Thursday Ladies Lunch - Indoors Unfortunately...

The weather has not been kind to us and yesterday I had a frantic phone call from Elena at Orexi because we had 23 people wanting to come to the lunch today and there was really very little chance that we would be able to sit outside and she can only really sit about 16 comfortably in the kitchen. She was talking about taking the patio doors off and erecting some sort of tarpaulin but really the only answer was to try and get the number reduced. There was nothing for it but to email and ask if any of the ladies would stand down on this occasion. I have to say that our ladies are a brilliant lot and we had a number who offered to fore go the lunch this time so we got the number down to a manageable level so thanks ladies for helping Elena and me out. 

 

I blame the weather on our neighbours Sharon and Shaun who arrived last night - they seem to manage to bring bad weather with them everytime they come!!! 

 

John managed to track their flight coming in from Stanstead last night and it came in very early and although they had a bit of a nightmare getting their hire car and the weather was appalling they arrived safe and sound and happy to be back in Droushia.  I have to thank them for coming armed with my new tools for mosaic making - I can't wait to get started now!!!  We waited for them to arrive having invited them in for a cuppa if they were up for it  - it has really turned chilly and we pulled the curtains across between the lounge and the kitchen - this appeared to give Chivers the red light to play peek-a-boo with Minnie!!  My poor curtains came in for a right old battering!!

 

Sod's law is that the day was much brighter and drier than anticipated but the preceding few days had ruled out eating in Orexi's garden.  It was such a shame - I can't believe that the last time we organised to go as a ladies group the same thing happened!

 

Elena had arranged to provide us with a special vegetarian meal at a very special price so it was a shame that we had to reduce the numbers in order to get everyone seated.  I was very grateful that I was still able to extend the invitation to Jane who is on holiday here at the moment as she may not get the opportunity to eat here again as she does not normally visit when Elena holds her evening meals under the trees and this week she has seen all her planned activities cancelled due to the weather - who would have though it in October?

 

I know I have said it before but I am a confirmed meat eater and have never really found much to shout about when it comes to vegetarian food but over here vegetarian food is so interesting and tasty.  A case in point was the salad we had today which was rocket, cheese and pomegranate and was absolutely delicious - I have never ever tasted pomegranate like it - it was so full of flavour and almost crimson in colour.

Poor Elena had a bit of a nightmare when she managed to tip some hot fasoulia beans over one of the diners - it was one of those awful freakish accidents and I hope that Sally suffered nothing worse than a damp patch on her trousers - I know that Elena was mortified.

 

Towards the end of the meal we were joined by Elena's youngest, the irrepressible Lola who is the life and soul!! She is a bit of a magpie and fascinated by jewellery and completely fearless when faced with a room of unfamiliar faces! 

 

Jane and I shared a very, very nice bottle of Agios Onoufrious and were grateful to Helen who gave us and Sharon a lift back home afterwards.  I hope Sharon enjoyed herself - she ended up sitting at the other end of the table from me but next to Irene who she knows and seemed to be engaged in conversation each time I looked in her direction in fact at times the level of conversation was pretty high so hopefully everyone that came along had a good time.

 

Whilst Jane and I were at Orexi John took Jane's husband John out for lunch and tried the souvlaki place in Prodromi that we have been meaning to go to for ages.  Apparently it has NO menu and does nothing but Pork Souvlaki but good pork souvlaki so they probably enjoyed their lunch as much as we did.

 

They spent a couple of hours with us sitting in the conservatory which had captured whatever sunshine we had been treated to during the day and made for a very pleasant environment before they left to go back to Emba and to catch up with Mum and Dad this evening.  Hopefully Mum is feeling better as she woke with a sore throat yesterday and that normally means a stinking cold and bad chest.  She is dosing herself up with antibiotics so fingers crossed...