Feb 2016 - Week 1

Radar station atop Dingli Cliffs

Monday 1st to Sunday 7th February 2016

Monday was unusually grey and quite breezy. I went to Qawra Fruit & Veg and stocked up on lots of good things. Pink grapefruits and apples are particularly good at the moment. Apart from a short walk we worked. For dinner we had left over lamb shanks casserole. Sam pulled the meat from the bones and added peas and served it with roasted potatoes. Delicious!

Tuesday was gorgeous so after a quick supermarket run I went for a long hike. I stopped at Kennedy Grove. When we first arrived in Malta it was a peaceful place, all but deserted, but they have since built a kids playground there so it is often noisy now. I took the lower path that shadows the salt pans but I even had to share that too! There seem to be a lot more tourists about all of a sudden. I see them milling around, window shopping and queuing at bus stops. Mind you, the bus company still hasn’t published its new timetable so none of us really has a clue what’s going on there.

Late afternoon I dropped Sam into Sliema where she met a couple of her girlfriends for an early dinner. She was back home for 8pm! For my dinner I made a Puy lentil lasagne which was fantastic. I have published the recipe for it on my food blog.

Wednesday we worked, cleaned and went for a short walk. Left over Puy lentil lasagne for dinner.

Thursday I made a chicken casserole for dinner. I covered a whole chicken with cold water, brought it to a boil, skimmed it then added chunky onions, carrots and celery. I flavoured it with basil, thyme, oregano, chilli, salt and pepper and simmered it for an hour. When the time was up I removed the chicken to a bowl to rest while I fried finely chopped onion in lots of butter, added flour and cooked it off for a minute or two. I then stirred in the chicken stock a ladle at a time until I had a thick gravy which I then stirred into the main stock to thicken and flavour it. I stripped the chicken meat from the carcass, roughly chopped it (apart from the legs which I left whole) and returned it to the stock. A quick tweak of the seasoning and hey presto, a delicious, wholesome and comforting chicken casserole.

Friday I went to Munchies at Golden Bay for breakfast, a cappuccino and a warm Danish pastry. I walked on the beach. A stiff breeze had kicked up and drove two metre waves hard onto the sand. Still some determined tourists sunbathed. I walked around the headland, past the recently restored tower and up to the highest point behind Riviera Bay to take in to views. An enormous container ship broke the horizon, oblivious to the rough sea. I drove to the ferry port at Cirkewwa and watched the Gozo ferries lurch across the channel; I’m glad I wasn’t on any of them.

Tonight our Italian class was down to just seven of us. That’s great; the fewer of us there are, the more intense the lesson. For dinner Sam had left over chicken casserole and I had my usual pepperoni pizza.

Saturday John came first thing to fix a leak in the bathroom. After that we went for a walk along Dingli Cliffs. Once again we had a cloudless blue sky, only the gentlest of breezes and temperatures into the mid-twenties. Weather really doesn’t get much better than this, and it’s still only early February! We stopped at The Cliffs restaurant for very good cappuccinos (if you order them extra hot they come just about hot enough).

On a whim we decided to drive south to Marsaxlokk for an impromptu lunch at Terrone. This was only our second visit there – the first was on Boxing Day – and the food was excellent once again. Sam had frito misto followed by risotto with vongole and peas. I had a salad of artichokes, pine nuts, preserved lemons, olive oil and honey followed by pappardelle with a slow cooked beef and tomato ragu. This really is one of our top five restaurants in Malta. There isn’t a fixed menu; rather they create the menu each morning once they have been to the markets and bought what looks fresh and good. Much of the menu is given over to fish and shellfish. Artichokes are in season now. I’m a real fan so choosing them was a no-brainer for me.

Terrone produces its own olive oil from an olive grove in Gozo. It is fantastic; green, fresh and fruity with a noticeably spicy aftertaste. At the start of the meal they bring you freshly baked bread with a small bowl of the olive oil and sea salt and cracked black pepper. It’s pretty much a perfect amuse bouche. We bought a bottle of the oil to bring home with us.

For dinner we had fish fingers and chips. That’s back to reality for you.

Sunday we had some friends around for a late lunch. Sam cooked a fab roast chicken dinner with all the trimmings. She cooked two corn fed chickens and they were excellent again. For pudding we had a mix of starciatella and kitkat ice creams form Sotto Zero. The good news is that there are left overs!