Author: Effrosyni Moschoudi

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My springtime processes involve flowers, books, and marvellous sea views

Hello, All! Today, I am sharing about the processes I follow every spring! Interested? Curious,even? Read on, I hope it will give you some ideas to follow 😉

Springtime, for me, is a time for renewal. It’s the time to shake away the chill of the winter, and not just from my bones – from my heart and soul too, as I find winter depressing and dreary. Not my favourite time of year at all, so the spring has always been for me a time when I take conscious action to renew myself and to ‘come alive’.

At the first signs of spring, I get to work, opening windows wide and letting the sun soak every nook and every cranny of my home, while I go through it with a fine comb, so to speak, to renew it from the inside out.

Starting from the inside, other than the much-needed spring cleaning, I always make sure to go through my wardrobe, giving away what is not needed. Next, I go through the books in my heaving bookcases. Thank goodness for the local library and the eager friends, who take the unwanted ones from my hands!

I believe in the Universal Law of Recycling, which says that if you create a vacuum in any physical space, the Universe will rush to fill it with something new. More often than not, people come with offerings shorty after I’ve given things away. Always makes me chuckle!

Other than cleaning the house and giving away what I don’t need, I also tidy up all living spaces from the clutter that tends to accumulate in the winter months. I find this helps to calm and clarify my overloaded mind, which tends to get worse when I see disarray and overstuffed corners, especially when it comes to paperwork in my study.

Tidying up and getting rid of unnecessary old papers do wonders for my sense of well-being and mental clarity.

All the above are indispensable procedures I follow religiously every spring.

But that’s not the fun part. The fun starts when I venture out to my balcony and garden… where my two fur babies daily offer me laughter and affection in abundance.


Meet Loulou (left) and her daughter, Sissi. They are both gentle souls, and the only cats I’ve ever had who’ve never clawed at me. I feel so lucky to have them, as they bring me untold joy, though I may occasionally feel otherwise – that is, whenever they bring up to the balcony birds of all kinds and sizes, mice, roaches, or lizards. I tend to like them a little less, just for a little while, as I clear up the carnage LOL.

Loulou and Sissi take great interest in my activities on the balcony and around the garden – when I replant pots or pick weeds or vegetables, for example. They tend to follow me around when I water too, making me laugh with their excited manner and meows.

Every spring, especially, there is lots of that, because I tend to plant colourful flowers to place on the balcony. By miracle, Sissi, who is quite naughty, has never destroyed a single one of them, even though she tends to attack everything else!


Working from home, especially in the spring, has wonderful benefits. One of them is that I will occasionally take a small foldable table outside to sit with my laptop and work in the fresh air, sweet birdsong in my ears. Having beautiful blooms around certainly brightens my day even further.


I live in a small seaside town near Athens, which means I get to enjoy wonderful sea views during my walks along the seafront. There are beaches and a large marina with a string of cafes and eateries, and it’s all pretty idyllic.

This is one of my favorite spots for sitting to look out to sea (and the island of Salamina that’s opposite at a very short distance). Sitting on this bench, I love to empty my mind, and other times to plot my stories, or even to pray or meditate when I feel stuck mentally or emotionally. Sitting on this bench has often proved a lifesaver, my mind clearing and my heart lifting within a few minutes as if I’d been touched by a magic hand. In the spring, of course, this idle pastime serves to plan my summer vacations, too, or simply to dream endlessly about them!

Living near the sea is a huge blessing that adds fun and beauty to my days all year round. Enjoying swims daily is easy throughout the summer since the beach is only a five-minute drive away from home. My husband and I love to sit under a pine tree and enjoy a packed lunch (or a bought souvlaki!) sometimes after our swims with the cricket song in our ears. During the spring, picnics on the beach are just as precious and help to bring the summer a little closer. Personally, I start daydreaming about the summer at the first sign of spring, and it tends to offer new inspiration for new stories to write too. Blessings all around!

 

YOU KNOW WHAT THEY SAY… SHARING IS CARING! Tweet this to spread some love:

Springtime processes from a Greek author #spring #springtime #Greece Share on X

 

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For my delicious Greek recipes, go here. 
 
Planning to visit Greece? Check out my  FREE guide to south Corfu!

 

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FREE books, Easter eggs, cheeky cats, and Greek memorial food!

Greek Easter is next week (April 24), but I am aware Easter is this weekend for most of you out there! Have a great time with family and friends and enjoy those chocolate eggs and bunnies 🙂

I will be busy in the kitchen this coming week, making Easter cookies and also dying eggs with red onions and turmeric, the way I do every year, like our grannies used to. Some turn out very rustic-looking and totally imperfect, which gives me extra joy. If you’re anything like me, and wish to avoid the chemicals in the dye too, you can see here how I prepare them.

Today, I’m pleased to share the latest fun news from my life in Greece: Cute kiddies dressed up for Greek Independence Day and the latest cheekiness from my cats, Loulou and Sissi. I’m also sharing a Greek Orthodox tradition that is very special and is called ‘koliva’. It is Greek memorial food made with wheat berry. You’ll find all the above in my latest newsletter along with a load of FREE kindle books!

CHECK OUT MY NEWSLETTER

Enjoy, and Happy Easter, everyone!

 

YOU KNOW WHAT THEY SAY… SHARING IS CARING! Tweet this to spread some love:

Rustic Easter eggs, Greek customs, cheeky cats and a load of FREE books! #freebooks #indiebooks #easterweekend Share on X

 

Limited time offer! Get the awarded novella, “The Boy on the Bridge” for FREE, along with the short story collection, “Facets of Love” with your sign up to Effrosyni’s newsletter. Fun news from her life in Greece and a load of FREE kindle books in every issue! http://bit.ly/2yA74No
NEW BOOK! Clean romance novella.  Spyri never forgot that old summer in Corfu when she met Markos. Visit Amazon: https://bit.ly/3pAP3rf

Kelly ran a marathon and wound up running a house. With a ghost in it! Both humorous and moving, with delightful sweet romance, it’s just the ticket to lose yourself reading! Read more on Amazon
Summer love and a mysterious haunting in Corfu! Effrosyni’s debut romance, The Ebb, has received an award from Amazon! Check it out here

Beach fun and sweet romance mixed with magic spells and bird shifters… The Raven Witch of Corfu is an original story that will rivet you with its unrelenting suspense. The final twist will blow your mind!
Available in paperback , box set or 4 kindle episodes!
Planning to visit Greece? Check out our FREE guide to south Corfu! For delicious Greek recipes, go here. Are you an author? Check out our FREE promo tips & resources here.

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Hot tips for Story Origin, the powerful author platform for book promotion

Image source: Story Origin

Today, I am writing a detailed introduction to STORY ORIGIN, the author platform that has long changed the way I do book promotion. And I am including my hottest tips!

Story Origin has everything an author needs for their book marketing – landing pages for reader magnets to garner new subscribers, newsletter swaps and group promotions with other authors, goal trackers for writing progress, landing pages for ARCs to find new beta readers and reviewers, and more! I am about to include my hottest tips from my own experience with Story Origin in the past two years, so stick around even if you’re already using it. Who knows? You may gain a new idea or two for your own promotions!

