My time on a Grecian island

Hello everyone! I'm back from my three-week stay on the island of Kefalonia, Greece. I took around 600 photos and I'm currently trying to recover at least 200 of them from a bad upload but I still have plenty of memories recorded.

When I went to Greece I had a mission to try some of my favorite authentic dishes and compare them to what I know in North America. I make a mean baclava so that was at the top of my tasting list. I was really surprised to find that I preferred my own recipe. Other items on the list were dolmathes, greek shortbread, and bougatsa. I found I was to be disappointed on all fronts except with the bougatsa which was fantastic. Bougatsa is a filo pastry filled with a custard made with semolina flour and sometimes lemon zest. Very addictive.  Although I didn't get to try any fasoulatha, avgolemono soup or mousaka, I did get to try some other fantastic and fresh greek cuisine. Calamari, spanikopita, fresh goats feta, stuffed tomatoes and zuchinni fritters were some of my favorites. Below are pictures of some of the items we tried before gobbling them up.

Grilled local fish

The kids liked to poke the eyes.

Spanikopita

I love this presentation.

Barbecued Octopus

I prefer calamari

Stuffed Tomato

It may not look pretty but it was fantastic and it is on my "must make" list

Bougatsa

My lovely treat.

If you ever travel to Greece be warned that the dishes are always large and if it says "one" on the menu it really means "two". Most of my favorite meals were eaten in an open-air taverna with a large ice-cold beer which was cheaper than a coffee or a juice. I think the biggest reason why the meals in Greece tasted so good is that we got to eat fresh and local food that was simply prepared. It was rare for us to get anything processed and that included  french fires which were all cooked in olive oil. Give me some more!