The Greek diet

I'm a foodie. I admit it. (Only eleven more steps to go and then I'm cured.) (Hmm, maybe I'm not really a foodie.)

Anyway.

Of course I loved everything I ate in Greece and everything that I didn't eat, but saw others enjoying. It all looked just as wonderful as what was prepared and placed before me. All of the food was very simple and nothing I ate left me feeling stuffed or overly-full afterwards; which being an American who has head-sized sandwiches and sacks of potatoes in terms of deep fried portions placed in front of her, this was a welcome change.
I never knew what would arrive in front of me. I knew what I had ordered and what was described on the menu. However, what was ordered to what would show-up, two different expectations. Food ordered: salad, chicken, lamb. What showed up: a salad was fresh tomatoes and cucumbers. Chicken would be this large, simply prepared dish with several sides. Lamb, grilled with a few fresh vegetables.

My favorite part, every single time, was simply sitting down at a table. There isn't a hostess to seat you. You enter, you find a table, you sit, the waiter comes and does his little performance.
The table already had a cloth covering the tabletop, but then the waiter would place a paper table cloth over the linen, would tie the paper cloth down with clips, set the olive oil and vinegar carafe on the table, light the candle, set the silverware down, and then lastly, place the menu before me. Every time. Every place I went to. It was highly enjoyable. It was a little performance just for me.
A basket of bread was served with every meal and wine was served either glass, half liter, or liter and poured into a carafe, not from the bottle. Beer is either Amstel or Mythos. (Still trying to figure out the Amstel fascination.)

My first meal was at the restaurant right next to my hotel in Mykonos. The restaurant was right on the sand and my view was a night seascape. I ordered a Rocket Parmesan salad. What I got was Rocket lettuce with four very long thin strips of Parmesan cheese with large chunks of tomatoes. Dressing was the oil and vinegar placed on the table.
Another time I ordered Chicken Creme. At this point I had been through the, what I order is not what I'm expecting and usually a salad was just a salad accompanied by a basket of bread, so I was really only expecting a piece of chicken with a cream sauce. What I got was a non-hormone produced piece of regular sized chicken with a side of risotto and a side of french fries (only in Greece they are just called potatoes. Hmmm, go figure.) A salad of tomatoes and cucumbers is just that; a plate of tomatoes and cucumbers, undressed, and cut into large chunks served on a white plate.

My favorite meal was the day I climbed the volcano and swam in the caldera. It was mid-afternoon and we pulled into a tiny port town. There weren't any shops and the only places to eat were along the coastline (literally along the coastline.) I had picked a table on the lower level, but when I went to use the restroom I discovered there was a rooftop terrace. I quickly changed my table and ate rooftop. My waiter was the families eight-year-old son who was simply too adorable for his own good. He wrote each item down with his nose about (-) far from his note pad. My meal was grilled calamari and it was just that: calamari on a metal scour with tiny (tiny) pieces of onion and carrot. I think it's safe to assume it was caught maybe an hour before it landed in front of me. The only thing it tasted of was salt from the sea and freshness. My company for the meal were three ladies I met on the boat, a beautiful blue sky and sea, a warm breeze, a one-eyed black cat with a limp, and a Tabby cat without a limp and both eyes. The one-eyed cat was dubbed Willie and he was happy to have the tentacle from the grilled squid. (Very happy to take it from me. No hesitation at all. Willie was rather feisty. Might explain his lost eye and gimp.)

The only thing I didn't do was indulge in the desserts and that wasn't intentional. It wasn't until I reached Athens that this occurred to me. I then ate gelato twice in one day just to make up for my mistake.

I ate every meal, no matter the wind or the temperature, seaside, outside, along the sidewalk, port side, rooftop, or on the beach. My exercise after the meal was a walk back to my hotel, around town, to do some shopping, or to the bar. Believe it or not, I actually lost about 10 lbs. on vacation. Talk about wonderful.