Let’s face it. Being an indie author is hard work. Having organizational skills is a must in order to succeed. Still, it seems that no matter how organized we are, finding time for the mountain of tasks that await us each day is always a challenge. We all could use a little help, but few of us can afford a virtual assistant. This is why, for most of us, promoting becomes a tedious task.

Let me tell you something. I used to be one of those authors. Promotion to me had become an aversion. I could only manage doing major promotion 3-4 times a year tops. I’d spend money on ads that didn’t pay off, and also paid to participate in group promotions with other authors, but they often didn’t result in any significant ROI either.

And then came Story Origin. And just like that, I started to promote without any hassle, because this brilliant author platform helped me organize everything swiftly, saving me hours of work. And I saw a rise in my sales too. The features of Story Origin cover all you need! Before we start, here is a short glossary of the terms Story Origin uses. You could ignore it for now, but it may come in handy  if and when you sign up, in order to understand what each term means:

GLOSSARY

‘Campaign’ = this is your newsletter. You add a new campaign on Story Origin for every newsletter you will be sending out.

‘Mailing list’ = This is just the description of your newsletter. You only register it once.

‘Universal book link’ (UBL) = your book’s Amazon link. You register it once for each book, add any Amazon affiliate tags you may have, and you’re done.

‘Reader magnet’ – a free book that you put up on Story Origin to garner new subscribers.

‘Tracking link’ – this is the unique link that Story Origin assigns to you every time you are to promote a book of another author or a group promotion. This link will be visible to the corresponding authors so they can see how many clicks they gained from your effort.

‘Archive link’ – this is the link to your newsletter. After sending it out (with Madmimi, Mailerlite, or whatever), you are encouraged to go in your ‘campaign’ page and put the archive link in there. This allows the authors who swapped with you to see your newsletter. I always publicize my archive links as I appreciate other authors allowing me to have a look in their newsletters too, if I want to.

Story Origin’s founder and developer is Evan Gow from the USA, who is very nice and friendly – always readily available to help if you have a question or if you stumble upon a technical issue (the latter is very rare). Of course, there’s also an online tutorial, which I didn’t have to use, simply because Story Origin is self-intuitive and thus easy to learn. From the moment you sign up, there’s a fair amount of ‘hand-holding’ on the platform. I’ll also do my best in the following paragraphs to show you how to start!

SETTING UP YOUR MAILING LIST
The first thing you do on Story Origin is set up your mailing list. This is just a description of your newsletter and you only register it once. Here, I have to stress that Story Origin is simply the place where you organize your newsletters. You still get to create the newsletters where you normally do, like MailChimp, AWeber, MailerLite etc.

SETTING UP YOUR FIRST NEWSLETTER (CAMPAIGN)
After you’ve created your ‘mailing list’, Story Origin will prompt you to set up your first newsletter (It’s called a ‘campaign’). You don’t have to choose a frequency for it. You can create the next ones whenever you’re ready. This, in itself, is the best benefit I have reaped from Story Origin. By having to decide on my next newsletter date early on so I can apply for swaps and group promotions, my mind soon got used to thinking far ahead. I never knew before when my next newsletter was coming. Now, I know from one month, even two months in advance, what my newsletter dates will be. And I soon got greedy and found myself sending out two newsletters per month, filling each one to the brim with even 20 swapped books and 4-6 group promo banners!

Did I get punished for my greediness? Not really. Quite the opposite.

What I got was wonderful spikes in my book sales in the USA, something I’d never seen before, as I used to sell mostly in the UK. I even had up to 1,000 KENP spikes on days I did no promo and hence could only attribute these to newsletters of authors I swapped with or group promotions running. What I also got from using Story Origin was sales in many different books in my back list at the same time – books that hardly sold any more. And that’s because every month, thanks to the group promotions, I can promote many books at the same time. I am sure you know how much work it is to do this on your own. But with Story Origin, all you have to do, is register the books in different group promotions, put the banners in your newsletter and tweet about them individually a couple of times. That’s it. And what do you get for this little trouble? While the group promotions run, that’s 2-4 weeks usually, you get sales without having to do a thing from day to day. Great, huh?

HOW TO LOOK FOR GROUP PROMOTIONS
From your Author Dashboard, take the option ‘Browse group promotions’.


Group promotions can be generic, like… ‘May Romance Sale’ , ‘Beach Reads For a Buck’, or very particular, like… ‘Characters With Protective Instincts’, ‘Love Found in Unusual Places’. Your books don’t have to be discounted (only rarely they do). Make sure to read the rules of each promo to the letter, though, and stick to your commitments. Slowly, you’ll build a good reputation, which means the same group promo organizers will accept your books for their promotions again and again.

Note: When you apply to a group promotion, you’re allowed to put in a little note. If you share your newsletters wide on your social media or on your blog, say it in the notes. If you have a large following on, say, Twitter, and are willing to share the promo there, make sure to mention this too. Some organizers also pose questions to answer in the notes, so make sure to answer them all clearly. Most of the time, they’ll ask you to clarify something, like the heat level of your romance, or to confirm that your book will be on KDP Select for the duration of the promotion.

Before you hit the button to apply to the group promotion, make sure to go to the very bottom of the page and check how many authors have already applied. The more you see on there, the better, obviously. Though, if it’s early on, you may see only a few, but the list may get longer later on.

Make sure to also choose ‘Preview’ to see what the landing page of the group promotion looks like. For me, the banner is very important. If it’s not appealing to the eye, chances are the promotion won’t be successful. One last criterion for me, is how many books the group promotion organizer accepts. Some accept more than one books. So submit them all in one go. I always give high priority to those accepting 3-4 books, for obvious reasons!

So! When you check out a group promotion, these are the important questions to ask:

  • Does it suit my audience? (e.g. don’t go for a steamy book promo if you write clean romance)

  • How many other authors are in this promo?

  • How many books do they accept per author?

  • What does the banner look like?

Check all four points before you decide. This way, you’ll make the best decisions for your books!

YOUR UNIQUE TRACKING LINK
This is the one thing you must not miss! Very important! Make sure to always use in your newsletter the specific tracking link Story Origin assigned to you for each book and group promotion you have committed to feature. This way, the other authors will be able to see how many clicks their book or promo got from your newsletter. And, this is the only way you can prove you’ve kept your end of the bargain. See this detail from my last campaign page:

The campaign page lists–among other things–the books and group promotions that are to be featured in that newsletter. As you can see, each has their own tracking link. You can see how many clicks each one got in this particular newsletter. The authors and organizers also get access to this information so they can check if I fulfilled my obligations to them.

Similarly, on the campaign page, you also get to see how many clicks YOUR books got in the other authors’ newsletters.

HOT TIP #1: On the day of your newsletter, or anytime before that, when you wish to finalize the content, you have to ‘mark the slots full’ and also delete all the pending requests for swaps you made to other authors that never got accepted. If you don’t do that, and if you don’t check your campaign page one last time before sending out your newsletter, you may have a last minute entry you don’t get to notice and thus will not honour with a slot.

