I love Maeve Binchy with a passion. I’m not even sure if I read her books when I was a kid. I have memories of my mam and sisters reading Light a Penny Candle and Echoes. I know I watched the films. More than her books – she was just a fascinating person. Sadly she died in 2012. A Dub like myself. I have seen several interviews with her over the years and love to listen to her.
Nights of Rain and Stars is set on a Greek Island and starts with a tragedy and leads to a group of tourists getting to know each other and their Greek hosts in beautiful and interesting ways. Andreas owns a local taverna where they first meet and his, along with others’ food are mentioned over and over. My mouth was watering for the entire book. I’m not going to make anything specific from the book – just a Greek recipe that been on my “to make” list for over a year! I cannot speak to how authentically Greek it is.
Quote:
The Young Policemen were delighted with the great smells of cooking meat basted with garlic and rosemary.
Preparation:
As always, the internet is my friend when trying to make new dishes. I am not an inspired or naturally talented cook, but can follow a recipe and know what I like. As a result I found this recipe for Greek Meatballs and served them with greek salad, pita bread, and tzatziki. I had made these three sides before and they are wonderful! I should mention at this point – an hour after eating – that I bought the pita bread this time, but I have made the recipe before and we all loved it!
My take:
Dinner was a huge hit. All of us – tweens, teens, and me all devoured it.
Lesson of the day:
I knew Greek food was amazing. I still love Greek food. I will definitely be trying other dishes after this. And I still love Maeve Binchy! Oh. And I’d love to visit Greece but alas that is highly unlikely. More Greek books and movies – Shirley Valentine me thinks!
eat-my-books.com 