Pseudo Greek

I've never been to Greece; the closest I've come is watching "Zorba the Greek" when it was the coolest movie around. I have heard friends extol the beauties of Greece the wonder of its cuisine but, so far, I haven't experienced it first hand.

My father, mother, sister and brother went once briefly - they came back amazed by the blue skies and ancient culture but rolling their eyes and groaning at Dad's joke: He would point to the street and shop signs in Athens and say, "See all those signs? It's all Greek to me."

Ouch.

However, despite my lack of Greek experience, by a series of happenstances I ended up with a fridge full of Greek-style ingredients - a couple of lamb shoulder chops, some leftover brown rice, purple onion, garlic, tart black olives, fresh marjoram from the garden, a lemon, green onions, a zucchini and a summer squash, and some feta cheese.

I slapped the chops on the grill while I chopped and sliced all the other ingredients including cutting little cubes of the firm feta and stripping the leaves off the marjoram stems. I cut the zucchini and the summer squash in chunks and laid them alongside the chops on the grill to get striped. Reheated the rice and plated that while the red onion and garlic sautéed in a wide pan, then added the olives, cherry tomatoes, zucchini, summer squash and marjoram leaves to the pan to heat briefly together after the striping was accomplished. At the last minute, I added the green onion and squeezed a lemon's worth of juice over the veggies to sparkle the flavors. The chop went on top of the rice, alongside all those colorful veggies and I laid a line of feta cubes between the two for accent.

Okay, here's the lesson: the word pseudo is from the Greek, meaning "false" or "lying" but I'm not lying when I tell you this was the best meal I've made in weeks and weeks. When do we leave for Greece?

Spoiled

Grilled Greek lamb kabobs and corn on the cob. Steamed chard with garlic chips. All lovingly cooked and presented by My Beloved and all I had to do was whine a little bit about how tired I was after a day of laundry, vacuuming and dog walking without even an afternoon nap.

The kabobs were really delicious, steeped in yogurt and lemon juice at the store before he purchased them. The corn was fresh, firm and slicked with butter - and the grilling gives it an almost nutty flavor. This is his patented Swiss chard preparation, the one he used to introduce me to this wonderful veg many years ago. All he did was melt some butter, gently sauté the garlic in it, then add the chard with the water from washing just clinging to the leaves, put on the lid and wait about five minutes - it is always delicious. And revivifying. I may summon enough energy now to carry our dessert down the hall and settle in in front of the television, right next to the sweet guy who spoiled me so nicely today.