Goodies from Greece

Finally, a post!

Even though one in which the picture speaks for itself, I suspect this journal is happy for any crumb at this point. Put it this way: If I had been half as starved as this blog has been these many months, at least I wouldn't have had a beachwear breakdown before my trip to the Med!

Though somehow, that and assurances of terminal busy-ness on the Journal-ist's part don't seem to reassure the journal much. So, without more ado, some goodies from my trip to Greece are offered here to appease it. (And as requested, no been-there-done-that Kalamata olives in the lot.)

Any guesses?

Alright, enough with the suspense already!

Ta-da! These are, clockwise from top left:

1. Cretan thyme honey — there were so many honeys, Aegean and Cretan, thyme and pine and lavender and... I confess I finally closed my eyes, leaned back on the trolley, and went eeny-meeny-miny-mo!
2. Nope, not olives, non —that's an amphora-esque jar of preserved lemons (I rather suspect they are in fact citron, though; but taste will tell, later, I trust)
3. Spoon sweet with mastiha, the famed 'gum mastic' of Chios, resin of the Pistacia lentiscus tree which grows only on this Agean island. Baggage limit and fear of broken bottles prevented me bringing home the liquor, the 'original' chewing gum, the soaps and shampoos, the chocolate, the flavoured honey, the powder to cook with, the toothpaste...*
4. Baklava, without which no trip to Greece can boast a sweet ending!
5. Okay, I cheat — there's a missing corner to this pentagram. Not pictured here, it consisted of a block of Macedonian halva — sort of a sesame-paste nougat-cum-meringue I enjoyed for breakfast in Greece — that was cleverly sandwiched in wafers to prevent crumbling and even more cleverly dosed with some mastiha to hold it all flavourfully together! (This is MIA because it went to a friend, to steady nerves for a forthcoming wedding march. S-es both, I expect an update and you are hereby directed to the Comments box below!)