July 2015 Blog

 

Monday 27th to Friday 31st July 2015

 

Monday I didn’t get out apart from a quick dash (actually, a slow slog) to the shops.  Roasted chicken with ancho chilli sauce and roasted veggies for dinner.

 

Tuesday I started the day with a haircut then Sam and I met Ian for lunch at Munchies on Mellieha Beach.  We had our first major bump in the car.  While I was parking a lamppost hit me.  It scratched the rear door but it still opens and closes!  In the restaurant we couldn’t sit outside as there seemed to be an invasion of yellow jacket wasps so we sat inside with the flies instead.  The food was good and the service friendly.  I had a flatbread with brie, pancetta and oregano, Sam had calamari and Ian had a salad with smoked salmon.  We worked hard and I had a guitar lesson and we had baked chicken thighs with roasted potatoes for dinner.

 

Wednesday we worked then in the evening we picked up Ailee and brought her to the flat for dinner.  Ailie is Izzy and Iain’s daughter who Sam has known for yonks.  She is briefly visiting Malta on film industry business.  She is very likable and we had an enjoyable evening.  Sam cooked her anti paste special which went down a treat.

 

Thursday I had to abandon plans for a business meeting in Sliema.  The coast road is closed and the diversion route was at a standstill (I’m guessing there was an accident) so I had to do a U-turn.  Nearly an hour in the car to get nowhere!   Still, I had the air conditioner on full blast and the CD player also on full blast so it wasn’t a complete loss.  We went to Robin and Leslie’s for a BBQ for dinner.  We had chicken, lamb kebabs, sausages and roasted vegetables with watermelon for pudding.  They live inland and for some reason they insisted on eating outside in the sweltering heat with all the mozzies and bugs.  After dinner we persuaded them to move inside and turn the air conditioner on.  We played a version of Ludo in teams – Robin and I won (of course).

 

Friday I went to sit on our terrace first thing with a cup of coffee as is my summer routine and was greeted by an unusual sight – a cloud!  It soon disappeared though.  For dinner we went to Al Sultan again, our local Lebanese restaurant.  It was excellent.  We had a flatbread smothered in thyme and sesame nuts, a fantastic salad, humus, vegetables with harissa, tabbouleh, a flatbread with a cottage cheese, another with minced lamb, olives and, to finish, a selection of sweet pastries.

 

Monday 20th to Sunday 26th July 2015

 

Monday we went to Mdina in the morning before the throngs of tourists arrived.  We had an early brunch at the café at the palace which was very nice – BLTs with cappuccinos.  We went for a tour around the cathedral for the first time – it was amazing with fabulous paintings and frescos.  We drove home via Mosta so that Nathaniel and Carol could see the Dome.  They want to go inside it some time, but it only opens each day until 11.45 and Nathaniel can’t get out of bed early enough.

In the evening we drove to Valetta, finding a handy parking space in Floriana adjacent to the Phoenicia Hotel.  We wandered around then met Ian at Charles Grech café.  Ian has just returned to Malta after being away for a few weeks.  We went on to dinner at Trabuxu.  The waiters made a big fuss of Sam as she had accidently on purpose told them when she booked the table that it was her birthday.  They brought us a free bottle of Prosecco to celebrate.  On this occasion the food was mixed.  I had chicken liver pate followed by ravioli, then baked peaches.  The pate was good, the ravioli was a bit chewy and bland and the baked peaches were too firm and covered with a cinnamon cream that had far too much cinnamon in it.  Sam had rabbit spaghetti and a rib eye steak and she loved it all.  Ian had to send back his tuna as it was over cooked, Carol didn’t enjoy her gravadlax as it tasted fishy (!) and she didn’t like her sea urchin spaghetti as it tasted fishy (!) but Nathaniel liked his pea soup, roasted rabbit and ice cream.

 

Tuesday we worked for several hours which was fine as Carol and Nathaniel weren’t ready to go out until 2pm!  The three of us went to Sliema to shop at The Point and to take in the views across the water to Valetta.  There is a railed viewing platform there where lovers attach padlocks with their initials and messages of eternal devotion scratched onto them.  Three pratts, with Eastern European accents and aged about 20, were forcing off the old rusted padlocks and throwing them into the sea.  I guess every nation has its morons.  That evening we went to Miracles for a couple of beers and pizzas.  The beer was ice cold and the pizzas were very tasty, the venue lively and fun, and we were served with a smile as always.  Carol looked down her nose at everything, though, as she has done at everything since she arrived in Malta.  I’ve never known anyone be so disdainful and contemptuous of everyone and everything she sees.  The Maltese people are friendly and warm hearted with a Mediterranean easy going demeanour but clearly they don’t wear nearly enough designer labels and, God forbid, some of them even ride on buses!  And as for being expected to walk on a broken pavement…

