September has rolled around and once again and I’m here to wish you all a KALO MINA (happy new month) and share a little of the joy of Mediterranean living with you all.

This email is not like the usual ones - less essay / recipe / granny wisdom and more what I love, from books, movies, products and produce to events and happenings.

I don’t need to tell you how HOT it has been here this august so I’m happy to lean into September and wave goodbye to the sizzling temperatures and sweaty afternoons. While I will miss my home here in Corfu, I am desperate to get back to Athens. The best season to be in the city is NOW.

Below, I’m sharing with you all where I’ll be spending my time this month, from restaurants I’m finally catching up with friends at, where I’m getting my post-summer facial (this spot uses all natural home made beauty products using ingredients sourced in Greece) to the cultural happenings I’m itching to get to. As well as islands I’ll be heading to for some off-season getaways.

Then there’s a list of my fave products, ready to wear and Mediterranean brands I’m loving at the moment - for anyone who’s interested…

The Greek islands I’m heading to this September are…

Folegandros and Tinos. There’s still a buzz about Chora on both islands while the main tourist activity dies down in September, allowing for empty beaches and a less stressful itinerary. Folegandros is further flung and more romantic while Tinos is the one to head to if like me, you travel for food.

I’m launching a long-awaited TV show

September has always felt like a time for new beginnings so it is natural to me to launch my new series, LIVE LIKE A YIAYIA this month. This new series takes viewers into the heart of the Greek kitchen, that of its Yiayiades (grandmothers), in order to show the joy in simple living, life wisdoms and the well-kept secrets of some of the matriarchs that live longer than anyone else on the planet. I so hope you can all subscribe, ready for the first episode to drop in a few weeks. If you’re in Athens, I’m considering a launch party (last minute, in true Greek style) so watch this space.

My paid subscribers have access to a little sneak peek below, along with all my hot tips for the month ahead. Whether you’re in Greece and wanting to get the most out of September or you’re out of Greece and want a taste of this Mediterranean life, Kalo Mina is here to bring you the best of this month ahead of us.

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Kyrie Kosta - wielder of the slipper - had popped over the day before to plant some banana trees for me. Here in Corfu, the humidity renders the climate practically tropical, making banana and avocado harvests totally possible. I am forever in awe of Kostas’ and his wife, Yiayia Eleni’s three metre tall tree and so as I was eating breakfast a few days ago, I was very pleasantly surprised to see Kyrie Kosta in my garden, armed with a hoe and a plastic bag from which enormous leaves emerged. He didn’t even knock on the door to say good morning - just got to work planting my surprise banana trees.

I found this to be the opportune moment to groom him into my granny recipe finding mission. It usually takes another member of the family to persuade the Yiayia to be on camera and as Chronis (Eleni’s son) is still in Athens, Kyrie Kosta would have to be the one. I’ve been quite obsessed with getting Eleni on my new youtube show because she is a prolific story teller. She doesn’t give A F about how long that story might tell to take or whether the person she’s telling it to is on their way out as she begins, she goes ALL IN with it.

Her home here in Corfu is also my favourite on all the island - even more so than the fancy Venetian villa in which I host my retreats. It perfectly encapsulates the raw beauty of my island village and I can’t wait to share the setting with you all on screen in my new youtube show, LIVE LIKE A YIAYIA, which launches next month.

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It’s tucked deep into an olive grove, completely off grid (Kyrie Kosta and Yiayia Eleni are both anarchists and refuse to pay for what the earth can give us all for free) and she has a characterful outdoor kitchen that is perfect for long, summer days. They plant all of their own vegetables and their ‘patch’ surrounds the hill that their house is built on - a moat of fruit and veggies you must battle through to climb the stone steps (that are actually repurposed stones from the sea) up to the house. When the golden hour light begins to shine through the olive branches, this place is akin to the fantastical setting of a Disney movie.

Thanks to Kyrie Kosta and his powers of persuasion, I succeeded in inviting myself for dinner, keen to note down the recipe of Eleni for Bourdeto and to capture Eleni on camera for my new show in the process.

In my village in Corfu, there are only two surnames. For a settlement of over 2000 inhabitants, this just won’t do. We each have family nicknames, in order to differentiate between all the Miaris and Koulouris. Eleni’s family nickname or “Paratsoukli” is bourdeto, the dish that she is best known for. It made sense then, that we settled on this dish to make for Eleni’s episode of the LIVE LIKE A YIAYIA series.

Bourdeto is a rich, spicy fish stew. Likely adapted from the Venetian brodetto soup (we were colonised by the northern Italians 500 years ago) the Corfiot bourdeto has a kickier profile, boasting plenty of paprika and / or cayenne pepper, depending on who’s making it. My Yiayia makes it with potatoes and the fish can easily be swapped out in favour of green beans and potatoes to make it completely veggie. For the purposes of our shoot, Eleni made the original version with an entire scorpion fish. The bourdeto can also be made with cod, red snapper, monkfish, octopus and sardines.

This makes an excellent (and easy) midweek meal, especially for anyone who’d like to cook with more fish but lacks confidence in doing so. It’s a one pot wonder - a Yiayia classic in which you throw all the ingredients in the pot and let them do their thing on a rolling simmer. Eleni accompanies hers with the most incredible side dish I’ve ever had here in Corfu: fried green peppers with foraged herbs and vinaigrette. I’m dropping the recipe for this one below too.

Looking forward to sharing Eleni and our culinary adventures together with you all over at Live Like a Yiayia on youtube. For now, here’s how you can make your own Corfiot bourdeto…

Yiayia Eleni’s Spicy Fish Bourdeto from Corfu

serves 4

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For months now, friends have been checking in to ask, “how’s the Tinos project going?”, “have you started yet?”, “how long will it take?” My response has been consistent: “It’s not going. We don’t have permission to go ahead yet.”

In Greece, especially in Cycladic villages in which protecting original features and adhering to the character of the architecture is essential, the correct building licenses and permits have to be obtained before you can even touch a centimetre of plaster work, let alone make big tweaks (like replacing an entire roof like we have to.) There’s a lot of paperwork involved and though my Greek is fluent, I’m not down with engineering and architectural lingo, unfortunately.

For this, we had to engage an aging engineer who came recommended to us because he has friends in our village. He’s pushing 90 and I was worried that one day, he simply wouldn’t be there to answer the phone and that death would come for him before our building permission comes to us. It’s macabre, I know, but that’s life.

The Oh Po Po! moment came when last Monday, we heard back from our chosen contractor and the engineer in tandem. The small scale building permission has been granted to us. There’s a gap in our contractor’s schedule which means he can work on the house for two weeks and not the given start date of January 2027.

While I was quietly resigned to the roof to completely caving in with this winter’s rains while we wait for our contractor to finally have some time in his schedule next year to fix it, the stars had aligned. Suddenly, it was full steam ahead and “get us 30,000 euro in cash to the island so we can get started”. No joke.

