I have even been reminded of a favourite childhood book - Gerald Durrell's 'MyFamily and Other Animals' - which I don't now own, but have just discovered 'Birds, beasts and relatives' in the attic. Time to build up a bit of that holiday feeling by reading about sunshine and happy holidays on the island of Corfu. Nothing better!

Sunshine and sea = holiday feeling :-)
(image from: www.villakarissa.com)