The miracle of Tsipoura (Dorade, Sparus aurata)

What I call ''the miracle of Tsipoura'', let's say, lays very very close to Coello's concept of the universe; the one that brings you what you strongly desire. Yeap that one!! Well, I don't know if it is the whole universe in my case but Trondheim wants me happy and pleased here! :)

Living in such a different environment is inevitable that you are going to miss an awful amount of things from your past life. From time to time I become nostalgic about specific flavours and aromas from my country. Especially in the first year, I experienced a constant swift from severe enthusiasm to taste every single aspect of norwegian life to severe homesickness even for things that I hardly ever wanted back home. From squid to baklava, from olive oil soap to octopus, from fresh fig to coarse semolina, from having someone to morn me in greek to the latest example of fresh (!!!) tsipoura... An awful amount of things.

Yes the last two examples are pretty spectacular! 

''Kalimera'' is goodday in greek and it's one of the most lyric words of the greek language. L and r and all the vowels there makes it such a melody! It's starting your day with is a tiny song! :D I had just started missing this little treat when a guest professor from New Zealand moved in in my office and he kept greeting me in greek! So sweet and so appreciated! 

& now the tsipoura miracle; 

I was in the supermarket buying things for my name day party. I was basically sad because 15th of August is a huge celebration in Greece and especially in my family is as important as Christmas! I didn't go for vacation there  and I was regretting it at that time. On top of it, it is a normal working day here while back home is a public holiday. I was feeling very tired and very very very homesick. The party was my last hope to avoid depression. People might get depressed in their birthdays, I now get depressed on my name day, strange human nature?? So as I was approaching the fridge area, I glanced them, laying there with all their silver colour and their big eyes! I though it was an illusion, or I was confusing them with a different kind of fish that looked alike. I stormed towards the fridge window to read the name on the tag! Not much of help. Gkrr! How do I describe a mediterranean fish and verify that the one I was viewing was what I think it was a bit southern of the arctic cycle?? Uff! That's tough and it can end up rather funny. & sure it was. Very. Me rushing to ask and explain with lacking vocabulary in this area... The poor guy answering my questions must have thought I was some kind of weirdo. Such an excitement  for a fish?  But who cares?? To my surprise I was RIGHT! It was it! Coming directly from Spain. The world was wonderful again! & I was overspending on five of them!!! 

They are all cute stories and I have a lot more. Right now I am thinking of all the times that life has provided me what I needed. From the silliest to the most important. In retrospect I'm a lucky person, life has treated me well but I complain a bit and get stressed a lot more. This mental treatment is my way to prove myself that my current struggles will end up fine. Naive way maybe. My future is uncertain and I am thinking of tsipouras! I do what I have to do but I cannot help it, I hope for a new miracle. A BIG one this time. Trondheim please please do your best!! 

For the record;

Tsipoura is my favourite Mediterranean fish. Its taste is oily and bitter and all you need to do to fully enjoy it is to fold it in baking paper seasoned with some salt, pepper, oregano and lemon slices and bake it for approximately 30 min.  You start to yearn for it in 20 min when all the aromas start to fill the space and then you have to suffer for a bit more until your mouth get into heaven. When I was in Greece I used to have it at least once per week. Yummy, yummy! 

A! yeah! & that was the recipe bit of this post.. :P