How does one get their hands on 30k of cash with two days’ notice and then transport it from one side of Greece to the other in that same time frame?

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First, I’ll go ahead and describe the two houses I have stayed in over the past two months. One is the home of a dear friend and the other is home, home; the place I come back to every year to spend three months with my children. I’d love to hear your thoughts on which you’d prefer to spend a summer at. I’m genuinely interested to know who’s out there, reading my writing and what your likes and dislikes are - especially as I’m renovating a house that I would love to welcome you all to in the coming years for residencies, retreats and good old fashioned summer holidays.

I’m also sharing a booking link below for my friend’s summer house to all paying subscribers. It’s a very special place and in my opinion, the perfect summer house, so please keep it under wraps and between us.

The House that Taste Built

Imagine paradise and multiply it by 10. The first two weeks of my summer were spent at a house located right on a beach that was so empty, it felt as though it were private. The crashing of waves was a soundtrack to my dreams every night. I would wake to see the sun glinting off the turquoise Ionian then stroll twenty metres and immerse myself into the cool freshness of it. The aircon was not turned on once, a fresh sea breeze and the humidity of the location did its thing to cool us as we slept.

The house belongs to the family of one of my dearest friends. She is perhaps the most aesthetically minded of all my friends and as a creative director and photographer, she has impeccable taste and a distinct - almost ethereal - style all her own. Visiting her home made me realise where this came from. Her parents too, are aesthetes.

Though the house was built in the nineties, it has the feeling and character of a much older home. Antique furniture, brocades, crochet and woven textiles sourced around Greece imbue the house with individuality. Mosquito nets are draped bucolically over four poster beds. Light fixtures play with light, making it dance around the room or drawing the focus to a particular part of the space. Nothing is left to chance.

Art - both modern and folk - lines the walls but I see the house itself as an art piece. An expression of this family’s ‘meraki’ and their taste. There are notes of creativity everywhere I look. The flooring is made up of a collage of mismatched vintage Mediterranean tiles, placed throughout the house and its garden in a kind of impossible jigsaw puzzle of ancient colourways: ochre, terracota, Egyptian blue. It took time to place those tiles, to make these patterns and fit the mismatched combinations with each other so seamlessly.

I also adore that there are “akrokerama” - usually found on the roofs of neoclassical homes here in Greece and traditionally used to block birds from sliding into the roof - hidden within the tile work. It shows ingenue and an ‘out of the box’ thinking that I have always envied when it comes to home interiors.

I’m very embarrassed to admit, my bathroom in Athens is almost an exact copy of an image I saw on Pinterest. Cringe.

Now for the practicalities and my ‘must haves’ when restoring Casa Kefi in Tinos:

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This is the monthly article in which I share all that I’m in love with in Greece and the Mediterranean right now, including my fave new places to eat, shop, hang out, visit and what I’m cooking. Plus brands I’ve discovered, books I’m reading and generally - how to tap into your slice of La Dolce Vita, even when you’re far from the Med yourself.

Before that though, a quick update from me and where I’m at because I am fizzing with excitement about what is landing with you all in September. For years now I have been trying to have a TV show adapted from my books. The gruelling process of dealing with Hollywood Schmucks is worthy of a post itself but for now all I will say is that I have grown TIRED of waiting around for others to pull off my idea for me. I’ve decided that the generation of my Yiayia need to be captured in their glory, before they’re no longer with us and I don’t have time to spare. Yiayia is 90.

SO I’M LAUNCHING A SHOW ON YOUTUBE.

For the past two months I have been throwing myself into the Yiayia hunt, traversing poky apartments in Athens and mountain villages in Corfu to track down brilliant, characterful women to cook with. I’ve been treated to many a silty Greek coffee, regaled with anecdotes and have had wisdoms bestowed upon me that I would have to live out a lifetime to otherwise acquire. All of this in the kitchens and at the dining tables of some of Greece’s most inspiring matriarchs.

Now I’m in Corfu on summer ‘vacation’ with two babies under 4 years old. We’re in the edit phase of the first few episodes and I am practically exploding with anxiety / pride / anticipation to share the show I’ve been creating with you all. Every time an aunt can help with the kids, I am shooting and cooking with these women. The minute nap time rolls around, I am all over this project.

My paid subscribers are going to get sneak peeks of the show before it drops but I wanted to send ALL of you some behind the scenes photos and the link to subscribe before the launch.

I’m doing this all off my own steam with no investment, so I would truly appreciate your Substack subscriptions and support by subscribing to my Youtube channel here. It isn’t easy juggling being a single mother (my man works away all summer on a boat!) and working, but I am so serious about this project that I can’t help but work until midnight every night on getting this out there.

How are you all spending your August? I would love to hear where in the Med you’re travelling to! Kalo Mina from me. Here’s my best bits for the month ahead, including where I’m eating in Corfu.

Filakia,

Anastasia x x x

My go to snacks for August are…

Caprice - in the freezer. Anyone who has visited Greece or knows anyone from here will know that we love our “pourakia”. These chocolate filled wafers shaped like Cuban cigars are Greek a summer staple, especially if you’re eating them of the freezer like I am. If you’re visiting Greece, put these on your shopping list.

Chilled Watermelon slices sprinkled with orange blossom water. You have no idea how truly REFRESHING this is. The orange blossom is a simple and easy addition to elevate your watermelon and give it a gentle, floral note. A very classy dessert to serve at any summer party and the simplest to pull off.

Green peppers with basil and fennel - Kyria Eleni who I cooked with this week for Live Like a Yiayia, my new Youtube Show made the most incredible side dish to her Corfiot fish stew. Sizzle green peppers in a pan with plenty of olive oil, a couple of b asil stalks and some wild fennel. Lightly fry for upto 5 minutes, then allow to cool and season with red wine vinegar. THIS IS AN INCREDIBLE SIDE DISH. Trust me.

Cottage cheese with grapes is becoming my go-to grab and go snack. It’s high in protein (hey, tired mama still trying to lose her baby weight here) and pairs very nicely with grapes and figs, that are in season now. I like to sprinkle cayenne pepper on there for a spicy note and I drizzle a tonne of olive oil on it. More important than all of this, it’s something I can throw together in under a minute between juggling the girls and the grannies…

I’m in Corfu and I am spending a lot of time eating at…

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I’m a firm believer in purchasing gifts that are thoughtful and sustainable - a piece that will stay in someone’s wardrobe, home or jewellery collection through generations, or be used to make a delicious meal that will conjure the scents and flavours of a Greek taverna. Buying art direct from a Greek artist in their studio is surely a smarter and more distinctive purchase than another replica of an ancient Greek vase?

If you want to take something special home from your Greek sojourn this year, buy from one of the brilliant brands / artists / boutiques I’m listing below. They can all be found here in Greece and also online. I’m providing links and locations - many of which are in Athens, along with some of my favourite flea markets, boutiques and stores. I’m also adding ideas of low (and no!) cost souvenirs.

