We were having a quiet day today. We had plans to go out for lunch but I wasn't really bothered so we settled for a trip into Polis instead. I wanted to go and have a look in the Asian Shop which has popped up by the bus station and I had seen a Christmas Market advertised at the Polis Herb Garden so thought we could pop in there - the big Christmas Market at Peyia is tomorrow right at the time we are expecting Mum and Lillian so I am going to have to give that one a miss and the one at the Pano Akourdaleia Herb Garden had been last Sunday so had to miss that one as well. I don't really need anything but these sort of things do get you in the Festive spirit even though it is still sunny and warm.
The Asian Shop is very small and a bit underwhelming but it did have a couple of things I wanted including Gram Flour (for making Onion Bhajis) but I hadn't anticipated on having to buy it in such a large bag but it was quite reasonably priced so it saved me having to go down to Alpha Mega. There were some weird knobbly vegetables inside the front door - I assumed they were vegetables as they looked like pubescent cucumbers with a bad case of acne. The lady customer at the till told me they were called Ampalaya - or at least that is what she, as a Philippino, would call it and told me how to prepare them and assured me they were delicious. I was not convinced so decided to do a little more research. Momordica Charantia or bitter gourd/melon/apple is absolutely delicious with a unique taste similar to quinine and an integral part in all sorts of Indian dishes. I have decided that I will go back and purchase some and give them a try because we never knew how delicious green papaya could be until we were given some and used them as an ingredient in curries.
We walked back to where we had parked the car and came across a vintage MG which was parked up in front of Kenny - John keeps saying he is going to buy me a car for my birthday as Kenny is beginning to have seen better days - I jokingly said that if he is still insistent on doing so then this was the car that I would chose. We used to have a British Racing Green Mark III Triumph Spitfire which would have been lovely had it not kept breaking down so that we would go out and then come back on the back of a low loader courtesy of the AA.
There weren't an awful lot of stalls at the Fayre either which was a shame because the weather was perfect for people to have a mooch - it was nice to say hello to Tanith and her mum Trish but apart from that there was nothing that caught our eye so we took a wander around the actual garden before returning to the car and then going off to Paps for our shopping. It was rather chaotic as they are tiling the pavement outside the front of the shop so customers were being diverted into the shop via the back door - you can imagine what confusion that caused. It was quiet in Polis and quiet in Paps so we were on our way back home pretty quickly.
We are keeping an eye on Rob and Di's house and I wanted to check the plant watering situation. As we approached their house we saw that the main road was dug up and it would appear that there must be a water leak that they are investigating which accounted for the fact that when I tried to fill up the watering can nothing happened. It wasn't a problem as we had had quite a bit of condensation last night so the plants were looking absolutely fine. John decided to move Bobby's decorating ladder as it was in full view and there were quite a few people working on the leak directly above. We doubt it would have been an issue but always better to be safe than sorry.
Di has a fabulous display of narcissi just inside the front gate. These are pure white with orange stamens and have a fabulous scent. Mum gave Di these bulbs some time ago and they are now putting on a fabulous show, in fact the whole of their garden is looking fabulous and in the bright sunshine their bungalow, which Rob has been painstakingly painting, looked beautiful. We hope they are having a lovely time back in Old Blighty - I know today will be a big day for them as they will be back at The Valley to watch their beloved Charlton Athletic.
I spent the remainder of the day cooking - if nothing else it keeps me warm as the temperature in the house begins to dip quite rapidly come the afternoon. I had some vegetables that were looking rather weary so I started with a roasted red pepper and tomato soup adding one of the red chillies that Stacey had given me although I rather underestimated the power of that little fella and had to do some remedial work to tone it down a bit. I then set about making a carrot, orange and peanut soup which I thought we could have as a starter tomorrow when Lilian comes with Mum. I would normally make this quite spicy but know that Mum doesn't do spicy so just used plenty of black pepper rather than chilli and after the ferocity of the one in the previous soup thought that was the right course of action. I then turned my attention to our main course tomorrow which was cottage pie - with the topping made from mashed sweet and mashed ordinary potato with a cheesy topping. There was too much to fit in the bowl so that was what John and I had for our supper. I told John it was for quality control purposes. It was blooming lovely and just right for a Saturday night with a glass of wine and a slob out on the sofa - blimey we know how to live!!!
