Jan 2016 - Week 1

These are the mail boxes at the entrance to our apartment block!

Friday 1st to Sunday 10th January 2016

Friday we were up quite early as we hadn’t been partying the night before! We went for a walk around Mistra Bay. Although the weather was lovely, there was a bit of a swell and the sea was slightly murky. We drove up to the Selman Palace and walked around there for a while, then drove on to Fort Cambridge and walked there too. Fort Cambridge, an abandoned military base, is on the crest of a promontory with incredible 360° views.

The rest of the day I chilled while Sam made Limoncello with all of the lemons Chris and Tina had given to us. For dinner we had a standing rib roast but the meat turned out to be of terrible quality, chewy and tasteless. That’s why we usually stick to chicken!

Saturday Sam had a day sunbathing and pottering. The weather was perfect with a capital P so I nipped in to Sliema. After a quick cappuccino at French Affaire I hiked towards Marina and back, about five or six kilometres. For the most part the ticket touts left me alone. I may have been in a t-shirt and shorts but I am obviously a local now. You can tell by my tan and my mien and the fact that I am dressed almost entirely in black.

There is an area in Sliema called Sliema Ferries from where all the boat trips go; across to Valletta, around the three cities, the harbour tours and the trips to Comino, the Blue Lagoon and Gozo. But once you are clear Sliema Ferries, Sliema is quite peaceful in winter and I can walk the promenades without dodging tourists. I can look at the fish and the seaweed and the sand; I can marvel at the boats lying idle and wonder at their myriad registrations – Valletta, Douglas and London, to name but a few – and watch the umpteen fishermen who live in a world where hope triumphs over reality. To one side is Sliema Creek, an enormous calm, blue inlet sheltered from the elements, jam-packed full of “parked” boats enjoying beautiful views across to Valletta. To the other side, an endless row of shops, cafes and restaurants – Italian, Mediterranean, Thai, Tex Mex – you name it, you’ve got it, many awful but some real gems too selling Lavazza coffee and pan fried rabbit.

The traffic in Sliema is terrible; countless cars and trucks and vans and buses crawling nose to tail and spewing out fumes galore. And it’s noisy. The cars, the music, the people. And in part it is cynical, catering to an enormous transient tourist community. But you know what? I love it. It’s lively, it’s happening, it’s interesting and it has an energy that screams hope and optimism. I love it that our brand new coast road means I can jump in my car and be there in less than half an hour.

Back at home, I have a question. It cuts to the quick of the meaning of life. What is the difference between a meatball and a rissole? Purists may say that a rissole is a meatball that has been coated in breadcrumbs or pastry. I think it is more a question of size. A meatball is at most like a golf ball but usually smaller. A rissole though, is a bigger beastie, more like the size of a scone. Anyway, I took our bloody awful roasted beef and zapped it in a food processor to an inch of its life. I mixed it with breadcrumbs, seasoned it with paprika, smoked paprika, salt, pepper and cayenne and bound it with beaten eggs. I mixed it relentlessly, squeezed the life out of it, shaped it into scone-sized patties and chilled them until they were firm. Then I shallow fried them and served them with roasted potatoes, parsnips and a gallon of tomato sauce. Talk about plucking victory from the jaws of defeat! These rissoles were fantastic, a real testament to man’s superiority over chewy beef. Don’t mess with Kev.i.n!

Sunday Sam continued to potter! She’s explained pottering to me many times but I still don’t understand it. I had a walk, stopped for an ice cream at Sotto Zero – rum and raisin - and spent several hours watching darts on TV. In the evening we went to O’Reilly’s for a couple of beers then we went to HOS (House of Spice) for the first time. It is a newly opened Indian restaurant in Bugibba. It was very nice and I will write a review for it on my food blog.

Monday brought broken clouds which was perfect for power walking. I got in two walks; one in the morning and one after dinner. The holidays are over so it was back to work although I did watch some of the darts in the afternoon. For dinner I made a vegetable, bacon and lentil soup which was souper!

Tuesday we went to look around the sales in Sliema but didn’t buy much. I did a one hour power walk. It was very hot and humid and completely cloudless so I was exhausted at the end of it. Sam took down our Christmas decorations so the flat is pretty well back to normal. For dinner we had the second half of our vegetable, bacon and lentil soup.

Wednesday turned wet and windy for a change; it looks like the farmers have got their wish. On the odd occasion it gets very windy, we have to pile up all of the terrace furniture in one corner. We can’t risk it blowing overboard and falling four storeys below! For dinner I made piri piri chicken using a freshly made piri piri sauce which was brill as always. I have put the recipe on my food blog.

Thursday was wet, windy and grey for a change, so apart from dropping Sam off at her art class, we stayed in. We had left over piri piri chicken for dinner.

Friday the weather cleared again back to normal so we got out for our walks. While I was out at my Italian lesson Sam made a soup with gammon offcuts, pulses and vegetables which should last us for a few days. She had a bowl or two for her dinner; I stuck to my Friday night tradition and had a pepperoni pizza.

Saturday was a beautiful day. We went to Armier Bay and sat at a café in the sun sipping cappuccinos and soaking up the views across the sea. From where we sat we could see the eastern cliffs of Comino where The Guns of Naverone was filmed. The sea is still turquoise and clear, despite Thursday’s storm. A lot of seaweed has washed ashore and won’t be cleared away until the start of the main tourist season in the spring. We drove on to Ghardira Bay for a walk. With such good weather, the water sports enthusiasts were out in force; water bikes, ribs, Jesus boards, wind surfers and kayaks.

In the evening Chris, Tina and Lorraine came around for drinks and canapes then we went to Salt for dinner. It was excellent again. Sam and I both had the belly pork and it was perfectly cooked. We didn’t have starters as the main courses are so filling but I did try a banoffee parfait which looked beautiful but lacked flavour.

We find that two courses is a stretch these days. Apart from high days and holidays it’s a long time since we have had three courses. And many, if not most, good restaurants serve an amuse bouche and bread so if we have that and a starter and a main course we really struggle and end up bringing half of it home! I think we will start to have two starters or just a main course before too long.

Sunday I hiked to Xemxija and back. It was quite busy out and about as the ongoing perfect weather brought out throngs of locals for Sunday lunch in our numerous restaurants. For dinner we defrosted “something” from our freezer. We don’t label things so we never know what we are getting! Turns out it was boeuf bourguignon which we had with baked sweet potatoes and butternut squash.