HOT TIP #2: If you have registered Amazon affiliate links in your UBLs (Universal Book Links), you need to click on ADD in the campaign page for every book and group promo. This adds your Amazon affiliate link to them. When people click to get to Amazon and buy, you get a small fee. In the above image, it says ‘UPDATE’ instead of ‘ADD’ because I had already added my affiliate links for each book. However, please note it’s not a good idea to add your affiliate link if the book will be FREE on Amazon when you send out your newsletter. I check prices of all books on the day I send out my newsletter, partly for that very reason 🙂

HOT TIP #3: If your book is going to be FREE or 99c on specific dates, go to your Author Dashboard, then to the option ‘Newsletter Swaps’, and leave a note for every author who will feature your book during the days of your promo. Something like this: “Please note my book will be FREE March 20-22. Thank you!” The sooner you do it before their newsletter goes out, the better their chance to see your note on their campaign page, before they get to put their newsletter together. Who knows? They might give your book a top slot to highlight the FREE or 99c offer!

IMPORTANT: After you’ve sent out your newsletter, you need to go back to your campaign page and add your newsletter link (it’s called an ‘archive link’). This way, other authors and the group promotion organizers will be able to view your newsletter. They’ll need to check that you featured their book or group promotion, for example, if your tracking link shows 0 clicks. It’s fine if you put it in the newsletter and it got no clicks, of course. In any case, for me, posting the archive link is common courtesy (if not the mark of a true professional) and I strongly suggest that you provide it.

HOW TO LOOK FOR NEWLETTER SWAPS
From your Author Dashboard, take the option ‘Browse newsletter swaps’.
To look for suitable swaps, you can narrow down the search by using tags that relate to your own work. If you write about witches, angels, or ghosts, use these words as tags. Or use genres, for example, ‘paranormal’, ‘romance’, ‘clean’ etc. When you swap, you swap books that will take readers to Amazon (these are marked as ‘UBL’, i.e. ‘universal book link’) or Reader Magnets or Review Copies. The last two are freebies authors put up on Story Origin. You can cross-swap among these things, no problem. Anything goes, as long as both authors are happy.

Personally, I swap similar things. I think it’s only fair, for example, to ask an author to feature my reader magnet only if I offer to do the same for them (since I’ll be getting some of their subscribers to sign up to my newsletter).

Reader Magnets and Review Copies are books that the authors have uploaded on Story Origin as freebies to get new subscribers or reviewers respectively. The FREE books are offered in three formats: PDF, EPUB and MOBI (PDF is optional, the other two obligatory).

HOT TIP #4:
Amazon no longer provides authors with MOBI files in the bookshelf. You can make your own MOBI by downloading Kindle Previewer from your KDP Bookshelf. Open the app and open your manuscript (word or epub format) then choose EXPORT to export your book in mobi format. This procedure won’t add a cover to your mobi, but what you can do is create a Word file with the cover on the first page, and use that to make your mobi. Then your cover will be a part of the book 🙂

READER MAGNETS
If you have a reader magnet to swap in order to garner new subscribers, your best bet is to pick reader magnets to apply for a swap. The author you apply to will be more likely to accept your reader magnet if they’re looking to promote their own too. To promote your reader magnet more effectively, I advise you to also enter it in the ‘Giveaway’ group promotions.

This worked like a charm for me: I uploaded an ARC copy of my book “Running Haunted” as a reader magnet when it was on preorder on Amazon (but not in KDP Select yet – otherwise I’d be breaking Amazon’s exclusivity rule). I then promoted it for at least two months on Story Origin, both in swaps and giveaway group promotions. I got nearly 900 subscribers (a CSV file download) and it cost me sweet nothing!

Obviously, you don’t have to use your preorder as a reader magnet. You can create a short read, perhaps, to put perma on Story Origin for that purpose. Choose a genre that will attract the readers likely to love your novels. Personally, I don’t swap with reader magnets that are incomplete books (samples). All my reader magnets are complete books. I think it’s only fair (and courteous) to do that in exchange for a reader’s email. Besides, readers are more inclined to sign up if you offer the whole story.

IMPORTANT: All your associated swaps and group promotions must run their course fully before you delete your reader magnet from Story Origin. That includes the newsletter dates of the authors who are featuring your reader magnet, obviously. And only after everything has run its course you may register your preorder book on KDP Select, let us not forget, as Amazon demands exclusivity for all kindle books registered on KDP Select. So double-check your dates when you set up swaps and enter promotions for reader magnets (or review copies.)

THE ONLY FAULT I FOUND WITH STORY ORIGIN: Deleting a reader magnet will delete the record of all associated swaps i.e. the tracking link for your reader magnet and the one of every author’s book it got swapped with. It will result in you not being able to honor any future swaps with other authors associated with this reader magnet. Plus, you won’t be able to see the full history of your stats. A way around this would be to mark the reader magnet as ‘unavailable’ instead of deleting it from Story Origin. Speaking from (unfortunate) experience, I highly recommend you do not delete a reader magnet.

REVIEW COPIES
I haven’t used this feature yet, but from what I can tell, the platform does all the work once again, collecting the readers’ details and distributing your book to them. And you get to screen every single application! Story Origin shows you each reader’s review history on Amazon so you can decide if you’re accepting their application or not. Both reader magnets and review copies are available in MOBI, EPUB and PDF on Story Origin. It is obligatory to upload your book in EPUB and MOBI format. PDF is optional.

Earlier in this post, I gave you a tip on how to get a MOBI for your book. Here are free online converters that work for me to convert books to PDF and EPUB:

WORD to PDF converter: https://www.freepdfconvert.com/
PDF to EPUB: https://www.zamzar.com/convert/pdf-to-epub/

Once you’ve grown familiar with Story Origin, it’s worth checking out all the other options on your author dashboard. You’ll find, among other things, a beta reader feature, goal trackers for your writing and editing progress, as well as great stats from its powerful database.

 I hope this information has given you a good idea of what awaits you on Story Origin, if only you give it a try!

GO HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT STORY ORIGIN, SEE THE PRICING OPTIONS, AND SIGN UP!

I am on the Standard plan, which is paid (it costs me $10 per month), but I get my money back, just with my earnings from the Amazon Affiliate tags embedded in my universal links. It all adds up considering all the swaps and group promotions I feature in each newsletter.

If you prefer to start with the FREE plan, please note, it will NOT allow you to do newsletter swaps or participate in group promotions, or to create reader magnets in order to garner new subscribers.

Some of the things you CAN do on a FREE account: You can use goal trackers, create universal links for your Amazon books with your Amazon affiliate links embedded, and you can also create landing pages to give your readers free books. But, this is not the reader magnet feature. It’s called ‘Direct Downloads’ and won’t allow you to collect email addresses. It’s just a landing page to give away a free book in MOBI, PDF and EPUB format.

VISIT STORY ORIGIN NOW AND SEE ALL THE FEATURES YOU CAN GET ON A FREE ACCOUNT

Whether you prefer to find your feet with a FREE account first or to jump straight to a paid plan so you can do swaps and participate in group promotions right off the bat, I urge you to try this wonderful platform.

If you write paranormal, fantasy, humorous, or contemporary romance, I hope to see you there and collaborate with you!

Interested to see how my newsletter looks like with Story Origin’s group promotion banners and swaps?

