Tuesday, March 31, 2009

breakfast of champions

okay, maybe i'm not a "champion", per se, or in any way...but i do love the breakfast here.

i get to look out at the acropolis while eating and i am confident in the fact that i will never tire of the choices here. i was so sick of the breakfast buffet at the hotel in india i thought i'd scream if i saw one more egg white omelet.

who could get tired of eating this?



while looking out at this?

Monday, March 30, 2009

rikki-tikki-RAKKI

While in Arahova we dinner at a great restaurant named Flox...the hotel owner had recommended it and promised great food and an even better atmosphere. It did not disappoint in either cases.

Jules had the rooster with pasta...she thought it just tasted like chicken but I thought it was a little gamy, in a good way. I also thought they did a nice job cooking it for 3 hours so it was juicy and tender like a hen.



I had the traditional lamb (sorry Beth Y. but hey, I am in Greece) with potatoes. I adore the simplicity of the dishes here...just some olive oil, a little oregano and you've got yourself a wonderful meal.



We all had too much Rakki- a traditional Greek liquor (think gasoline) served warm with honey mixed in.



The owner was a merry old soul and brought us pitcher (yeah, pitcher) after pitcher of the stuff. It was my first time drinking it and I pray my last.

Monday, March 23, 2009

cheese plate

Maria and I ordered a "small cheese plate" at a cafe in Nafplio this weekend. We made this choice from a section that also offered a large cheese plate, a small and large meat plate and a small and large mixed plate of both meat and cheese.

This is what we received...and believe me other than the small bowl of feta in the middle everything else was meat. Even the stuff I thought had to be cheese ended up being turkey.



We asked our waiter about 3 times if this was the "small CHEESE plate" and he assured us it was. He even brought over the menu, pointed to "small cheese plate" and assured us that it just came with "a little meat".

I suppose if we had ordered the large meat plate we would have received whole pigs, chickens and lambs.

What? I love Chicken Ruggets!

From the menu of a restaurant in Nafplio. I'm sure if Scooby would have been with us he'd have ordered them.



They also served "beat steak" if you were looking for some "red" meat.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

heaven, i'm in heaven....

We arrived in Greece on Sunday around 1pm...we had eaten on the plane (btw- not too bad Emirates) but were pretty hungry after we got to the hotel. We wandered around the Plaka until we spotted a cafe, where we may or may not have dined during our honeymoon (we're still debating), and grabbed a couple of seats outside under the heater.

I, of course, ordered a Greek salad and Jules went for the turkey and cheese crepe. My salad was sadly a big disappointment. Not only did it have lettuce, the tomatoes were just so-so and worst of all- NO OLIVES?!?!? Luckily, the crepe was delicious and even better luck my Wife shared it with me :)

Our exhaustion and jet lag beat out any hunger that evening so we skipped dinner all together.

Breakfast the next morning at our hotel was lovely...it's very Greek with hordes of beautiful cheeses, meats, and veggies...not to mention the restaurant overlooks the Acropolis so you can't really beat it.

Last night we had our first dinner at a restaurant I had found online recommended by some guy named Matt who is apparently a Greece expert. Owned by a brother and sister (their parent's place is up the street and we're hitting it soon) it turned out to be a pretty typical taverna- small in size and big in name-Oinomagerio Paradosiako.

We started with some tzatziki which was great and so heavy on the garlic that it burned our mouths in that really great garlic-y kind of way.

I, again, went for the Greek salad. This time there was not a lettuce leaf in sight...only a huge hunk of feta, olives, onions, cucumbers and gorgeous tomatoes...the way a Greek salad should be...



I had also ordered some roasted lemon potatoes to round out my meal. If we've ever talked food then you know I believe potatoes to be the most perfect food. I've never met one I didn't love and these were no exception. I adore Greek style potatoes...all crispy on the outside, wonderfully soft in the middle and infused with lemon. Combined with my favorite salad it was, for me, a truly perfect meal.

Jules went for the beef steak and was more than pleased to receive a huge hunk of red meat for dinner...


I think it is safe to say they have not seen the last of us.

Monday, March 16, 2009

desert bbq

we had some pretty good bbq in the desert in dubai...all the meats were delicious and although i don't normally eat hummus and rice with bbq it was a nice combo.

i ate all the dal before remembering to take a picture. as sick as i am of indian food i will say that the dal will be missed.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

mexican...indian style

for jules' birthday i chose a multi-cuisine restaurant. we've more than had our fill of indian food and with the team being so diverse it seemed a good choice for everyone.

"the fox" turned out to be pretty great. they had 2 for 1 drink specials for their happy hour and even better their happy hour lasted until closing time. we had some live music and even though it was pretty empty we used the extra space to create a dance floor all our own.

even with an extensive menu (where do you see spring rolls? uh, page 7 i think.)that spanned continents in cooking styles they actually delivered in staying pretty authentic. whether it be chinese, indian, italian, american...we all were really happy with our meal.

they even had enchiladas which were pretty freaking close to the real deal. of course the "chips and guac" still left us laughing more than chewing...


yep. doritos, squirts of something green, toasted baguettes and peanuts...what could be more mexican than that?