Savoring Greek Food Memories

I originally sat down to write a combined food and wine post -- since its about time for another one on wine -- but after spending about 30 minutes looking through all my photos it felt a bit overwhelming.  Since September we've had some pretty memorable food moments and I think they warrant posts of their own. 

We'll begin with our trip to Greece in September where we did a 7-day sailboat cruise around the Ionian Sea -- with all our meals prepared by our lovely hostess Despina.  I want to also share some photos from our trip to Slovenia in October where we got to dine in Chef Ana Roš' restaurant Hiša Franko -- she was featured in Season 2 of Chef's Table.  As well as some food pics from our trip earlier this month to Calabria -- the toe of Italy's boot -- where we literally ate high on the hog for an entire week while Tom took a charcuterie course at the Italian Culinary Institute.

After just writing the Greek portion - which follows - I thought this post would be way too long if I tried to do all three so we'll keep it Greek for this one.

Please tell me if you are like me -- first meal upon arrival in Greece has got to be a Greek Salad!  No question.  And that is exactly what I did.

First trip to Greece - First meal - Greek Salad!

We arrived in Athens mid afternoon in late August and hit the road after getting our rental car.  We drove north about two hours to spend the night in Ancient Corinth.  Our sailboat cruise didn't start until the next afternoon.  After finding our hotel we walked into Ancient Corinth to find a place for dinner.  We might have been a bit over enthusiastic.  We not only got my Greek salad but we also got an order of fried calamari, a meat plate AND moussaka.  I don't think we were able to finish it all but we did our best.

Our feast

And don't forget the moussaka

Our hotel Marinos served a very nice breakfast the next morning and let me just say -- the grape jelly they serve completely changed my view on grape jelly.  I have historically been a 'say no' to grape jelly kind of girl but I would eat this style of grape jelly every day.  It was incredible!

Breakfast at Marinos - grape jelly has the spoon in it

I wrote a pretty lengthy blog post about our sailboat trip so if you are interested in reading it click here.  But this post is going to stay food focused.  Our two person crew included Despina, our deckhand and cook.  She made all our meals and snacks and I have never felt so nurtured, nourished, and just plain spoiled.  The boat trip was absolutely one of my most relaxing vacations ever.

Meet Despina - she worked magic in this small galley kitchen

Our mornings typically started with some Greek coffee and cookies, followed by breakfast.

Such an enjoyable way to start the day

I think this was our last morning on the boat before heading back to port.

This was our first breakfast on the boat.

Note the generous use of seasoning and oil - we learned to be more generous from Despina's example

We usually had some fruit too.

One of the advantages of traveling in late August and early September - tomatoes and cucumbers were in season and at their peak.  We also learned from Despina that we could be extremely generous with dry herbs.  We have been using a lot more in our cooking since returning from this trip.

We ate a lot of fresh salads.  Despina made this really wonderful beet salad and then another salad with greens, red peppers, olives and anchovies.  She could make a piece of bread with tomato sauce, feta cheese and olives something special.  

Our captain Spyros, who has worked with Despina many times over the years, made a special request for a stuffed pepper dish with rice and potatoes.  Due to the size and restrictions of the small oven on the ship -- this dish probably took 3+ hours to cook and another couple hours to prep but it was sooooooo worth it.

Prepping the peppers

Dinner Time

I don't think there were many leftovers.

On Day Three we pulled into port at Fiskardo on the island Kefalonia.  This is where Tom, with Spryos' help, had planned my birthday surprise.  We met Nicola, an artisanal cheese maker, gardener and chef.  He brought us to his home where I helped make dinner and we learned about his cheese and even went to see the goats.

Cutting off a chunk of bonafide feta cheese

Some of the best feta I've ever had.

The boys

My birthday cheese -- which I forgot to take back to the boat - insert sad face

I mentioned the goats so I figured I'd better share at least one photo.

And speaking of my birthday - Despina surprised me with some loukoamia on the big day. 

Our morning in port at Fiskardo was the one morning when Despina did not have to make us breakfast.  Spyros had been raving about this lemon pie that one of the local restaurants served -- so I decided to have lemon pie for breakfast.  Tom probably made the more respectable breakfast choice - French toast - but the pie was so delicious and life is short!

Lemon pie for breakfast - highly recommend it.

Tom's French toast and fresh-squeezed OJ

Our last night on the boat was spent in port - back where it began - Lefkada.  Sypros and Despina left that evening so it was just Tom and me for dinner.  Despina put together one of our favorite meals - a snack tray where we ate up some of the leftovers.

Last meal on the boat

Final good-bye - we had a blast!

After leaving the boat we drove into Athens and spent one night in the city.  We had a nice relaxing dinner - got some fresh fish - and then we couldn't leave Greece without getting Tom some baklava.

Grill a whole fish and put it on my plate and you have a happy girl on your hands.

This is baklava heaven!

Decisions, decisions

Taking some goodies back to the room

I also wrote a post about our time in Athens and Ancient Corinth if you want to check it out.  Just click here.

So there are some food highlights from our amazing trip to Greece.  Thank you Despina for taking such good care of us!  We still think of you every time we sprinkle excessive amounts of Thyme and Basil on our food.  Thank you for teaching us that you can always have more olive oil and more spice.     

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I finished this blog post just before our friends Pat and Christina came over for a late lunch.  I had told Christina that she could bring dessert and what an absolute treat to have her walk in the door with a plate of homemade baklava.  A perfect complement to our meal and to this blog post celebrating our wonderful Greek food memories.  I thought I'd share a few photos of Chris' phenomenal baklava.