Go here to see one of my newsletters from March 2022

A note about my own newsletter here, and my ‘strategy’ with Story Origin, which may help you:

I spoke about my ‘greediness’ earlier in the post. Because I feature 20+ books and 4-6 banners of group promotions in every issue. But, let me tell you something. Not only does this ‘greediness’ work, but I have zero ‘shame’ for it as well. Why? Because despite featuring a lot of books, most of them get clicks in double figures. See some of the click stats from my newsletter of March 25, for example:

That’s a higher click performance than the ones I see in many other authors’ newsletters who only feature a couple of books in their newsletters. So what’s the harm in featuring a lot of books then? I mention this here, because I see a few authors on Story Origin ban those who feature more than a couple of swaps! And yet, when I check their past stats I see really poor figures… (Yes, past stats are visible in Story Origin for all authors so you can check them before you attempt a swap with them. Nice, huh?)

So, obviously, I have a different opinion. And that is because I feel it is not about how many books you feature – but about your efforts to market the newsletter. Authors have better chances to see their books get double figure clicks in my newsletter among 20+ other books than they have in a short newsletter of another author who won’t do much after sending out their newsletter.

I send mine out again to those who don’t open it a couple of days later. And I also share each one widely via my two blogs and social media. One of my blogs is accessible via Goodreads where I have a couple thousand friends. It all adds up!

So, bear my logic in mind, if you use Story Origin… Do not shy away from authors, like me, who feature many books. If you check the stats of an author and most books are getting clicks in double figures (or triple figures if the book is FREE) then their newsletter is a good bet!

This sums up my introduction to Story Origin, and I wish you all good luck with it, if you try it. For me, it’s long become the best way I know to market books. Other than giving me a steady trickle in sales, KENPs and Amazon Affiliate earnings, it has also given me a place where I can get organized, and that, in itself, is golden.

I hope you have found some value in my tips and advice, enough to be inspired to try this awesome platform for yourself. I wish you success! You are welcome to comment below if you have a question or wish to share your own experience.

DISCLAIMER: This post uses an affiliate link. It means Effrosyni Moschoudi will earn a commission for any resulting paid plan subscriptions on Story Origin. This will not affect the price paid on the platform.

 

YOU KNOW WHAT THEY SAY… SHARING IS CARING! Tweet this to spread some love:

Hot tips for the powerful book promo platform, Story Origin #authors #authorRT #writers Share on X

 

Limited time offer! Get the awarded novella, “The Boy on the Bridge” for FREE, along with the short story collection, “Facets of Love” with your sign up to Effrosyni’s newsletter. Fun news from her life in Greece and a load of FREE kindle books in every issue! http://bit.ly/2yA74No

NEW BOOK! Clean romance novella.  Spyri never forgot that old summer in Corfu when she met Markos. Visit Amazon: https://bit.ly/3pAP3rf

Kelly ran a marathon and wound up running a house. With a ghost in it! Both humorous and moving, with delightful sweet romance, it’s just the ticket to lose yourself reading! Read more on Amazon
Summer love and a mysterious haunting in Corfu! Effrosyni’s debut romance, The Ebb, has received an award from Amazon! Check it out here

Beach fun and sweet romance mixed with magic spells and bird shifters… The Raven Witch of Corfu is an original story that will rivet you with its unrelenting suspense. The final twist will blow your mind!
Available in paperback , box set or 4 kindle episodes!
Planning to visit Greece? Check out our FREE guide to south Corfu! For delicious Greek recipes, go here. Are you an author? Check out our FREE promo tips & resources here.

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March 25th celebrations in Greece, garlic dip, and vegetarian pastichio

 

This is salt-cured cod – the traditional food for the 25th of March in Greece, and the one thing I could never serve on my table, even if Greek custom dictates it! Growing up, March 25th has always been a bit of a drag around lunchtime. My mother would be busy battering and frying salt-cured cod (we call it ‘bakaliaros’), and I’d be just as busy behind her back fake-gagging and pulling faces, since even the smell attacked my senses. I was not looking forward at all to the time I’d be asked to eat the fried fillet pieces on my plate.

And because I’d refuse to eat them, I’d wind up having only half a meal – the weeds (dandelions or beetroots with their greens) and, of course, garlic dip (skordalia) with fresh bread to dunk in.

Since I loooove greens and skordalia I wasn’t too put out, I guess!

Nothing’s changed since then, as far as my tastes go. Like every other year, I’m having unsalted cod today with my skordalia, thank you very much 🙂

March 25th is a unique Greek holiday – being both a religious one and a national one! So it’s a two-in-one kind of affair that is celebrated in every home with a patriotic spirit… and salted-cod, of course.

On this day, the Greeks commemorate the War of Independence from Ottoman rule after no less than 400 years of slavery. I guess this explains why the Greeks are so resilient, huh!

Athens celebrates with a huge military parade which I’ve had the pleasure to attend a few times over the years. Always a thrill, especially when the Tsoliades (the Presidential Guard) pass by in their traditional uniforms, striking one foot down so forcefully it feels like the earth is shaking. The result creates rippling vibes of patriotic pride to rise into the air. The memory brings a lump to my throat just thinking about it!

CHECK OUT THIS POST ABOUT THE ‘EVZONES’ – THE GREEK PRESIDENTIAL GUARD. YOU WILL SEE PHOTOS FROM THE ATHENS PARADE AND A VIDEO OF THE EVZONES. UNMISSABLE STUFF, IF YOU LOVE GREEK CULTURE!

Image copyright: makisgonimo.blogspot.com

As I stated earlier, March 25th is also a religious holiday. It is the feast of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary, when Archangel Gabriel announced to Her She will give birth to Jesus.

The day calls for a lunch of cod with boiled greens or beetroots and garlic dip (skordalia).

The latter is made with crushed garlic cloves, potato, olive oil and fresh lemon juice. I can vouch for the fact that it’s utterly delicious. Mind you, it’ll give you hot dragon breath for the rest of the day, but boy, is it worth it!

DO YOU LOVE SKORDALIA? GO HERE TO GET MY RECIPE!

As I mentioned earlier, the fish used for this day traditionally is salt-cured cod. Housewives leave it in water overnight to remove the super-salty flavor.

Using salt-cured fish, in case you’re wondering, is a custom that began out of sheer necessity. When the Greeks started to commemorate the Annunciation of Virgin Mary by eating fish back in the 15th century, people had no fridges in their homes, plus, it was imperative for merchants to be able to distribute fish everywhere around Greece, even in areas far away from the sea, in the depths of the mainland, without the fish spoiling. That is what led them to sell this kind of fish instead, which is cheap and can be stored for long periods, too.

So… years, decades, and centuries later, the Greeks continue their tradition of going for salt-cured cod, even though they now have access to superstores, large fish markets, and freezers in their homes. Crazy, huh? But that’s the power of tradition, I guess!

Thinking of new meals to try during the fasting period that extends all the way to Orthodox Easter, I came up with a vegetarian version of Pastichio last week! What started in my head out of the blue wound up steaming on my plate one cold winter’s night, really hitting the spot! It even satisfied my meat-loving hubbie and that’s a feat in itself haha

As you may know, Pastichio (that is essentially an Italian meal adopted by the Greeks yonks ago) is traditionally made with minced meat. This version is just as yummy, cheesy and creamy – a wonderful alternative.

