wine is great straight up or with hot water and lemon. At
just about any time white feta, yellow kasseri, Crete graniera
cheeses and olives, oil and bread will connect you to a mainstay diet of the ancient Mediterranean world.
I must confess that added to all of the above, particularly when
in an isolated cove, while playing Elgar, bagpipe, Mozart, Louis
Armstrong, Taher Mostafa, hymns, The Three Tenors, Gilbert
& Sullivan, Orthodox and Gregorian chants, Rod Stewart,
Steve Tyrell, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Zucchero, Usher,
Carrie Underwood and Tupac Shakur, we indulge in libations
that inhabited my parents wine-basket when we dined under
the trees at Manchester-By-The-Sea on the North Shore of
Boston, including my favorites: Lillet, Dubonnet and Campari. To close an active day before dinner with a large pitcher
of Pimm���s and ginger ale with slices of orange and apples is as
good as it gets, especially when it���s 95 degrees, and that���s cool.
I am reminded of the fact that the legendary decorator Elsie de
Wolfe believed that all houses begin with a good foundation,
therefore she felt no meal could begin with soup. Similarly, I
believe no breakfast begins well, let alone the day, with a watery cereal. Hence, my version of the Greek breakfast: Greek
hundred percent fat free Fage (pronounced Fa-yeh!) yoghurt,
fresh peaches, organic honey, almonds, fresh grapefruit juice,
and if available, with a nod to the French, a croissant. With
the Athens News, the Paris Herald-Tribune, The London Times
or Telegraph and Le Monde, the smell of newsprint balances the
scent of honey reminding us of the real world not far beyond.
HYLAND
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