This, my friends, is what Jessie and I get when we go out to eat at the Sahara restaurant in Tallahassee. There are many different types of soul food and this is one of my favorites. It pleases and feeds my soul in the best sort of way. You can't even see the perfect little triangle of spanakopita that comes on the plate. I always want so badly to just devour the whole plate but I generally bring a few things home in a box and when I eat those leftovers the next day, the food brings me joy again and I'm glad I saved some.
There's an annual Greek food festival in Tallahassee at the Greek Orthodox Church and it's coming around this year on Friday and Saturday. I seriously doubt I'll be going. I used to go and take my kids and later I'd go with Lily when she took her children but now the idea of standing in line for food and being surrounded by the many, many people who love the festival (and rightfully so) makes me shiver.
No thank you.
So I go to the Sahara for my dolmades fix.
I really don't have much to talk about today. I feel like I'm running late with my schedule here and actually, I am. After lunch Jessie and I went to Publix and once again, it felt like we were in there for forty-eight hours at least. And then I had to do a quick Costco visit and then I went to the library. When I got home I opened the refrigerator to put groceries away and damn if my jar of chili crisp hadn't tumped over and there was chili oil all spilled in such a way that I had to take the glass panel out and clean that and then the surfaces that it rested on and I felt like, "Really? Really? I need this?" and then I thought about the fact that I am able to go to the store and buy what we need and sometimes even what I just want and we have a very nice, very big refrigerator and also hot and cold running water so I can easily clean up spills and I told my mind to shut the fuck up, clean the chili oil, and be grateful.
And I was.
I am okay today. I've only cried a little bit. Tomorrow I have a Gyn appointment and I am dreading that but here's something funny- I dread being weighed and getting my blood pressure checked far more than I worry about putting my legs up in stirrups and the ensuing exam. Crazy, almost by definition, has nothing to do with logic or reality. It just is.
Crazy.
Off to go make our supper. We certainly have plenty to eat.
Love...Ms. Moon
That picture of the pans on the wall with the framed photo and the shadows is a poem. It was good to be given that perspective about the spilled chili oil. I’ll remember it next time I have to clean such a spill. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteWell, I do not know why it worked for me yesterday but it did. I guess I was in an okay mood.
DeleteThat meal looks so good. I have never had dolmades that I can recall. Must look them up.
ReplyDeleteAh, refrigerator spills! How i hate them. Well I hate cleaning the fridge at all, really.
Gosh. Cleaning the refrigerator is a pain in the ass.
DeleteDolmades are incredible.
Actually, another good day. Have you considered crying may be good for your tear ducts.
ReplyDeleteNo, I haven't but mine should be in good shape if they are.
DeleteGood you. I need to remind myself to be grateful for what I have more often.
ReplyDeleteFor me it's usually, "Yes, I am grateful BUT..."
DeleteYesterday I just didn't have the will to get into the buts.
Loving the wall of skillet.
ReplyDeleteI like it too.
Deleteoh....that fridge spill does not sound fun....but you managed! Have never eaten a dolmade but they look good..how can anything wrapped in grape leaves not be good? Hope appt goes well tomorrow....more anxiety for you. I would still rather have 10 gym exams than a dentist visit....... call me crazy (but you probably won't)
ReplyDeleteSusan M
We all have our specific triggers, don't we?
DeleteDolmades and spanakopita are favorite Greek foods, in fact the only Greek food I like. Particularly when someone else prepared them!
ReplyDeleteI agree!
DeleteThat is actually the thing that I miss most about living where I live. We don't have a lot of ethnic food. In Washington DC and in Baltimore, and even in the Tri-city Area in Michigan, there were all sorts of ethnic restaurants. I miss that. I miss that a lot.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was pregnant for my third child, I really, really loved greek food.
That's so funny- when I was pregnant with my first child, I ate a Greek salad for breakfast every morning for weeks and weeks.
DeleteI haven't had anything spill over in my fridge for years and years. My daughter's fridge is a different story. Well, it used to be. She'd have things that tipped over and spilled down and down and down until they reached the bottom where they leaked/oozed out the door and ran under the fridge. Probably that doesn't happen so much now or at all, I haven't been there lately. She works five days a week and spends weekends with her best friend and her children.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to keep a refrigerator tidy if you don't have time. It's just not the highest thing on the list of priorities.
DeleteI understand your dread of the doctor's office (the scale is definitely worse than the stirrups!). I hope it goes okay for you. Greek food is one of my absolute favorites. Your plate looks delicious.
ReplyDeleteIt's just so earthy and ethereal at the same time.
DeleteBok Tower!
ReplyDeleteWhat a drag about the fridge spill. Wonder how that happened?
Bok Tower, indeed!
DeleteI'm sure I knocked that jar over by reaching for something in the very back of the refrigerator.
That food looks yummy. I think the only Greek food I have had lately is a gyros which was also yummy.
ReplyDeleteSorry you had the spill in the fridge. That's annoying but you handled it well. Your pan photo is cool.
Gyros can be good for sure.
DeleteI agree entirely, ethnic restaurants are preferred over food festivals. Your restaurant meal looks delicious.
ReplyDeleteThe oil spill in the fridge is a clean-up project for sure. Especially horrible when it drips to lower shelves and seeps into corners and shelf braces. Yes...it has happened to me too with soy sauce. Not pleasant.
Well in this case I know that the women of the church cook and freeze food for most of a year to serve at the festival. So it is very good.
DeleteAnd oil is so...oily.
I like the end photo. Sorry about the spill and good luck at your appointment.
ReplyDeleteI survived.
DeleteI lived in a Greek neighborhood in Astoria, Queens, after college. I loved the food! The men were good-looking, with tons of beautiful, thick hair, and total flirts. I loved it.
ReplyDeleteI can't remember- did we ever discuss the movie Shirley Valentine? If you've never seen it, you should.
DeleteYes, it is a great movie.
DeleteI wish we had a middle eastern restaurant here but hahahahaha. yeah right, in this little very red town in an agricultural county.
ReplyDeleteWhen next you’re in Galveston with your friend try Kritico’s on the Seawall in the 40s. Margaret
ReplyDeleteI love that picture, too. It says a lot and is serene.
ReplyDelete