Curious to see what’s in the pasta mix?

GET THE RECIPE!

 

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Interested in travel, food and books from Greece? Here's a blog you will love! #greek #blogger #Greece Share on X

 

Special offer! Sign up below and get these books for FREE!

 

 

For my delicious Greek recipes, go here. 
 
Planning to visit Greece? Check out my  FREE guide to south Corfu!

 

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Cheese-eating Sunday and Lent Monday in Greece #Greekculture #healthyliving #healthyfood

“Cheese-eating Sunday” and “Lent Monday” came and went so quickly this year…

And it’s all been a blur of Netflix and yummy homemade food. I say this because I wound up “cocooning” at home for the whole long weekend, since the weather was cold and just yucky. But not to complain, as I said – those excellent Netflix movies, nice meals, and adding wood to the roaring fireplace kept me busy, happy, and warm.

On “Cheese-eating Sunday”, we had this meal photographed here. I guess I honoured my father’s land that day, because the meal consisted of my father’s own organic crop of beans from the island of Limnos where he was born and raised. The cheese pie I accompanied it with was made with the traditional “Kalathaki” cheese of Limnos that is utterly delicious when bought fresh. There is also the dry variety for frying or grating, but I love the fresh one as it’s wonderfully unsalted and makes for the best cheese pie with fresh herbs.

My father ventured to the fields near home and picked organically grown fennel for me to put in the cheese mix. With the greens of fresh onions the mix turned out delicious. I have to admit, though – I cheated! Once again the pastry was shop-bought.

In case you don’t know, “Tyrofagou” (loosely translated as “Cheese-eating Sunday”) is the last Sunday of Carnival in Greece. Tradition dictates the housewives use up the last dairy at home to make pies as the next day, Lent Monday, marks the beginning of the 40-day period of fasting until Orthodox Easter (which, in case you’re wondering, is one week after Catholic Easter again this year, as it often is – on April 24).

This is an old photo of my dad and his granddaughters separating the beans from the husks in the traditional way in Limnos. It’s done by stepping on the husks once they’ve turned really dry and crunchy. A strong wind serves well too to remove the unwanted debris after the husks have been crushed!

My mussel risotto went down very well on Lent Monday. We accompanied it with the traditional lagana (flat bread), beans in tomato sauce, dolmadakia (vine leaves stuffed with rice), and chalva (semolina cake) for dessert.

Mussel risotto is not a traditional Lent Monday meal in Greece, but my husband and I have had it for decades now on Lent Monday, so by now it’s our very own family tradition. Especially as we can buy the mussels fresh, all year round, from the local mussel-farmer families. They sell them at permanent kiosks on the roadside (I live in a small coastal town near Athens).

Now that the “Sarakosti” (40-day fasting period) has started, once again I need to muster all of my self-restraint!

I never fast too strictly, but, like every year, I intend to steer clear of meat altogether. Well, I can try. Problem is, I daily sit down to eat with two men (my husband and my father) who love their meat, so I know I’ll be cooking it! Peg on the nose? Cooking on a full stomach? I am still considering the best way to do it this year. Any ideas? LOL!

Wish me good luck, folks, as the temptation is a tough thing to beat, especially when hubbie ‘has the munchies’ and talks of souvlaki pitta LOL!

Before, I go. If you’re interested in Greek food, you’re welcome to check out on my blog my favourite recipes. Many traditional Greek dishes among them, like gemista, moussaka, fakes, briam, koukia, bourtheto, chicken soup with avgolemono and lots more!

Till next time, keep smiling, and enjoying fabulous books. Go below to check out my latest newsletter and get a load of free kindle books!

In my latest newsletter, I am sharing a bunch of FREE kindle books to suit various tastes and the latest that’s fun from my life in Greece. Cat lovers are especially catered for in my newsletters, more often than not with photos and the latest antics of my two cats. It’s all bound to put a smile on your face! Check it out here: https://madmimi.com/p/06c0a31/preview

 

YOU KNOW WHAT THEY SAY… SHARING IS CARING! Tweet this to spread some love:

FREE books, and fun news from a Greek author #authorslife #writers #Greek Share on X

 

Limited time offer! Get the awarded novella, “The Boy on the Bridge” for FREE, along with the short story collection, “Facets of Love” with your sign up to Effrosyni’s newsletter. Fun news from her life in Greece and a load of FREE kindle books in every issue! http://bit.ly/2yA74No

NEW BOOK! Clean romance novella.  Spyri never forgot that old summer in Corfu when she met Markos. Visit Amazon: https://bit.ly/3pAP3rf

Kelly ran a marathon and wound up running a house. With a ghost in it! Both humorous and moving, with delightful sweet romance, it’s just the ticket to lose yourself reading! Read more on Amazon
Summer love and a mysterious haunting in Corfu! Effrosyni’s debut romance, The Ebb, has received an award from Amazon! Check it out here

Beach fun and sweet romance mixed with magic spells and bird shifters… The Raven Witch of Corfu is an original story that will rivet you with its unrelenting suspense. The final twist will blow your mind!
Available in paperback , box set or 4 kindle episodes!
Planning to visit Greece? Check out our FREE guide to south Corfu! For delicious Greek recipes, go here. Are you an author? Check out our FREE promo tips & resources here.

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My new book, and a FREEBIE! #newbook #newbookalert #preorder

Hello, All! Thrilled to announce my new book, My Corfu Love Story,  is out on preorder! I am celebrating by offering The Ebb for FREE till Monday. Make sure to grab it while you still can!

1.99c on preorder! Clean, feel-good romance novella

Spyri never forgot that old summer in Corfu when she met Markos…

Spyri, a half-Greek restauranteur in her early thirties, is back on the island of Corfu, staying in her grandmother’s village home to decompress from her busy life in London.

Once again, precious memories of that old summer pour in, the time when she’d fallen for Markos, a timid teenager from Salonica staying with his aunt in the village.

He never returned over the years, but, somehow, she never forgot him. Now, Spyri hears sad news of Markos’s aunt’s passing. But her grief is mixed with new hope when she finds out that he has arrived at the village for the funeral. The moment Spyri and Markos meet again, sparks begin to fly…

VISIT AMAZON

 

 

FREE! Sofia dreads village gossip so she doesn’t talk to boys… but Danny is too charming to resist.

Sofia Aspioti, a young student, arrives on the idyllic Greek island of Corfu for her annual summer break. Because of her strict upbringing, Sofia is discontented with her life. Her parents expect her to be the model daughter, so she keeps her heart locked away, avoiding boys, to keep herself out of trouble.

