January 2017 - Week 1

Sunday 1st to Sunday 8th January 2017

Sunday we had an appropriately lazy day! We sat round, with the heating on, watching movies. For dinner we had a roasted corn-fed chicken (which was superb) with sweetcorn and chips.

Monday was another lovely day – blue skies, no wind and 21°C – and we went for a long walk. We stopped at both Eatetna and Miracles along the way and had cappuccini at both. There are quite a few tourists about at the moment, still braving shorts and T-shirts. But generally it is relatively quiet now with a number of bars and restaurants closed for a winter break. The Japanese tuna boats have left the bay now and we don’t expect to see them again until the autumn. For dinner I made savoury rice to go with our left over chicken. My plan is to eat a vegetarian diet at home for the rest of this month although I may tackle some meat or fish when we eat out.

Tuesday we did all our supermarket shopping, got back into work and I did a great power walk! For dinner we had a home-made vegetable soup, savoury rice with cashew nuts and, for me for dessert, poached apricots with cinnamon, honey, pistachios and yogurt.

Wednesday a gale arrived which is expected to stick around until Friday and we had a few showers to boot. It’s still sunny, though we didn’t venture out. We got lots of work done. For dinner I cooked Portobello mushrooms and sweet peppers in a sauce of onions, garlic, carrots, celery, chillies, thyme, vegetable stock, tomato puree, umami paste, marmite, Guinness and red wine vinegar and I loved it but Sam was not so keen.

Thursday we continued with a force 8 northerly. I went to The Apple’s Eye for a cappuccino and nipped to our local minimarket for milk but other than that we stayed in and worked. Sam made an excellent vegetable soup full of leeks and turnip which we had for a starter and for our main we had left over mushroom and pepper stew.

Friday we went to look at the waves at Armier Bay and Paradise Bay. We had cappuccini at Munchies at Ghardira Bay then had a look around the Mellieha Bay Hotel. It was very quiet, of course. There is something appealing about tourist resorts and attractions and hotels out of season.

On the way home we stopped off at a new supermarket that has opened in Mellieha. It looks very good, and cheaper than we are used to, so we plan to do some shopping there for a change.

I cooked a fresh tomato soup for lunch and also cooked some Puy lentils to make a lasagne with for the weekend.

In the evening we had dinner at Da Rosi. We chose it because it is just two blocks away and we still have a gale blowing and even hailstorms! It is a lovely venue but the food is like eating at a motorway truck stop – huge portions of mixed quality food. Sam had braised rabbit again, not quite as good as last time. I had a warm spinach, mozzarella and Parma ham tartlet which tasted quite nice but was served on a mound of soft lettuce with a few cherry tomatoes chucked on for good measure. I think the chef must have been off sick the day they taught the food presentation class. For my main I ordered the beef olives. There were two of them and they were huge; I couldn’t manage one. The stuffing was too dense and the tomato sauce they were served with was little more than hot chopped up tomatoes. The vegetables – courgettes, aubergines, mixed peppers and carrots - were raw. I complained and the waiter told me it was my fault for not ordering them cooked! We were supposed to have a mixture of chips and roasted potatoes. Instead of the roast potatoes we got a triangular potato cakes straight from the freezer section! My pudding was good; cassata ice cream. So, our first visit to Da Rosi last week was good but this week it wasn’t. The jury is out on whether or not we will try it again.

Saturday we went to view an apartment in Qawra just because we think we should see what is available in our price range. We will view more apartments but we have no particular wish to move. We had excellent cappuccini at Eatetna than drove over to Xemxija Café for great bacon and egg Ftiras. It continues to be exceptionally cold; the airport in Sicily was closed due to snow today! For dinner I made a Put lentil lasagne which was delicious as always.

Sunday I went for a walk along the prom. It is still very cold but sunny and bright and the sea looks gorgeous. I stopped at Miracles for a cappuccino and read my Kindle for a while. Sam baked another Christmas cake for us! For dinner we had left over lasagne.