Athens

Ok.. So it’s my first day here and I did not do anything other than hang out with my host and drink what seemed to be an endless amount of wine. (I may hurt in the morning) After the first bottle… we drove in towards the Acropolis, parked the car and went for a walk… to get me comfortable with where to go walking in the next few days.
And then….

Dinner… We arrived at the restaurant at 9… My host ordered in greek and I sat back and got curious about what was to come… All I mentioned was that I want octopus and tarramoussalata. What followed was (I apologize for using this word in earlier food situations) AMAZING… simple, easy, unadulterated, pure good food. First came tomatoes, peeled and sliced thick with oregano, salt, pepper, olive oil and a squeeze of lemon which you were to put on thick slices of toasted bread with olive oil and oregano. Tarramoussalata that was briny and textural, but not in a bad way; grilled octopus in olive oil and red wine vinegar; these Langoustines simply tossed in flour and flash fried; (I’m now so tired that I am typing in the dark… so forgive any errors) and this salad… whoa… this salad. You think you know greek salad… the american version is a gross bastardization of what I ate. Oh and this delicacy that my host would not tell me what is was until I ate it… it was fried, and a bit grainy in texture, but tasted familiar… almost like liver… so I asked if it was fish liver… no. it was something called egg fish (or as closely translated at it could get… YUM. it was basically the tarramoussalata before it got to be that way… in it;s pure form, just fried. Very hard to get and hard to find.

We were joined by some friends… and another round of food showed up… this time mussels cooked in lemon and butter… sea urchin, raw and swimming in something… raw clams so fresh they moved and curled when you squeezed lemon on them and the taste…. AWESOME…

OMG…. soo full I wanted to burst… but there is more…whole sole and some other fish, i cannot pronounce or remember the name at this late hour…. fresh and simple, de-boned table side and I shared the cheeks with Costos….
And for dessert…. fried dough dripping with honey and cinnamon. We finished dinner around 12:40 am…

WOW… a very good culinary start to my adventure in Greece…

3/30/09

Athens is non stop… and by the time I get home in the evening…or shall I say morning, I’m WAAAAYYYYY too tired…to try to recap the day and even more so to type… Please dear friends, be patient and I will write a tome on the plane ride home to Nice…. Besides, it’ll give you something to read over the weekend. LOL Worry not I will post pictures every evening before I head out to dinner…
Stay tuned… and I can’t say it enough… I love having all of you with me for this incredible trip. It’s been an inspiration to keep going and exploring this lovely world of ours.
Until then..

4/1/09

My first full day in Athens, I had intentions to see the Acropolis and wander the grounds, however since I was unfamiliar with the layout of the city, in spite of having maps and GPS I got turned around and lost a few times trying to make my way there. I wandered and meandered for some time until I started to recognize some of the streets George drove me down the night before. While I was walking I happened on the Greek Parliament, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the National Garden. I think I spent a few hours walking in the Garden, just happy to be away from the crowded streets for a while. On the other side of the garden was the Presidential Palace, the Zapion Exhibition Hall and Congress. I happened to look to the right and there was the Acropolis, in all its daylight glory. WOW. (I had seen it the night before under the artificial lights, and it looks entirely different by day.) Making my way there on foot I found the Olympic Temple of Zeus with its huge columns still standing. This is said to be the largest temple ever built and based on the size of the columns… I might just be. All over the site, the ground is covered with the sweetest smelling clovers and the bees just buzz all around you with the smell mingling with the predominant scent of orange blossoms. All of that makes Athens at times the sweetest smelling city I have been to. Moving on… I followed the path upwards… to the Acropolis and arrived at the gates just in time to have the gates close for the day… at 3 pm???? So it moved to the first place place for the list of things to do the following day. I walked back down and found the Plaka and realized I had not eaten anything. So I veered off the beaten path a bit and found a place called Hermion Taverna. I ordered a local beer and slammed the water I was given, clearly not realizing just how thirsty I was. I really had no idea what to order so I got a few standby’s I’m familiar with, tarramoussalata, dolmades and saganaki, which I must note here does not come flaming with a group of waiters shouting opa at you. At this place, the food was good, but nothing really blew me away… the stand out was the beer and the olives on the table. I reveled most in the contentment of being able to sit and be quiet for a while. I continued on walking the shops and side streets. And when I got tired I headed home and wondered what George had in store for me later. After a brief rest, George picked me up and we were off again, meeting friends for a birthday dinner.
Sofia, Maria, Mary, Stella, George, myself and two other women whom I apologize I have forgotten their names. Dinner was LOVELY… just fun and lively and the food was great. There was lamb with herbs, osso bucco, grilled sausages, fries, some sautéed greens, cheese pies, grilled beef, at least 4 different salads… all served family style so there was a little for everyone. After dinner, George and I ventured off and drank scotch… at three different places all small local bars. Then had one more at home before bed.

