Adventures in eating Greece

[Seattlegirlychef]

Hey folks...

This is my first official post on the E-gullet. How cool am I. My name is Leah, I'm a 24-year-old aspiring food writer, working my way up while getting my skills and knowledge in the kitchen. I took a trip to Greece this past summer for month, visiting my pen-pal and her family, cooked and ate in their restaurant and wrote some interesting emails you might all find interesting :) It's my first shot at sharing to others my raw writing skills, so give me some feedback. This is my first email, a bit too 'staged', they get better with age. I'll put more up later. Thanks!

July 15, 2003

Hello to all in the US~

I've arrived safely and soundly and miss you all too much! Greece is very dry and hot, not too hot, about 28' celsius (90F). My penpal and her family are all very friendly. There's so many different and new things here, the smells, sounds, sites, people, it's hard to believe I'm so far away in such a different place. I had a 10 hour lay over in London, I ended up taking the tube into the city and spent only about 3 hours while I was there. It was too hot, crowded and crazy, I've never seen so many tourists in my life! From all different places too. And of course everything is so old, you don't realize how "young" the US is until you come to a place like this. I was able to go to Jamie Oliver's restaurant (the 'naked chef'), it's called 'Fifteen" for the 15 young people that Jamie is training to cook in his restaurant. I made it too the place, after wiggling my way through London's crazy streets. I had a margarita pizza with some strange greens on top, not like basil, tomato and mozzeralla in the states. It was fun. So now I'm in Asvestohori, a small suburb outside of Thessaloniki. I've been hanging out with Evaggelia (ev-ah-gah-lia) and family in the kitchen, trying new foods. I haven't gotten into the city yet, hoping to do that later. Please write me back and let me know how you all are doing! Love you all~

Leah

[Fat Guy]

This is going to be a fun series; please, keep them coming!

And welcome.

[Seattlegirlychef]

hey thanks....fa....wait no sorry, no way am I going to respond like that. I know you have a name...and that would be Steve. Thanks steve! I was hoping you'd see my post since you are one of the big kahunas here. I will keep the stories coming for sure!

Edited January 16, 2004 by Seattlegirlychef (log)

[Pan]

He's used to people calling him Fat Guy - right, Steven?

[cakewench]

28c is actually closer to 82F.

Which has nothing at all to do with your wonderful post from Greece. Please don't mind the pedantic American in Germany. I haven't had enough... tea... this morning.

I love reading new views on different cultures. One of my grandmothers was from Armenia, so I look forward to hearing about some familiar foods!

[Carlovski]

I'm interested. Greek food gets quite a lot of unfair criticism, but I like it.

Might not have the haute cuisine tradition of other countries, but there is a great range of comforting hearty home cooked stuff (Which is normally available in Tavernas, but get used to eating room temperature food) and the simple stuff, simply grilled meats and especially fish can be great.

[Knicke]

MMMMMM. Greek food. And even if it isn't 'haute', well heck, it tastes good. When I was young (and picky), I had a cold octopus salad at Greek place in Chicago which was a revelation. Surprising, given my normal aversion to tentacles. It was divine and not rubbery at all, like most molluscs I'd experienced up to that point.

Plus, the language is so fun-sounding. "Spanakopita!" "Avgolemono!" "Souvlaki!"

Can't wait to read more of these, seattle!! Have long had a hankering to travel to the land of the sparkling Aegean myself; this will just whet the appetite all the more...

[JPW]

Cut my chops on greek food at a great place in an unusual location.

Courtesy of a Chicago born greek guy - Jim Boukas.

Zorba's on St. Thomas USVI. If you are ever there, tell Jim that His Pal Joey said hi.

Follow that up with a drawled out "Yeah Boss!"

Tastes that I had never before known existed.

And the man made the greatest bread. People would order loaves to fly home with.

Enjoy your adventure Leah.

[theakston]

Keep 'em coming Leah!

I love Greece, we have been going there on and off for nearly 20 years now. I can't wait to get back...until then I'll make do with traveling vicariously along with you.

Efharisto poli!

