A few years ago I made donuts at home for the first time. To some, this may feel trivial, and to others, impressive. Personally, I was in awe. Moi? Me? I can make donuts at home?!<\/em> It was as if I\u2019d discovered how to print money on a 2002 LaserJet. I was surprised by how easy the process was and shocked by how judgmental, or perhaps intimidated, I\u2019d previously been by the idea of deep frying at home.<\/p>\n To some, this epiphany may sound basic. As a child of latkes, I wasn\u2019t a total stranger to frying food at home, but, growing up, frying was not in our regular repertoire, nor did I seek it out in early adulthood. Of course, I love a fried good\u2014fried chicken, fried dumplings, samosas, katsu<\/a>, empanadas<\/a>, donuts<\/a>\u2014you name it, I love it. But for some reason, I compartmentalized these items as \u201cthings I eat out.\u201d<\/p>\n In reality, frying simply refers to cooking food in hot oils and fats, and therefore encompasses everything from a light saut\u00e9 to a shallow fry to deep frying. When you think of it that way, frying doesn\u2019t feel like such an unattainable home cooking experience\u2014in fact, we\u2019re mostly all doing it already, even if we don\u2019t know it.<\/p>\n In 2014, I moved to Greece and lived there for a few years. Seasonality in Greece is very strong, especially during the summer. There\u2019s a specific air and expectation about summer in Greece\u2014it\u2019s essential to be by the sea, enjoying oneself. We\u2019re talking sea, salt, and sun on a national level. With that comes specific foods and drinks that orbit the days and nights: cold coffee in the morning, chilled fruit, cold drinks, and ice cream in the afternoon, and salty, heavier foods in the evening. As I noticed my own cravings adapt to this rhythm, I found that fried dishes became a very appealing treat after a day by the sea.<\/p>\n Years later, I reflected on this trend. I also made that donut. Stars aligned, I saw the figurative light, and I realized that I could make so many of my favorite Greek fried dishes at home on demand, from oven-roasted potatoes swimming in olive oil to fried fritters<\/a>, to doughy desserts<\/a> (all of which indeed constitute fried food). The more I fried, the more confident I became, and soon, any and all oil-based projects felt attainable.<\/p>\n