December 2017 - Week 1 1/2

Friday 1st to Sunday 10th December 2017

Friday Linda and Mick came around after lunch as it was a drizzly day. We played dominoes, Uno and cards. For dinner I made spaghettini with courgettes, peppers, tomatoes, chilli, herbs and garlic and served it with mounds of garlic bread. I think we will stink for a week!

Saturday we went to visit Tina and Chris; she served us a home-made vegetable soup with crusty bread for lunch. In the evening I went with Linda and Mick to Cheeky Monkey for cocktails, then we went to The New Madras for a good Indian meal. After that we went and played pool and table football in Misty Blue, a bar around the corner from where Mick and Linda are staying.

Sunday we met up at Miracles for coffees. We wandered around the headland past Ta Fra Ben. In Qawra Sam cut off and headed home while Linda, Mick and I carried on past the salt pans, Kennedy Grove and the Sallini National Park. We had toasties and coffee and orange juice at the Donut Factory. In the evening we got take away pizzas from Portobello’s.

Monday we shopped and worked and had chicken with chips and sweet potato for dinner. Today was rainy and windy so I didn’t get out for a walk – again!

Tuesday we went to walk around Chadwick Lakes but they are still mostly dried out. The walk along the valley is picturesque and peaceful, though. From there we went to Mdina, stopping for drinks and cakes at the Palazzo Del Piero. We also wandered into Rabat for a short while. From there we drove on to the San Anton gardens; not much colour this time of year but calm and quiet and the variety of trees is always interesting. Finally we stopped off at the Military Cemetery. Unexpectedly many of the graves were for women and children who died in the early part of the last century. In the evening Linda and Mick came around for home-made vegetables soup with crusty bread.

Wednesday we had another great Spanish lesson. In the evening I met Linda and Mick at O’Reilly’s, then we went to Asian Kingdom for dinner. It is a restaurant that has reopened after being shut ever since we came to Malta. Anyway the room was modern but there was a freezing cold draft at the first table we sat at so we moved nearer the bar. Then a photographer arrived and he and his assistant set up a table with lights adjacent to our table to take photos of various dishes. It wasn’t a great problem and in some ways it was quite interesting, but it kind of spoiled the atmosphere a bit. The service was a bit keen and the staff were scruffy, dressed in blue jeans and printed sweat shirts. The food itself was pretty good by Maltese Chinese restaurant standards. There were many sushi options on the menu as well as traditional Chinese options. We opted for the fixed Chinese menu of starters plus mains for €16.50 and it was pretty good. Prawn pastries, spring rolls, a chicken kebab and prawn toast to start; then chicken and sweetcorn soup; then sweet and sour pork, kung po chicken, beef with black bean sauce and egg fried rice. I ordered a dessert – apple fritters with honey. They were awful; dried up apples with soggy batter and little or no honey. I sent them back for some honey to be added. I ordered them with ice cream and they charged extra for that! I have had that dessert umpteen times in Chinese restaurants all over the world (almost) and I have never before been charged extra for the ice cream. La piece de la resistance was that when we came to pay their card machine wasn’t working which, according to them was my card’s fault! The staff appeared in bulk to surround the table, demanding payment in cash which fortunately I had. The whole situation was unpleasant, unnecessary and I have to say, slightly menacing. So, if you want scruffy staff serving you reasonable food and want to end up being bullied into paying cash with an undercurrent of menace, Asian Kingdom is the place for you!

Thursday Sam did art and I wrote Christmas cards! Mid-afternoon we caught the bus to Valletta, an hour and 10 minutes but worth every bumpy moment. The views across Grand Harbour to Vitoriosa and beyond at sunset are amazing and tonight the horizon was crowded with dozens of massive container ships queuing for fuel. Valletta is now festooned with Christmas lights and they are amazing, particularly on Republic Street. We stopped to sip mulled wine at a pavement bar then went to the Ordnance Pub for dinner, as recommended by our friend Leslie. What was she thinking?! The food took ages to arrive; several diners were complaining about the wait. Mick had an okay hamburger, I had reasonable fish and chips in a what-do-you-expect-from-a-back-street-pub-kind-of-a-way but the sauce was sour, and Sam and Linda had steak and kidney pies. The pies were dried up and Linda asked for gravy which when it came was disgusting. She didn’t get charged for her meal. So, another rubbish restaurant to cross off the list.

After we got the bus back we went to Sun City for a nightcap, arriving in the middle of their pub quiz. The questions were embarrassingly easy so I don’t think we will be signing up for that any time soon. Finally, on the way home Sam and I stopped at Congusto for ice creams. Usually they are excellent but tonight they were very poor and we left them only half eaten. Food wise I guess it was just one of those days!

Friday I did a short walk and bought food for dinner. We had piri-piri chicken with savoury rice and for dessert we cut into Sam’s newly cooked Christmas cake. Yum Yum!

Saturday we walked along the ridge that runs from the Red Fort. It was windy but sunny, so it wasn’t cold. We drove on to Armier Bay and after a short walk went to Mambo’s for lunch; bruschette and a ftira. We drove to Madonna’s Chapel, then to Popeye’s Village at Anchor Bay. So basically it was a final grand tour of the north for Linda and Mick.

In the evening we met at Miracles then went to La Sopresa for dinner. For me French onion soup, a giant portion of ribs and snickers cake, for Sam a rib eye steak, for Mick a prawn cocktail, minute steak and cheesecake and for Linda sea bream which she had to send back as it tasted iffy, so a rib eye instead followed by profiteroles.

Sunday morning we went to Miracles for cappuccini. I was the only person out and about in shorts; everyone else was dressed like polar explorers. I know it may be cold for Malta but it is still 16°C for goodness sake! We had left over savoury rice for dinner; Sam had it with chicken and I had it with cashew nuts.