[Seattlegirlychef]

Hey wow...I feel so honored that y'all are reading me already! really...and it's people like you...older then myself that actually know things about life, cooking, and writing...okay i do know SOME things...i shouldn't kick myself like that...well anyways, it's just nice to get feed back. And for those of you that would like to see pictures of my travels go to:

Leah's Greece and London Pics

thanks again!

Edited January 16, 2004 by Seattlegirlychef (log)

[Pan]

Don't rush to be older; in the natural course of events, it'll happen soon enough.

In the meantime, you're learning things now.

And thanks for sharing them with us.

[QuinaQuen]

Whoa, scratch that last one. Growing up is overrated.

But do me a favor. While you're in Greece, check the labels on IQF shrimp in inland markets (may Zeus do his zappetificacious thing if they try to sell it on the coast) to see if they're american. I got wind the other day about a rich Greek friend of a broke-ass Greek friend planning to market Texas Gulf shrimp in Greece. Is that selling buggery to the British or what?

Granted, Gulf shrimp are the tastiest in the world, but there must be some serious hootie-doo going on if they have to sell it in one of the world's great seafood meccas. Heck, I have to play the big truck game to get the good stuff, even though I live less than 50 miles from the nearest shrimp fleet.

This is some crazy For Your Eyes Only kind of stuff. Keep me posted.

[Seattlegirlychef]

Hey All~

I hate to confuse you folks already....but I already went to Greece. I mean I was there for a month this past summer, mid-July-mid-August 2003 (notice the date in my email). I'm just now getting around to posting my emails that I saved from my trip. So quina~ I'm sorry I can't check the labels on the shrimp, I actually never ate any shrimp while I was there though I should've. Anyway, I will post more later from my second email. thanks again~

beah

Edited January 17, 2004 by Seattlegirlychef (log)

[Seattlegirlychef]

Hey folks...and now for another installment of Leah's Travels in Greece. For those you just tuning in, I'm posting emails that I wrote while I was away from my family and friends, when visiting my pen-pal friend and her family and restaurant in Thessaloniki, Greece for a month this past summer. Give me your feedback, questions, comments whatever. It's all appreciated much. And don't forget to check out my pictures from my travels here.

Saturday, July 19, 2003

On my way walking to the cafe to type this email I past by my first fig tree :) I picked one off but I wasn't sure if it was ripe or not. So last night John (Evagelia's bro-in-law) and Raya (her cousin) took me out to one of the many upscale clubs in Thessaloniki. Raya is a law student at the university so she speaks pretty good English, yet John does not. So I conversed mostly with Raya, while she translated with Greece. So anyways I just got to say that Seattle's clubs (spokane too becky) aint got NOTHING compared to the clubs here. We drove out some where near the airport so its in a pretty rural, open area. You walk in greeted by the security guards and valet parking guys, and they'll give you a nod as an okay to walk in. You pay your cover at the counter, about $10 with a drink and then you get this ticket to give to the bartender. The size of the place was insane, maybe 10k sq ft. with 20 ft. ceilings, huge circular lighting fixtures with Asian style paper light "globes". The ceiling is semi-opened, with a retractable roof for when it rains. There's big white couches, leather ottomans and long, flowy curtains stretching the height of the ceiling. John says most of the seating is reserved, so you have to call in advance to make sure you have a seat. If not, it's standing room only. We got there about midnight, but the place didn't get packed till about 1. The music was a mix of top 40, 90's (all american) and upbeat Greek pop. When we sat down we were served complimentary caviar on crackers with butter (my first) and this crunchy pretzel sticks, very tasty. There is definately a dress code, some of the women go far beyond "dressing to impress". The place was packed by 2 and that's when they turn on the effect lighting and the smoke machines and everyone starts shaking their groove thing. It was pretty awesome. I just had a margarita (on the rocks, blech!) I guess "something fruity" doesn't translate well with the Greeks. It was over all a great night, there was nothing scary about it, no slimy guys getting in my face. I just don't think I could ever go to a club in the states after knowing how nice it is in Greece!