I’m separating the list into categories: clothes, jewellery, homewear, art and produce, and also listing my shopping hot spots.

If you buy anything to take home with you this year, please buy Greek.

Happy Shopping!

Low / no-cost Greece souvenirs

A recipe. Recipes as souvenirs are my favourite thing and I feel as though I can’t travel without picking up a recipe from my destination these days. If you love a shrimp saganaki at a local taverna - don’t be shy - often the proprietors of local spots are more than happy to share their culinary secrets.

Beeswax candles are fantastic little gifts and won’t set you back a fortune if you know the right spot to grab them. Just off Monastiraki square in the heart of Athens is a spot where lots of church supplies stores are located. Agiou Markou Street in Athens is where I go to get all my beeswax candles. They smell and look very chic.

Foraged and dried herbs. Wild thyme, oregano, sage and mountain tea grow wild in Greece. I love to pick it when I come across it, then I dry it out in the sun. A little herb bundle makes for an incredibly cute and thoughtful gift.

For Clothes & Accessories

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I wrote about this extensively for recently but the long and short of it is that I’m exhausted. The yachting season has once again rolled around and this year, I’m a single mother of two while my man works away on the boat all summer. I am essentially batch cooking then living out of my freezer most days and the kids are fed (well!) but very simply. My go-to to for Calypso at the moment is a ‘deconstructed Greek salad’ (because she won’t have any of the ingredients touching each other) and a boiled egg.

I haven’t had the time or the head space to recipe test or trial new things. I have very much been on autopilot since Edoardo left in May. Hence the paltry addition of recipes to this publication.

That HOWEVER is changing, my friends.

A few weeks ago I attended the very first of Writing Retreats in Seville, Spain. I was kindly invited by the team there to share my knowledge on writing a cookbook and also host a Mediterranean culinary workshop and big, fat, Mediterranean brunch. Experiences like this give me huge impostor syndrome, especially as the team at La Trasierra are fantastically experienced and seasoned chefs and cooks. I haven’t been professionally trained myself and all I have learned has been from my grandmother and the 300+ matriarchs I have cooked with over the past decade. I have (had?) a love of cooking, but I’m not a chef.

The first thing I did then, was get buddy with the chef at La Trasierra, Fiona. Over a day spent in the kitchen with Fiona, I started to fall in love with cooking again. Before I arrived at the villa, she had prepared the Gigantes Plaki (giant butterbeans) recipe from my book Yiayia. She asked me to taste it. As if I would know better than a professional chef? I thought, cringeing at the situation. When I tried them though, I very quickly realised they were lacking in olive oil, chilli and salt. I made me suggestion, in the most self deprecating British manner and Fiona - hugely professional and incredibly friendly - nodded and got to making the tweaks the dish needed.

“I don’t cook fancy”, Fiona assured me. It transpired that Fiona is Argentinian. She moved to Spain and now lives with her husband on the outskirts of Seville and in a very similar fashion to myself, learned local Spanish recipes first hand from elderly matriarchs living in the region.

I have been forever in search of the perfect Spanish tortilla recipe and watching Fiona dance around the kitchen whipping Spanish classics like escabeche and gazpacho together with ease, I knew she’d be the woman to impart some wisdom on the matter.

Tortilla - a Spanish omelette - if done right, can be the most perfect and easy lunch one could whip up in a fix. In true Mediterranean style, it relies on simple, very good quality ingredients and few of them. I have never managed to get my flip technique right and that soft, jammy in the middle finish always evades me. I jumped at the chance to make a tortilla with Fiona then, my culinary passions alighted the minute she explained how she learned the skills to make the perfect tortilla herself.

“I cooked with an old lady in the village called Angelita. When I moved here she was already in her eighties and she showed me how to make all these traditional Andalucian home dishes,” said Fiona, when I asked her how she experienced the transition from Argentine (she previously worked with esteemed chef Francis Mallman in Mendoza) to Spanish cuisine.

For my paying subscribers below, I am sharing my first recipe in MONTHS and I am so excited about it. I am also sharing videos from mine and Fiona’s tortilla making session. Along with the ingredients and method, I am sharing Angelita - the Spanish Abuelitas’ tips on how not to mess up your tortilla.

I’ve been making this weekly for my family and it has taken very little time to get that soft in the middle tortilla consistency and the flip technique down. Once you know how, you will never go back to eating a regular omelette.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am BACK IN THE KITCHEN!!!

Please do join me in making The Perfect Spanish Tortilla,

Anastasia

The Perfect Spanish Tortilla, thanks to Abuela Angelita in Andalucia

Before you start!

Abuela Angelita’s Tortilla Tips:

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I did promise myself that when I became a mother, I wouldn’t write about my children or become a ‘mommy influencer’ who posts their kids online and talks only about mothering. I think I have done a damn fine job of that but recently, about all I do is mothering and as the adage goes, we must all write what we know.

The Love Story

My man is a sailor. When I first met him, this was an exotic and exciting attribute. I had my coffee grounds read about a year before meeting him when I was with my ex boyfriend. Kyria Agkelina, an eighty something year old wise woman of the village just along from mine in Corfu was famous for reading the future in coffee grounds and I couldn’t pass up a chance of having her read mine. She predicted that my man would “come to me on water”. He wouldn’t be “from here” (meaning Corfu) but not from far away either. This sounds vague, I know. But the main message was that I wouldn’t be with the current boyfriend and that the man I was destined for would arrive via the sea.

Lo and behold one year later, Edoardo is doing a season on the yacht in Greece and we meet in a wine bar in Athens on his night off. Imagine my excitement when the hot, tall Italian told me he was captain of a sailing yacht? The rest, as they say, is history and now we’re married with two littles ones.

I do remember on the night that we met - very distinctly despite the copious amount of Assyrtiko I had been guzzling - that he told me this would be his last season on the boat and that he was looking for land based work because “I can’t have a family and do this job.”

Seven years later, he’s away in the Cycladic islands and barely reachable some times and I am on the other side of Greece, solo parenting a three year old and a baby. Last week my eight month old had a fever and we ended up in hospital. I was left making decisions alone that I should be making with my partner.

Get out your violins…

The reason I’m solo parenting is because times have changed since I was a little girl in the nineties. When my parents worked seasonal jobs throughout the summer (my dad actually used to dance at tavernas, would you believe) I was left in the capable, work wisened hands of Yiayia and Pappou. They were strict, not particularly emotionally available and plied me with chocolate and ice cream. It was both good and bad. Now I see very clearly that for my parents, Yiayia and Pappou were a lifeline.

My own parents live in England and despite being young and very much able, they don’t actually help with my children. On one occasion I left my eldest with my parents for five days. This was at the end of a three month stint in which I was alone with Calypso in my village on Corfu and completely isolated from friends and community in Athens. I flew to meet Edo and sail the boat back with him to Corfu from Italy when my parents finally came out to Corfu. This would be our one summer holiday and en route to the airport as my dad was dropping me off, he said “Your mum and me won’t get a holiday this year, because we’re looking after your child.”