But all that changes when she falls in love with Danny, a charming British tourist, and throws caution to the wind. Next thing she knows, strange dreams about a woman dressed in black begin to haunt her…

VISIT AMAZON

 

In my latest newsletter, I am sharing a bunch of FREE kindle books to suit various tastes and the latest that’s fun from my life in Greece. Cat lovers are especially catered for in my newsletters, more often than not with photos and the latest antics of my two cats. It’s all bound to put a smile on your face! Check it out here: https://madmimi.com/p/06c0a31/preview

 

YOU KNOW WHAT THEY SAY… SHARING IS CARING! Tweet this to spread some love:

New book by Effrosyni Moschoudi, out on #preorder Set in #Corfu #Greece Share on X

 

Limited time offer! Get the awarded novella, “The Boy on the Bridge” for FREE, along with the short story collection, “Facets of Love” with your sign up to Effrosyni’s newsletter. Fun news from her life in Greece and a load of FREE kindle books in every issue! http://bit.ly/2yA74No

Kelly ran a marathon and wound up running a house. With a ghost in it! Both humorous and moving, with delightful sweet romance, it’s just the ticket to lose yourself reading! Read more on Amazon

Beach fun and sweet romance mixed with magic spells and bird shifters… The Raven Witch of Corfu is an original story that will rivet you with its unrelenting suspense. The final twist will blow your mind!
Available in paperback , box set or 4 kindle episodes!
Planning to visit Greece? Check out our FREE guide to south Corfu! For delicious Greek recipes, go here. Are you an author? Check out our FREE promo tips & resources here.

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FREE books, a beach picnic and a Greek god’s lucky plant

Hello, All! Today, I have the latest fun news from my life in Greece. As always, I am linking up to my latest newsletter where you can check out a multitude of free books, plus a chick lit 99c deal from yours truly. You’ll also get a peek at my forthcoming publication!

March is coming, and that’s a much dreaded statement in my country, seeing that the Greeks regard this month as the most extreme in terms of bad weather. I never understood why it is in the spring, as opposed to winter, but I guess that’s one of the oddities of Greek life, LOL

Indeed. It’s not the spring until April, that’s for certain. Having said that… this year, Andy and I got a taste of the spring a little sooner. For the first time ever, we got to have a picnic in February. And, on the beach, at that!

Our first picnic went swimmingly. Excuse the pun. Especially since no actual swimming was involved haha. No way, as it was chilly under the shade as it was!

We picked to visit our favourite beach near home. We’d missed it so much since last October when we stopped swimming. A couple of the trees were chopped off, and one had been uprooted completely – we guessed from the extreme weather conditions of the previous months. It was especially sad to see the huge tree (willow or aspen, not sure) with the generous shade chopped off at the trunk. I couldn’t find my bearings for a few seconds without it there, it was odd. It’ll make many people sad this summer when they arrive at the beach to find its shade is no more. More than four different families could sit under it comfortably – its shade was that generous.

A couple people were swimming when we arrived in the morning, much to our surprise. I asked a lady in her 30s who’d just come out of the water if it was cold, and she nodded fervently with a laugh saying it was indeed freezing. It was her first swim since November, she said. She hopes to keep swimming from now on. Quite over-confident an intention, if you ask me, since March is fully ahead of us. She said it was pleasant as she stood in her bikini but, by the time we’d set up in our favourite spot, I saw her putting on jeans and a sweater in a hurry LOL.

For a while, it was very quiet on the beach, especially since the three swimmers left, but then, at lunchtime, families and quiet couples descended (probably from the taverna on the road) to sit in the sunshine. Such a lovely day. And it brought the summer closer, somehow. Bliss.

Since I’d never visited this beach during the winter before, I was pleasantly surprised to find these green plants with the long thick leaves you can see in the photos. They were strewn all over the ground, even under the trees. These are special plants to the Greeks! They hit the stores once a year – in the New Year – for good luck, believe it or not! People buy them and hang them outside their homes.

I have to admit. I never knew what they were really called until today! Writing this prompted me to actually check it out online and it only took a bit of searching for Greek New Year customs to identify it.

My parents have always referred to this plant simply as ‘Riza’, which is just the Greek word for ‘Root’. And my father described it occasionally as some kind of wild onion, because of the shape of the root. Well, his notion was bang on!

As my Internet search revealed, the plant is called Agriokremmydo (wild onion) or Skylokremmydo, or Askeletoura, or Agiovasilitsa. The latter refers to Agios Vasilis, the Greek Santa Claus – makes sense as the plant is used in the New Year, where Agios Vasilis makes His visit to the children, according to Greek custom.

The Latin name of the plant is Urginea. Apparently, it is the plant of Pan (the god of nature in ancient Greece). It was believed to offer fertility, good luck, and good fortune.

From what I learned online, the custom of hanging these roots outside homes in the new year is largely followed on the island of Crete. It seems to be followed in Athens too, though not by many. Although, as I stated earlier I see them in some stores in the new year, I don’t see them outside people’s houses that often.

Anyway, my family never had to buy one, since Urginea grows naturally all over the fields here every winter. Just before the new year, even now at 80 years of age, my father will go up the road to the first open field and dig up two of these plants, taking great care to remove the root whole and intact. He’ll deliver one plant to my husband and me, the big round root covered in aluminium foil. All I have to do then is tie a piece of string around its stem and hang it at the gate. Once it’s dried up a few days later, we just throw it away.

And now you know about this plant, I bet you can tell just how ‘lucky’ I felt as I sat drinking in the stunning sea view, while surrounded by such auspicious plant life haha

Visit Facebook to see all the photos from that awesome day!

In my latest newsletter, I am sharing a bunch of FREE kindle books to suit various tastes and the latest that’s fun from my life in Greece. It’s all bound to put a smile on your face! Check it out!

 

YOU KNOW WHAT THEY SAY… SHARING IS CARING! Tweet this to spread some love:

FREE books, and fun news from a Greek author #asmsg #weekendreading #newsletter Share on X

 

Limited time offer! Get the awarded novella, “The Boy on the Bridge” for FREE, along with the short story collection, “Facets of Love” with your sign up to Effrosyni’s newsletter. Fun news from her life in Greece and a load of FREE kindle books in every issue! http://bit.ly/2yA74No

Kelly ran a marathon and wound up running a house. With a ghost in it! Both humorous and moving, with delightful sweet romance, it’s just the ticket to lose yourself reading! Read more on Amazon
Summer love and a mysterious haunting in Corfu! Effrosyni’s debut romance, The Ebb, has received an award from Amazon! Check it out here

Beach fun and sweet romance mixed with magic spells and bird shifters… The Raven Witch of Corfu is an original story that will rivet you with its unrelenting suspense. The final twist will blow your mind!
Available in paperback , box set or 4 kindle episodes!
Planning to visit Greece? Check out our FREE guide to south Corfu! For delicious Greek recipes, go here. Are you an author? Check out our FREE promo tips & resources here.

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FREE books, naughty cats and delicious fish cakes

Hello! I am thrilled today to share with you a load of book freebies, romance mostly, in time for Valentine’s Day! Also sharing below the latest antics of my naughty cats, Loulou and Sissi, and my homemade fish cakes that taste and smell absolutely delicious, thanks to the herbs and spices in the mix. Enjoy!

It’s been a while since I last shared news from Loulou and her daughter, Sissi, but I assure you not much has changed since last time.

Sissi still chases her mum around sometimes, though Loulou gets less often now bullied so no longer leaves the house for hours to find some peace of mind.

In this photo, you can see Loulou on the balcony, on top of the cots Andy and I made them for this winter using two cardboard boxes covered with t-shirts and woolly jumpers for extra warmth.

Nothing to see here. Just Loulou having pigeon for breakfast. Yes. You can imagine my horror when I saw this first thing in the morning as soon as I opened the front door. Could have been worse, I guess! A small mouse, perhaps. The cats are forever taunting small mice behind the closed door. One could very well run inside for cover if I were to open it at the time. That one hasn’t happened yet, I am pleased to say, though I have had a near miss twice.

