St. George Beach, Corfu

Continuing from Sidhari Beach Corfu we travel along the narrow roads to St. George Beach a beautiful circular cove with soft golden sand that goes all the way from the road to the water.  It gets deep fairly quickly so it is perfect for adults but young children will need to be watched.  Our kids enjoyed making sand castles and jumping the waves with daddy.

the southern part has more waves.

 Tavernas and Hotels line the main road at one point in the road you have to go around a small part of the town, but otherwise the main road follows the beach. 

The northern part of the beach has fewer waves but when we were there it had more sea grasses on the sand, causes a few more sand "flies".
My husband loved this beach so much that we tried to find land nearby, you can find some plots for fairly cheap but in Greece you have to be careful because in some areas you can't build or there are some very strict rules to building.

Building BaseJumping in Athens

This is a video of my sons Nonos (godfather) Vasilis jumping from a 24 foot story building in busy Athens.

Ipsos Beach to Sidhari Beach

Looking down on Ipsos Beach as you drive north

After leaving Ipsos Beach there are a lot of hidden coves and small beaches, plenty of places to explore.

 Such as this beach that no one was on and the only way to get down was to park on the main road and walk down a small trail.

Is that your boat anchored out there?

Or Kalami Beach known for the "White House" where the writer Lawrence Durrell lived.  A beautiful pebbly cove with several tavernas right on the water including the famous White house that also has rooms to rent.

Corfu Island is filled with Olive groves, several places sell olive wood art or olive soap, a really nice treat.

Don't rent a car if narrow roads scare you, there are several places that have room for only one car to pass, the towns will have lights to help with navigating the narrow roads, but on some of the more rural areas, you're on your own.  Only with my husbands good driving did we not get smashed by a bus going very fast on a small road.

 On the northern part of Corfu you come to the very popular British resort area of Sidhari, a lot of Brits vacation here, it is perfect for families with small children.  The beach is sand and you can go out really  far and the water will still only be up to the mid calf.  Several water sports are offered and paddle boats with slides!

source

Also not to be missed the famous "Canal D'Amour" pictured above, just up from Sidhari beach.

Octopus Love Scrap page

My Octopus Love scrap page, the edge of my fabric from Tula Pinks' Salt Water in the Coral colorway had part of the octopus cut off, so I couldn't use it for my quilt but I thought I could put it on a scrap book page along with a picture of an octopus grilling at a Taverna in Santorini.

Inside is a surprise pull out

For a recipe of my favorite way to cook octopus -  Octapodi Kokkinisto that you can find here. 

It is tied to another piece of Salt Water fabric and connected to a vellum tag sticker that I stamped on.  I also did a few heart stamps on the recipe card itself that is from the Minds Eye paper collection along with the 12x12 cardstock used for the background.

I totally got my inspiration for this pull out from several of the DT's on CCW, thank you so much for making my pages look more interesting, I love the inspiration and creativity I find there.

It was my first time using my sewing machine on paper, I hope I didn't mess up my needle, since I just used my regular sewing needle.

Every Day is a Special Day, is so true and I love the paper I used for the inside.

Every day is special and Every day I cook.

Linking up to Creative Craft World - February Challenge Scrap Map
and Scraptastic - First February Scrap Challenge, Every day life picture (in my instance a recipe)

And linking to a friends blogaversary celebration over at SIMPLESEW, hello Shirley, go check out her blog!

Block 2 of Anchors Aweigh

Finally got a little sewing in today just in time for WIP Wednesday, I will be linking up to Freshly Pieced  for the first time.
Here is my version of Block 2 for the Anchors Aweigh quilt, I am making 2 smaller lap/twin size quilts and have made my pattern a little smaller almost by half of the recommended squares that Tula Pink gives for her free quilt pattern.

 I have not added my Ombre Graphite to Block 2 yet, I am going to see how Blocks 3 and 4 come together first.

Greece 101

Some facts about Greece.

Greece has a mainland, it is not all Islands, to the north we are bordered by Albania, Macedonia (in Greece you need to call it FYROM) and Bulgaria, to the East is Turkey.

We have a lot of mountains, in fact 80% of the land mass is mountainous.

On the West we have the Ionian Sea (Corfu is here), to the South the Mediterranean Sea and to the East the Aegean Sea.

There are approximately 1,400 Islands (yep, 1,400 - the CIA says 2000) of that 227 are inhabited.

Greece has the 11th longest Coastline (13,676 km, or 8,498 mi) we are after China and before Britain.  That's a lot of beaches to visit, lol.

Population of Greece is close to 11 million, compared to the United States of 315 million.

This year 150,000 people turned in their car registration, it is too expensive to drive in Greece,  that would be equivalent to 4,095,000 million people giving up there car in the States.  HOLY COW WOW!