This coming from a man who had his parents on hand to look after me for five months every year. Five days apparently is too much to ask of someone who doesn’t see his grandchildren for the other 360 days of the year.

I won’t go into details on my mother’s lack of qualifications for caring for my children but I will say that last year, when she was in Corfu to “help” me, she expected me to go to the supermarket and do a supermarket shop for her alone, whilst I was 8 months pregnant with my little one. I was lugging multiple 6 packs of water and heavy bags in my final trimester and my baby ended up breech and underweight.

I’m so grateful for the ‘help’ I received last year that I didn’t bother to ask them this time around. Conversely, my man’s father and his wife do come and help when they can but they’re twenty years older than my parents and still can’t replace Edo. We tried leaving the baby in their room last night because I haven’t managed more than four hours of sleep (TOTAL) a night for two weeks now. It was a disaster. The baby woke at 11pm, they freaked out, turned on all the lights and brought her straight up to me.

My health has deteriorated in the four years since having Calypso - in that I now have a chronic inflammatory condition that becomes worsened with stress and exhaustion. I am essentially always in pain and tired at the moment.

So, while grandparents exist on both sides of our family, I am still not able to feel as though I am able to mother and work to the best of my ability. Even when Edoardo is home, I am constantly torn between giving attention to both of my children. How can I possibly squeeze in time for my actual career?

I’m aware I’m on a bit of a ramble here because I’m sleep deprived but I’m getting to something, I promise. As you all know, I am obsessed with my Yiayia. Mediterranean grandmothers are the glue that keep our families together and most of my friends here in Greece were raised with or by their own. School run? Yiayia. Lunch? Yiayia. Dinner and bed? Yiayia.

So - what happened to Yiayia?

Obviously globalisation and my desire to get as far away from my parents as possible probably doesn’t help the fact that help is no longer readily on hand. Edoardo’s parents are in Italy and mine are in the UK. Many of us no longer live in the same country as our parents, let alone the same town or village.

Anecdotally though, the friends who do live close to their parents seem to foster the same frustrations. A global survey of over 17,000 parents across 42 countries found higher rates of burnout in western cultures where nuclear families are isolated to just one or two parent carers. American psychiatrist Bruce Perry hit the nail on the head when he said that at no other point in human history have we been so alone in raising children. He says that during tribal living (most of the history of Homo Sapiens), families structured like my current model would never have survived. Hence my feeling like an ACTUAL ZOMBIE today and most days.

Why does it seem that boomer and Gen X parents have withdrawn the help that their own parents willingly gave to raise their children and how can we fix this?

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I’m fresh from Tinos and would love to share all the beautiful places I visited on the island with you but more pressing is a little Casa Kefi renovation update. Please feel free to scroll right down past my waffle to get my hot tips on choosing an architect and a contractor on the Greek islands and how to go about it. My paying subscribers will also have access to a chat about Greek home renovation and purchase.

Two years ago now I found my dream Greek island home. Seemingly small on first glance (it’s a traditional village home to the north of the island and has a classic layout of courtyard, central living space with four smallish rooms coming off it), this house is special because it hides a tonne of surprising spaces.

The ground floor - or ‘katoi’ as the locals call it - was traditionally used as a cool cellar to store produce and house animals and ours is massive - larger than the actual house that sits above it…

Then there’s an out-house kitchen (also very traditional and similar to my Yiayia’s in Corfu) just across the courtyard from the main building. Plus, the house came with a large garden that includes a small shepherd’s hut which we can (legally!) renovate into a guest studio.

When I first saw the house and began to walk from room to room in the Katoi downstairs, I felt my blood pressure go up a notch because I was so excited at the potential of this maze-like space. I love to host people and for years I’ve been renting a Venetian villa in Corfu to welcome groups for retreats to my island. Finding out that the Tinos house could potentially sleep over 10 people had my pulses racing.

I COULDN’T STOP THINKING ABOUT THE SUMMER PARTIES

We didn’t use an architect for our house in Athens and I forever regret it because we have a massive apartment (150 square metres) and yet in all that space, the configuration hasn’t allowed for three bedrooms (now would be handy as we have two kids and neither of them sleep particularly well) or an office for myself. Our bedrooms and living areas are gigantic but we barely use these spaces. It was therefore hugely important to me to find the right architects to work with on such a mega project.

I put a call out on instagram and started to talk to various architects who sent me proposals. One of these was a proposal which included a photograph of a bucket of dirty water with no explanation and an AI regurgitated intro on the definition of the word ‘restoration’. Safe to say we didn’t follow through with that lead.

Another one was a really fantastic architect Kelly Spanou. She has actually just won an award for her work on Tinos and she’s a good friend of a friend. We loved discussing the potential of the house with Kelly and I think she’s brilliant but looking at the proposal she had sent with plenty of detailed moodboards, something didn’t quite click. Her approach was monastic in feeling vs my own crazy colour loving taste. Despite her being a very well respected and successful architect and hugely professional, I felt that her style didn’t fit my own.

I was feeling uncomfortable about saying no to Kelly because she’s hugely well rated and we love her as a person but my gut was telling me to hold out until we found the right fit. Then fate had a hand to play in the whole thing.

Enter Point Supreme

My man’s Milanese architect cousin - Pietro - suggested we reach out to Point Supreme. I checked their instagram and instantly decided they would be way out of our budget. They’re well known internationally and hugely successful. At around the same time, I went to visit a good friend for a play date at her home in Koukaki (central Athens) and my jaw dropped when entering her apartment. Colours popped unexpectedly from every corner and the smart combination of materials and textures made the place feel like a cosy and sumptuous cocoon away from central Athens. It was playful and fun and grown up all at the same time. Who did the interiors? None other but Point Supreme.

Ana and Kris turned out to be friends of Mariana and Kostantinos (Point Supreme) and they made an intro to the guys, assuring us that they choose projects based on how much they loved them and that they’re entire thing is bringing life back to old spaces. We went for an initial meeting at their studio, they sent us a proposal and we very quickly got to designing our dream home.

The brilliance of this duo is that they work exceptionally well together and their individual talents complement one another. Mariana has been nerding out over the ‘flow’ of the space, opening up space to create extra areas to sleep guests and widening windows for light and air. Whereas Kostantinos is fantastic when choosing colour combinations. I’m so exceptionally happy to be working with them.

The Island Contractor Minefield

I can’t say the same for the builders in Tinos, who apparently don’t work all summer and don’t find it necessary to provide a cost break down for the works we need to do. I travelled to Tinos with Mariana a few weeks ago to meet contractors and it transpires, finding builders on the Cycladic islands is a total political minefield.