I am so grateful Greek houses don’t have cat flaps. So, at least, the carnage is guaranteed to stay outside at all times, LOL

Sissi tends to hunt smaller birds and vermin than Loulou but she is one naughty little thing! She is still terribly inquisitive, and territorial too. The moment I put something new outside on the porch, she’ll claim it for her own. Just as it happened with this small table I took outside so I can sit with a coffee or my laptop. I thought that would guarantee I’d have a clean table to do that at all times, seeing that the cats have long claimed the big oblong table of the porch for their own.

But Sissi had other ideas.

The first time I left the table unguarded, yours truly forgot all about her big table (aka ‘king-size bed’) to try this new one for size.

The same story was repeated last week, when I left my umbrella at the porch. I had just returned to the house under a drizzle and as the sun came out soon after, I thought it would be wise to leave it outside to dry.

Bad choice. But, at least, this time I suspected it. So I left it outside and stood behind the window, camera at the ready. It wasn’t ten seconds later when my little devil, Sissi, came to inspect.

She smelled it, rubbed her head against it a few times, then ran up to it, from the other side, in an obvious attempt to stand or sit on it. Gravity took over, of course, and she wound up rolling with it. It was hilarious!

When her nails came out, I rushed outside to save the umbrella from her frustrated little paws. Thanks for the confirmation, Sissi. Nothing looking new, odd or flashy on the balcony. Check!

On the bright side, at least she doesn’t jump up any more to claw at my silk scarfs on the washing line!

My homemade fish cakes can be made with haddock, cod, or any other white fish. I call them ‘aromatic’ because their heavenly smell is part of the dining experience!

My recipe uses a few herbs and spices that make them utterly delicious. And there are health benefits too, seeing that I can’t make anything these days without including turmeric and ginger – for me, they are two of the most precious ‘medicine’ nature has to offer!

GET THE RECIPE!

It’s the season of love… Get the companion book of The Lady of the Pier trilogy for FREE!

It includes “An Old Promise”, a clean romance short read set in the alluring Cyclades. 

For a limited time, you can get book 1 in the trilogy, The Ebb, for only 99 cents. It can also be enjoyed as a standalone read. 

AN OLD PROMISE… Joanna boards a flight to visit the Greek island of Sifnos again after twenty years. All this time, despite the distance and her life’s circumstances, she’s been holding on to precious memories from an old summer love. Now, she’s determined to meet again the man she once left behind, hoping for a chance to prove she never forgot their old promise…

“The author writes from her heart and endears the reader to the story quickly. Her writing flows in a comfortable and easy manner making the reader feel right at home.” ~Janice Spina, author of An Angel Among Us

“The book is very well written and the added poetry was beautiful. The characters were so vividly portrayed you became totally caught up in their lives.” ~Helen Johnson Brumbaugh, Amazon reviewer

This FREE short read also contains ten love poems from the Lady of the Pier trilogy and an exclusive excerpt from book 1, The Ebb.

VISIT AMAZON

SEE BELOW FOR A LOAD OF FREE ROMANCE BOOKS TO ENJOY THIS VALENTINE’S DAY!

In my latest newsletter, I am sharing a bunch of FREE kindle books to suit various tastes and the latest that’s fun from my life in Greece. It’s all bound to put a smile on your face! Check it out!

 

YOU KNOW WHAT THEY SAY… SHARING IS CARING! Tweet this to spread some love:

FREE books, and fun news from a Greek author #greek #authorlife #freebies Share on X

 

Limited time offer! Get the awarded novella, “The Boy on the Bridge” for FREE, along with the short story collection, “Facets of Love” with your sign up to Effrosyni’s newsletter. Fun news from her life in Greece and a load of FREE kindle books in every issue! http://bit.ly/2yA74No

Kelly ran a marathon and wound up running a house. With a ghost in it! Both humorous and moving, with delightful sweet romance, it’s just the ticket to lose yourself reading! Read more on Amazon
Summer love and a mysterious haunting in Corfu! Effrosyni’s debut romance, The Ebb, has received an award from Amazon! Check it out here

Beach fun and sweet romance mixed with magic spells and bird shifters… The Raven Witch of Corfu is an original story that will rivet you with its unrelenting suspense. The final twist will blow your mind!
Available in paperback , box set or 4 kindle episodes!
Planning to visit Greece? Check out our FREE guide to south Corfu! For delicious Greek recipes, go here. Are you an author? Check out our FREE promo tips & resources here.

by

Doggie trouble, FREE books, and a freaky snowstorm

Meet Gino, my mother’s beloved doggie that she’d adopted while holidaying in Limnos a few summers back when Gino was a tiny puppy. Dad has now inherited him from her, and I play Mummy for this canine darling. Living next door, makes it a pleasure to do. Dad walks Gino and gives him his main meals, and I pet him, play with him, and arrange for his trips to the vet. I also treat him daily to a handful of cat food, which I deliver same time every evening. His tail goes wagging like crazy as he sees me coming. The tiny cat food pellets are a delicacy he always devours in seconds!

A couple weeks ago, though, Gino’s happy life was disrupted by a terrible accident.

I was working on my computer when, suddenly, I heard harrowing howls of pain, clearly from a dog. I rushed outside like a madwoman, not knowing what to think. I had no idea it was Gino, but thought perhaps a dog outside had been attacked by other strays – as it occasionally happens in our semi-rural area.

To my shock, I found a Jeep parked in the middle of the street. Two strangers and my father were standing behind it, all looking down at Gino, who was crying. As it turned out, my father had left the gate open and the dog had rushed outside just as the Jeep was driving past the house. By sheer luck, it didn’t run him over and only hit his front paw.

The vet determined readily that the bone wasn’t broken, but it was cracked. She bandaged his paw and placed a cone around his neck to stop him from chewing it. A couple of jabs and a lot of reassuring petting later, he was ready to go back home and I was handed antibiotics and painkillers to administer in the next seven days.

Gino was grumpy in the first two days, growling at us as we tried to keep him comfortable and warm. Gino has always had a weird character, though he is better now than he used to be. In the past, he’s bitten my dad’s hand many times, for example, if he put his hand near his mouth while he was eating, or simply, if he wasn’t in the mood.

So I knew to leave him alone every time he began to growl these first two days when he was still in a lot of pain. From the third day onwards, he began to perk up and walk without limping, and we saw him lie down on the ground again for the first time since the accident. The first two days, he kept sitting on his back legs and looking at us forlornly, bless his little heart.

There is a silver lining to his unfortunate accident and misfortune, though, and that is the fact that as I nursed him back to good health we bonded like never before. He couldn’t drink from his bucket of water at all with the cone, for example, so I had to check with him a few times a day, offering him to drink from my hand, which he seemed to enjoy. And he didn’t bite, of course, LOL. Andy thought I was crazy, since he once nearly got bitten by him too, when he was close to him while he was eating. But I knew Gino wouldn’t bite me. He is a clever boy, despite his crankiness. He knew I was only trying to help.

