Pop's Clacquesin

I wrote about Mama’s tsourekia, it seems only fair to write about Pop’s Clacquesin.

What the hell is this thing? It is a drink. French and hard to come by, they sell about 10 bottles a year. Nobody seems to drink it anymore. The distillery has even been made it into an event center; weddings, business meetings etc.

Pop went to Paris in 1927 to marry Mama. He was in the States before the Asia Minor catastrophe. Mom went to France after the catastrophe and they were married there. I wrote a blog about this part of their life.

http://anadmaningreece.blogspot.com/2010/04/pop-goes-to-paris-to-marry-mom.html

Evidently my Father was introduced to Clacquesin when he was in Paris. It remained in his mind for years; he obviously could not get it in the States, at least not in Brooklyn. He would occasionally mention it in a very nostalgic way.

When my Mother and I went to Paris in the 40’s to visit my dying Grandmother, we must have brought him some bottles back, which my uncles got for him, they might have introduced it to him way back then in the 20’s.

This strange drink (Clacquesin) remained in my mind as well for years (60 years at least) for some weird reason. Without ever tasting it, it had the same effect on me as it had on Pop…I remembered it for years.

We met a French family here in Porto Heli a couple of years ago, and aside from them laughing at my pronunciation of Peugeot, they knew the drink that my father loved. They very kindly brought me a few bottles from France, which probably increased sales by 50%.

This drink has pine resin in it and other plants…which probably reminded Pop of foul tasting Retsina, which is made with pine resin as well. There might be a Greek connection after all; Frenchified Greeks might even have made it as well, although that is pushing it. The label implies a very exotic culture, jazz, dancers, and dinner jackets, almost bohemian.

Recently, my first cousin (her Father and my Mom were brother and sister) was visiting us. She was born in France and moved to Greece when she married a Greek. I showed her the bottle of Clacquesin that I had, she immediately perked up told me that her father and her uncle (my two uncles) would drink this together in Paris as an aperitivo. They drank it with lemon juice or lemonade. These were the guys that got Pop hooked on this drink.

Perhaps they all went to the clubs that are represented on the label. A Greek American candy-maker (Pop), two Greek French brothers-in-law that are tailors (my uncles) in a club listening to jazz, smoking cigars and drinking Clacquesin, having a great time, maybe even listening to Josephine Baker…I like that image, I hope they did it.

I now occasionally have one with lemon juice and toast Pop. It has been a long time, but the drink now has a role. My son and I will have a drink and feel a connection with family, uncles, Father and Grandfather, and I actually like it as a drink. We probably should be listening to Jazz and smoking cigars.

Mama's tsourekia

Ok we all have heard it, “ my Mother was the best cook,” “nobody can make meatballs like my Mother,”

“ She made the best mousaka,” etc. etc. Mama was the best blah, blah.

I wonder, did anybody have a Mother that was a lousy cook? Will anybody fess up to having a Mother that could not boil water? There have to be some out there.

 Nevertheless it seems all Greek mothers are, or were great cooks.

I will continue in the same vein, Mama was a great cook…especially at tsourekia, and her koulouria were pretty sensational as well. They say people are either good cooks or good bakers, Mom was good at both, but she was a great baker, as my size when I was a kid will confirm.

The tsoureki is the traditional Easter cake, made with a hardboiled egg, dyed red as decoration some times.

 Mama made hers in a twisted version as well as the more traditional round shape. I remember the smell that permeated the apartment; actually the whole building had that amazing aroma. The neighbors knew that something great was in the making, if they played their cards right would get a tsoureki, actually they all got one.

My wife Jeannine is a spectacular cook, creative and always experimenting, even she agrees, Mama’s tsourekia were great. She has no idea why Mama’s were so great.

Mama was from Asia Minor, and learned to really cook from a Sicilian neighbor that lived downstairs, sounds like a pretty great combination of skills and tastes, maybe that was the secret.

