Date Night...

It was absolutely glorious this morning when Nicky and I set off for our Saturday Morning walk.  We are sticking to familiar routes at the moment as we ease our way back into our former fitness.  Today Nicky had wanted to do the walk we did on Thursday in the opposite direction with the aim that we would get up the steep hill without stopping a la Malcolm and Louise!!!  We were prepared making sure that we paced ourselves beforehand.  After all the trials and tribulations of the preceding week for Nicky and for me it was just fabulous to be outside taking in the views and the fresh air.  This freedom and beauty which is right on the doorstep makes everything worthwhile.

We made the hill in a 'oner' without stopping until we got to the little church, this was not without some effort and huffing and puffing and absolutely no conversation whilst in progress but we did it and there was a definite feeling of achievement.  Nicky even went so far as to admit that she could almost, almost, understand Liselotte's enthusiasm to push herself up a hill during her walks.  We felt good and as a result did not take the normal route back home but turned off up one of the side roads and past a couple of the most pretty cottages that are hidden away and then home.  If we walk with John and Jane on Thursday this will probably be the same walk that we do because it is not too far, not too strenuous and quite pretty.

John wanted to go and stock up on some wine from Vasilikon and so we decided that as it was such a beautiful morning we would go and treat ourselves to breakfast on the terrace.  We had to find a table i the shade!!!  I have now realised that eating out needs more thought than previously - I explained that I was unable to have tomato on my breakfast and then they kindly pointed out that I would have to forego the baked beans too (tomato based and tinned) - that had not occurred to me!!!  Anyway I didn't really mind as I can take or leave grilled tomatoes and I got a portion of fresh mushrooms instead.  Breakfast was lovely and the owner Yiannis came and had a chat with us before we collected our box of wine (ready for Christmas) and made our way back home feeling really happy with out Saturday morning thus far.

Nicky had asked if I had any sage at home - I have recently removed it as it had become woody and too big.  Where we were parked at the winery they have plenty of sage growing so I picked some and delivered to her whilst John and Mark had a typically Cypriot conversation in their cars blocking the road!

John settled himself down for an afternoon of sport (if you can call the abject performance by Dem Blades as anything close to sport).

I did a bit of gardening and then I text to see if Sonia was at home as she had wanted to come and see me after my 'attack' and I had been too wiped out to get up.

She is great to chat with, I really enjoy her company and when Andrea Christofi arrived she added another dimension to our conversations about food that I can eat whilst avoiding the 'triggers'.

Sonia has given me some cuttings of this herb.  She did not recognise it but said it had a pungent fragrant flavour which might be good to use in salads.  Andrea had actually given it to her and identified it as Thai Basil.  Strangely enough I seem to remember that my brother in law Richard had been violently allergic to this herb - hopefully that would not be the case for us.  I have put a couple of sprigs in water in the hopes it will root and removed some of the flowers to put in our salad this evening.  I have told Sonia that I am trying to root her a Clock Vine as I have read that you can do that pretty successfully and as I have cut it down for the winter had several good clean cuttings I could use.

The ingredients for our supper tonight looked like something out of an episode of Ready Steady Cook!!!  I had lettuce, onion, pepper, cucumber, fillet steak and some left over mashed potatoes.  I made a salad (no tomato) and added the flowers from the Thai Basil which gave flavour and colour and some lemon pickled olives that we had in the fridge.

I made a mustard sauce for the steak which I had purchased from Shuks yesterday and which was absolutely melt in your mouth after I had cooked and left to rest.

Whilst resting I made potato cakes from the leftover mash - simple recipe, fried onions and mixed into the mashed potato with a lot of seasoning and a beaten egg and slug of cream until it formed a batter.  No cheese but actually it wasn't necessary.  The trick was to use our egg frying rings and fill the base with a thin layer of the potato mix - I had the first one far too thick and I couldn't get it to cook and keep its form but once I had realised the error of my ways I managed to produce four really good golden potato cakes which went really nicely with the steak.

Sadly I think my medication is making alcohol taste a bit unpleasant so I didn't enjoy the glass of red wine as much as I would do normally but the food was lovely and I didn't miss and of the things I have to avoid until it came to a cup of coffee in the evening and I can't have any chocolate or even a biscuit with it as everything we have here seems to have traces of nuts!!  I shall get used to it in due course I am sure.