A Cook Looks at Fifty

A WordPress site about Greece hit my site today and brought back memories.  The title of this piece is a riff on Jimmy Buffet’s “A Pirate Looks at Forty.”

For my 25th birthday my sister and I traveled to Greece and Italy.  She’d been to Europe before and intended to live in Greece.  My parents wanted me to make sure she had a job and safe place to live before I returned to my home and job a few hours away from them.

She’d been to Europe before so kind of led me around the first day or two of this three week trip.  We arrived early morning and went to our hostel, three single beds for $12 with a shared bathroom, OK.  Lunch, I thought I was cosmopolitan so ordered Campari, straight up and almost choked to death.  I remember trying all kinds of Greek food and loving it, and my sister ate spaghetti and meatballs nearly every meal.  She wanted to save money by sleeping on peoples roofs for $1/night.  I said if it was going to be $6 for a room I’d pay $5.

She wanted to take the boat to Italy.  I was seasick.  She wanted to take the boat back.  I paid for flights to Athens.  The coolest part is that we stood in the airport and decided what island to pick, as every flight took 20 minutes.  We’d already done Corfu.  We chose Crete and spent a week there.

Greece is about the sea.  Agia Galina was fantastic.  I walked 1/4 mile out to sea and saw every stone and speck of sand.  We sunbathed topless even though it was illegal.  And we rented motorbikes but it poured down rain (bouncing up off the pavement 8″) so took a bus to Knossos and the rain stopped as we entered and we were the only people there.  We didn’t need people or maps to guide us and saw this place all on our own.

Last night there we walked into a restaurant early, about 7:00 p.m., because I had to catch a really early flight back in the morning.  Of course no-one was there.  We looked and left and the owner caught us and invited us in.  We had a seven-course meal starting with ouzo, retsina and ending with Metaxa brandy and a spoon sweet dessert.  I remember being appalled at the price: $7.50 each!

Mom had sent my sister $30 to spend for dinner on my birthday.  I said we’d spend half on dinner and the other half on a decent hotel with a real bath and shower.

After that my sister left Greece and traveled, then lived on a kibbutz (we’re not Jewish) for six months before returning home.

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Now to Fifty.  I love the sea and Greece, but we did this for Dad’s birthday in 2001, toured the Ionian seas following Odysseus.  I named the trip, but it sounded better as “Chasing Ulysses.”  We have many wonderful memories of that family trip.  And I was in Florence for a couple of days when 9/11 happened, was stuck there and that story led to my meeting Jim and nearly six years of marriage.

So, I’m looking for something fun and appropriate for Jim and me to celebrate this occasion.  It’s only another year, but we should do something special, even not this coming weekend.

Jim hates eggplant, so I can’t make my wonderful moussaka to celebrate Greece, and forget Taramasalata, fish roe, as he’s allergic to anything that swims.  Don’t worry, I’ll work things out.  He wants to make sure I have a car this week, and has to do it or will drive me (ha) crazy talking about it.