I realized at some point the following day, I have missed some general conversations while traveling alone and it was pleasant to have someone to spend evenings with and enjoy the simplicity of dinner and talking and George is a perfect person to do that with. He is very smart and offers a rather unique perspective on many subjects. He has a way of asking you the right questions to allow you to draw your own conclusions and never directly tells you what you should do or not do leaving everything open for the answers to come on their own. He is very straight forward and honest thinking it is better to say what you feel. George has a great wisdom and the lessons of Athens were not just historical, or culinary but philosophical as well. We spent hours talking about food and the restaurant, but more importantly the kind of chef I aspire to be. And being as thoughtful as he is, he listened and exposed me to some of the most amazing food all based on the things we talked about. (more on that later)

I went to the Acropolis the following morning… moving slowly I arrived at the Plaka around 11 to have a double cap and some orange juice (a must in Athens….it’s fresh everywhere and worth every cent) I was hoping that the combo of caffeine and sugar would help put a bit of pep in my step and get me to the top of the mountain. What a hike up a mountain… I like to consider myself to be in pretty good shape, but I was huffing and puffing and swearing just about every step I took and then once you think you are at the top, there’s more to climb… let’s just say, I swore a lot and wished I had seen one of those guys selling water on the street. I think I would have cleaned out his stock.

WOW… the Acropolis (having seen pictures in books) is more amazing and massive in person than one can portray via a picture in a book. There were dozens of school groups visiting that day (as I’m sure there always is) I walked around in awe and happened to find myself next to a group of American or Canadian school kids on a guided tour when I sat for a minute to change a camera lens I lingered for a moment to eavesdrop and got a nice little refresher in the history of the Parthenon. Which provided me with lots of ideas to contemplate including the basis of Christianity. From there I was intent on finding one of the tabernas I had photographed the day earlier and I had a pretty good idea the general direction I needed to go in to find it so off I went. There I ordered fresh grilled sardines and moussaka (like greek lasagna, if you are not familiar) …. The sardines were sublime. A bit larger then the ones I am used to from the can (which, I sometimes eat on crackers with mustard over the sink) and so the bones a bit harder to ignore. The process of removing them was painstaking at best and I am sure the older men a few tables away were laughing at me a bit… but who cares. The moussaka was very good, however was missing that very distinct lamb flavor I love in this dish. I opted to take my time, since it was past 3 pm and hopes of hitting any other monuments of museums forgotten. I decided to write a bit… and just sit in the fading sun. I watched the cats creep from one side of the street to the other, the birds chirp and play, the old men smoke cigarettes and then start to drink for the day, I listened in on a group of Greeks argue over President Obama, and I wrote intermittently. I was interrupted by one of the waiters who said…what is that some kind of diary? I blushed a bit and smiled at his accent and explained to him that I have traveled for a while and I keep notes on what I have seen, done and more importantly eaten… he replied, I hope you write good things about Athens. No worries…I was falling in love with Greece, but hope to return to the islands.

From there I found a cute little shop and picked up a few gifts and headed home for the day. Tonight I enjoyed a very mellow evening with George having dinner at a local taberna… we started with a Cretean salad with Bread, tomato, capers feta and rocket… we shared ravioli with Greek cheese and grilled pork with honey and rosemary sauce which I loved and a lovely dessert of fresh fruit and walnuts.

