Monday Meze...

Make no mistake it is most definitely Autumn up here in the hills - the mornings are, by mid-Summer heat standards, somewhat chilly and there is some very heavy overnight condensation meaning that I do not now have to water too often.  When I got up this morning to feed the cats there was the unmistakable evidence of a snail having been in action on the conservatory sliding doors as evidenced by the trails which we found had been made by quite a small snail who was now making pretty patterns on the windows by the kitchen door.

I sent John out 'cutting' this morning.  He had promised to get his mum, Jacky and Stan some fresh figs and he came back with some corkers today.  He goes armed with his figging stick and figging tool that our neighbour Lakis left us.  These ensure that he can get the biggest, juiciest and ripest figs that a tree has to offer and this year the season just seems to be going on and on.  There still seems to be enough sun to ripen the fruit and ensure they have good flavour.

My foot is improving but very slowly and first thing in the morning I am pretty mobile but as the day progresses it gets worse and so today I had decided that it might be wise to sit with it up whilst John went down to pickleball with Mum and the Danish contingent.

It was a truly beautiful day, save for a few whispy clouds it was wall to wall blue skies.  This year the bougainvillea has been outstanding.  Amazing to think that only two years ago we were about to dig it out because we thought it had died.  It is lovely but the bracts get everywhere so soon I will be on a massive clearing up exercise.  Now that we have had the land cleared around the outside periphery of our house I can't just lob the cuttings over like I did before.

I was a good girl and sat all afternoon with my foot up slathered in Tiger Balm which is supposed to be good for pain.  John said that they had had some cracking games this afternoon although young Rasmus had done too much partying since Tuesday to manage to play again!!

This evening we had arranged to have a meze in Finnikas and has asked for some of the meat dishes to be replaced with sea bream and octopus.  Something got a little lost in translation because we had hoped the octopus would be grilled but it was pickled which was ok but it was more acidic and sharp than what we had had with Michelle - I didn't mind it but I don't think John's Mum will be ordering it again any time soon!!

Marina has added the fabulous zucchini bread that Andri offered us as a sample a few weeks back - that is a bit of a revelation to us, light, savoury and scrummy.

We had most of the usual dishes, salad and dips, halloumi and lounza, green eggs, hand cut chips, bagouri and ravioli and pork souvlaki and beef stifado plus a sea bream and some octopus.   This was washed down with wine and beer, some melon and a glass of coffee liqueur.  Stan thought that this was possibly the best meal he had had so far this holiday and I know that Jacky is a lover of fish and vegetables so at least with a meze she can get a bit of all sorts to try.

It was good to see some others eating in the courtyard tonight.  It was a very pleasant evening temperature-wise - this time of year you can never tell if you are going to get damp and chilly!!!  Another successful evening and JJ&S have booked both their flights and accommodation for a return visit next year.