July 2017 - Week 1

Saturday 1st to Sunday 9th July 2017

Saturday we had a really fun time at Tina and Chris’s. We went to their house, had a few scoops, and a swim in their pool, then had lunch – loads of mixed salads with BBQed lamb chops followed by sesame ice cream and fruit – then we played all sorts of good music, had an impromptu guitar sing-a-long and we were even sent home with a portion of chilli con carne for our dinner!

They have a lovely house, there’s no doubt, but being in the country they do have to share it with the wildlife. There are the ubiquitous flies, wasps, bees, ants, mosquitoes, lizards and skinks. And also the occasional scorpion. But worst of all, they have a constant battle with rats. Rats nest all around the garden and pool area, they climb the walls and go up onto the roof. Chris puts lots of rat poison around the area which leads to lots of smelly dead rats. One was lying on the grass by the pool when we arrived. That was lobbed from a handy shovel over the wall into the field beyond. Then as we sat there another rat staggered across the lawn, blood pouring from one eye. Tina shovelled that one over the wall too. I don’t think I’ll moan about the occasional fly in our flat again.

Sunday it’s fair to say we both had slight hangovers. So, that was a good enough excuse for us to do as little as possible. I nipped to the local corner shop to buy tuna pizzas for dinner and I built a jigsaw puzzle and I read my book and at the end of all that I felt exhausted!

Monday the temperature got back to normal; that is, the mid-30s! We worked and shopped and for dinner I cooked chicken with garlic (a whole bulb, believe it or not) and lemon. It was pretty good but not great so the recipe will need a good bit of tweaking.

Tuesday we were very busy so didn’t have a chance to get out. For dinner I made a soup with gammon, onions, bay leaves, potatoes, green peppers, cannellini beans and paprika. It was like dining in a Budapest soup kitchen. I thought it was great. Sam thought it tasted like hot dogs!

Wednesday I went shopping in Sliema, stopping off for brunch in French Affaire. For dinner Sam had a salad-come-anti pasta plate and I had left over soup.

Thursday morning we went to Maya Beach Café at Ghardira. After cappuccini Sam went for a swim while I read. I’m rereading Mansfield Park at the moment and loving every moment. The prose is rich and witty and the characters beautifully drawn; Jane Austen really was in a league of her own. By a country mile she is my favourite author, albeit that Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre is still my favourite story. On average I read about two books a month, an eclectic mix of fiction and non-fiction. To give you an idea, my last six books have been; The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (non-fiction about British saboteurs in WW2), The Mystery of the Blue Train (Agatha Christie), Over the Wire (an autobiographical WW2 prisoner of war escape story), Dr No (Ian Fleming), The Wolf (a gangster novel) and Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death (M C Beaton). But no matter what I enjoy reading, I still get drawn back to the wonderful 19th century English novelists. I read Pride and Prejudice nearly every Christmas and have done so for years.

Anyway, back to reality, we worked in the afternoon and ate pizzas for dinner in front of the TV!

Friday evening we kicked off Sam’s birthday celebrations which we are spreading out over a couple of weeks. We went to Miracles for cocktails, then on to Acqua Marina again. This time Sam had excellent frito misto and I had a surprisingly bland pasta dish with cherry tomatoes, spinach, mushrooms, courgettes and peppers. We went on to Congusto for amazing ice creams.

Saturday with the temperature hitting 40°C+ we didn’t stray far. I went for a short walk to a nearby café and back. For dinner Sam had a rib eye and I had a pork chop. I brined it for an hour, then roasted it and it was meltingly tender and tasty.

Sunday we worked in order to get ahead given Sam’s birthday week is coming up. For dinner I made an excellent macaroni cheese using a mix of strong cheddar, emmenthal, parmesan and cayenne.