November 2017 - Week 2

Monday 6th to Sunday 12th November 2017

Monday Tina came around for dinner (Chris is away). Sam cooked roasted chicken and sweet potatoes and served them with left over veggies.

Tuesday we woke up to find the horizon cluttered with container ships, presumably sheltering from some high seas. The forecast was for showers so I did a power walk early on. In the event the showers held off so I got another good walk in after lunch. On the way I stopped in at a local garage that may be prepared to buy our car before we leave for Spain. The temperature dropped today and I even wore a shirt in the evening for a change! For dinner Sam had the left over chicken. I had savoury rice with cashews.

Wednesday I went to buy milk, then Jane Austen and I went for a cappuccino at the Donut Factory. For dinner I made a vegan curry sauce with onions, garlic, ginger, tamarind, vinegar, sugar, chilli, cayenne, turmeric, black pepper, salt, tomatoes and coconut milk and we had it with carrots, celery, baby sweetcorn, courgettes and red peppers. It was delicious!

Thursday I hiked the cliffs above Golden Bay again but was a bit limited in how far I could go by a number of hunters on the headland. Goodness knows what they are shooting at the moment but they were happily blasting away from their hides and their dogs were all excitement. Sam went to her art class in Mosta and on the way home her bus had to do an emergency stop; some people were thrown from their seats and those standing ended up on the floor! For dinner we had pizzas. I went for a walk after dinner as I usually do but tonight, for the first time, I noticed that I was the only person out and about still wearing shorts. I confess the evenings have become cooler but not that much!

Friday morning I had planned to go out but a storm blew up as if from nowhere. Thunder, lightning, torrential rain, hailstones and a wind so fierce our patio furniture danced a fair old jig. It blew over by mid-afternoon by which time reports were coming in from all over Malta of localised flooding. It’s all very exciting but not at all what we expect in November. For lunch I turned our left over vegetable curry into a soup by adding vegetable stock; it was fantastic.

In the evening we went to O’Reilly’s for a couple of beers while we discussed where to go for dinner. We fancied trying something a bit different so we went to La Stalla. The name translates to the stall, as in horses, and yes, horse stew is on the menu (as is rabbit). The walls are decorated with animal heads (vegetarians stay home) and, incongruously, posters of 1950s film stars. It is a large restaurant and the tables are laid with plastic table cloths; no fine dining here. There were plenty of diners so the atmosphere was good.

As to the food, on a cookery show they would call it good honest grub. I would call it pretty good food on a budget. They bought complimentary bread and galletti with butter and a bean and chilli paste. Sam ordered a lamb shank and I had two pork chops. They were served with vegetables (carrots, peas, cauliflower, roasted potatoes and chips) and I also had a pepper sauce with my chops. It was all very tasty and the vegetables were properly cooked. The gravy and pepper sauce were floury and the pork wasn’t the most tender of offerings. But the service was friendly and – here’s the kicker – including a bottle of okay wine and a bottle of water it was only €34 all in (that’s about £31)! Oh, and one of the menu choices was, “Chicken Gordon Blue” – honestly!

On the way home we stopped off at Sotto Zero for great ice creams.

Saturday I shopped and cooked ahead of Linda and Mick arriving tomorrow. It was an unusually grey day and quite humid for my afternoon power walk. For dinner I bought a corn fed chicken from our local butcher which Sam roasted and we had with oven chips.

Sunday Linda and Mick arrived for their four weeks stay. They are staying in a flat about a 10 minutes’ walk away. We had a wander to show them the area around their flat then went to the promenade for a drink in Bognor (a bar Sam won’t go in because of its name). For dinner I cooked us all a chilli con carne which bought Mick out in a bit of a sweat!