Tinos seems to be having a building boom as many of the contractors I have asked to give a quote told me they won’t be free until 2027. Then there’s the issue that our Tinian engineer flagged: Tinos is both a Catholic and Orthodox island. Some Tinian Catholics won’t work in Orthodox villages, and vice versa. I laughed in her face when she told me this, thinking she was joking. She remained dead pan. “Is a very serious problem, you must be delicate,” she concluded.

Then there’s the mafia style issue that no one wants to tread on each other’s turf. On the day I visited, I arranged four contractors to come (one after the other) to the house, to see it, assess the works and eventually give a quote. The first guy was very positive but insisted I’d have to change all of the roofs (a few of them look fine to me - but what do I know?). He also started bashing at all the walls with a tool that I do not know how to name so I’ll just drop a video in here for you all. The house is very old and in a delicate position, so you can imagine my consternation at the uncalled for thrashing he gave it…

While we were still talking to the first guy, the second guy a arrived early, huffing and puffing up the village steps to meet me. He looked like Santa on holiday, rosy cheeks and forehead perspiring, his round belly only just covered by a red t-shirt. He was perfectly lovely but the minute he saw builder number 1, he excused himself and said he didn’t want to “get in anyone’s way.”

On an island, everyone knows everyone else and diplomacy is of the utmost importance. Apparently it was a huge faux pas to schedule these meetings so close together. My London-instilled efficiency totally betrayed me here.

The Snake and the Pirate

Contractor number 3 arrived with his ‘middle man’ -the guy that found the house for us and my least favoured option. For the purposes of this article, I’ll call him ‘Fidi’ (Greek for ‘snake’. Fidi was our ‘agent’ for the house and is a native to the village. I had my doubts about this guy from the start and I felt unsafe during the entire process of buying the house because of the ‘off’ feeling he gave me. He had a sly look and talked too much from the very beginning. In my experience, with contractors and agents, the more they talk, the more likely I am to be ripped off.

Once we bought the house, he essentially threatened us in a very underhand and veiled way, telling us “you won’t have problems with the neighbours or the police if you use me and my contractor for the renovation.” Do people really call the police on their neighbours here? According to Fidi, they do, becayse Fidi is likely the one calling the po po.

I digress!

Fidi showed up with a contractor who I can only describe as a pirate, in that he had a little paunch, long beard and was wearing a bandana and black jeans that he had rolled up and looked very akin to Pirate garb. He lunged at me and Mariana as he spoke, his eyes levelling ours, his body in an aggressive ‘shall we take this outside?’ stance as we asked him very standard questions like - “Is it really necessary to replace the entire roof?”

I should also add that Fidi and Pirate were in charge of emptying our Katoi (ground floor) that was so chokka full of stuff when we bought it that we didn’t actually realise we could SLEEP PEOPLE down there. On the day Mariana and I arrived, an elderly neighbour (96 year old Kyrios Lefteris) informed me that instead of disposing of the pile of wood, ancient mattresses, fridges and debris of multiple lifetimes properly, they had fly tipped, leaving all of the mess at the edge of the village and on a patch of prime real estate where the hens have their coop.

Safe to say it was a big fat NO from me on the Fidi and Pirate duo…

Contractor number 4 seemed perfectly fine and very professional. He showed up on a Ducati motorbike, clad in leathers and didn’t crack a smile until he realised the katoi was actually the original stone house and that our home had essentially been built on top of a 400+ year structure. He got very excited about door openings and ancient archways hidden in brickwork. When it came to giving me a quote for the work though, he says he can’t give me a break down of all the costs because it’s ‘company policy’ and he isn’t available until 2028 anyway.

So that’s that, then.

How do you actually apply what I learned the hard way in order to start renovating your Greek home?

Below, my paying subscribers have access to my hot tips on starting a Greek home renovation project. You will also have access to my chat about renovating and buying in Greece.

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I wanted to send you an update because there are changes afoot! Today, Matriarch Eats becomes Casa Kefi and as you’ve ALL been on this journey with me, I wanted to give you the heads up first.

‘Kefi’ is a word used to describe a joie de vivre we experience here in Greece. It can be a heightened moment of euphoria at a party or simply a flee…

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So many of you are sliding into my DMs at this time of year, trying to pick my brains for my tips to Corfu. So, I’ve collated, curated and updated all my favourite spots and made a sexy downloadable PDF for you all.

Think secret beaches and hiking trails, tavernas that locals actually eat in and places to stay (hugely avoid the all inclusives on the coast line please). Last year I actually bumped into someone at a taverna in Corfu town who was there because I’d written about it - these are the places I actually go to, the reasons I love my island.

A couple of my recommendations are behind the paywall for my paying subscribers but the full, extensive guide is in a sexy, downloadable 18 page PDF guide here for you that looks like this…

The reason I’m not sharing the FULL list below is that I don’t tend to share these places in the magazines I write for because I don’t want tourists to descend to the spots closest to my heart en masse.

It also takes a very long time to compile and write these guides and the places on them are places I actually spend my time. On many occasions, I’ll notice a flurry of subscribers when I share these guides and then a dip as soon as these new subs have gained access to my tips. I don’t want to give away my favourite places on my island for a fiver, so this way, those who really want to support the work I do can pay for it. My founding ‘Inner Circle’ members will also receive an email with the PDF guide too.

Please keep my spots a secret between me and you, the reason they’re special is because they’re not on ‘the map’. If you must share on social media, I would ask that you avoid location tagging!

Visiting Corfu with a local / using local tips is essential. It’s a big island and unfortunately, the coastline has been built up and marred by mass tourism. There’s so much to treasure on the island that can’t be found without insider. This is where I hang out when I’m in Corfu, away from the crowds and tourist-traps of the main coastal road that rings around the island.

MY LOCAL’S GUIDE TO CORFU

Corfu is a big island, demanding a good amount of time to be explored in full. If you only have a week or two, I’d advise on basing yourself either north or south of the island and dedicating your time to getting to know that region. A week in either half of the island is good.

If you really want to find a part of the island that is still rural, I’d advise on heading south, where I’m from. Of course I’m biased but the North East coast of the island is nicknamed ‘Kensington on Sea’ because of the amount of posh Brits who’ve bought property there and the North East coast tends to be flooded with Italian teenagers. Don’t ask me why!

Below are a few things you should not miss on my island, including recommendations for things to see, where to eat and a place to stay.

1. Paying subscribers have access to a few of the highlights.

2. My Inner Circle subscriber have access to the full, extensive 18 page document with MANY recommendations, receiving a PDF guide with links to refer to on their trip.

If you don’t fancy subscribing, you can find my downloadable guides here.

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I write this fresh from a trip to Seville, Spain, where I was invited to cook from my books and share a little of my publishing journey by movie magazine A Rabbit’s Foot and Montblanc at the ultra exclusive La Trasierra villa. My paying subscribers have access to the full, Mediterranean summer brunch menu that I cooked below, along with some of my favourite things this month but first, a small re-cap on the weekend.

