Published Sep 6, 2008
It’s not too late, you can still make it to the LA Greek Fest and enjoy the food, rides, and booze. If you’ve been down near USC you’ve probably noticed St. Sophia Orthodox Cathedral at Pico and Normandie. I had no idea they had a Greek festival there every year but the AIG heard about it on the radio at the gym this morning and, let’s face it, the prospect of grilled lamb is way too much for either of us to pass up.
After circling the venue a few times — turns out the traffic patterns were designed to only allow people to make right turns into the parking lots, and we tried to make left turns — we found parking in a nearby neighborhood with cute ’20s East Coast-style houses.
The Fest itself was clearly quite the place to be, what with the crowds and all:
We started out with some dolmades and kalamari, then took in a Greek cooking demo, where we learned to stuff things with other things, and layer other things with other things:1
The food looked so good that, at the end of the demonstration, other attendees literally pushed past the old lady in a walker to get to the samples. As the AIG dodged her way towards the sample table, another woman offered her a glass of Ouzo, explaining that she2 had forgotten that she2 hated Ouzo. The AIG took the Ouzo but, a few moments later, looked confused and then offered me the Ouzo. Apparently, she’d forgotten that she didn’t like the Ouzo too. Fortunately, I remembered I do like Ouzo3 so I took care of that for her.
We also learned how to dance, Greek-style. For some reason the concept of dancing in a circle seemed natural to me.
The visit to St. Sophia’s was a big highlight of the day too. Not only were we surrounded by beauty, but the priest gave a great and clear explanation of what exactly Orothodox Christianity is.
Also, the AIG took a super-hot picture of me:
Usually I look like a dork with my camera bag on. Apparently not in her eyes!
1 Principally eggplant.
2 That is, the other woman, not the AIG.
3 Or maybe it’s just that I like anything of appropriate strength.