Friday 4 January 2013

Nessa and Dave Coaches come for Tea...

Chivers very poorly - not eating and drinking


I was up early this morning, early enough to see the sun rising which looked like the sky was on fire.  I think I must have been thinking about what I was going to cook for Orexi Clean-Up Elaine (forever to be known as Nessa from Gavin and Stacey) and her partner Paul.

Mum and Dad were going back to Emba and staying overnight because they had an early dental appointment in the morning and Mum was having her hair done and then they were coming back and staying until after the New Year.

We had some tidying up that we wanted to do but it all kind of went out the window when we realised that we had some serious condensation forming in the food cabinets which was not good and particularly not good for food that is not in a jar or a tin.  So we spent quite some time moving crockery into cupboards where food had been and vice versa.  Oh the joys of Cypriot houses with their poor insulation and poor ventilation.  Each year we learn more and make more adjustments.  Our kitchen mould is making a reappearance - we have to boil the kettle with the window open and have the dehumidifier on every night!!


We eventually got ourselves organised and sorted and I had a Moroccan Lemon Chicken Tagine on the go and John had got his signature Creme Brulee with Summer Fruits chilling in the fridge and I was making a large batch of Carrot, Coriander and Halloumi fritters, some for the starter tonight and others to be cut up and taken with the lemon dip to Crafty Jane's on Friday when she was holding an open house.


Our house may be a lot of things, not all of them good, but at night in the winter it is nothing if not cosy and John makes sure of that!!  Candlelight hides a multitude of sins I can tell you!!!  If you ever want to bring us a present then you could do a lot worse than to give us a load of candles - we certainly get through them and they can be pretty expensive unless you get them somewhere like Jumbos.


The log fire was roaring and we had warned Nessa and Paul to come casual just in case they went home smelling like a barbeque!!!  In fact the house was so hot that we had to open the door and start heating the conservatory at one point and poor Paul looked like his head was about to explode!

My directions from their house in Akourdalia to our house couldn't have been too bad as they managed to find us straight away arriving at 6.00pm because Elaine isn't one for late nights and to be honest we have been doing so much over the last few days that we weren't wanting to be too late either.

Bless them they came armed with goodies.  

A beautiful flower arrangement which Elaine had done herself - it transpires that she is an exceptionally artistic person.  

Some chocolates - Ferrero Rocher - v. v. expensive over here 

and a very interesting Turkish wine Villa Doluca (Villa Doluca Red-KLASIK is a dry red wine produced in Turkey from a blend of three different varietals: Öküzgözü grapes from Eastern Anatolia for its unique aroma and fruity attributes, Alicanté grapes yielding easy to drink wines, with its vivid ruby color and Carignan grapes for its fruity flavors and balanced structure. With its fruity, smooth, and complex characteristics Villa Doluca Red KLASIK wine invokes the aromas of red fruits and spices.)  We are saving this for Dad to sample as we are guessing he has probably never had a good Turkish wine before.


We seemed to have no problem finding things to talk about and the food went down well as did the Kolios wine!!!  This may have had something to do with the rather unfortunate conversation we had when Paul announced that he would like to take us up the Pan Handle - he was referring to the pointy bit of the island on the Turkish side - but it just sounded rather risque!!!


We rounded off our evening with a rather splendid selection of cheeses.  Again something which is hugely expensive over here so as cheese lovers this is a bit of a shame and when we do indulge it is a real treat.  The satsumas had come fresh from Mum and Dad's garden - they are delicious!

It was not a late night but it was an enjoyable one!

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