We have eaten them all over the world, many Jeannine made, relatives have made them…we bought them in bakeries in Greek areas of NY, London as well as in Greece itself. Good ones, delicious ones…never great ones, at least not like Mama’s. I have no idea if this taste and aroma is in my mind or if it was real, I want to hope it was real, Jeannine agrees that they were spectacular. She might just be encouraging my fantasies.

Pining for great tsoureki might be a little shallow, maybe I am pining for a time gone by and the tsoureki is some baked symbol of that time, how come I didn’t pick something like baklava or cataifi.

   

Greek fisherman's cap from New York

Greek fisherman caps are surprisingly famous and I love them.

 I live in Greece, actually on the coast, near a fishing village.

Try buying a Greek fisherman’s cap in the village; it is not going to happen. They do sell some cheap tourist versions, which no Greek fisherman would be seen dead in. By the way, the Greek fisherman usually wear baseball caps with I love NY on them.

The traditional Greek fisherman’s cap is mostly seen on old retired fisherman…the hats look older than the guys wearing them.

 As a good non-fisherman, Greek American, I wanted one and looked all over here in Greece for one, no luck…non of the thick woolen caps that the old guys wear.

 By the way the old guys are about 90 to 100 years old, so I can refer to them as old guys.

Back to the caps, while in NY I went to my favorite hat store on Fifth Ave. and 30 something street, JJ hats. I buy my Borsalino hats there as well as my cloth caps when I want to do the English thing. I walked in there a couple of years ago and see the traditional Greek fisherman’s caps, thick woolen one. Inside it said made in Greece…they also had some touristy ones, white, cotton etc. nevertheless the classic one was heavy wool, embroidered visor…really great.

There is a label inside that tells me they are made, since 1885 in an ancient village outside of Athens. No mention of the village’s name. A company in San Francisco exclusively imports them, the only Greek fisherman’s cap available in the US…it seems the only country in the world you can get them in, and I gave up on getting one in Greece.

I should import them to Greece from the US, even though they originally come from and are made in Greece. I have to try to find that ancient village outside of Athens that has a Greek fisherman’s cap industry.

I now have my cap and bought some for friends here in Greece.

I will stroll by the fishing boats and see if the fishermen are attracted to my cap, might be a side business.

If you want one, you can order one on line from JJ hats, or let me know.

YIPPEE, no brain swelling

I had Gamma knife surgery in November of last year.

The Doctor mentioned that a rare side effect might be seizures.

Holy shit! I panicked… I think as a rule I am pretty cool about these things, although the word “seizures” really made me very apprehensive.

I went to NY for my three-month checkup, an MRI and then a meeting with the doctor.

I would have had the MRI in Greece and sent it to NY, a very routine follow-up, but the word “seizures” changed everything.

I went, had my MRI, the nurse was a Greek American girl…and my neurosurgeon is a Greek American as well, we are all over the place…could have stayed in Greece.

I saw the Doctor and I explained my apprehension, he was surprised as he thought it was the most remote possibility…it had to be mentioned for insurance reasons.

I am apprehensive about seizures; they are apprehensive about being sued for not giving all the risks of a procedure.

He looks at the MRI and says in a very casual way, good, no brain swelling.

He then begins to chat about his upcoming trip to Greece to take his mother to visit her village and relatives. I asked him to say again, NO BRAIN SWELLING! 

He did, I left and went and had a martini, two actually

I have been called all of these titles.

 Having lived all over the world and being called a number of things, some even respectful.

 I was thinking the other day about them. In the States it is pretty much mister, unless you are a Doctor or a Professor, which I am not.

 Spanish speaking countries have the Don also the Mafia seems to have it.
 In Spain there was only one Don in the office and that was the president, Alfredo. Years later when I visited the office, having run some offices myself, I was greeted at the airport, by the company driver as Don Gregorio. I have to tell you, it was pretty damn good, and I really liked it, Don Gregorio.

 In Mexico, age sort of gave you the Don title, although in the office it was the shoeshine guy, Don Tomy that had it and me. I was happy to share it with him…he was an institution in the office, and probably did a better job than I did, he never lost any clients.

 Japan…I never understood what I was called but want to believe it was respectful.

 While visiting the village my parents came from in Asia Minor I was called Effendi, thought that was pretty amazing.

