Opa!

Every May St. Sophia's Greek Orthodox Church on Whitehall Road in Albany holds their very popular Greek Festival. It seems like most years we are out of town or forget all about it until it is too late. Not this year!

You can go in to their community room and be served a delicous Greek dinner and dessert. It is cool and comfy and a great spot to eat if you want to sit and relax and be waited on. The meals are a bit more expensive, but you get salad and bread with them so it probably evens out.

Michael, Zoe and I opted for the big tent experience. There are tables and chairs in the middle, and at one corner is a Greek band playing music that makes you want to get up and dance. All around the perimeter are food tables-spanakopita (phyllo pockets filled with feta, onion, spinach and spices), antipasti platters of olives, tapenades and other yummy spreads to slather on warm pita bread, gyro's of succulent lamb, chicken and beef, and savory traditional Greek Salads. (Don't even get me started on the pastry tables!)

For $20 we were able to get a large Greek salad with chicken, a chicken soulvaki and a large water.

Zoe and I split the Greek salad, the lettuce was pre-tossed in their oily-oregano filled dressing. I don't find Greek dressings to have a vinegary taste, which usually is a deal breaker for me but the blend of delicious olive oil, pepper and oregano makes it work. I walked down the salad line and said yes or no to each of the toppings offered-yes to tomato, no to anchovies, yes to cucumbers but no to pepperonci's, and a big yes to feta cheese.

Michael got in the gyro line, as he said it is like waiting in lines at Disney-you walk through the maze of ropes waiting for your turn to let your tongue go on a tasty ride. Unfortunately for him they were sold out of the lamb gyro, so he got chicken soulvaki. Same chicken as on our salad, but with fresh sliced tomato, yogurt sauce all wrapped in a warm pita.

I also bought us a dish of Loukoumades-which are essentially Greek Donut holes-puffs of dough are deep fried, tossed in honey, then sprinkled with your choice of toppings-cinnamon, powdered sugar, nuts. I asked for a small, they laughed and handed me a dish that had at least 25 of the little bites of deep fried goodness inside.

It was great to be able to attend the festival. We supported a church in our neighborhood and even more importantly we introduced Zoe to a new culture. She watched Greek dancers, ate piles of feta cheese and saw the Greek flag.

It is so nice to see the entire community come out for St. Sophia's each year. It is a huge undertaking for the church but THEIR community comes together and makes it happen-all with a smile on their faces. The thousands of pastries, the mountains of onions to slice, the lambs to be roasted-they do it all and our community benefits from their pride in the Greek heritage.

It is too bad that we don't see more events of this magnitude in our area. In the meantime, I will put the 2011 festival on our calendar so we don't miss out!

It will be delicious!