The next day I hit the ground walking and walked right into a massive protest … coinciding with the G20 conference. It was HUGE and loud and a little scary. Not knowing any words in Greek I could not discern what was being shouted. Streets were closed and police were everywhere, most holding large guns and riot gear. I pressed on through the crowds and got into the Archaeological Museum which houses amazing, wonderful works of ancient artifacts… again mostly only seen in books. I was most struck by the depictions of the Greek Goddess Nike and how with her flowing tunic and wings is almost identical to the Christian depictions of Angels. Hmmm. I wonder why? (sarcasm intended)

After the museum, I intended to take the sightseeing bus to other parts of Athens and I had just missed one, or so I thought…I browsed a menu at a café when a man said a few words to me in English with a heavy Greek accent, I responded to him in French thinking that would get me out of having to converse with anyone and DAMMIT… wouldn’t I have the worst luck in the world. This guy was a French Greek living in Paris… I explained that I was waiting for the next bus and he invited me to join him…So, I killed sometime with this older gentleman who politely offered to buy me a refreshment while I waited for the next bus and he seemed harmless enough I agreed… we had a nice little, light conversation, then he started to make some rather inappropriate assumptions about the nature of my relationship with George and I let him. He became rather persistent and grew to annoy me… I kept looking around for the bus hoping it would come quickly so that I could make my exit… none came. I finally grew tired of hearing him talk and asked the waiter if the bus was running and because of the General Strike and the Protest… I was out of luck. I excused my self, thanked him for the mineral water and took off on foot to return the place I was the day before…. The Plaka (I returned looking for a picture frame and to pick up something I ordered for my sister) That’s where I had my first souvlaki in Athens… with a tomato and cucumber salad that came with a block of feta on top…. SO GOOD…. That and a beer was 10 euro. Can’t beat it.

It was getting late and cool, so I headed back. Just in time to have Sofia call me to meet the women in Glyfada… a quaint town by the sea. Seven women, shared a lovely meal and we laughed and talked all evening. George came to pick me up we drove around a bit and headed home. I had to get ready for my last full day in Athens and I was determined to see what I had missed the day before.

(don’t worry, I’m getting to the best part here)

I visited the ancient ruins of Kerameikos, the National Gallery and the Museum of Cyclcladic Art…. I treated myself to high tea at beautiful old hotel called the Grand Bretagne. It reminded me of a little NYC Plaza Hotel, a little Penninsula, and a little Ritz. Lovely….
The best part of my day… Dinner with George at a wonderful, traditional greek restaurant called Alatsi. This place absolutely blew me away. For a number of reasons… but mostly because George had listened to everything I said this past week about the kind of food I want to cook, the kind of chef I am, the kind of Chef I want to evolve into, what kinds of food I like and appreciate. He exposed me to a very unique style of cooking and foods I have never tasted before. And for that simple fact, George will remain forever in my debt.

So…. The food…. I looked over the menu briefly and told George that I wanted to try the Dakos and I would leave the rest to him….He gave me a nod and ordered…and food started arriving…There was so much of it, first… George would not tell me what anything was, and just wanted me to eat. My challenge being to figure it out later….or guess what things were. So..(to George:) what follows is what we ate…
Sfouggato (a frittata with ground beef and a rich tomato based sauce), Fried potatoes with staka (a very rich, creamy sauce that I swore was cheese. It tastes like cheese and was creamy like a cheese sauce. I pressed George to tell me what it was and I’m not going to reveal it here, but I found out and even better found out how to make it…let’s just say staka is very close to something I make in my New Orléans family recipes, however we would never think to put it on french fries) Dakos (a Cretan bread salad with fresh tomatoes, feta cheese, capers, olive oil and a touch of lemon) Cuttlefish with fennel and olives, Kaltsouni (baked pies with wild greens and herbs) Smoked pork with thyme and portocali, Askolimpri (a green that smelled like the sea with fava beans) Lamb with stamnagathi greens…. And for dessert… a very special treat. A very traditional Greek dessert that is traditionally only served at funerals. Wheat berries, pomegranate seeds, raisins, walnuts dusted with powdered sugar and cinnamon.

The flavors and freshness were outstanding. Each bite a revelation and a mystery…I searched my mind and database of flavors and smells and tastes and textures and I could not match much. This was a truly amazing dinner. And to add to it the Chef came over to talk to me a bit about his history (IMPRESSIVE, having spent three years with Keller at the French Laundry) his style of cooking. I loved it.. every single bite. This was the dinner that pretty much rendered me speechless only to revel in the joy of what my quest has become…. The quest for SIMPLICITY. Nothing was fussy, or sauced, or plated with fancy designs; garnishes were not adjusted with long tweezers; there were no squeeze bottles and microgreens. This was food like you would find at home. The kind of food your grandmother would make for you on a Sunday night. It was about the food… and it spoke volumes to me. (and not just on a gastronomic level) I could not think of a better way to end my days in Athens.

George and Jeannie… Thank you. In the most simple way I can say it… thank you!

4/5/09