This is the familiar place I have been craving. I have been homesick for this feeling, realizing this feeling doesn’t come from anything external. It is inside me and the closest to me as I get.
Three years of covid. We have all had our individual experience in the face of this. Mine was a game changer. It was less about covid though, really. The space in-between what was and what is now was the moment of pause that highlighted what was important to me versus what I thought life should be like, in all areas. It was the compass that guided me to an effortlessness that allowed for a flow that I had been missing for sometime. Effortlessness comes with pause. I paused. I spent time with my children; I cooked more; I walked in the woods; I meditated each morning. I had spent my working days spilling through doors with half-open bags, my feet slamming onto the ground beneath me. It became a running joke how hard I walked but it was reflective of the approach I thought I had to take. Until that moment when pause made me see it didn’t have to be so hard.
So here I am. With my hands quite literally in the clouds waiting for something new to touch them and my feet skipping on the ground I have grown to trust. This is where I found my bliss and this is what I protect. Even now as my fingers dance on the keyboard excited and invigorated, once again ready for the eddy of the unknown to capture me. To teeter on the edge of this magnificent world looking for adventure and the food that represents it in whatever glorious place I land.
I have orchestrated my life to protect this bliss. ‘The Be Good Tanyas’ usher me on this journey. “Make it light enough to travel… let it all unravel”. Join me as I drop down on some exquisite part the world and eat up all it has to offer. Greece-Turkey-Sicily.
After a long flight I made my way through the windy streets of Plaka to the Palladium Hotel in Athens, Greece.
A beautiful boutique hotel centered in the Plaka district also known as the neighborhood of the gods. It bustles like a small village in itself, clutching the base of the Acropolis.
I wasted no time dropping off my suitcase and inquired about a good place to grab some dinner. I was told if I wanted to experience traditional food enjoyed by the residents of Plaka I would need to walk further past the tourist district and try Saita. So down the labyrinthine streets I scurried, jet lagged and ravenous.
I pulled myself up to a small checkered table ordered some local wine, Oreinos, and the suggested opektika (appetizer)-eggplant smothered in onions, tomatoes and topped with crumbly tangy feta which was notably different than mushy versions I have had back home.
This was followed by tender slow roasted lamb that rolled off the bones at the slightest nudge of my fork. A man played a Greek melody on his accordion next to me and I devoured every morsel of my first meal in Greece. I wrapped up the evening with a quick walk to get a glimpse of the Parthenon illuminated majestically at the top of the Acropolis.
My vigor began to wane. It was demolished somewhere between my swelling jet lag and that final slurp of crusty bread I used to sop up the last of the fatty lamb. I am tuckered out.
An early night to bed with dreams of kleftiko swarming in my head. Until tomorrow my friends…