Kev and Cucumber Sandwiches!

This is my mate Kevin who lives on, our around, something green in the garden so it was quite unusual to see him on the throw which covers the day bed - he was too noticeable and, as this is where Mr Boo likes to sleep, I was afraid that Mr Boo might use him as a toy and then I would be minus my friend.  I moved him back to the poinsettia that I am coaxing back to life which is where he normally hangs out.  I hope he will appreciate that I had his best interests at heart. 

I am excited that after years my Hoya looks like it is going to flower.  It started out as a tiny cutting (one leaf) from a plant which was in the Magic Garden in Mesa Chorio.  I had asked Michael if I could pinch a bit and he said yes.  I stuck it in water hoping it would root and it took forever.  Then I planted it up and it remained about 4 leaves in size for absolutely ages and then I moved it into the conservatory proper where it put on a massive spurt and produced one long bit of growth which was taller than me with nothing but some little bumps every 10cm or so.

Today I spied a cluster of buds half way up the long shoot - woo hoo these are flower buds and hopefully shortly I will get a beautiful waxy pink and white flower and the accompanying fragrance.  I will keep you posted.

We had promised to help Nicky today.  Her Mum is celebrating her 80th birthday and Nicky was doing the catering (without a kitchen) and was making afternoon tea for around 40 people.  She had been baking and making for ages and bagging any available space in fridges and freezers.  I take my hat off to her because I know that even with her limited resources it will be amazing and she will make her mum very proud.

Timing was going to be absolutely key with the sarnies.  We had to have them ready for around 3ish when Nicky and Mark would be transporting everything down to Liz and Bill's in Peyia but not made too early so that they were like board so whilst I was waiting for the right time to start I did a bit of gardening. 

I have become a fan of succulents because they add a lovely dimension to the garden.  They come in all shapes and sizes and do normally, at some point, produce flowers and they are easy to propagate (break a bit off and shove it in some soil) and look after - in fact the worst thing you could do is over water.

I had a knackered egg box which I wanted to keep but was no use for eggs so I lined it with one of those plastic takeaway boxes which I had jabbed to make some drainage holes and then went and picked half a dozen or so bits from different plants and put them in.  Hopefully they will survive and put on a good display!

The sandwich making was a military exercise but today I was the chief and John was my Part IV!!!

We had to make 36 sandwiches of each of four fillings with a mix of white and brown bread.  The slices of bread had to have their crusts removed and then filled with egg mayonnaise, coronation chicken, ham and tomato relish and the most tricky smoked salmon, cream cheese and cucumber.  Each round had to be cut into three fingers and stacked into metal trays with damp kitchen roll on top and bottom and then cling filmed and then refrigerated.

We got it down to a fine art and started with the egg mayonnaise which was the easiest to spread and form into fingers.  We even remembered to mark up the metal tray so Nicky would know what was inside.  Then we wiped down and tackled the coronation chicken which was slightly more fiddly but we managed.  Wiping down again before we tackled the ham and tomato relish - the relish was home made and a bit chunky so not so easy to spread!  Final wipe down and the salmon, cream cheese and cucumber combo.  I had already cut the cucumber into strips so it made it easier for us to cut the fingers.  Actually John cut the fingers and packed the tray using his engineers eye!!!  We actually made a fifth tray with what bread was left so Nicky had extras in case of any accidents.

 We picked up Mum and took her with us to Liz's party (they have known each other a very long time).  This was the savoury platter that Nicky produced for 2 people!!!!  It was absolutely gorgeous and she even made sure that John got coronation chicken vol au vents as he doesn't do mushrooms!

And this was the selection of cakes which included Battenberg,  Peach tarts, carrot cake, bakewell tart and then scones jam and cream.  This was as well as a fabulous maltezer confection that was the actual birthday cake.

Nicky really did do her mum proud and I think everyone enjoyed the food and even got to take a doggy bag home.  

We were entertained by Bill's Daughter's children Stanley and Alice.  They along with their parents have just spent the best part of the last two years traveling the world before they are of an age where their schooling is too important to miss.  However talking to them the education of travel has been priceless - at 9 (Stanley) and 11 (Alice) they are engaging, confident, interesting and grounded.

There is an age old question - Is it better to learn through Experience or Books?  

Experience allows you to understand the theory behind the concepts. While book learning is important to understand the concepts, those concepts aren't going to help you unless you understand the application of those concepts in real time.

Does that answer the question?