The Asian Shop is very small and a bit underwhelming but it did have a couple of things I wanted including Gram Flour (for making Onion Bhajis) but I hadn't anticipated on having to buy it in such a large bag but it was quite reasonably priced so it saved me having to go down to Alpha Mega. There were some weird knobbly vegetables inside the front door - I assumed they were vegetables as they looked like pubescent cucumbers with a bad case of acne. The lady customer at the till told me they were called Ampalaya - or at least that is what she, as a Philippino, would call it and told me how to prepare them and assured me they were delicious. I was not convinced so decided to do a little more research. Momordica Charantia or bitter gourd/melon/apple is absolutely delicious with a unique taste similar to quinine and an integral part in all sorts of Indian dishes. I have decided that I will go back and purchase some and give them a try because we never knew how delicious green papaya could be until we were given some and used them as an ingredient in curries.
We walked back to where we had parked the car and came across a vintage MG which was parked up in front of Kenny - John keeps saying he is going to buy me a car for my birthday as Kenny is beginning to have seen better days - I jokingly said that if he is still insistent on doing so then this was the car that I would chose. We used to have a British Racing Green Mark III Triumph Spitfire which would have been lovely had it not kept breaking down so that we would go out and then come back on the back of a low loader courtesy of the AA.
There weren't an awful lot of stalls at the Fayre either which was a shame because the weather was perfect for people to have a mooch - it was nice to say hello to Tanith and her mum Trish but apart from that there was nothing that caught our eye so we took a wander around the actual garden before returning to the car and then going off to Paps for our shopping. It was rather chaotic as they are tiling the pavement outside the front of the shop so customers were being diverted into the shop via the back door - you can imagine what confusion that caused. It was quiet in Polis and quiet in Paps so we were on our way back home pretty quickly.
We are keeping an eye on Rob and Di's house and I wanted to check the plant watering situation. As we approached their house we saw that the main road was dug up and it would appear that there must be a water leak that they are investigating which accounted for the fact that when I tried to fill up the watering can nothing happened. It wasn't a problem as we had had quite a bit of condensation last night so the plants were looking absolutely fine. John decided to move Bobby's decorating ladder as it was in full view and there were quite a few people working on the leak directly above. We doubt it would have been an issue but always better to be safe than sorry.
Di has a fabulous display of narcissi just inside the front gate. These are pure white with orange stamens and have a fabulous scent. Mum gave Di these bulbs some time ago and they are now putting on a fabulous show, in fact the whole of their garden is looking fabulous and in the bright sunshine their bungalow, which Rob has been painstakingly painting, looked beautiful. We hope they are having a lovely time back in Old Blighty - I know today will be a big day for them as they will be back at The Valley to watch their beloved Charlton Athletic.
I spent the remainder of the day cooking - if nothing else it keeps me warm as the temperature in the house begins to dip quite rapidly come the afternoon. I had some vegetables that were looking rather weary so I started with a roasted red pepper and tomato soup adding one of the red chillies that Stacey had given me although I rather underestimated the power of that little fella and had to do some remedial work to tone it down a bit. I then set about making a carrot, orange and peanut soup which I thought we could have as a starter tomorrow when Lilian comes with Mum. I would normally make this quite spicy but know that Mum doesn't do spicy so just used plenty of black pepper rather than chilli and after the ferocity of the one in the previous soup thought that was the right course of action. I then turned my attention to our main course tomorrow which was cottage pie - with the topping made from mashed sweet and mashed ordinary potato with a cheesy topping. There was too much to fit in the bowl so that was what John and I had for our supper. I told John it was for quality control purposes. It was blooming lovely and just right for a Saturday night with a glass of wine and a slob out on the sofa - blimey we know how to live!!!
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