A fine day...

Today I had very kindly been invited out for coffee with Sonia.  I haven't really seen her to talk to for ages and she had wished me a happy birthday yesterday and I had to remind her that it was actually Nicky's and mine is next week.  Sonia said she thought we shared the same day.  Anyway on a really glorious day we went off to Polis, Sonia drove, heading for Tina's Art Cafe.  We couldn't park close-by so Sonia went down to the car park by Moustakallis Taverna.  As we parked up I asked Sonia if I should get a ticket and she said she often parked there and never bought a ticket, in fact she didn't think it was required.  I was a bit surprised because I thought I had read recently that a traffic warden was in evidence but Sonia insisted, I wish I had because on our return there was a parking ticket shoved behind her windscreen wiper.  Hers was the only car in the carpark!  The law of Sod I would say and it made our coffee just that little bit more expensive than it should have been.

On a brighter note how lovely does Moustakallis look in the sunshine?  All fresh in white and blue ready for the season.  Opposite is Finikas restaurant, one of our favourites.  We haven't been for a while as it is definitely the closest we get to fine dining in terms of food and price.  Nicky and Mark are going there on Saturday to celebrate Nicky's birthday.

The spring like weather today was having an effect on the resident tortoises at Tina's - I came to the conclusion that the one with a smoothish shell (on the left) was female and the one on the right with a knobbly shell was male.  Knobbly-shell would not stop pursuing and mounting Smoothish shell who seemed to be particularly disinterested.  Humping tortoises are noisy and they remind me of a poem we studied when I was at school called Tortoise Shout by D H Lawrence which is all about the noise made by humping tortoises!!

I spent a lovely hour or so sitting in the sunshine chatting with Sonia.  She is so interesting and after all the challenges she has faced with her health and rehabilitation she is optimistic and fiercely independent and has quite a wicked sense of humour.  We share a passion for gardening and swap and share plants.  Sonia takes quite an holistic approach to life and health and it is fascinating and to be fair she is living proof that for her it works.  

I am not sure where Tina's poppy cake with sour cream topping fits into a healthy lifestyle but it was very nice indeed and went perfectly with a cup of British Breakfast Tea!!!  It was such a shame that this nice interlude was a little spoiled by the parking ticket waiting for us.  I offered to give her money towards it but she refused - she was almost amused that she had been given one.  I think it was only €8.50 if my limited Greek read the paperwork correctly.

John and I had planned to go for a walk in the afternoon but we got tied up with things at home and Jan and Derek called in in the afternoon for a cup of tea and piece of cake so our plans went out the window.  Our supper this evening was something I had found on the internet on one of those sites which tell you what you can make with the eclectic mix of leftovers you have lurking in the furthest corners of your fridge.  I offered the tintyweb some halloumi and chorizo and it returned with a recipe for Halloumi Pasta with Smokey Chorizo.  I will admit that I added some red pepper to the mix along with a slug of red wine in the sauce but apart from that followed the recipe pretty faithfully and it was absolutely amazing and definitely something I will be making again.