Ode to Astoria

I have lived in Astoria, home to the largest Greek population outside of Greece, for the past three and a half years. This means that I shopped at Titan Foods, ate at the Neptune Diner regularly, got my eyes checked at Odyssey Optical and Zeus took out my trash.

At the Aphrodite Restaurant (part of the Acropolis Apartment complex), I could get tzaziki to dunk my chicken nuggets into (it's a really good combination) while my boyfriend made dirty jokes about sea foam and smiles.

I have cooked with Minerva olive oil these past few years (yes, it was extra virgin), did my Homer homework on a stoop a block away from Hermes International Movers, ate cereal as I translated the Homeric Hymn to Demeter and essentially, lived amongst the Olympians.

And just as my odyssey in eating old food has recently acquired an Odyssean tone, I am accompanying my boyfriend on his own nostos. We are moving to the country, to his hometown. I suppose you could say that I'm going bucolic.

But first, a toast, with the Ithaca Beer Company's Apricot Wheat Ale, which somehow escaped Ancient Beer Drinking Night. Admittedly, it is from the Ithaca that is Gorges but I still think it suits us nicely today. Cheers.