 

Wednesday we had planned to go in the morning to see the Mosta Dome which is only open until 11.45.  The Dome is Nathaniel’s must-see attraction in Malta as he has heard all about it from his father.  The trouble is he can’t get out of bed so he looked very disappointed when he appeared at 11.30 ready to go and I had to tell him it was too late.  Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday have been the hottest days in Europe so far this year and Malta has been the hottest place in Europe.  Our thermometer read over 50°C again today.  It is incredibly humid; everything on our terrace was soaked in the morning as if we had had rain all night.  In weather like this we spend much of our time inside in the air conditioning which is fine because we have loads of work on at the moment.  I had a guitar lesson and Sam had a swimming lesson, so we did get out for a while.  For dinner we had a fab chilli made with black turtle beans.  Carol’s only comment was that she much preferred chilli with meat in it but Nathaniel liked it and went back for more.  We played cards and Uno which was fun as always.

 

Thursday I dropped Carol and Nathaniel off at the airport for their flight home.  I have to say we feel a bit taken advantage of!  Carol paid for the groceries one day but apart from that didn’t offer us anything.  If I was going abroad for a holiday and staying with friends I would expect to give them some money so that they were not out of pocket or, at the very least, take them out to dinner.  On the bright side, it was lovely to get our apartment back to ourselves again and after I’d cleaned the bathroom (which they left in a pretty awful state) we soon felt normal again.   I got lots of work done and I had left over chilli for dinner.  Sam skipped dinner and went to bed early with a migraine.

 

Friday we saw the fireworks barge being set up in the bay.  The fiesta of St Paul’s Bay takes place on the last Sunday of July each year and apparently it culminates in a massive fireworks display.  It looks like we will have front row seats as the barge is on the water directly in front of our apartment.  The streets are being decorated with paper and cloth streamers, and religious icons, and there will be parades and music and market stalls to boot.  Party time!  For dinner we had a delicious roasted chicken and chips.  We buy fresh chickens from our local butcher and they are fantastic.  They are quite small – one chicken only serves two people – but maybe that has something to do with why they are so soft and juicy.

 

Saturday a slight breeze picked up so we threw open all the doors and windows.  Had to close them again at 2pm once the sun was hitting the glass though.  It was a noisy day with builders, booming music from the party boats and fairly regularly throughout the day terrific thunderclaps from fireworks.  There was a firework display after dark with massive fireworks but it was actually quite boring.  They only set off one firework every one or two minutes, so it was monotonous.  Imagine listening to someone speak only one word a minute or music with only one note a minute and you get the picture.  We were busy working much of the day so didn’t get out as planned and had flatbreads for dinner.

 

Sunday we had a lazy day.  We watched the Hungarian Grand Prix which was surprisingly entertaining.  We met Ian for a drink at the Qawra Palace; warm beer, so won’t go there again.  We had dinner at a recently opened gastropub called the Cheeky Monkey.  They serve monkey nuts with your drinks which is novel.  It has a nice ambience and a lively feel.  I had a salad with courgettes, leaves, tomatoes, brie and oranges.  Ian had a burger with gluten-free bread and Sam had a steak and ale pie.  It was all very good, the staff were friendly and fun and we will certainly go back again.

 

Monday 13th to Sunday 19th July 2015

 

Monday I collected the car and managed to park it near our flat.  It seems the party is over and all is back to normal.  Dinner that night was delicious piri piri chicken with roasted veggies.

 

Tuesday I did chores and worked.  I had a two hours meeting with a new client who we will be building a website for.  For dinner we had a vegan curry made with cannelloni beans, butter beans and roasted vegetables in a tamarind and tomato sauce.

 

Wednesday was Sam’s birthday eve and we went to Sliema to buy her present, a new mobile phone.  We had breakfast at Georgios.  The cappuccinos were reasonable but not great.  I had a below average strawberry tart and Sam had a good pea pastizzi.  As usual for Georgios, a mixed result.  And as usual, the toilets were pretty horrible.  Goodness only knows how long it is since the floor and walls have been cleaned, if ever.  Late afternoon I went for my first guitar lesson with a new teacher.  Although he is Maltese and has been teaching guitar here for several years he has just returned from a period living in Spain where he studied for a Masters in classical guitar.  He is clearly passionate and enthusiastic about the guitar and he lives just up the road from us, so I think he will work out well.

