Cretan Magic

 

Sitting in a lovely little restaurant, in the old town of Rethymnon, under the hanging strands of flowering bougainvillea, its blooms in variegated and intense pinks.

Our waiter arrives. With our meal I order a glass of white wine—the local krasí—the waiter bobs a pony-tailed head and disappears into the restaurant. When the Cressi arrives, instead of a glass of white, it's an enormous glass of red.

'I didn't order red,' I say politely, 'I want white.'

From behind a bohemian moustache, he regards me with mild suspicion, as though I must be mistaken and then says bruesquely:

'I will change it.'

He returns a couple of minutes later with the desired glass of white Cressi - an equally enormous glass - generously filled. Depositing it demonstratively and without slowing his stride - to take the order from the next table—he places it on the table in front of me and says quite seriously:

'There—I painted it!'

 

© Alison Day Designs

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Rusty Inside

Today, a light lunch at the restaurant across the road from the hotel of Mezzes: calamari, Greek salad and taramasalata accompanied by crusty bread in a wicker basket. Fanta, a glass of the local Cressi and ice cold bottled water.

Our waiter—dark haired with silvered edges, deposits the bottled water with a glass on the table and says:

'Nero' (water), then he adds with a warning tone, 'but not too much, otherwise you will become rusty inside.'

Amused, I laugh and reply:

'Yes, too much and I will need some olive oil to move again.'

He pauses to take in what I said. Then comprehension slowly crosses his darkly tanned face. With a broad grin—revealing an assortment of teeth and a twinkle in his eye, he wanders off to serve another table tray on hand.

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Beautiful Burger

As a follow up to my last post on edible packaging, it seems that Brazilian-based fast-food chain Bob's has replaced its plastic burger wrappings with edible ones - Way to go! - I wonder what it tastes like?

Via: DesignTaxi

Eat Me

When it comes to re-defining our wasteful throw-away culture, in the ongoing battle to save the environment, this bright idea turns us into the re-cycling implements. David Edwards (Harvard University Professor and biomedical engineer), who brought us breathable food in the form of ‘Le Whaf’ has just brought out  the new idea of edible containers. This means that after we have consumed our food and drink, instead of throwing the wrapping it comes in away, we will be able to consume that too!

Apparently, the packaging is made out of something called ‘WikiCells’,  which are natural food membranes held together by electrostatic forces and are said to be thin delicious membranes. For the future, a  ‘WikiCell Machine’ is also on the agenda, so that we can create our own packaging ourselves. 

I like the idea that the choice of what to package and how much, is finally reaching the hands of the consumer, but how much of this delicious stuff would one actually want to consume? Waste reduction aside, I would imagine it could also change the face of packaging design, when it comes to shape, colour and maybe even smell.

Design Taxi

Zorre Mexican Restaurant Review

Quickly locking our bikes, Sam and I ran full pelt under heavy fire from a heaven-flung load of hailstones, through the doors of Zorre and into the cosy, calm warmth of the restaurant. We had been invited to come and try their Mexican food and give our opinions about it.

Zorre may be familiar to you under the old name of Tacos and was set up in 2004, in the Westerhaven, by the brother and sister team of Petroeska and Rogier Lankhorst.

Since then, with the advent of a new name it has undergone a makeover, which is a success and pleasing to the eye. The orange interior has a feature wall, decorated by an enlarged Mexican street scene, in varying hues of orange and a complement to the chocolate coloured walls. Dependant on your mood or party, you can choose between various seating arrangements. There is the family arrangement, of a large round wooden table and chairs (including baby seat), the café style with metal table and chairs opposite a wide wooden wall bench, or high wooden bar tables with aluminium bar stools to perch upon. With tiny flickering tea light candles and atmospheric background music, one feels welcome.

The name Zorre comes from the local dialect (Gronings) for a graspol, literally ‘a clump of grass’ and sounds Spanish at the same time; a little bit of Mexico in Groningen. The grass also reflects their ethos in only producing food that is freshly made. They use only the best ingredients and wherever possible, organic.

Petroeska greeted us with a bright friendly smile, and our table was quickly covered with a starter of fresh crispy tortillas and guacamole dip, a cola and Mexican, Corona beer. From the menu we could choose between Taco’s, Tostada’s and Torta’s either separately or in combination with each other and side dishes. Every Taco on the menu comes from a different region in Mexico and its toppings are decided by what is prevalent in that area. Not knowing the sizes of the dishes we asked Petroeska’s advice and came up with a selection that we could share.

Sam’s choice was a Quesadilla taco filled with cheese and paprika and a portion of Galletas de papas, fried croquettes filled with potato, cheese, egg, jalapeno peppers and coriander. When asking his opinion about the food I got a general thumbs up. The cheese on his tortilla was ‘holy,’ and of the Galletas de papas he said, ‘it’s real, not like the McDonalds,’ a big compliment coming from an 11-year-old boy!

I chose a Tostada Fajitas, a fried corn tortilla, filled with frijoles (refried beans), strips of marinated chicken and paprika with fresh coriander hidden under a hat of melted cheese. Absolutely delicious! Tostada’s are easier to eat with the hands due to their crispiness. I also chose a Taco, Papas y chorizo, filled with potato, chorizo cheese, and green peppers, also a very tasty combination. The dishes are well thought out so that you are able to taste the ingredients independently and as a whole. All dishes are colourfully and beautifully presented and come accompanied by little side dishes of sour cream, guacamole and a chopped tomatoes and onion combination. To share, Sam and I had a Caesar salad (invented by Caesar Cardini, an Italian-born Mexican who, when a 4th of July 1924 rush depleted the kitchen's supplies, made do with what he had left, resulting in the birth of the Caesar Salad).

In Zorre you can eat as much or as little as your appetite demands. Every week there is a Quesadilla (tortilla) of the week on offer; when we visited the special was salmon and cream cheese. When trying to decide how hungry you are, their guide is:

1 Taco = a snack, 2 Taco’s = Lunch and 3 Taco’s = a meal.

They have a kid’s menu and if you are short of time, they also do take away. Zorre provides a catering service as well as workshops, for if you’d like to learn more about making your own Mexican food. For more information their website is: www.zorre.nl.

After the first courses, being curious and still having enough room for a dessert, I decided to try a typical Mexican pudding, Pay de Quesos, literally ‘tart of cheese,’ which was light and tasty.

Whether Zorre is new to you or not, why not cut out the voucher on this page and take it along to Zorre (before 31st March 2011), to sample one of their freshly made Quesadilla’s absolutely free!

© Alison Day
Alison Day Design 

First published in the Connections magazine #30 Winter 2011