 Italy was Dottore, pretty much to everybody, and I thought they were all doctors…they also had a lesser one, Licensiado. I was always Dottore, even in the parking lot. I picked up my car one evening and gave double my normal tip, some sort of thousands of lire, probably an extra dollar. The attendant immediately straightened up and called me Commendatore. The next day I was Commendatore in the parking lot by all the attendants and I remained that as long as I was in Italy and gave two-dollar tips.

 I have to try that someplace else and see what happens.

 Greece has Kyrie as the most common but there is the noble Archonda.

 Obviously there are other not so polite ones, although all the countries I have lived in seem to have those.

A Golden Wedding Anniversary...or is it?

We just celebrated our 50th Wedding Anniversary on Jan 14th, 2012 in Athens. We had an amazing time and were surrounded by our kids and close friends here in Athens. We received notes, gifts and well wishes from relatives and the friends we have made over the years from all over the world. It was really a wonderful experience. Our marriage has been an even more wonderful experience. We met at college, Pratt, in 1955. Just writing this makes it sound even more unbelievable, 1955… I was 18 and she was 17, I am 74 now, do the math. My God we have known each other since the beginning of time and been married for 50 of them… we are one week into our next 50th. Here is the minor doubt…when we married in the Three Hierarchs Church in Brooklyn, our usual priest was unable to perform our marriage ceremony due to a family crisis and that day another priest married us instead. No problem… although he did have a problem pronouncing my wife’s first name…Jeannine came out Tsannninnee and variations of that every time he said her name during the service, Sanninee, Tsanni, and even his version of a Greek one. I often wondered if our marriage is actually valid, although on the paperwork, I think it was spelled correct. Hmm, I wonder.

Contraptions and Technology

We are in New York City, having just had my Gamma Knife procedure.

I spent over a month anticipating the procedure, being anxious about some new activity from my tumor. I knew it was going to grow, but not that fast, I should have outlasted its growth. Now, three years post brain surgery we decided on the Gamma Knife treatment.

This is an amazing procedure, slightly misnamed by calling it a knife. It seems the inventor was a surgeon and wanted the reference of a knife. It is non-invasive surgery, though. Two hundred plus, non-lethal, gamma rays come into your head from different directions and focus carefully on the tumor, with all their power, to zap it and delay any re-growth. This is really super futuristic stuff! Something is affected, even removed from your skull without any seemingly outside intervention, science-fiction stuff, remember the Hulk…that was Gamma rays.

Before all this high-tech stuff, it is necessary to have an MRI so they can see the exact position of the tumor. Now the weird stuff starts, they have to put a contraption on your head so you can keep the same position during the MRI and later when they radiate your tumor. Accuracy is very important. The last thing you want to do is miss.

You are in the midst of one of the highest tech kind of medical procedures in the world; really 22nd century stuff…suddenly your neurosurgeon and an assistant approach you with something that looks like a Civil War relic. A metal cage type thing, that seems to have been made by an amateur blacksmith, which is supposed to be screwed on to your head.

I am given a sedative and some Novocain as well as my favorite, a medical lollypop, and then my neurosurgeon starts acting like a mechanic and screws this cage on to my head…yes I did say screws it on, into my skull. It seems to me that something a little less primitive could be developed to hold my head steady so that the Gamma rays hit the tumor accurately.

During the procedure I had a 4-hour wait with this contraption on my head, between MRI, calculation of the rays and then the actual Gamma knife procedure. I was part of three patients that were scheduled for the procedure. I was to go last since my tumor was near my left optic nerve and they required a little more time to prepare. Needless to say I got bored and made a paper mustache to wear on my rig. It seemed to have made a difference to some of the somberness that existed in the ward. Paper mustaches will do it every time.

This was an incredible experience. I am sure they got it. We will have confirmation in about 3 months when I have an MRI to check on the condition of the tumor, but I feel very optimistic. Let’s face it, if it still is there, we come back and do it again…by then the “contraption” will be redesigned and be comfortable as well as light and not have to be screwed on. And maybe it will come with a mustache!