Fall's Baked Apples

 Baked apples are one of the simplest, most delicious fall desserts.

 
 Apples and spices and sugar is all it takes.

Core your apples- use Cortland or any other good baking apple. Use as many as will fill your roasting pan.

Fill each cavity with a teaspoon of sugar, some cloves and a dash of ground cinnamon. Add a half a cup of water to the bottom of the pan and place the pan in a 350 preheated oven.

While the apples are cooking add water to the pan if it's too dry.They are ready after an hour or until the apples are soft.

Eat them warm, cut up into smaller pieces, over Greek yogurt, or, cut them up and put them in your morning cereal, or just eat them plain with a bit of their own syrup spooned over. The best part is that they will keep for a few days in the refrigerator.

Any way you choose to serve them, I'm sure you're going to love this treat.

Enjoy!

Maria

Venetian Castle-Chora, Kythera

I was extremely fortunate to stay at the El Sol hotel in Kythera this summer, in a room facing the magnificent outcrop that is host to the Chora Castle ruins.

Every morning I saluted the sun and the ancient ruins

When you climb to the outermost walls and look down, you'll see the two bays and the small town of Kapsali with it's magical beach. This is where on the last day of my stay I was stung by a jelly fish. But that's another story!

 The Greek flag flies proudly in the salty breeze inside the castle perimeter.

 Icon paintings inside a recently restored chapel. We can see the Virgin Mary holding her Child and the Archangel standing guard to her left.

 The inside of the chapel

A view of the island/rock called Hydra several kilometers off the coast of Kapsali. The island is host to seals, rare wildflowers and a sea cave with azure waters. If you are in the area look for captain Alexandros and his boat and go for a boat ride and a cave swim.

Kythera is one of those special places in the world filled with light, salty surf, rugged landscapes and fragrant wild herbs and, ancient ruins.

Enjoy!
Maria

How to Publish Your Own Book - a workshop at the Orangeburg Library

This past week I was happy to conduct a workshop on "How to Publish Your Own Book" at the Orangeburg Library in New York State.

I'd never done a workshop like that before and I thought about what people, who are interested in publishing their own book, would like to know. There is so much that goes into publishing your own book that it can be overwhelming to someone trying to make a presentation and also to the audience who're trying to learn about the process.

What I decided to do was focus on the main steps I took to get from a pile of written pages to the end product of a paperback and Kindle book, which became "Archangel."

The evening of the event I went to the library not knowing what to expect. However, I felt very positive and  excited and was certain that the outcome of the presentation could only be good.

Sure enough, we had a great group of people thanks to the efforts of Lynne Warshavsky, in charge of special programs and, to the generous hospitality of the Library Director, Mary Kane.We had a great time together, I shared my experience in publishing my book and got lots of feedback and good questions from my audience.
Thank you to all!

Enjoy!

Maria

Mylopotamos- the Kytherian castle on the cliff

Mylopotamos is a village in Kythera with a lot of history and natural beauty. We visited the Castle of Mylopotamos, a Venetian castle built on the edge of a cliff, where, inside it's walls, the local people could be protected. 

The entrance to the fortress. Notice the Lion of Venice at the top of the apse.

The vivid remains of houses of worship and homes with traditional architecture haunt the visitor.

Today, homes are renovated keeping the traditional style and incorporating the ancient walls.

If you continue outside of Mylopotamos, there is a sign pointing to Limnionas, a hard to access beach that rewards the traveler for the precipitous drive.

Greek islands are filled with history, lore and natural beauty. One can explore for years and still discover new destinations.

Enjoy!
Maria