slow start

It was a slow start to the day today I blame the late night and the shite red wine we were drinking at the festival last night - that was until Marianna saved the day and offered to buy us a drink and returned with a proper bottle of labelled Sterna wine - Koralli.  All the other stuff we had been drinking had been decanted into unlabeled bottles and was carton plonk of an unknown vintage.  Let's just say it was dry - very dry and I forgot to take a bottle of water to bed with me.

We had planned for a quiet day today before life become hectic with a stream of visitors.  Our good friends Barry, Lynne and Joseph arrived yesterday, John's family arrive tomorrow, Laura and Mark arrive next weekend and my cousin and his wife arrive after that, then Jane and John will arrive and my John will celebrate his 50th birthday and then we will collapse and hibernate for the winter.  On that subject the weather is strange and we have had a bit of rain and more rain is forecast before the temperatures edge back up again.  This should make for more pleasant sleeping conditions for our guests - particularly Alicia who has not been abroad before so probably cannot anticipate just how hot it can be.

At last night's festival Stacey came armed with a glass which was filled with 'slips' from a lemon verbena plant the parent of which originated in Elena's garden at Orexi HQ.

I am partial to a drop of tea made with lemon verbena so I am keen to try and grow a plant for myself.  Apparently you should be able to get a cutting to root in water and then you transplant it into a very free draining mixture so I have my fingers crossed.

I must remember to return her glass, I shouldn't forget because we pass Stacey's house when we go to pickleball.  I am not sure what else I can do with the leaves of this highly perfumed plant so will put this link here and on the food page so I can refer back if I am successful with my propagation: Lemon Verbena uses.

We spent what was left of the morning cleaning the cars and getting John's Mum's room ready and generally tidying around so that tomorrow all we have to do is take things down to the villa in Latchi, make sure it looks ok and sort out about the keys.  I hope they like it - the trouble is that other people's expectations can be so different to your own.  The villa is in a fabulous position and I think that will seal the deal.

John spent the afternoon watching his beloved Blades accompanied by a packet of Tesco's Sweet Chilli Flavoured Peanuts (for which we have to thank the Bobster and Di who located them in Alpha Mega) and a bottle or two of Ruddles County supped from the special glass Athos gave him at the beer festival the other week.

The Blades secured at win and sat 6th in the league for a while as they were the early match today against Barnsley.  They ended in 10th but several places above the other Sheffield team.  It is going to be a learning curve this season so mid table is fair enough at this stage.

We were invited around to George and Pam's for a cup of tea and sticky and to meet their son Andrew (Andreas) who has come over for a brief visit with his daughter Niamh.  We met them briefly years ago so it is nice to make their acquaintance again.  We were invited to go to the Last Castle for a late lunch with them tomorrow but had to decline as we are having dinner at Mum and Dad's before calling in to say Hi to Barry and co en route to the airport.  By the time we get everyone settled it is likely to be Monday morning before we get to bed so I have cancelled going to Art that day.

We had toyed with the idea of going out for dinner just to the two of us before the silly season starts but were tired and were conscious that we have an expensive time ahead of us so I scoured the fridge and freezer and then the internet to get some inspiration for a meal.

I found it - a slightly tweaked take on a
Lesley Waters recipe for sticky honey and sesame seed stir fry beef.

I served ours with rice (lemongrass, coriander and coconut) and padded out the beef by adding some batons of onion, carrot and cucumber and throwing in some cashew nuts.  It was lush and light and certainly something I will be doing again.  Big thanks to the freezer for yielding a small piece of fillet steak which wasn't enough for two people on its own but made a fine meal when added to all the other ingredients.

We watched John Wick tonight - I didn't rate it - no story and too many unanswered questions about what had happened prior to the action in the film - I have firmly declined the opportunity to watch John Wick 2 - I never liked Keanu Reeves in the first place and I reckon he only grunted 100 words throughout the whole of the film.