 

While I was there Sam went for her first swimming lesson at the outdoor salt water pool just down the road from us, Sirens.  She sort of enjoyed the lesson, one and a half hours of strenuous exercise, but the pool is pretty awful.  It is stained and dirty, the edges are chipped and the whole place is in need of serious renovation and repair.  We joined the pool on the understanding that this would all have been done before the start of the season but we are now seeking a refund of our membership fees.  I think we may be whistling in the wind, though.  It was gone 8pm by the time we got home; Sam had to rest a while as her legs were wobbling too much to walk!  We had flatbreads for dinner.

 

Thursday was Sam’s birthday!  We went to Café Luna at the Palazo Parisio for breakfast.  Sam had scrambled eggs with smoked salmon which she liked but the eggs were over cooked.  I had eggs Benedict with asparagus and bacon which was good.  The cappuccinos were fairly good and Sam also had a glass of Prosecco.  We did some shopping in Naxxar then met Robin and Lesley for a cappuccino at the Hungry Wolf in Zebbeigh.  It was like a cross between a cappuccino and a latte, served in a glass mug and quite nice but not really a proper cappuccino.

 

That evening we went to Lovage (of course) via Miracles (of course).  Lovage was excellent.  I had marrow and pancetta cream soup followed by a fillet steak with a gorgonzola sauce.  Sam had sea urchin spaghetti followed by a rib eye steak.  They were served with roasted vegetables and potatoes. For dessert we went to The Ice Cream factory.  A pretty perfect way to celebrate a birthday!

 

Friday we prepared for Carol and Nathaniel’s visit; shopping and cleaning, what fun.  It was a long day as we both had lots of work to do.  Some of it wasn’t pleasant.  I’m building a website for a cat rescue sanctuary and some of the stories and photos of injured cats are not for the feint hearted.

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this before, but there is a practise in Malta of setting off noisy fireworks throughout the day.  Seems pointless to us but every now and then it sounds as if we are living in a war zone.  Today was particularly noisy with great clusters of fireworks – rockets or mortars of some sort – shattering the peace.  Not that we have been outside much.  It is very hot and we are forecast to have a 40° plus heatwave in the next few days which means 50° to 60° in the sun.  We had spaghettini with pesto and home-made garlic bread for dinner, all very good.  We watched the Second Best Marigold Hotel.  It was “nice” but all very predictable and I was left feeling that a great opportunity had been missed for some seriously funny scenes.

 

Saturday we worked.  Weekends don’t make much difference here; we work when we need to and take off when we want to.  Actually today I did a whole bunch of website fixes for a new client between cleaning and BBQing.  Carol and Nathaniel turned up late for a whole bunch of reasons; her phone stopped working, there were no taxis so they had to get the bus etc, etc.  And to cap it all Nathaniel lost his debit card but the place where he lost it did phone to tell us!  For dinner we had a fab BBQ; two types of chicken, Aberdeen Angus burgers and vegetable kebabs; the veggie kebabs were my favourite.

 

Sunday we went to check out our local gym but it was closed.  Nathaniel likes to go to the gym each day so we tried the St Paul’s Bay hotel but their gym was smelly and hot and small and didn’t have air conditioning and they charge EUROs 10 per day!  After shopping we went to the prom to sort out paragliding for Nathaniel.  While waiting, we had a drink in Huggies Café on the seafront.  It is a basic touristy place and admittedly down market but Carol acted like she was in a leper colony and didn’t want to touch anything.  Carol and I went in the speed boat that took Nathaniel for his flight (Sam stayed in the flat) and there was also a Danish family with us.  I think Nathaniel enjoyed it okay but he wished it was a bit faster and more exciting.  Once the Danish family had had their go we had to climb into a smaller speed boat in mid ocean for the transfer back home.  We all fell all over the place and although we laughed about it, it was all pretty amateurish and I bet people fall overboard from time to time.  After getting back to dry land we went to the San Antonio Hotel and their gym looks great and only EUROs 6 per day to boot.  For dinner we sat on the terrace after sundown and had flatbreads.  Later we played Uno and Knockout Whist.

 

Today was terribly hot.  The temperature was high but so was the humidity and we melted as soon as we did anything.  We have now reached the high summer season and I suspect we will be spending most of our time indoors in front of the air conditioning until late September!

