Game 67: Yankees (Cole) at Rays (McClanahan)

Hey Kaybli, I meant to ask -- how was the Greek feast yesterday? It looked like a surefire winner.

Mmmm mmmmm.  I feel like opening a bottle of Ouzo and joining in. 

Yes, I love Greek food.  Mediterranean food in general for that matter -- Spanish, French, Italian, Lebanese, Cypriot, Turkish, Egyptian, Moroccan -- but I have a special fondness for the gusto with which the Greeks attack their food.  So fresh and  simple with minimal adornments.  I never liked lamb until I had it the way the Greeks (and later the Armenians) make it. 

I hope you've had Moussaka, which is the trademark Greek dish.  I also love Pastitsio (the Greek version of Lasagne), Stifado (Greek beef stew) and Fasolada, which is a Greek bean soup.  I'm not a dessert guy, but even I can't resist Baklava.  Another mandatory appetizer is Saganaki, which is a flaming Greek cheese dish and for which everyone at the table is required to shout "Opa" when it is being served.  You probably saw that happening somewhere, even at an upscale Greek restaurant.  I could happily eat Greek food once a week.

It would take Rizzuto's talent for describing food to do justice.  Most Greek restaurants are casual and have the same sky blue and whitewash decor with pictures of Santorini and the Parthenon and all that.  It's not typically gourmet in the way say French food is (although obviously it can be) but it seems to be very consistently good no matter where you go, whether in midtown Manhattan or a strip mall.  Man they can do good things with phyllo and honey and yogurt and nuts.

When we spent much of the winter in Dunedin FL two years ago, we found ourselves continually making the ten-mile trek north to Tarpon Springs, which is a sponge-diving center that is almost 100 percent Greek with lots of waterfront restaurants.  Man did we get spoiled.

A Greek food anecdote.  About ten years ago, my wife and I spent some time on the beautiful island of Crete, based in the wonderful town of Xania.  There was one little very casual restaurant near us that we really loved, overlooking the Mediterranean, just a place for locals to jam into.  Our first night there a group of retsina-drinking old men were screaming at each other and gesturing angrily.  We thought there was going to be a fistfight, although most people didn't pay any attention to them.  Our waiter told us they did that every night.  They got into violent arguments, and when they broke up at the end of the meal they were saying basically "okay, see you tomorrow."  Sure enough, the next night they were back at it again.  Sometimes the emotions are close to the surface!

Time to end this losing streak!

Rizzo killing it!