scientists and their banquets ένα

The statement that most confuses me in the English language is: I love airports.

I'm sorry, uh... I don't understand what you just said. 

The reasonings are usually the same, and I can respect them.  People watching, a favorite pastime of mine - in coffee shops and parks though.  Inactivity while still feeling productive - if I wasn't always trying to figure out how to sleep sitting up.  Being surrounded by chatter in so many different languages.  Something I've never really paid attention to... because everyone's faces always look so glum and exhausted and annoyed.

But in Chania, I heard the chatter in so many different languages.  So many countries were represented at the conference, so many braniac people talking science and things in Greek and German and Korean and Polish... and accented English.  And everything else I didn't recognize.

We missed the opening banquet due to a good 24 hours straight of airpots and planes - as if I needed another reason to hate the traveling part of traveling.  But the first official conference dinner was held a walk away at Palio Arhontiko.  I was skeptical about where so many people would fit if not in a hotel ballroom/conference room, but they filed us all into several long banquet tables.  This was going to be a family style dinner... with nine courses... lasting three hours.

They usually charge for the bread basket, but we didn't find that out until our first meal not provided by Aegean Conferences.  At restaurants, you can be assured that the delivery of a free bread basket would be followed by my dad berating, "Don't eat too much!"  Save room for the main meal.  Well that proves to be a difficult task when olive oil/vinegar/pepper are sitting on the table.  And the balsamic was flavored with honey.  And they brought out olive paste and sun dried tomatoes.  And I have a weakness for sauces.  And bread is the perfect vehicle.


Salad
Cretan - I think we all know what a Greek salad is, so yes, this is not so different.  I liked it better than the other plenty a'many Greek salads I've had, though, for the herbs and sweet balsamic.
Chickpeas - a favorite.  I slowly began to catch on that "salad" often means puree or mush (will revisit this thought).  I don't know if I would've figured out exactly what this was if not for the provided pre fixe menu, but the creamy chickpea "salad" went so nicely with the salty pieces of anchovies.

Apps
Keftedakia (meatballs with ouzo) - I was thrown off by how sweet they were, but two seconds later, I wanted ten more.  Putting these on my ever-growing to-make list.
Cretan gruyere in phyllo - who doesn't love warm things stuffed with cheese, right?  Except I could've done without the candy-like jelly.
Kalitsounia (herb and/or cheese pies but herb pies in this case) - the extent of my research into Greek cuisine and restaurants before going to Greece went as far as watching episodes of Bourdain and Zimmern, but since my family is not gung-ho about going out of the way to seek out a food establishment, the only thing I fully committed to memory is "wild greens."  Not entirely sure if the filling counted as that.  Strong taste that reminded me of the pork and fennel dumpling, and as much as I liked the fried empanada-like shell too, I ended up scooping out the filling from all the leftover pies.
Peppers stuffed with feta - roasted peppers = love.  Stuffed things = love.  Refer back to warm things stuffed with cheese = more love.
Stuffed mushrooms - Still love that they stuff everything.  This time with ground pork and, you guessed it, cheese.

We picked at appetizers into the night.  The sun set on stuffed mushrooms, and then there was some waiting and guessing and digesting time before they brought out the..

Main
Lamb with potatoes - so tender, fell right off the bone.

Dessert, assorted
Ekmek
Baklava
I think desserts were my least favorite.  I enjoyed a bite of baklava (followed by several glasses of water), and found a couple crave-able sweets later on, but overall, the desserts are too cloyingly sweet.  Like I said, I need to be prepared with much water before diving into one.