Jam making

On one of Lakis and Argy's trips out they happened upon a fruit tree which had yellow fruit similar to pears.  It transpired that these were large quince or membrillo.  In Greek these are called κυδώνι and are used to produce a sweet jelly which is often served with pork.  Although the fruits are yellow when the jelly is produced correctly it takes on a pinkish hue.  The fruits are high in pectin so it is pretty easy to make a jelly that will set.  I made mine in the microwave using a recipe which included the addition of vanilla pods and lemon.  Argy said that her mum Kia liked quince jelly so I thought I would make her a pot which Argy could drop off on her next visit.  I did a smaller pot for John to try but think he will find it too sweet and, as someone who doesn't 'do' apple sauce with pork, it is unlikely he will eat it with a roast dinner at any time!

Nicky asked if I would like to go for a walk with her this morning.  She is still trying to get her head round the layout of the village and I agreed to go so at least she can avoid a trip to Limassol when she leaves the Mukhtar's supermarket having bought some tomatoes!!!  It is lovely to have a walk around the village and go up some side streets to see what you might encounter.  We went before it was too hot and investigated the streets around the back of the church and up towards Palates.

There is a small church up one of the side streets.  I need to find out a bit more information about this one as I don't know who this is dedicated too but it is very pretty inside and someone had clearly been in recently as you could smell the smell of a candle which had not long been extinguished.  I think I have seen photographs of a christening which took place there fairly recently so will get onto tintyweb and see what I can find.

It is really lovely to hear how enthusiastically Nicky talks about living in the village as this is certainly a major change from living in Emba.  Although Emba is deemed to be a 'village' it is a bit large and sprawling so difficult to feel part of what is going on or to be recognised.  I said to Nicky that John and I would take a walk every week when we first came to the village.  Initially the locals probably thought we were mad tourists so didn't really take a lot of notice of us but eventually we got a nod or rather an upturn of the head in acknowledgement that we had been recognised.

There are some fabulous buildings and homes that you would otherwise just not see and they give food for thought in terms of the look and feel Nicky and Mark are trying to achieve for their home.  We were not out for long - just long enough for us to amass 5,000 steps which was a reasonable amount for a 'bimble' and it was beginning to get more than a little bit warm.

Just as a bit of an update on what it happening on the island in terms of Corona-Virus - there has been a massive spike in cases over the last few days with a massive 104 today.  Yesterday there were further restrictions imposed in terms of mask wearing although little else at this stage.  It appears that taking exercise is exempt so we have checked with Marios and he thinks we will be fine to continue with pickleball as long as we are adhering to the other measures.  Fingers crossed that is the case but I reckon there will be another lockdown before Christmas the way things are going.