Dec 2015 - Week 5

Maltese fishing boat at Marsxlokk

Monday 28th to Thursday 31st December 2015

Monday we had a quiet day in. Sam had bought me a set of three food themed crossword puzzles for Christmas and I did most of one of them. We had anti pasta for dinner, using up a fridge full of left overs.

Tuesday we drove to the Blue Grotto. Sam hadn’t been there before and I think she now shares my view that it epitomises all that is worst about mass market tourism; hordes of tourists being bussed to a man-made “attraction” consisting mainly of naff souvenir shops and down-market cafes. From there we went to LIDL, another first for Sam and another experience she probably isn’t desperate to repeat! On the way home we pulled over at the Mosta fast food van which freshly barbecues pork each day. We had pulled pork baps which were dry, under seasoned and fatty. We enjoyed being out and about and doing slightly different things but this wasn’t perhaps our most successful day out in Malta! For dinner Sam managed to cobble together even more left over roast chicken dinner. I had a pizza with pepperoni, sweetcorn and chipotle sauce, which tasted a lot better than it sounds.

Wednesday we tried to go to Mgarr but the police had closed off the road. We went to Munchies at Golden Bay instead and had excellent cappuccinos and bacon toasties for breakfast. We walked on the beach for a while, then drove over to Mellieha and had a longer walk on Ghadreia beach which was completely sheltered from the slight breeze. While we were there we had a look around the Mellieha Holiday Village which is nicknamed locally as the Danish Village as it is owned by a Danish company that runs it similarly to Centre Parcs. It looked very nice with well spread out “villas” in tidy gardens and open views. Can’t comment on the restaurant menu as much of it was in Danish!

In the evening we went to Dine @ 33 for the first time. It is literally two doors across the road from us which is why we haven’t been to it previously – it hardly feels like going out! But it was excellent. I will review it on my food blog.

Thursday we did a supermarket shop and I made a cauldron of chilli con carne. I kept my walk close to home as dark clouds were lurking overhead but in the end it didn’t rain. I had a scoop of cherry ice cream at Sotto Zero. I think I’ll be giving up ice cream in the new year. We had our chilli with rice and tortilla chips and followed it up with a slice of Christmas cake with cheddar cheese. I think I’ll be giving up Christmas cake in the new year too!