La Trasierra is the kind of place you have to be invited to or know about to gain access. An enormous farmhouse (with multiple extensions to host upwards of twenty guests) worthy of World of Interiors, the villa is owned by a British family whose home has become well known amongst the upper eschelons of UK society.

Neither a hotel nor a guesthouse, this is the Scotts’ (I met Charlotte and her daughter, Gioconda this weekend) home and they share it sparingly. It has never been advertised and neither does it exist on airbnb and booking.com. I’m a travel journalist very accustomed to impersonal spaces aimed to accomodate all tastes and flavours of human aestheticism. There’s very little of this kind of hospitality - the kind where you actually feel at home - about anymore so I thoroughly appreciated my time here.

Enormous amphora (to put our Greek ones to shame) line the gardens and expansive inner courtyards, jasmine fronds decorate the walls, hiding entrances to secret parts of the gardens and grounds that demand hours to be full uncovered. Everything at Trasierra seems to be adorned with a skirt or delicate textile trim. Even the umbrellas by the pool wear frills that dance in the breeze - though there wasn’t much of a breeze this past weekend.

There is of course a pool but I enjoyed the lower garden terraces and my time spent in the kitchen with professional cook Gioconda and Argentine chef Fiona, who taught me how to make the perfect Spanish tortilla (a little jammy in the middle!) RECIPE COMING SOON. I tried and tested it yesterday and perfected my flip.

I spent the weekend cooking with Gioconda and Fiona and served up a mighty Mediterranean brunch for the team at A Rabbit’s Foot and Montblanc. It was my first full weekend away from the baby and I had been in two minds about leaving but having met some very inspiring and intelligent people on the first ever writing retreat by A Rabbit’s Foot, I don’t regret the time spent there at all.

I always feel as though time away always helps me broaden my horizons. Since becoming a mother, my life in Greece is quite small, comparative to what I used to live in London, and the connections and conversations I engage in are centred increasingly around family life. What a delight to stay up until 2am discussing movies and books and my dreams with other people who can and do dream big. (Granny TV show incoming, guys.)

On our drive to the airport yesterday, Gioconda and I discussed how difficult it is to be a mother that also has and wants a career. I’m in love with what I do and have made a career of sharing the knowledge and wisdoms of grandmothers of the world but I can’t deny time and attention to my little girls. Something has to suffer and inevitably, it has been my work. Perhaps one positive is that I’m increasingly selective about what I take on and choose to do professionally. Becoming a mother has allowed me to filter out the crap newspaper listicles that don’t pay and ‘opportunities’ masked as exploitation.

Together, Gioconda came up for the ultimate analogy for living life as a working mum and I’d love to share it:

Like a grandmother’s recipe, one must be selective about the ingredients in life, choosing the best quality produce and minimising to the essential, most delicious ingredients in order to create a dish that is truly satisfying for oneself.

What to listen to while you’re composing and imbibing your Campari Spritz (far superior to Aperol) this summer

Cocktail music began with Italian cinema. Whack on this playlist to live La Dolce Vita, if only for cocktail hour.

Tomato season is upon us. Here’s where you can find my favourite tomato salads…

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I’m such a traditionalist that I’ve been resisting writing about the new food scene in Athens. Those of you who’ve subscribed for a while will know I’m a big fan of Yiayia cooking and a granny aesthetic so modern interiors and a trendy clientele tend to come second to my love of these. However, I can’t deny that the gastronomy scene in Athens has exploded in the years since I moved here.

The restaurants I’m listing below are ones I love for different reasons but the one uniting factor is the incredible food that is put out by them. Dining out is becoming increasingly expensive and unaffordable for Greeks and I have to caveat with this because few of us can afford to eat out as we did fifteen years ago in this city. These places are increasingly reserved for visitors or an elite set of Greeks that can actually afford them, which is another reason I’ve resisted writing about them extensively until now.

While I love a cosy, family-run taverna that’s been around for decades, I can no longer deny the pull of Athens’ new wave of dining spots. Yes, they’re trendy and occasionally on the colder side of ‘cool’ in terms of interiors and serving staff, but the food that is now coming out of open kitchens and placed on inox tables to a hiphop sountrack (I know, I know), is inimitably good in Athens right now. I have nearly cried at the incredible flavours I’ve indulged in, in recent months and in spite of my chagrin at the inevitable gentrification of my city, I have to admit that I’m always very excited about the prospect of eating at new restaurants in Athens.

Below are my top ten ‘new wave’ places to eat in Athens, in order of adoration (1 being my favourite).

If you don’t fancy subscribing but you DO want the definitive list of ALL my favourite places to eat in Athens (Taverna, Kafeneion, Meze, New Wave restaurants AND seafood) you can download it in a sexy PDF format here.

Kali Mas Oreksi!

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It’s officially sit in the shade of bitter orange trees and sip on a silty Greek coffee season here in Athens. In celebration of my Birkenstocks coming out of the wardrobe and the best Athenian weather being finally upon us, I’m sharing my favourite places to while away the hours like an Athenian today.

The Kafeneion

Nowhere can be more Greek than the kafeneion. So much more than a cafe, our coffee houses are a space reserved for doing what we do best: philosophising, enjoying simple pleasures like the slow sipping of coffee brewed in a briki and allowing the mid-morning to meld into the heat of the afternoon.

Usually characterised by their checkerboard floors, marble top tables and moustachioed clientele, Kafeneions populate all of the neighbourhoods in Athens and can usually be found in almost every Greek village. Even more essential than the taverna, the kafeneion is where we go to simply, exist. I am enamoured by the Greek kafeneion experience, that the look and feel of a traditional one has inspired much of the design of my new kitchen in Tinos…

At the best and most traditional kafeneion, you will never find a freddo espresso and god forbid you might dare to order anything green. If you’re lucky, there may be a freshly squeezed juice or a Lipton tea bag for those who want to go rogue but this is a place that shouldn’t be categorised as a standard cafe. It’s Greek coffee, ouzo, tsipouro or occasionally a Nescafe frappe that you will likely be served here. Food comes in the form of picky bites of usually fried food, cooked in a tiny kitchen behind a beaded curtain or simply behind a an old wooden bar.

Not quite a place to go to for lunch, but different to your standard coffee shop, the Kafeneion is a great allegory to represent an essential element of Greekness. You can spend an entire morning at the kafeneion, not working, not meeting clients or potential collaborators, sometimes not even reading a book. It is a space to convene with friends or traditionally, has been a place you can head to, to simply drink a coffee and watch the world go by.

Growing up in a Greek village on an island, I was always nervous to enter my local kafeneion. It was a space occupied by men that would stare at me as I sheepishly walked past to run errands for Yiayia or buy cigarettes for my uncle (yep - from the age of around 6 I would head out for a packet of Karellias every other day from the kiosk down the road). The space was traditionally a man’s domain, offering hours of idle chat or the space to casually flick a komboloi (string of worry beads) unbothered by screaming children and wives. While my Yiayia cleaned, cooked and cared for me as a child, my Pappou would head off to meet his friends for a game of backgammon at the kafeneion.

