A Night Out with Friends...

It is hot and it is nearing the end of July and it is Saturday - the builders in the field wont be working today surely?  How wrong could we be as they continued with the kerb stones and pavements all day - our friends Nicky and Mark who were escaping from Paphos for some peace and quiet were going to be sorely disappointed - this is our kind of luck!  The majority of the work was taking place right in front of the house and the guy driving the cement lorry wasn't paying attention so there was an awful lot of shouting as he either over poured or failed to deliver - if you didn't know any Greek before you would certainly know Helas! Helas! which was being shouted at frequent intervals to try and gain his attention.  So the Kirby's arrived to a cacophony of hammering, shouting and the beeps of vehicles reversing which we attempted to drown out with the i-pod. 

Fortunately by about 4.00pm the workers all buggered off and tranquillity was restored - at least for that afternoon.  We took the opportunity to relax and swim and catch up as we haven't seen one another for months.  This is not surprising as Nicky is a very talented photographer who specialises in weddings nicky kirby photography and who, when she is not busy, is kind enough to take me out with the camera to help me improve my shots - we hope to go out together in the autumn when the wedding season is much quieter here.  Mark is the Managing Director (I think that is his title) of Currency Solutions http://www.currencysolutions.co.uk/ which is the company that we have used when transferring over sterling to Cyprus so they both lead hectic lives. 

This evening we were going to sample the delights of the private supper club held in the village at what is locally known as the 'Droushia Castle'.  This is the Headquarters of Orexi http://www.orexicyprus.com/ and on Saturday nights throughout the summer they host intimate suppers outside in the privacy of their walled garden.

Elena from Orexi knows Nicky through their wedding connections and Elena's husband Bassam has met her previously too.  The next set of diners to arrive after us where Sue and Cecil Habib who know Mark and I know Sue as she is also a Droushia Lady wot Lunches (DLWL), then a party of four arrived and Nicky knew someone in that group then another two (one of which was a DLWL!).  The garden seats around 30 or so diners so it really is a small and intimate location having said that the tables are spaced in a way that it is nigh on impossible to hear the conversation from other tables.  It was a beautiful balmy evening and the humidity from previous nights had disappeared.  Even though we were sitting outside Elena and Bassam had tried to ensure that the experience was as devoid of flies and bugs as possible even with all the food and candles around - this is no mean feat I can tell you as I managed to return home without a single bite which must be some sort of record!

Our menu for the evening was a Lebanese Meze full of fresh organic delights and with the meat element cooked by Bassam on his new clay barbeque.  It takes a mean old chef to cook meat skewers on something like that so that the meat remains moist and succulent.  Although a lot of the things we ate were common elements of a meze they just had a flavour which lifted them above the norm so whilst the list of dishes we ate may not sound anything out of the ordinary I can assure you that they were.  We had olives and dips and flatbread and salad and stuffed vine leaves and some sort of vegetarian patties, rice with pine nuts and sultanas and potatoes roasted with coriander and the wonderful succulent skewers of meat and a wonderful loquat and chili dip to accompany them - I know I have probably missed some dishes as well!  These were all washed down with good Cypriot wines and unfortunately did not leave us with any room to sample a pudding - maybe next time. 

We wandered home with that rosy glow that comes from a good night out with good food, good friends and good wine! It was a lovely evening and on our return Mark decided he fancied a cool off in the pool - Chivers obviously thought he was a complete nutter as he couldn't work out what he was doing in there! 

After a couple of nightcaps Nicky and I threw in the towel and retired to our beds leaving the boys to it.  Unfortunately it transpires that John failed to give Mark instructions as to how to turn on the fan in the bedroom so we learnt the following day that Mark had had more than one swim under the stars - on waking in the early hours feeling a tad too warm he decided to cool down in the pool - I bet that really confused Chivers!