Tomorrow I make my hour long trek on the bus into the city to go to church :) Luckily Evagelia and I took the bus on Thursday to the city so we could find the place. I was able to contact a gal that works for YWAM and she gave me the name and address of a foursquare church in Thessaloniki. It's called "Glad Tidings Int'l church" where the service is done in all English. I might actually get to meet some people that speak the same language as me! I'm looking forward to it. Monday I think I'll be going to one of the legs of Halkidiki (famous beach) and go swimming with Themi's parents. Oh what fun....did I mention how loud it is this cafe? It's 17:40 and there's 3 drunk men at the counter yelling at the 2 women bartending....aye aye. So until later, love you all,

Leah

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"The Greek word for "Where is the bathroom?" is "Poo-i-ne i too-a-le-ta?"

[prasantrin]

I love reading of other people's travels! I've never been to Greece, so it's wonderful being able to read someone else's impressions of the country!

One small tip--while I know these posts were originally e-mails to family and friends, if you're serious about writing as a career, double check grammar and spelling. In these posts, incorrect grammar and spelling are not so important but if you want to write professionally, they will be.

[Seattlegirlychef]

My mother is not home yet, I am hungry, did she go grocery shopping or not? I wonder. Please do not get me confused for a 20 something adult that STILL lives with their parents and mooches off of them, that is only partially true for me. I've lived on my own for a cumulative number of years and do know how to shop and cook for myself. I'm just lazy and would rather sit here and eat these delicious kettle potato chips instead.

And now for my 3rd installment of my emails from Greece. FYI: If you would like to know more about what this is all about, please return to the main "adventures in eating" board and click on pt. 2 of my emails, you'll understand it better. So without further ado ~

Monday, July 21, 2003

Wow...email every 2 days from me, how exciting....

I made it to church! The bus only took a half hour, considering almost all businesses are closed on Sundays in the city, so there's less traffic. The church is pretty small, maybe 20 people max. The pastor and his wife, Ernie and Gladys Guitterez, are Phillipino and speak fluent English and a good amount of Greek. I met 2 girls, Kristin from Wash. DC, and Brenda is from New Zealand. They were at the church for several days, working for YWAM, and had just back from Georgia and Albania, preaching the gospel. How awesome is that? There were some family's from Nigeria, Switzerland, Germany, and of course here in Greece. It was great to finally have some fellowship, it really helped me keep my eyes focused on where God is putting me. I thanked Ernie and Gladys and they were very friendly and offered to take me to the beach while I'm here. I gave Kristin my email and contact number so possibly I might get together with her and Brenda for their time here. Very awesome...

Yesterday after church I went to my first REAL big, fat, Greek Orthodox wedding. Evagelia, Themis and I all drove about an hour and a half north, up to this early Christian Basilican church, on the side of this mountain, literally. The drive was crazy, a winding, curvy road, if I didn't keep my eyes on the in front of the car, I was sure to get sick. The wedding was outside, in front of the church where we all gathered and waited a half an hour till the bride and her entourage showed up. The groom's family was waiting there as well. The bride and her family entered from a long dirt road visable from the church, with a band playing music in the front of the procession. They made it up to the front, while the priest blessed them and did the ritual of reading the orthodox bible, drank some wine, smashed a glass, placed a round ring and on the bride and groom's head, and then we all threw rice and crossed our hearts like 10 times. It was pretty interesting :) We couldn't stay for the reception because we had to get back to the restaurant. I did take some amazing pictures though. I'll get those all scanned when I get home.

Tomorrow I'm going to Halkidi beach with Themi's parents...we were going to go today but they cancelled because they had a funeral to go to. There seems to be a lot of those....I'm mailing out some postcards to some of you, I hope they get to you before I get home! Until next time, love you~

Leah

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Also, you can always see my pictures from my journeys here.

Edited January 22, 2004 by Seattlegirlychef (log)

[Pan]

They break a glass at Orthodox weddings? Interesting, since that's also a Jewish custom (the groom stamps a wine glass and breaks it). Anyone know what the broken glass represents for Greeks? (For Jews, it represents the destruction of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.)

[mjg]

Breaking a glass during the ceremony must be an ethnically Greek thing because it isn't a theologically Orthodox thing. To keep this on topic, I got married in the Greek Orthodox Church a couple months ago and the wine we drank as part of the ceremony was from Cana (where Jesus performed his first miracle). I thought that was pretty cool.

