No matter how much one enjoys a holiday there is always an elusive quality that is hard to re-create. We return with photographs, souvenirs, memories, recipes with the intention of one day trying to re capture a moment, a meal or a mood. Photographs can be turned into posters or artwork for a living room, coasters for a dining room table, even a calendar to send out to friends and family. Memories are difficult to share with those who hear of them from a distance - what can seem so precious to those who are close to the memory can become devalued to those who only listen. Souvenirs, if displayed like trophies, can take on the appearance of the commonplace, their significance blending into the background. But recipes...recipes can magically bring to life a whole rainbow of senses and emotions: the vivid blue-green of the sea near the ouzerie where you first tasted the food, the aromas of herbs, fresh tomatoes, crumbly feta cheese and grilling lamb, the sounds of glasses chinking, people laughing, cutlery settling onto emptied plates, the taste of crisp, local wine, chilled to perfection and cancelling out the sharp saltiness of the olives.
Tonight we had an aubergine salad - roasted aubergine peeled then blended with lemon juice, garlic and olive oil - served with rustic bread followed by home baked gammon with the finest of fresh coleslaw and a crisp Greek salad. The aromas and flavours followed one another like close friends rediscovered and for a magical half hour or so we were back in a Greek taverna.
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