 

Monday 06 to Sunday 12th July 2015

 

Monday we went to Mellieha beach.  We had good cappuccinos at Munchies then swam for about half an hour.  We got out of the water when we saw a jellyfish right next to Sam.  It was only after that that we saw the lifeguard flying both green and purple flags.  The green is for calm water, the purple for “marine pests”.  That evening we went out to dinner a bit later than usual as we had to wait for the engineer to come to fix the air conditioner in the spare bedroom.  We went to Al Sultan, a Lebanese restaurant a short walk from our flat.  The owner greeted us and was very friendly.  He told Sally that he has a daughter about her age – 12!  I’m not sure he believed her when Sally told him she was actually 25!  However, he served her a beer without asking for ID.  The food was very tasty and different to that of most other restaurants around here.  We left it up to the owner and chef to decide what to bring us.  We had a wide selection of hot and cold dishes, a bit like meze.  All of the dishes bar one were vegan.  We had vegetables with harissa, a flatbread smothered with oregano and sesame seeds, humus, aubergine puree, bread, falafel, a toasted flatbread stuffed with spicy minced lamb, a wonderfully fresh and lightly dressed mixed salad and other things I can’t remember.  We finished with perfectly ripe cantaloupe melon.  There were three of us and the food cost 23 Euros, that’s about £5.50 a head!  We couldn’t resist going home via the ice cream factory.  They serve a wide selection of vegan ice creams so Sally was happy.  I had cherry ice cream (as usual) and vanilla for a change. 

 

Tuesday I went shopping in the morning and managed to squeeze past a couple of cars that had smashed into each other in front of Scotts.  After lunch (cherries, grapes, watermelon, plums and peaches) we went to Mellieha beach for a swim.  We stayed in the water mainly floating and chatting for well over an hour.  What is it about visiting a sandy beach and swimming in the sea that makes you feel so good?  There weren’t any purple flags being flown today so we didn’t need to worry about jellyfish.  We had a brill dinner.  I made a chilli with onions, garlic, black turtle beans, vegan stock, tomatoes, peppers and kidney beans.  But what really set it apart were the flavourings.  I used chipotle, ancho and cayenne chilli powders, masses of ground cumin and dried oregano and salt, pepper and red wine vinegar.  We served it with iceberg lettuce, salted tortillas and plain white rice.  After dinner we played Uno and various card games including knock out whist, hearts and old maid.  It was good fun and I can safely say that Sally won’t be going to Las Vegas any time soon.

 

Wednesday we went to Sliema to show Sally around and to do some shopping, stopping at Georgios for a cappuccino, of course.  We drove on to St Julians and even managed to find an on-street parking place!  We had lunch at a new restaurant there, oddly called the Electro Lobster Project.  We sat outside at their shaded seating area in Balluta Square overlooking Balluta Bay which was very pleasant.  The food was pretty good but the service was poor.  We had to lay our own table and ask repeatedly for the simplest of things.  They gave us a customer satisfaction card to fill in at the end; we suggested that they sack the Maitre’d.  Sally had a quinoa salad, Sam had spaghetti with white fish in a light tomato sauce and I had a Puy lentil, roasted parsnip and walnut salad which would have been good if only it had been properly dressed with a decent vinaigrette.  We finished with cappuccinos which were outstanding – strong, bitter coffee with thick, creamy whipped milk and they were piping hot.  After lunch Sam escaped the sun at the Le Meridian hotel while Sally and I went for a walk around St Julians and the marina at Portomasso.  That evening Sam was due to have her first swimming lesson at Siren’s pool but unfortunately her lunch came back to haunt her and she was quite unwell for the rest of the day.  Sally and I had left over chilli with spaghetti for dinner, vegan wine courtesy of M&S and we watched The Theory of Everything.  We chatted and chilled and didn’t get to bed until 1am!  Sally is a bad influence!

 

Thursday we went to Riviera beach for the first time.  It is a horseshoe shaped bay with a sandy beach at its head and cliffs reaching out to sea on either side.  We had a cappuccino at the Riviera Martinique café, the only eatery on the beach.  It was very average.  However, because the beach is under developed and because you have to get to and from it via gazillions of steps from the top of the cliff, the beach feels relatively unspoiled and natural.  We hired sunbeds and umbrellas but spent a lot of our time floating around in the sea.  There were a few more waves today which was enjoyable and the bay is quite shallow so you can go fairly far out before becoming out of your depth.  The bay is between Golden Bay to the north and Gnerja Bay to the south.  Sally and I climbed the cliff to take in the views south to Gnerja Bay and beyond which were impressive, if spoiled a bit by the sight of some guy who decided to go skinny dipping!  We took a melon with us to eat for lunch – it was amazing – sweet and juicy.

