Just had really nice holidays in Kefalonia.

A Greek island we have not visited before, and its a really beautiful place. Not much in the way of tourism there ( the airport is tiny!) Its so good to see countryside of Greece.

Never seen such turquoise sea, and the land is so green and colourful flowers!

I'd like to share two special meals I had there.

One was when we had a day out touring the island. We were staying at Lourdas in the south. This day out had us driving round the island. When we have a day out like this I have learned to pack a bit of lunch for just in case ... and so I pack a box of yam/pp cakes in my suitcase and freeze them on arrival.. so theres enough for days out, and the plane journey home as well. Browns are often tricky abroad... I can report that Kefalonia had potato, all sorts of beans and rice cakes.

So we packed a cooler bag with water for the day and 2 buttered 'cakes' for me. My favourite sights were in Argostoli, the capital, which had big vegetable and fruit stalls right on the edge of the bay....Everwhere it seems there are allotments for growing vegetables for every home and taverna (every taverna boasts organic produce and you can see it growing right by the side! ) ... the turquoise sea and beaches.... and the fishing port of Fiskardo, where we stopped for lunch.

heres where a combined yam/pp in your bag comes in handy..with those I had the best lunch ever. We sat by the boats in the harbour and watched the world go by. I remember the colours being so stunning and bright. I chose Greek salad with feta cheese and extra olives. One thing that will stay in my mind was that when the waiter noticed we had a few wasps, he brought a dish of dry coffee.. Instant I think it was... and set fire to it! he said, wasps dont like it. Neither did DH , but I though the whole thing was fascinating.

My other memorable meal was in Lourdas and I got to choose because it was my birthday. We stumbled on the taverna on the first night and I loved it so much I wanted to go back there. They had a wedding area there too which I thought was marvellous, such a nice location, up a hill overlooking the sea, with a good view of those dry stone walls supporting woodland and greenery, and viewing the odd villa on the way down to the sea

as with every meal in Kefalonia it was a bit of a wrench saying no to the homemade bread that arrives with every meal ( I am gluten free) but the tastiness of everything else made up for it! I chose Gigantes beans ( a bit like big butterbeans) which were in a sauce of tomato and a tiny bit of cinnamon... that was a starter really but I could combine it.... charcoal grilled pork chop with a big salad.. and the edge of the plate was so pretty, it was sprinkled with parsley, and tiny tiny dice of yellow and red peppers.

I dont often have pudding, but for the occasion we went back to the villa and had some frozen greek yogurt

Im going to have a look online to see if I can find some authentic recipes. I am sure Greek food may be my favourite.Going to have souvlaki tonight which is grilled meat on the skewer and our weather is so hot its got to be greek salad with some oregano in it... I'm not ready to let go of greek things just yet!