Back home for the holidays!

…and back to the flavors of my childhood

I am once again on the Blue Star Boat, returning to my island after several months of travelling and a big dose of Athens; I feel strange, the winter memories of the island being all quiet and calm are still vivid within my mind.

Now, the ferryboat is full of people, full of energy and colorful bags.

The young woman who sits next to me is talking on the phone with her mother: I can’t help overhearing; Her mother, who lives on the island, is asking her what she wants to have for dinner. I smile. Don’t you just love Greek mothers? Or do all Mediterranean moms use to call and ask their adult daughters and sons if they had dinner? The truth is, that a welcome home cooked dinner from your mother can instantly make you feel at home!

I hear that she is going to have gemista (tomatoes and peppers stuffed with rice)-such a Greek classic mommy’s comfort food recipe.

Which are the flavors that make you feel at home?

For me, it would be the flavors of the summer, those that were waiting for me at the island after a hard working winter in Athens: my grandmother’ s moussaka or her amazing kolokythokeftedes, my mother’s giouvetsi and my father’s grilled fish. I remember those dishes being a part of almost every welcome dinner in my family. They were always there, on the table under the bougainvillea at the sea view balcony, to welcome friends from abroad, classmates that came for a visit and all sorts of family reunions.

Suddenly, another phone is ringing and interrupts my thoughts: it’s my mother; and guess what, she wants to ask if I had dinner, because there’s no trouble, she can prepare something…

A few hours later, I am home. There are friends and family that wait for me there, and a plate of kolokythokeftedes that is still hot; it feels good to be back…

 

words by maria alipranti

photos by christos drazos