Unemployment rate is 23%, but this is with people who are registered through the unemployment office, the time limit for some people to claim unemployment has ended and the government does not count them.  For example we have a friend who has never held a job even though she is looking, she does not count, same for all of the young people straight out of school who are looking for jobs but can not get them, they do not count either.  So it is safe to say that our unemployment rate is more in the 40 percentile, than in the 20's.

Ipsos Beach, Corfu, Greece

Ipsos Beach, one of my husbands favorite beaches, he went there in the '91 and says it hasn't changed much.
This is a quick trip outside of Corfu Town less than 30 minutes, lots of parking on the main road, that is right behind the beach.  On the road are lots of places to grab lunch and drinks, several mini markets and lots of touristy shops (better shopping can be found elsewhere).  I think it is a good day trip early morning or later afternoon, I don't really like to be out on the beach between 1-4, too hot and the sun just bakes you.

 Ipsos Beach a very long beach lots of room to move around in, and fairly 

easy to find a spot to play and splash where you won't interfere with other swimmers.

 Directly from the ferry ride over from the mainland, this

is a perfect quick stop for the kids to have a dip.

 A place to anchor your boat to the far right of the beach.

 This is a shingle beach (little pebbles) they go into the water 

for a little bit and then it is sand, some large rocks in certain places.

Only shade provided by these palm trees (so bring an umbrella

if you want to stay long).

 You can see Corfu Town from the beach, that's it in the distance.

 Shops and Tavernas on the Left and Beach on the Right.

Some people might not like being so close to the road, 

but it makes it very convenient for a quick dip.

 The water is shallow enough for children to play in, 

the waves are negligible, here I am "swimming" with my 

hands on the sand with my son on my back.

Octapodi Kokkinisto (Red Sauce Octopus) Recipe

Did you know that the name Octopus is from the Greek language.  via New Latin from Greek oktōpous having eight feet χταπόδι.

So I want to share with you an Octopus recipe, it's pretty good, if I say so myself.  When I first moved here I thought it was so funny seeing the frozen octopus's in the freezer section, they are just there all big and well whole, it looks like you could just throw it back into the water and it would start swimming.  Don't worry you don't have to use that kind for this recipe, instead find the ones that are already cleaned and cut up into pieces.

 Here you go:

Octapodi Kokkinisto:  1 person

1 cup chopped octopus
1 red onion- sliced fine
3 Tbs. olive oil
1 tsp. fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 cup of tomato sauce (use you favorite pasta sauce)
salt and pepper to taste
optional 1tsp. of Rio Grande Chile (my mom makes it and sells it in New Mexico)

Place the octopus pieces into the correct saucepan. Cover, and cook over medium-high heat until the octopus has released its juices, 10 minutes. Uncover, and continue simmering until the liquid has reduced to 3 to 4 tablespoons,  If the liquid dissipates then add some warm water, when using smaller portions of octopus the water evaporates quicker if you are doing 6 or more cups you probably won't have to add any water.  You want the octopus to cook in the water for at least 20 to 25 minutes this allows it to become tender.

Once the juice has reduced add the onion, olive oil and lemon juice, cook until the onion is translucent, about 10 minutes.

Add the tomatoes, salt, pepper and chile seasoning (optional) Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the sauce has thickened, about 25 minutes. Cook uncovered for the last 10 minutes if the sauce is too thin.

This recipe is for one person if you want it for 2, then double it, 3, triple it and so on.  And yes it is a whole onion per portion.
Let me know if you try it I would love to hear if you like it.

Anchors Aweigh

Are your ready to play with your fabric?
I fussy cut my octopus out, she is so cute.

4 inches all around fit the octopus perfect.

It fit best when I cut it out as a 4x4 inch block and then I was left with 2x4 in between each Octopus, so that makes 2 - 2 inch blocks.

In the above picture I haven't cut the anchor out yet.

Then I fussy cut the Anchor between making sure the middle of the anchor was at 1 inch and then cutting it 2 inches wide.

and Row 1 is done with 4 - 2 inch blocks at the bottom.

If you need the pattern you can find it here
Once again I am making 2 smaller quilts so I will be doing mine a little different from the pattern, if you want to do what I am doing then I can give more information, just let me know.

I have made a flickr group and if you would like to join just let me know in the comments section and I will send you an e-mail to join.

I will be working on Row 2 this week and will show you mine next Saturday, more QAL information can be found at the top of this blog on the Anchors Aweigh QAL page.

There is also another QAL going on and it starts February 18 and goes to March 25th, she is doing 1 Row a week and will be going into a more detailed way of sewing it up, she is also having a giveaway at the end of her QAL, so if you think you can make the timeline, you should definitely join up on that blog also. 

Linking up to: