Now that it’s officially not summer anymore, and we’re all back to laboring after Labor Day, I finally uploaded my Greece photos. For the food-obsessed, here are the highlights, starting with Athens and getting settled on Mytilene.

In Athens, we ate lunch twice at a little taverna near our apartment. Everything was stupendously good.

But as usual, I wish I’d eaten more of the spaghetti. I just can’t quite make this magic happen at home, and it kills me.

We also had a great lunch at more of a modern hipster place, near Omonia. But no hipster nouveau-traditional restaurant I’ve ever been to has served shots of free hooch, unbidden, at the beginning of the meal. Raki all around, at 12.30 in the barely-afternoon, and then we had this. It looks like a mess but was actually a pretty presentation of a ndakos (Cretan rusk) salad. The juice from the tomatoes soaks the bread. On the right is our favorite brand of ouzo, Mini.

After Athens, we headed to Mytilene (aka Lesbos, and no, I will never stop leering). On the ferry, I received a wonderful invitation at the snack bar.

In Eressos, many friends and family joined us. That called for a certain festive atmosphere, provided handily by boxed wine. Ours had a socialist bent:

This led to lots of jokes about five-year plans, and then not doing anything at all.

We also invented a drink: watermelon juice and ouzo. Surprisingly delightful. We couldn’t decide what to name it: the Li’l Bastard and the Prince of Persia were top contenders.

By the way, there is some mild Mexican influence in Eressos, in the form of one Mexican co-owner of a cool bar. I think he might be singlehandedly responsible for introducing the idea of watermelon juice to our favorite beach cantina. As much as I resist homogenized beach culture, this was a great development.

And it’ll take a long while before this beach feels anything but Greek.