From Vance's email. the greek life. 10/2/2014 4:15 PM
greetings
my california friends, charlene and bob,
invited me to come to greece to experience greek life. today was
exactly that...first a nice breakfast of toast, home made orange jam,
yogurt, honey and a few chunks of tender, moist octopus.
then a
short drive in the area to view some antiquities from b.c. all in a
lovely olive grove and then on to Vathi, a quiet little port, a cove
really where sailboats anchor for lunch or over night. we ate very well -
lovely , fasolaki - green beans dressed in olive oil and lemon, sauteed
zuchinni with shreds of cheese and then dorado, a small white fish,
grilled simply and served with olive oil and lemon. dessert...sure why
not - a bit of walnut cake with ice cream.
another short
drive above the coast of the argolic gulf, winding down a lane arriving
at the rocky coast to swim. the water was refreshingly cool on a hot
afternoon. after paddling around for awhile we returned to the car and
drove along returning to galatas but no, as we passed a restaurant open
to the gulf. the owner tassos and friend christos waved for us to stop.
little did i know the architect of my hostess's home was out swimming
and her husband was waving us to stop for a drink. "the greek" life
unfolded in the next hours...ouzo, beers, raki (grappa, a white liquor
made from grape peel and dangerous), plates of a beautiful cheese -
graviera - a kind of greek gruyere, tomato chunks, salami, cucumber,
appetizers (meze in greek) ! wait...we just ate lunch...but we managed
to nosh away including some peanuts and chips for the next 3 hours.
all
of a sudden christos began telling us about greek poetry of 15
syllables, decapende, the same feet as homer's odyssey and illiad. then
he and his wife, recently back from her swim, began to sing. her pure
voice was unaffected, a kind of honest folk quality with just the right
amount of vibrato for color. there were also delightful melodic turns
providing an exotic byzantine quality...both charming and captivating.
a
short drive back home where the poros was bathed in that special 'end
of the day light' film directors love. you see it in under the tuscan
sun when she discovers marcello has found another love interest.
a
shower and a nap and supper which charlene put together of octopus
salad, a cheese and spinach omlet and joanna's cheese cake. sound good,
absolutely...the greek life. be well all.
--
vance
No comments:
Post a Comment