Thankfully, times have changed and I am able to occupy the space that my grandmother could never have occupied two generations ago. Does it feel comfortable to go to that same village kafeneion? Not really but I do relish the hours I can spend at my favourite ‘steki’ (hangouts) in Athens. The rich scent of Greek coffee brewing, the familiarity with which the proprietors will treat me after I’ve been two or three times and the feeling that there is absolutely nothing to rush for is essential to this experience.

Below for my paying subscribers, I’m sharing a few of my favourite kafeneions to hang out in. Some are less hardcore than others and will serve you a freddo, if you absolutely insist…

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This past week it has felt as though summer has finally arrived here in Greece. Bitter orange trees are bearing heavy fruit throughout Athens and the mercury has risen to a very palatable t-shirt-and-shorts temperature. I even wore open toe sandals yesterday. Today is May day and I have a thousand friends and their children arriving in the next few hours to eat pastitsio and lemon posset (last of the garden’s lemons) with me. But as promised, below is my list of all that I am loving here in the Mediterranean at the moment.

May marks the beginning of an eventful summer full of exhibitions, workshops and nights out in Athens. My paying subscribers will have access to the full KALO MINA list, including where I’m hanging out and what I’m doing in Athens this month (so many exhibitions and events coming up!), my favourite Greek islands to ferry off to at this time of year (LUSH with wild flowers and free of tourists) and what I’m cooking a lot of right now.

Wishing you all a Kalo Mina (a very good month!)

Kisses,

Anastasia

x x x

Food that fills my cup right now

I am cooking spanakorizo on repeat. A delicious, Greek risotto with half the fuss of a standard Italian one, risotto is a typical dish that most Greek matriarchs have perfected. Theia Soula’s recipe in my latest book MEDITERRANEA is so fragrant with the addition of plenty of dill and it’s a very easy one pot dish I refer to at least once a week when I’m feeling overwhelmed with child care and work commitments. It’s comforting, works amazingly well with a massive slab of feta and is a good alternative to risotto if you prefer a higher vegetable to rice ratio. My twist on the traditional recipe is adding coriander and lime at the end with a swirl of yogurt too.

I’m using up a crazy amount of lemons as it’s the tail end of citrus season. One of my favourite citrus recipes that I go back to again and again is ’s lemon tender cake. It’s so fantastically moist, tart and (my favourite) very easy to make. I have a dog eared recipe that I pulled out of a magazine over a decade ago when I lived in London and I still use it. Perhaps it’s time I wrote it up as I do worry that the link online might suddenly disappear… My only tweak on this is I swap out the vegetable oil for olive oil.

I’m drinking…

I’m so glad the weather is heating up. My go-to at this time of year is a chilled herbal infusion of camomile and louiza (lemon verbena). I make this by brewing the camomile and verbena then chilling it overnight.

I stock up on the herbs from my favourite apothecary in the heart of Athens, FOTSI.

I’m visiting

Some of you may know that last summer, we bought a tumble down house on the island of

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The suffix …

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The draw was late, spontaneous nights that were full of what a great night out should be - full of suspense, dancing until dawn and always clandestine and raucous in spirit. Coming from London, I loved the freedom a night in Athens proposed. Liberated from pre-set dates in the diary, restaurant reservations and tickets for club nights, I was deeply in love with a city that opened up the night to its full potential.

The city was emerging from the financial crisis battered and bruised but that left space for young Greek creatives (myself included) to quite physically take up the abandoned spaces left behind by businesses that didn’t make it through those awful years. Instead, young Greek artists could use empty shop fronts to make art, exhibit it and party. This is where the nights usually began, at an art opening where I made new friends, drank free wine and stumbled giddily down the road to local tavernas or late night meze spots for a meal that would begin at 10pm and wrap up around 2 in the morning, at which point I’d head to a club with my new posse and dance until the sun’s morning glow over the white city would signal it might be time for a lie down, or at least a freddo cappuccino swilled under the shade of an empathetic bitter orange tree.

Now I steer clear of caffeine and my day begins at a time that I’d usually be found on a dance floor. One constant in the many changes of my life in the past ten years, however, has been the neighbourhood I chose to settle in when I first moved to Athens and what a stroke of luck that was. Kypseli happened to be where I settled because a friend of a friend was subletting their apartment here but in the years since I’ve moved back to Greece, the neighbourhood has flourished into one of the most child-friendly zones in the centre of Athens.

Formerly where the well-heeled lived, Kypseli is centrally located enough to walk to the centre in half an hour. The parthenon is a stroll away from my house but archaic relics aside, Kypseli itself has become a destination. Even in its extremely run down state when I moved to the city a decade ago, the beauty of its buildings could not be denied. The moneyed actors, artists and musicians that once graced its grand boulevard of Fokionos Negri moved into beautifully designed apartments, boasting dramatic marble entranceways; the doors are decadent with art deco, bauhaus and modernist patterns in cast iron. Floors are pristine parquet and the ceiling heights are enviable.

Before having kids, I loved being able to live in my dream modernist apartment. Now, I appreciate Kypseli for so much more than just its architecture. It’s a central Athenian neighbourhood that benefits from four pedestrianised areas - Saint George’s Square, Kypseli Square, Fokionos Negri Boulevard and Agias Zonis street - perfect for catching up with friends for lunch in the sun while my daughter whizzes up and down on a scooter.

On my doorstep is one of the most beautiful parks in all of Athens (and there aren’t many), Pedion tou Areos. In the decade that I’ve lived in Kypseli, the Onassis Foundation (of shipping family, Onassis) transformed the biggest park in Athens from a no-go zone to an urban oasis filled with tropical plants, multiple cypress and pine-shaded playgrounds and a cafe in front of which my daughter and her friends happily frolic in an enormous water fountain installation once the mercury rises come summer. Waking up to stroll my three month old in this dense canopy of green in the morning has become one of my daily highlights. I don’t even get FOMO watching hungover clubbers slump back home through the winding paths of the park, just as I’m starting my day with the babes.

That’s the thing with having my own progeny, it sounds worthy but they’ve made me discover parts of myself I never knew existed. Same goes for the city. ‘Secret beaches’ on the Athenian Riviera have long been located and pinned. We spend weekends picnicking on the coast or whiling away the hours at beach front tavernas with friends while our kids go wild (like, feral) in the sand. I climb hills for insane views and play hide and seek in lush forests. Or we play date with picnics on friends’ enormous terraces.

