Our Shared Kéa Table

We could not wait for late September when we start to receive guests in our home again.

Mid September is the actual end of the summer as schools and universities now start in Greece.  Visitors return to their homes and our lives are back to the usual pleasant normal.  We are thrilled to receive guests again, as we usually avoid the high season. 

Our outdoor kitchen gets busy, and the large terrace table starts to fill up with friends from all over the world.

We are always happy when September advances.  But the year is not over yet, and after the dog days of July and August new things are happening. 

I am preparing for a busy week in the Peloponnese as I have been asked to take part in a truly exciting project organized by the Culinary Institute of America, EAT, and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health—Department of Nutrition, which explores healthy eating habits that are good for the planet. We are proud to showcase the traditional Greek diet as part of that context.

Later we will travel to Barcelona for the annual conference Tomorrow Tastes Mediterranean. 

We will both go to this beautiful city taking a few vacation days after the conference before we return to Kea and our usual winter chores. We promise to keep you posted about these trips in our following newsletters.

Last April and May were quite busy, as we led or accompanied groups outside of the island: one up north in Thessaloniki, the second in the Peloponnese with Oldways.  The food scene in Greece has become very interesting, and a lot of things are happening all over the country. Restaurants pop up everywhere, and many new wine labels turn up all the time; it is difficult to keep up!

These fall days the island becomes beautiful and peaceful again, cooler at night, while during the day the beach is still extremely nice.  It is almost pleasantly as in the spring, April, May, and early June –our favorite season. But the water temperature at the beach is now at its warmest!  No wonder many northern European and some Americans prefer to visit us in September and October.

We try to avoid the crowds of July and August, and hardly ever go out of our property, which is thankfully somewhat away from the commotion. 

Not that Kea is ever flooded with visitors, at least not in comparison with other Cycladic islands, nevertheless Otzias, our beautiful beach, fills up around midday.  But if one chooses to swim earlier in the morning it is pristine and quiet.

With the departing visitors we got rid of the heat too, and the temperature dropped.  Although never extremely hot on Kea for too long, as the northern winds and surrounding sea cool the Aegean islands significantly. 

But although the heat did not torture us, it hasn’t rained well for quite a few years. 

The land is dry, and the water table has apparently dropped, although we didn’t experience any water shortages as other popular islands.  But this year we lost all our fig trees and four old almond trees —Costas counted 86 growth cycles in one of them. 

But we were very sorry to have lost the big beautiful almond tree that stood in front of our main terrace, under which we grilled the fig-leaf-wrapped fish.  Those of you who have been here probably remember it.

We hope this drought cycle will not be permanent, but temporary, as it has happened in the past. 

And with rain, we also look forward to welcoming

our day guests throughout the winter and into the coming spring. We have already planned the May 5-day spring cooking vacations, and also trips to Crete and Athens. So do check if you are interested and perhaps suggest other locations you would want to visit with us.