Happy New Gyros

On Sunday the kids were all here, it was snowy outside and we didn't want to cook but we also didn't want to risk driving anywhere either so I suggested getting something to take away...

The first votes were for pizza of course but then Nicky, my older daughter, started brainwashing the rest of the family to want Greek. She has a real talent for brainwashing!

So we all wanted Greek...but what exactly? Well, with Nicky's help, we settled on a poikilia for five persons and gyros for four...we phoned the local Greek and a couple of us trudged out into the whirling snow to get the grub.

Fortunately, we got there a little before they had finished preparing it so there was time for a quick beer - just to while away the moments of waiting - and an ouzo or two on the house and it was in a happy hungry mood that we crunched back through the blizzard.

The others had laid the table so we got started on our starters straight away...tzatziki, tarama, melitzanasalata, saganaki, florines, dolmadhes...mmmmmmm - washed down with the smooth retsina I had got for my birthday...and with the aroma of the gyros warming in the kitchen drifting into the dining room.

The starters were getting well snaffled and plates were being wiped with pitta bread when Tanja Maria went out to get the meat - she brought it all in, steaming in a big Greek oven pan - a tapsi - garnished with onions, fresh parsley and wedges of lemon - caught her sleeve on a chair...and sent the whole panful flying - as we all looked on in shock and disbelief...gyros tumbling gracefully in slow motion through the air and down onto the floor with a clatter as the pan landed alongside it all - demonstrating, in an experiment I am sure Gallileo had never thought of, that Newton's Laws hold true even in the Newton household...

I found myself gabbling, "it will still be ok to eat, it will still be ok to eat..."

But it wasn't. Even though the floor had not long before been vacuumed, the meat was all dusty and fluffy and gritty and basically..bleaaaargghhhh!

So we had to phone the restaurant again and they found our Greek food tragedy all very amusing...we could hear the cackles of laughter from the kitchen down the telephone..."sto patoma, sto patoma, re!!" ("on the floor!").

A different delegation was sent out to bring back the meat and it all went well. The Greeks said they had given us extra large portions this time and that we should call back if anything else went wrong.

If they had had my so-called sense of humour (fortunately they haven't), they would have sent a Xmas card with the second lot of food and written on it...

"Merry Xmas and a Happy New Gyros!"