Sunday, October 23, 2011

A Dinner Lesson from Albania

Tonight I saw one of my bosses, who was born and raised in what is now Albania, eat a dinner that made my mouth water for its absolute simplicity: a platter of quartered tomatoes, sliced cucumbers, whole pepperoncinis, and chunks of feta cheese—all served with homemade bread.

What a meal! One of the other waitressess was amazed that he ate the tomatoes that way: "like an apple!" (I don't think she grew up eating many fresh vegetables...) But I craved his dinner.

"Save me some cheese!" I asked him. And instead of giving me a piece off his plate, he went into the kitchen and scooped out a slab of feta for me to take home.

Oh, glorious night! I came home, poured a huge glass of cabernet-shiraz blend, sliced up one of my last yellow beefsteak tomatoes and a cucumber, chunked up the feta cheese, and devoured my divinely simple dinner leisurely as I threw my cat—my "little old man," I call him—bits of cheese.

My lesson in food tonight? Here it is: I don't need to cook all the time.  I can live from the bounty of the earth very, very happily and very, very cheaply. A bit of cucumber, a tomato, a small slab of fresh cheese, a glass of wine...

Living simply makes me simply very happy.

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