We have a “condition” here in Athens; a very hot condition, indeed. We are boiling again. We are boiling inside a huge metal cauldron full with boiling water.
It’s 15:25 local time and the thermometer at my balcony shows 38 degrees C in the shadow. Weather forecast predicted, the heat will hit 40-41 degrees – in the shadow…. Can you imagine how it will be to be in the sun?
I wouldn’t mind at all to lay on a nice beach and jump from time to time into the cooling water. But today this is not possible.
Athenians are generally seeking refreshment during the hot weekends in nearby or far way beaches. Some friends have already left the city, entering their summer vacations. I am not due for vacation yet. I have ‘things’ to do, ‘issues’ to solve….
Hot Dogs in the summertime…
It used to be my favorite activity on summer weekends: beach, sea, ice cold drinks and hot dogs! Yeap! I am always carving for Hot Dogs or French fries when I am at the beach. I couldn’t help it! I have been hosting inside me this mysterious monster, carving for slightly greasy calorie-bombs in hot days, as long as I remember myself…Go figure! I often wondered where this need came from. From too much sweating and the need to restore minerals etc? From too much action like swimming and the need to restore lost calories? From too much sea side fresh air – which increase appetite, as grandmas used to say? I tend to believe it has rather to do with loss of body energy.
Of course, a hot dog doesn’t seem too greasy. The grease is well hidden inside the sausage, that’s a fact. I know, I know, health freaks, nutritionists, doctors, the cheapest womens’ magazine would advice you to eat light and healthy in summer, drink lots of water and stuff yourself with thousands of m2 full of green leaves. But a good hot dog right there next to a breaking wave is something not even high cholesterole could grab out of my hand.
When I was a teenager, they used to sell hot dogs – a snack not very common in Greece those days. They sold them only in one of the organized beaches in Athens, in Voula, where we used to go on Sundays. The bread rolls were stuck on iron sticks to keep warm. The sausages would swim in big jars full of water. I’d add only a bit of ketchup. They had a very special taste those hot dogs – a taste I could not find anywhere else and over the years. Maybe that special taste came from the non- frozen-dough- made, dry and tasteless rolls of today. Maybe they tasted good because the sausages were not so artificially colored dark pink, the meat was not looking dubious and the hard skin would not fall apart.
I was even wondering if that special taste was simply the taste of my care-free teenager years. Until I recently ordered a hot dog, saw it, bit in to it and … threw it away. A low quality and tasteless “nothing” costing EUR 2,90 ($3,74) !
Things can only get better…
Currently I am at home, watching my brain cells turn into mash.
A friend called this morning proposing a Sunday swim and lunch on a nice beach together with some other friends. I know her from my school years.
As we have grown out of the “teenager age” – it happened some centuries ago without a notice – I know, we won’t get satisfied only with a hot dog and a soda. We are demanding now, we have responsibilities. We believe we deserve better. So there will be a proper meal with starters, salads, main course and side dishes and wine or beer. Real Greek, real Sunday, real excursion. We will chat and swim. And in contrast to the past, when we used to get “fried”, we will stay away from the sun.
Life was not bad when we could afford only a hot dog and a soda… We had nothing to worry and care about. Even a hot dog was something we could eat without a second thought or suspicion..