 

We went to Miracles for a drink then on to Lovage for dinner.  Sam had mussels followed by lamb ravioli.  I had gnocchi with gorgonzola and walnuts followed by ravioli stuffed with lobster and served with a prawn bisque then apple crumble with stratiacella ice cream.  The chef cooked Sally a vegan meal; wild mushroom risotto, vegetable koftas and apple crumble.  We had a Rioja which was vegan and it was all excellent.

 

Friday we went to Naxxar and visited the Palazio Parisio for a walk through their beautiful gardens and a cappuccino (barely okay, weak and lukewarm).  We drove on through Mosta to look at the dome which after all these months still amazes, then shopped for dinner.  Sam and Sally spiralised which basically means that they turned virtually everything in sight into spaghetti shapes – carrots, courgettes, onions – you get the picture.  Actually, it was all very nice, especially the carrot salad flavoured with cumin etc.  We also BBQed vegetable kebabs which were excellent.  We played dominoes and Bananagram and without naming names, I think I can safely say the best man won.  Risking retribution, I have to say that I didn’t feel overly challenged; I don’t think cryptic crosswords are their thing and phone calls from Bletchly Park are unlikely to keep us awake all night.  Oh, by the way, I bought an outdoors thermometer today which showed the temperature on our terrace as 40°.  I knew it was hot!

 

Saturday Sam and Sally went for a swim at Mellieha beach while I had a cappuccino at Munchies.  The wind had picked up and I chose not to swim as the water wasn’t clear enough to spot jellyfish.  Sam and Sally both got minor stings but nothing serious and they didn’t hurt for long.  After a fruity lunch we went for a stroll and stopped at a café in Bugibba Square; Sam had a strawberry milkshake and I had a chocolate milkshake and they were pretty poor so we won’t be doing that again!  Sally had a Cisk.  We drove Sally to the airport for her evening flight home.  It was quite late when we got back to St Paul’s Bay and the place was packed with revellers, locals as well as tourists.  I dropped Sam off and then spent an hour driving around before I found a parking space.  And that was in Ximxija, so I had a 25 minutes walk home.  Given the hour, we had pizzas for dinner.  Oh, I can report a fault in our thermometer; it only goes up to 55°!  And that is what it read most of the afternoon.  I told you it was hot!

 

Sunday I walked to Ximxija to collect the car but still couldn’t find any parking spaces in St Paul’s Bay so ended up parking it a 20 minutes walk away in Bugibba.  There is some sort of festival here this weekend which is why it is so unusually busy.  I stayed out of the sun most of the day for a change.  I watched Braveheart which was good but seemed to go on for ever.  We couldn’t decide what we wanted for dinner; sometimes it is good just to skip dinner altogether!  Sam had chips and beans and I had some sweetcorn with BBQ sauce.  We watched Far from the Madding Crowd with Julie Christie.  We’ve never really seen her before but now we know what all the fuss is about.

 

Wednesday 1st to Sunday 5th July 2015

 

Wednesday we went to Sliema in the morning to follow up a new business lead.  Worked in the afternoon.  Left over beef and prune tagine for dinner. 

 

Thursday was full on working.  I made time to do some cooking ahead of Sally’s arrival this coming weekend.  Today was exactly 11 years to the day that Sam and I first met so we went to Miracles for a couple of beers and pizzas followed by a trip to the ice cream factory.  It was all very good as usual.

 

Friday we were still very busy.  Sam went to our fruit & veg shop though, and bought a watermelon that doesn’t have any seeds in it!  I’ll let you know how that turns out.  We have eaten quite a lot of watermelon lately, very sweet and juicy, and dealing with seeds hasn’t been a problem.  For dinner we had blackened chicken with roasted potatoes – delicious.

 

Saturday and I can report that watermelon without any seeds in it has seeds in it!  Sam went to our favourite fruit and veg shop in Qawra and, among other things, bought some cherries for Sally.  I ate them.  Oops!  Worked pretty full on again today.  We skived off for an hour to watch qualifying for the British Grand Prix, quite possibly the most boring TV event of the year.  We had an early supper of flatbreads.  In the evening I went to the airport and picked up Sally who is visiting for a week.  It is great to see her again.  She has a keen sense of humour and we are looking forward to spending time with her.

 

Sunday we chilled, chatted, and charred on the terrace.  We went for a walk around the ST Paul’s area and bought bread for tonight’s dinner.  We stopped at Pash for cappuccinos and they were very good.  Pash sells nice quality snack foods including vegetarian and vegan options.  I find it a bit claustrophobic as they pack in the tables close together.  We also find it expensive, more like UK than Malta prices.  For dinner we had a chickpea and BBQed vegetable stew with crusty bread which was fantastic.  We played Bananagram.