[Seattlegirlychef]

Hi folks, okay, no need to get snooty here, but I was hoping for more people to actually reply to my posts, ie ask questions, comments, whatever, just let me know you're reading. Thank you Pan for commenting :) I need some feedback! I'm thinking of simply taking excerpts straight from my journal while I was in Greece instead of posting more emails...though I only have about 4 left, well tell me what you think~ thanks love :)

~~~~~~

Wednesday, July 23, 2003

Halkidiki is beautiful! I'm learning that the three "legs" of the beaches (look at map for you none-world travelers http://www.halkidiki.com/english/sinfo_e.htm ) are where people take their long summer holidays to get out of the city. Themis' parents and I drove to Neas Marmaras, http://www.halkidiki.com/marmaras/index.htm the middle leg of the beach, where the water is as blue as I have imagined, much better then the beach I went to last week. We drove up to a small kids camp where Themis sister, Maria was working. She's a very energetic 22-year-old, greeted me with the traditional kiss on each cheek (right to left!) They chatted for a while, then the parents and I drove down to the beach and went for a quick swim. There were actual waves for me to jump through and over, lots of fun. Luckily, it was much later in the evening and so I didn't have to worry about the sun scorching my skin. I haven't gotten much browner, I need to work on that! I collected some pretty rocks (mom) too. The sand is really nice, not too grainy, more like little tiny pebbles that are comfortable to walk on bare foot. After words we drove into the small tourist town, I think I actually passed by English speaking families, made me feel not so foreign. We should be going back on Friday, looking forward to it...

I have been doing a minimal amount of cooking, more eating then cooking. Themis tells me "you come home 100 kg fatter!" Well...I don't know about that. Evagelia tells me not to worry about helping in the kitchen because I'm on vacation, "no need to work!" I'm gonna try making my yummy lemon squares, I'll see how the Greeks like them. I have to first convert the measurements into metric, I hope they turn out alright. Anyways...almost 1/2 way through the month...I am looking forward to coming home :) The language barrier hasn't been too hard, well sort of, Evagelia has been helping me with the words and the pronounciation. For those of you unknown to the Greek culture, they use a completely different alphabet compared to the Latin one. The "R" is a "P", the "L" is an upside down "V", the "G" is an upside-down "L", the "S" is a squiggly looking "C", the "B" has a "V" sound...well you get the picture. It might as well be any Asian alphabet for that matter. Until next time, same bat time, same bat channel! Love you,

Leah

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"The Greek word for "Bless you" is "Stin-ee-ya-sas".

[Pan]

That is cool!

[Pan]

Just a thought:

I'm enjoying reading all of these emails, but not all of them focus on food. I think that if you included only the parts related in some way or other to food and drink, you might generate more interest. For example, the information you provided about a Greek club was terrificly interesting, but a club, after all, is a place not only to dance but also to drink and eat bar food.

[cakewench]

Yes, thank goodness you didn't get snooty on us.

I second Pan's comment; the posts aren't really focusing on 'food' so much as they are your experience of being in a new country. That isn't to say that they aren't interesting, of course. If you would like a few ideas of some travel forums, let me know. I travel a great deal, myself (am currently living in Germany, after 7 months in Australia), and do a lot of public online journaling about that subject.

For this particular forum, though, I would suggest squeezing in some details about your meals in Greece. I believe a lot of people would be interesting in hearing about them, side benefit being that you will probably get the responses you crave.

[Seattlegirlychef]

hey guys, thanks for that, you're right, I should write more about food...duh...I will probably type up some stuff from my journal then. I think those might be more insightful. thanks~

Leah

[QuinaQuen]

Hey, hon, I want to hear about the seabeasties. Don't tell me you didn't have any revelations about cephalopods on your breif sojourn.

[Seattlegirlychef]

seabeasties...as in seafood? no shrimp, I thought I said already, but i did eat lots of grilled fish, a bit of calamri, evagelia said it's never seriously fresh so she didn't want me to try, but I did anyways (not much to say, a bit chewy, no flavor)...I think that's it!