I first thought of this book ten years ago as a gift I wanted to give my mother for her eightieth birthday. My sister Katerina and I first mentioned it on November 29, 2010, the day of her birthday, when she would take care of the recipes. At that time, I wrote in the preface of the first edition: Today my mother turns eighty years old, and in a few hours I am leaving Paris for Athens. One thought torments me and wakes me up at dawn: The gift, I haven't gotten a gift! Surely I will stop by the good "cheese shop," not the best one because it is closed on Monday, to buy French cheese. In the evening, we will meet with our father and my siblings at the hospital, where once again my mother is bedridden with a broken leg for two and a half months.

There we will celebrate her birthday. A bottle of good red wine, Katerina and Dora will take care of the sausages and cold cuts, and I will bring the cheese. It is the best we can do. But it is not enough. My thoughts run wild. What can I really do to help her in this difficult moment she is going through? What is it that could give her a perspective, help her regain her zest for life, the strength to fight once more, and bring her back to us, to her home?