Fall

Back in New Jersey where the leaves have turned and folks have decorated their yards and homes for Halloween. The log houses are particularly picturesque, so American it breaks your heart.

The flags wave proudly in the autumnal breeze despite the mayhem in Washington. I'm still glad to be home. Only when we're in another country do we appreciate how well ours runs, debt ceilings, healthcare reform, Tea Party and all.

The trees are in all their glory, the leaves burning the brightest before winter's sleep. The days are shorter, the air is crisp.

Playing Dress Up

Log cabin

Trick or Treat!

 Bagged Leaves

Woodpiles ready for winter

Mary's flowers

Log cabins

Visitors to the lake

Squash hanging from the fence

Bee grazing a squash blossom

Enjoy!

Maria

Funky Gourmet, Athens. Molecular gastronomy-what you eat ain't what it seems

It was my birthday and after two months of Greek food(too much of a good thing!)I wanted to try a not traditional Greek restaurant. Funky Gourmet bubbled to the top of that list of restaurants in Athens. The address was in a "Funky" part of town called Gazi and I loved the name of the street: Paramythias, which translates to Fairy Tale!

First course

mastic filled balls served on tree branches

Oremus, great Hungarian wine!

The talented co-chef and co-owner Georgianna Hiliadaki

Salsify in the soil

Don't you love the little shovel?

Egg in egg

Sea urchin with a tiny bit of lime zest. Takes it to another level!

The picnic was a riot! Tiny tablecloths for each one of us, tiny bread baskets, a meatball and other trappings laid out on stones.

Koulouri(like a bagel) with fresh butter and sea salt

Spinach rice puree

Magiatiko-a wonderful fish dish-I licked my plate clean!

Pastitsio

Scallop

Surprise!!

Greek Salad?

Stone seared rib eye

Truffled fois gras in chocolate-awesome!

Chocolate dessert with real gold leaf-fit for a Queen!

The piece de resistance - orange chocolate dessert with dry ice water mist 

I haven't had much experience with Molecular Cuisine so I was excited to see what the raves on TripAdvisor were all about. I also had to satisfy skeptical hubby who was concerned about finding the place, parking, city traffic etc. We invited one of our favorite adventurous cousins and set off on our food adventure.

Oxtail white beans from Prespes, celery root

From the moment we drove up to the door and  were greeted by the helpful valets, to the warm greeting by the smiling hostess, I knew it was going to be a wonderful evening. And it was. The eye was tricked by the presentation and the unexpected flavors exploded in the mouth. We ooed and aahed after each course. The service was great, the staff were helpful and attentive.

Hubby was impressed by the convenience of valet parking and, I must say, he totally enjoyed the ritual of the meal like the rest of us.

We also were impressed at how full we were after savoring morsel after morsel of innovative treats. When the food first began to arrive all three were thinking we might need to go out for late night pizza afterwards, but not! We were pleasantly satiated. No pizza (or souvlaki) necessary.

A glimpse of Athens at night

 

Enjoy

 

Maria