I don’t know if Gino couldn’t eat from his bowl either, or if he thought it was more fun to have me around to feed him, but I wound up having to throw food on the ground for him to eat too. And, again, Dad thought I was nuts because as he ate the pellets, I kept pushing them towards his mouth because the cone made it hard for him to reach them. My fingers would brush against his lips, and he never did as much as growl, let alone bite me. Another silver lining – I think Gino is done minding company when he eats now, yippee!

It took Gino a while to work out he had to move around to get the pellets from the floor. At first, he’d look at them through the transparent plastic of the cone, and kept trying to get them through the plastic, LOL

On the 10th day, his mood improved drastically as soon I removed the cone. Boy, did he dance around or what! And he ate like he hadn’t eaten in days, eating and drinking like a mad thing.

And what surprise! He didn’t try to bite the bandage at all, and never did, until it was time to remove that too, five days later. That day, to be honest, he did growl at me as I used a small scissors to remove the sticky bandage. I insisted, despite him pointing his snout at my fingers and growling, and suddenly, he swirled around in a flash, then growled at me loudly, baring his teeth as he stared at me. Shocked, I told him off and he rushed into the dog house, a long strip of sticky bandage trailing behind him as it was still half-wrapped around his leg. I returned ten minutes later and he walked out of the dog house, tail wagging, as if nothing had happened.

I told you he’s weird, haha. Plus, his leg was bandage-free this time. He had chewed off the remnants. Phew! I can’t believe I survived being his nurse for two weeks without a single bite mark on my hands, LOL!

Last silver lining here – Dad has learned his lesson, because he had been quite naughty all this time. Being a typical, stubborn Greek elderly man, he never listened to reason (or yours truly!). I kept advising him to keep the gate closed at all times and to only walk the dog with the lead. He ignored me on both counts. Now, he swears “Never again!”. He does use the lead now every time he takes Gino out.

Bad, bad Dad!!!! But Gino is such a sweetheart, despite his nasty mood swings! I bet he has forgiven him already.

Last week, Athens was hit by a snowstorm that its people won’t forget any time soon! Snow covered every street and every corner, and the government had to declare the two days that followed official days off work for the whole of Attica. Which was a good idea, seeing that we were all stuck inside our homes, unwilling and unable to walk outside anywhere, let alone drive. Cars had been half-buried under snow in all the side roads all over the place, and many were abandoned, even on the highways, their drivers walking home for kilometres.

Undoubtedly, the snowstorm affected people the worst in the private highway of Attiki Odos, where 5,000 drivers  got stranded for hours in the cold on the first day of the snowstorm from midday onwards until the army came to the rescue in the wee hours of the morning! According to witnesses, by the time darkness came, even the men were desperate inside their cars, convinced they would not survive the night. The first person who sued the highway company for compensation is an elderly man with a heart problem who got stranded in a taxi for 20 hours without food, water or his meds. Many more are expected to follow suit…

Read more about the snowstorm in my latest newsletter. You’ll find many FREE kindle books in there too! ENJOY!

 

YOU KNOW WHAT THEY SAY… SHARING IS CARING! Tweet this to spread some love:

FREE books, and fun news from the life of a Greek author! #freebooks #freebies #authorlife Share on X

 

Limited time offer! Get the awarded novella, “The Boy on the Bridge” for FREE, along with the short story collection, “Facets of Love” with your sign up to Effrosyni’s newsletter. Fun news from her life in Greece and a load of FREE kindle books in every issue! http://bit.ly/2yA74No

Kelly ran a marathon and wound up running a house. With a ghost in it! Both humorous and moving, with delightful sweet romance, it’s just the ticket to lose yourself reading! Read more on Amazon
Summer love and a mysterious haunting in Corfu! Effrosyni’s debut romance, The Ebb, has received an award from Amazon! Check it out here

Beach fun and sweet romance mixed with magic spells and bird shifters… The Raven Witch of Corfu is an original story that will rivet you with its unrelenting suspense. The final twist will blow your mind!
Available in paperback , box set or 4 kindle episodes!
Planning to visit Greece? Check out our FREE guide to south Corfu! For delicious Greek recipes, go here. Are you an author? Check out our FREE promo tips & resources here.

by

FREE books, Greek lentil soup and a charming little chapel

Eating heavy, meaty and fatty foods during the holidays can be taxing for the body. Once Christmas Day was over, I already knew it was time to go all vegetarian for a while. Until the New Year, at least. So I had the loveliest light meal on Boxing Day, which I thought I’d share with you. When my father sat at the table he dug straight into the raw onion squares which he enjoys enormously. He never has lentils of any kind without a side dish of raw onion and taught my British husband to ask this Greek wife to do the same in our home too. Not that I complain! The benefits of onion are well known and many.

Andy made sausage rolls for Christmas (he calls them ‘pigs in blankets’) and drizzled them with honey. You can see in the photo some of the leftovers. I didn’t care for them and it was interesting to see my family trying them. My father was like me and turned up his nose, but my sister and her family, being big meat eaters, honoured the side dish enormously. Still, Andy got to eat most of them. It’s a British thing, apparently. I wouldn’t know, LOL! Luckily, he won’t be making them again till next Christmas, phew! Not that I mind what he eats, but if he cooks those again and it’s just the two of us, he’ll be eating the lot on his own, LOL!

Back to the lentil meal – I added some rice in it (just a tablespoon) to add goodness. The combination of lentils and cereal of any kind gives the body complete protein, and is therefore great for providing the body with energy. Herbs and spices gave the meal plenty of aroma.

GET THE RECIPE HERE!

This chapel is a lovely new addition to our beautiful seafront in my little town of Nea Peramos. It was sanctified by a priest shortly after its installation and its name is–what else?–St. Nicholas. What could be more apt than the name of the protector of seamen when the church is situated at a marina, right? It’s so charming and I’m looking forward to a chance to visit it inside. The only problem is it was placed at the worst spot ever, as you can see here, which showed the moment it rained heavily. I’ve seen the seafront’s many ducks gather right there to drink when it rains – LOL!

Earlier photo at the spot where the chapel was placed

But, hey! I hear the council is busy taking remedial action. Let’s hope! St Nicholas deserves to be visited by people with dry feet 😛 Go below to read my newsletter. You’ll find in there more photos from the seafront that I took that day. Enjoy 🙂

In my latest newsletter, I am sharing a bunch of FREE kindle books to suit various tastes and the latest that’s fun from my life in Greece. It’s all bound to put a smile on your face! Check it out here: https://madmimi.com/p/c780631/preview

 

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Limited time offer! Get The Boy on the Bridge for FREE, along with the short story collection, Facets of Love, with your sign up to Effrosyni’s newsletter. Fun news from her life in Greece and a load of FREE kindle books in every issue! http://bit.ly/2yA74No

Kelly ran a marathon and wound up running a house. With a ghost in it! Both humorous and moving, with delightful sweet romance, it’s just the ticket to lose yourself reading! Read more on Amazon
Summer love and a mysterious haunting in Corfu! Effrosyni’s debut romance, The Ebb, has received an award from Amazon! Check it out here

Beach fun and sweet romance mixed with magic spells and bird shifters… The Raven Witch of Corfu is an original story that will rivet you with its unrelenting suspense. The final twist will blow your mind!
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