Athens Speciale

There's a real good chance I smell as if I fell into a tank of tzatziki, onions and meat grease and marinated in it for 3 days. I don't think I've ever eaten that much souvlaki in my whole life! And I'm Greek! Well half-Greek but I haven't drank that much tea either as half-English. Truth be told, it's fun running around the city, finding the most surreal places to eat, and Athens is a lot bigger and more bizarre than it seems. For many reasons it is odd and even contradictory that I ended up as food writer. Reasons I will discuss later.What excited me most in the beginning was the idea of writing professionally for a famous chef who also happens to be a close friend so the chemistry isn't lacking. Soon I discovered the absolute turn-on of being privy to the luxurious and lavish as well as the hidden and often forgotten. I always loved this city. The deafening sounds of traffic and construction, the never ending chatter that starts becoming white-noise after a while, the foul odors of garbage mixed with the mouth-watering aromas of souvlaki being grilled at almost every corner. It seems I am discovering a new, almost cinematic, side of her. The first frame has us running to cross the high trafficked street amidst violent honks and mad drivers to get to the quietest little tavern to eat traditional Greek food and chill under the shadowy trees. We are then eating legendary pizza next to a homeless person sleeping on the sidewalk and a hooker giving a john a blowjob in the middle of the street, just minutes away from a nearby fancy neighborhood where we have sushi as if we were native New Yorkers in Manhattan. Since we are never far from a grill we immediately after feast like Greeks on some filthy souvlaki which is not particularly to anyone's liking(that happens too). The final shot closes in on Vasilis Kallidis, my chef extraordinaire holding a giant ice-cream while the rest of us behind the scenes are stuffing desserts in our already full stomachs. Now back home, I'm kinda reveling in my intense body fragrance, which I like to call eau de κρεατίλα (meaty), as it reminds of how much I truly love my job!