i’d been meaning to make spanakopita for ages. what’s not to like? all crunchy pastry and salty fetta and dilly spinach. it seemed like the time was nigh when i walked past my local fruit shop and a table was piled high with $1.99 bunches of spinach. a week, two weeks, i walked by, always thinking, hmm… must get some filo pastry and then i’ll be set. already there was a block of fetta in my fridge.

so, wednesday i finally remembered to get a packet of filo at the supermarket, and went by the fruit shop, and the spinach was back up to $2.49. but it didn’t matter — i was on a mission! when i got home, with my filo and two bunches of spinach and a bunch each of dill and spring onion, i was quite unthrilled to read the side of the pastry packaging, which said: thaw completely at room temperature for at least four hours, or overnight in the fridge and then two hours at room temperature. hrm.

so, thursday, i googled “spanakopita recipe” and spent an hour or so walking in between the kitchen and the computer, being methodical. and then there it was: spanakopita. yummy, crunchy, salty, dilly spanakopita.

the dinner was made all the more pleasant by the prospect of cakes for dessert. mmm… plural cake. these were purpose-bought that afternoon at christopher’s cake shop, a tiny greek bakery behind taylor square. the evening’s selection included something which was a chocolate rum ball mixture coated in ground almond cake coated in dark chocolate, a cherry strudel, and a couple of things involving cake and ground almonds and filo. as you can see, there is no such thing as too much filo (or too much cake).