RC3: Wandering Oia

On the day of O+J's Santorini wedding, we enjoyed breakfast by our villa's pool before heading into the town of Oia for some early afternoon exploring.

Villa Pool

Villa

Most of the hotels and other buildings in Oia are built right into the cliff.  The white town is charming and full of steep steps and beautiful pool decks.

Though we did not do a lot of shopping, we appreciated the ingenuity of the various offerings.

We ate lunch at an airy outdoor restaurant where the breeze passing through the covered patio kept us cool.  Tzatziki and spanakopita.

The iconic blue domes of Santorini

Some of the steep steps leading down to other villas

We returned home with enough time for a quick nap at the Villa before getting ready for the wedding festivities that evening.

The wedding was a gorgeous event--the bride was stunning and the couple was glowing the whole night.  It was a pleasure to witness their marriage.  Cheers to O+J!

VDP: Blackened Fish Tacos

I have a few remaining photos to share from the end of our trip, but in the mean time, I wanted to share the photos from the awesome Virtual Dinner Party we had with 6 guests a few weeks ago.  

A few days before our party, we gathered ingredients for blackened fish tacos.  The 6 guests came from 3 houses, so everyone had slightly different twists to their tacos.  I used a frozen white fish from Trader Joe's, defrosted and rubbed with a combo of blackening spices. 

Using this recipe as inspiration, we blackened then pan-seared the fish, caramelized red onions, mixed up a cilantro-lime crema to go on top, and put together some amazing tacos!  These are easy and will be making frequent appearances on our weekly menus in the future.

Blackening seasoning: cumin, paprika, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper
Cilantro-lime crema: plain Greek yogurt, cilantro, salt, lime zest, squeeze of lime
Tortillas: corn tortillas are traditional, but I picked up some "truly handmade flour tortillas" from Trader Joe's, and they were delicious!  And one day, I will make tortillas from scratch.
Additional toppings: avocado, cheese, cilantro, salsa, corn salsa, beans, jalapenos, and a squeeze of lime.

An IPA or pale ale is a great match.

Thanks to my cohosts for a great dinner!

RC3: Rehearsal Dinner

After our pirate ship cruise around Santorini's caldera on Saturday, we snuck in a nap before it was time to get fancied up for the rehearsal dinner.

This is our view from our hotel room.  We did have time for a quick dip in the pool before a nap.



We arrived at the rehearsal dinner, hosted in a wine cave of the excellent Santorini winery, Vinsanto.  Two musicians were playing for us; the man on the right is playing an ancient instrument fashioned from a goat turned inside-out.

The rehearsal dinner began with cocktails outside...

...and we moved into the wine cave for an incredible Greek dinner.

After about 15 courses of amazing food, we moved back to our villas, where we launched lanterns into the night sky, sending good wishes to the soon-to-be-married couple.

A great day in Santorini...we were anxious for what was to come.

RC3: Amalfi to Santorini

On the last morning on the Amalfi Coast, we left our cute Positano hotel early to begin a 7-stop trip to get to Santorini Island, where we were heading to celebrate our good friends' wedding.  We were sad to leave Positano and the gorgeous coast, but it was nice to know we still had a fun weekend ahead of us.

Positano to Sorrento to Naples to Rome to the Roman Airport to Athens, where we spent the night at an airport hotel, to Santorini the next morning.  Our flight left at 5:30am from Athens, so we got to watch the sun rise on our flight.




It was windy when we arrived in Santorini, and a little chilly.  But we overlooked this when we saw the breakfast the bride had ordered for us, in anticipation of our early morning start!

Greek omelets = our new favorite.

After a few hours to get situated and catnap, we met up with the rest of the wedding party for a boat cruise around Santorini's caldera.

We boarded the pirate ship and set sail for a swimming hole with hot springs.

Check out that water color. Bubbles rose up from the bottom, indicating the warm pockets of water caused by the hot springs.  The red clay sand was more slimy than usual sand...it was so weird!

The middle island in Santorini's caldera is a volcano.  Some parts still have no plant growth and look like fresh, black lava.  Other parts have some plant life, with sharp teeth-like points popping up:

We anchored down off the coast of Therasia, another island on the outer rim of the caldera.  The water was so deep blue and clear--we could see nearly to the very deep bottom.  The water temperature was perfectly refreshing (island air temperatures were in the low 80s while we were there.)  

We dried off and enjoyed a traditional Greek feast--spanakopita, tzatziki, baba ganoush, Greek salad, grape leaves, sausage, and local wine.

After lunch, we finished the sail around the island--Oia, the largest and most recognizable town, above and below.



Greek dancing commenced.

We ended the cruise in Thira, with just enough time for a quick nap before the rehearsal dinner festivities began.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to the most wonderful Dad out there!

I love you, Dad!