We have lamb - mmm mmm mmmmmmmmmmm

This time last year we had a bumper weekend because Mother's Day (UK not Cypriot) and International Ladies' Day both happened and as a result Mum and I went shopping together and had a fabulous Cream Tea courtesy of Nicky with Nicky and her Mum Liz in Mum and Dad's old house then on the Sunday Mum, John and I went to a brilliant concert at the Winery with a buffet lunch and a glass or two of vino!!!  Sadly this year things are not the same - not least because UK Mother's Day is next Sunday!!!

This weekend, in spite of all the restrictions, we have treated ourselves to make it feel a bit special and, as a result, we have had a bit of a lamb-fest!!!

One of the things which I do miss from the UK is lamb - we have some sort of hybrid goat/lamb meat which can be quite stringy and often comes with a distinctive strong flavour which I don't like and I have yet to disguise.

Saturday night we had big fat juicy lamb shanks from the fabulous Shukrou butchers.  Admittedly they were frozen but they were New Zealand and lamb as we know it.  I slow cooked them and if anything they seemed to get more plump as the cooking went on - they were absolutely delicious but €13 for the two which is probably quite expensive by UK standards but there was so much meat that there was enough for me to turn into a smokey dupiaza curry for John and I on Monday night with a portion left over to give Les a little taster.  So really pound for pound or euro for kilo it didn't really work out expensive and we shall definitely be having them again and the local stray dogs who have attached themselves to Andreas's house benefitted from the bones!

On Sunday we were having a special pre birthday lunch with Mum and she had been kind enough to get a pack of lamb tenderloins from Kolios butchers - again frozen New Zealand, a different company from Shukrou but again just delicious.  I had part cooked most of the meal on Saturday so all we had to do was transport it to Mum's and finish it off.  I know she doesn't mind her lamb pink but not bloody so I had cooked hers for a little longer than ours because we really don't mind how rare it is.  Again this isn't a cheap choice around 15 euros for a pack which has about 5 small tenderloins inside but aside from a bit of sinew there is no waste.  I think it is fair to say that we all enjoyed this meal - there were three clean plates and we rounded it off with some lovely strawberries and fresh cream.  A lovely start to my muted birthday celebrations this year.