Without the military boot camp early starts, I wouldn’t experience the joy of getting a front row seat at Kallidromiou Street’s laiki (farmer’s market) on a Saturday morning. A much coveted spot, the cafes that line the street make for the perfect perch to people watch as Athenians come from all over the city to buy their fruit and veg, listen to street music and generally see and be seen. Usually out too late pre-children, I would never quite manage to get a seat or a table to enjoy a silty Greek coffee. Plus, people in Greece love kids so much that taking my children to the market usually results in a free bunch of bananas or a punnet of something juicy. You take these small wins where you can, when you’re parenting a toddler and a newborn.

Symbolic of Greek culture, of course Athenians are welcoming and inherently warm towards children. Filoxenia - showing kindness to strangers - is woven into our DNA and this unequivocally applies to children. Walking my newborn down the street doesn’t just illicit coos and doe eyes from old ladies. A teenage boy actually waved at the little one yesterday, smiling and playing peekaboo while I waited at an ATM machine. And by ‘waited’ I mean, I was ushered to the front of the line and told never to wait while I am with my children again.

The Greeks really do roll out the red carpet for pregnant women and parents with young children, which means no queuing of any kind. Not at the airport, not at the supermarket, not even at a busy restaurant for a table. If I didn’t have to take my kids everywhere with me, I would do it anyway, just to avoid waiting around.

In spite of myself, I have grown to love early mornings in my city. Sure, the promise of a wild and spontaneous night has been quashed with the arrival of little people but the jubilant morning light of Athens, kindness of its strangers and warm spanakopita fresh from its bakeries make up for it. Instead of dancing until dawn I dance at dawn, and welcome another day of discovery with my girls.

Where I take my children in Athens

Visiting Athens with children can feel daunting because it’s a big city, with plenty of traffic and has a reputation for being rough or unsafe. I am very happy to dispel this myth for you all. Athens has some of the best playgrounds I’ve ever visited and an incredible amount of OUTDOOR activities that allow little ones to run around in nature and let off steam. It also happens to be somewhere you can take your kids for dinner without people around you raising brows.

Below are my top ten places to take the children in and around Athens…

My VIP “Inner Circle” subscribers also have access to a private chat with me, in which I can answer more questions you might have about visiting Athens (with or without kids). In May I’m also sending all my Inner Circle subscribers my full PDF travel guide to Athens with all my secret spots. The inner circle are one grade up from paid - they’re the supporters that pay a little extra for a little extra access. More info here.

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In typical me fashion, I am probably overdoing it celebrating both Easter weekends (Orthodox Easter Sunday lands April 12th) but I do so love any excuse for a party so I’ve prepared an epic menu, filled with my favourite spring time dishes from the yiayiades and nonnas I’ve spent the past decade cooking with and I am so happy to share it with you all.

Below you’ll find the spread of my Easter dishes with two options for lamb. It’s everything my own Yiayia will typically have on the table at Easter time, including snacks for guests and a dessert of dreams. I’m also sharing Yiayia’s tips for naturally dying easter eggs and her method for shining the eggs. There are links to the recipes, giving you a sneak peek into the world of my books Yiayia and MEDITERRANEA and a chance to try the recipes before buying the books.

Hope you all have a lovely Easter, whichever and whenever you’re celebrating!

Filakia (KISSES!)

Anastasia x x x

Red dyed eggs

On the table throughout the Easter weekend

There are many theories around exactly why we Greeks dye our eggs red for easter, from symbolising the blood of Christ to a mythology that dates back to the ancient Greeks and the story of Demeter. When her daughter Persephone died, to deal with the pain of the loss, Demeter created the poppy flower - with its blood red petals - giving it the power to make people fall into a blissful sleep.

Whatever the reason, these are a mainstay on my easter table and every ‘Megali Pempti’ (Holy Thursday) Yiayia sets to work dying her eggs. She never uses shop bought dyes but tends to combine natural dyes, experimenting with different types over the years.

These are her favourites:

Beets
Ren onion skins
Spanish onion skins
Seaweed

An easy one that most people can try at home is left over beet peel and onion skins. I found that a Spanish onion and red onion skin combo are good for a nice bright red colour.

Method

Yiayia collects the skins from ten onions over the course of a week or two of cooking, places them in an old piece of tulle fabric (most home cooks will have a fine cheesecloth but this is her preference as she refuses to waste anything) and gently simmers her eggs in a big pan of water for at least half an hour. She then removes them with a slotted spoon and shines them using a piece of tissue paper blotted with olive oil.

Tsoureki

Easter breakfast with a Greek coffee

The Easter brioche of my dreams is the one my friend and head baker Ianthi makes at her Athenian bakery Kora. It’s infused with mahleb, cardamom and mastic for a beautiful depth of flavour in every, squidgy, buttery bite. A woman after my own heart, Ianthi is inspired by her own Yiayia Nota and her recipe for Tsoureki is in my book, Yiayia. For those of you who don’t own it, there’s a sneak peek of the book and the full recipe here.

Now for lunch

Sacrifical lamb

Very much sticking to ‘meat as a treat’, we Greeks ‘fast’ for forty days before Easter Sunday. This means forty days of veganism: no meat or dairy and some hard core people (Yiayia) even forego olive oil. I have no idea how she manages but having a compulsory vegan diet multiple times a year (she also does this before Christmas) has meant that she’s still live and kicking and living alone in her 90th year on the planet. So she must be doing something right.

Easter Sunday though, is a MEGA treat day and that means lamb. Our own lamb tends to come from my godfather’s farm, right next to our home in Corfu. Since I was a little girl, I became quite accustomed to my godfather running around the meadow that I can see from my garden, chasing no-longer frolicking lambs that clearly had a sense that they were in for it. He even made me watch one being slaughtered at the tender age of seven, much to my British mother’s chagrin. Still, I’m glad for this proximity to my food and the understanding of the great value of what was sitting on my plate from a young age.

My two favourite lamb recipes are of course credit to two incredible Greek Yiayiades. One is a classic one tray dish of lamb and roast potatoes, made succulent and extra sweet with the addition of oranges. The other is a Greek Yiouvetsi (a pasta bake using orzo): an indulgent fall-off-the-bone lamb dish that my family now demand on a monthly basis.

Here they are…

Yiayia Eleuteria’s aromatic orange lamb and potatoes

Yiayia Litsa’s Lamb Yiovetsi (Orzo baked lamb)

Accompaniments

A plate of feta drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and oregano. Non negotiable.

I love to dip my orange roasted potatoes into this creamy tzatziki. Here’s how to make Yiayia’s ultimate tzatziki.

As it’s citrus season, here’s an incredibly juicy, light salad recipe to serve alongside your lamb. It features in my book MEDITERRANEA and is one I picked up from Nonna Cece in southern Sicily that never fails to wow.

It’s a refreshing, flavour packed dish which strikes a great balance between sweet, salty and spiced typically found in southern Italy. The zing of citrus and the subtle sweetness of the pith of the citron combines with a salty kick of anchovy and a punch of chilli pepper to express Sicily on a plate.

Nonna Cece’s Insalata di Cedro Sicilian - Citron and Anchovy Salad

A sneak peek into MEDITERRANEA

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