Food and Drink...

Today was all about food and drink!  I wanted to do something with the "kumsquats" I had left over after I had given some to Jan to try, Belinda to make into marmalade and Nicky to infuse in some alcohol!  I had found a recipe for some spicy kumquat chutney so that was where the majority of the ones I had went.  I have to say it smelt really lovely as it was cooking.

Nicky's idea of using the fruit to make something like Kumquatcello inspired me so I put a few aside to flavour some gin.  We have some Bombay Sapphire which is not my favourite so it was sacrificed for the infusion experiment.

The kumsquats had to be washed and then sliced and the pips removed.  I saved a few fat juicy pips to plant in a pot to see if I could get them to grow.  then the fruit was put into a bottle containing the gin.  Over the course of the next few days the fruit needs to be agitated several times a day and then the liquor will be strained and the fruit used to make some cookies - this is what I did when we made amaretto.

Whilst I was doing this John was busy getting his pizzas prepped ready for tomorrow when he is catching up with Arodes John over a pint and the Sheffield United v Cardiff football game.  Poor Arodes John having to listen to my John ranting and raving at the TV!!!

I also got the pressure cooker out and started to make the stew that we will be taking down to Mum's on Sunday.  It is Easter Weekend here in Cyprus so rather than try and find somewhere to eat on Sunday I chose to cook - I had some shin of beef in the freezer and that always makes a good stew.

We were out for lunch today - we had been invited to go to the Stone Lion with Gail and Pete and as Pete owed us some money he paid for our meal.  It was very nice - I went for the spare ribs.  I would have quite liked the fish and chips but I am sure that fried fish is one of the things that aggravates my hernia.  The last time we had been for food here I had not had a great meal but was happy to try again and the ribs were tasty and tender - we don't think we have taken John's Mum, Jackie and Stan here so it is one for when they are next over.  It was a lovely lunchtime and after all the cooking I was glad not to have to do any more.  We never run out of things to talk about and as Gail has just returned from the UK that added an extra dimension to the conversation.  Anyway it was a good call so thanks Twomeys for the invite.

You may or you may not remember that Nicky gave me the most brilliant present for my birthday.  She had made me a terrarium using a Kilner jar.  I have nurtured it since I received it and it has flourished to the point where the little plants were about the touch the top of the jar and get squashed so I decided that I needed to transplant them into something a little larger.

I have had this glass cookie jar since our silver wedding and it seemed the ideal thing for the new terrarium.  I have carefully transplanted everything from one receptacle to the other and hope that they will continue to do well - time will tell.

We had a quiet evening - a few cheese and biscuits early evening and some gash TV before calling it a night.  We have a lie in in the morning - John can't ride his bike because he has a problem with the brakes.

Argy rang today and confirmed they will be coming as planned so we will get to see them soon - although for the first few weeks we will have visitors so will have to catch them as and when we can.

Very few fireworks and fire crackers this evening thank goodness but the main part of the Easter celebrations is tomorrow so that is when it is noisy.