Dinner in Astypalaia

In previous years I have written about how making dinner in Astypalaia can be a very time consuming event. It is almost never straightforward. Here is an example.

One evening around 7pm, the stores open at 6pm, I trudge to the butcher shop in the 100 degree heat to buy some meat for dinner. I only require meat, so I don't have to visit the produce store or supermarket. `I'm feeling like I could accomplish this errand in record time and maybe have an early dinner. Alas...

When I arrive at the shop am met by the butcher's mother who tells me that he has gone to meet the boat from Athens to collect his meat delivery. Of course the boat is late and he has been waiting around in the port for some time. She advises me that he could be back in 10 minutes or 2 hours, and that she cannot process transactions, she is there for information only. She urges me to return in an hour. By the way, she is one of the sweetest women you will ever meet.

Dejected, and without protein, I leave the shop and head back home to tell Andrea the sad news. We decide that emergency rations of canned tuna and Greek salad are all that we can muster.  However, our ingredients appear paltry and we decide to go across the street to the bakery to get some dakos to bulk up our Greek salad. In your mind's eye imagine a dako as a giant crouton, about the size of a golfball, that has been seasoned with either thyme or oregano. They need to be softened a bit with olive oil and vinegar, or you will break a tooth eating one.

Luckily the best dako maker on the island resides in the bakery across the street from us. We make our way to Iliana's.  We are immediately met by the gregarious and effusive Irene, who wants to catch up on gossip. She absolutely refuses to speak to us in English, everything must be in Greek, so  conversations take a fair bit of time. Andrea and I collaboratively string some sentences together, and manage to make ourselves understood. 

All the while I am getting hungrier and the pastries and cookies in her shop are starting to look really good. I think the room began to spin in the heat, and I positively remember a brief interlude of Greek dancing. There was a lot of laughter.

In the end I exited the shop with two bags of dakos and this box of pastries.

So we had a paltry dinner and a fabulous dessert at 9pm. I have to let go of this idea of a quick and easy dinner in Astypalaia.

More soon.