January 2018 - Week 3

Monday 15th to Sunday 21st January 2018

Monday I went to Eurosport in Birkikara and managed to buy a wide pair of new trainers. From there I went to get some A3 photocopies of various certificates and visited a doctor to get my application to register my birth in Ireland countersigned. I had planned to go to Eat Etna for coffee but it has closed down; a sign said, “Dolce Sicilia opening soon.” I went to Clara May instead. In the evening Tina came around for dinner (Chris is away) and we had roast chicken, baked sweet potatoes, runner beans, cumin and chilli scented pan fried carrots and stuffing followed by baked apples with cranberries and raisins. Delish!

Tuesday I visited a local car dealer just a five minute walk away to see if he wants to buy our car. We’ve done a deal which lets us keep the car right up to when we leave when he’ll take it for cash. For dinner we had left over chicken with chips.

Wednesday there was not much time for anything other than work and our Spanish lesson, though I did manage a power walk before dinner. For dinner I made minestrone soup.

Thursday I did a great power walk in amazingly good weather; 20°C or there about, a completely cloudless blue sky and virtually no wind. And my new Sketchers sneakers are fantastic too.

In the evening we went to Miracles for a drink then went on to a new restaurant, just off the main square, The Chef’s Table. The menu is interesting and a bit different with a variety of pasta dishes and burgers and even a couple of vegan dishes. Sam had linguini in a rabbit sauce which she enjoyed followed by a lamb kofta burger and chips. It was served in a flatbread rather than a bun so it wasn’t really a burger. I had goat cheese ravioli with asparagus and sun dried tomatoes to start. It was very tasty but stone cold. I asked the waitress if it was meant to be a cold starter and apparently not. Part of the problem I think is that they serve everything on cold plates. For my main I had a haloumi burger with chips. The chips were hot but the burger was cold; again the plates were stone cold. The restaurant has 30 covers and we were the only two diners there so you would have thought the chef would heat the plates. Anyway we complained about the main course being cold too. In the event they reduced the bill by 50% from €52 to €26 (including the wine). So, in effect it cost the restaurant €26 not to heat the plates. Stupid! And doubly stupid too because we won’t be going back and we will tell anyone who cares to listen about what’s wrong with the place and triply stupid because they can’t seem to get people to try the place in the first place. And all because the chef is too lazy to heat four plates!

We stopped off at Congusto on the way home for excellent ice creams; mint with chocolate and snickers.

Friday I went to Eurosport in Birkikara again and bought another pair of Sketchers trainers! Apart from flip-flops, I think I’m done stocking up on shoes. On the way home I stopped off at the Craft Village for a cappuccino. Most of it has been bulldozed and it is pretty much a big building site now. For dinner Sam had a home-made vegetable soup and I had a pizza.

Saturday we went for a walk at Armier and had cappuccini at Mambos. We went for a look around the large, recently refurbished hotels at Ramla Bay; they look okay in a mid-range resort hotel sort of a way. They certainly enjoy great views across the sea to Comino and Gozo.

In the evening Chris and Tina came around for dinner; we cooked a beef pie (beef casserole with lots of carrots and celery flavoured with onions, garlic, stock, thyme, chilli, tomato puree, salt and pepper all topped with a puff pastry lid) and had it with roasted parsnips, peas and mange tout. For pudding we had a giant box of chocolates that Chris had bought in his local minimarket; think quantity rather than quality!

It ended up being a rather bittersweet occasion. This is almost certainly the last time they will visit us at our flat here. They are moving to Gozo on Friday, then they have all sorts of travel plans and then it is only five weeks Wednesday until we go to Spain. Friendships like this don’t come along often.

Sunday we went to Miracles for cappuccini and people watching. Dark clouds skitted in from the North West so we didn’t linger too long. Sure enough showers came along so I couldn’t get out for a hike. I worked instead and got lots of jobs done. For dinner Sam had the left over beef stew and I had breaded cod with chips.