Eat Your Carrots

New Phone

2011-12-02T05:32:00.001-08:00

Yay!

New Phone

2011-05-20T05:35:00.001-07:00

Yay!

PizzaExpress

2011-05-15T14:30:00.001-07:00

We went to PizzaExpress after Thor. We have £70 of vouchers to use by the end of the month, tough I know, but we'll struggle through...

I look forward to the dessert almost as much as the pizza. I always have Caffe Reale, a dish of baby figs marinated in Marsala wine served with marscapone and a cappuccino. Delicious.

Caffe Reale

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Location:Teesside Park

Eurovision Party

2011-05-14T10:03:00.000-07:00

It was Eurovision on Saturday and what better way to enjoy it than at Marie's Eurovision party.

This must have meant an awful lot of work for her as it involved producing food & drink from all 25 competing countries! She did an excellent job, especially because the vast majority of the dishes were suitable for vegetarians!

There were way too many dishes to mention them all, but my favorites were the Aubergine Parmigiana, Stuffed Tomatoes and Goulash, along with the carrot bread rolls.

So Eurovision itself... The worst one in many a year I thought, with less songs that I really liked than I can ever remember. It was saying something that Jedward were amongst the best acts on the night, eclipsing Blue. My personal favourite was Germany, the same girl as won last year doing a song that was very much the type of song I like but not typical Eurovision stuff.

So Azerbaijan won, something not many expected, except my friend Grant who publicly predicted it on Twitter and Facebook and who had the strength of conviction to put a tenner on them. At 17-1 that was a fair scoop!

Location:Billingham

Big Sizzling Pub

2011-05-13T11:53:00.001-07:00

Lunch today was at The Owington Farm, one of the Big Sizzling Pub chain. The menu is pretty decent with a lot of veggie options including dishes with Quorn in them - my favourite!

I decided to go for the char grilled Quorn fillets; if i'd thought about this more I might have decided against it - Quorn has little moisture and no fat in it, so grilling it usually just turns it to cardboard. The fillets in this dish had narrowly avoided that fate, having a thin cardboardy exterior but still being quite juicy inside. The excellent jug of piri piri sauce that came with it helped to fully revive it. The "seasoned" chips and Mexican rice were excellent accompaniments. All in all a nice meal.

Only one choice for dessert, the mega chocolatey curly wurly mini-egg brownie, raspberry & ice cream "sharing" sundae. Sharing? Who shares a dessert, especially one with chocolate goodness in it?

It was bloody enormous, and had way too much ice cream in it! Lesser men (eg Kell) have struggled and "looked ill" when tackling this - bloody wimps.

Kell did offer to pay for another plus give me a tenner if I could manage to eat it. I politely declined - even I have my limits.

The afternoon was spent strangely dry-mouthed. Something about that meal - probably the dessert - was dehydrating me. I did nowt but drink water all afternoon (as well as working hard, obviously).

I'm looking forward to going again, might have the fajita next time.

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Location:Billingham

Season's

2011-05-11T09:53:00.000-07:00

To ease the disappointment of not being able to go biking for a week or more Wife took me to Season's in Darlington for dinner. They've currently got a "2 courses for £10" promotion on, with a special Mexican themed menu.

No real choices for vegetarians, just the one starter and one main course, these being "potato skins" (more of a mini jacket potato really) and veggie Chimichanga (filled with rice & black beans as well as vegetables)

Veggie Chimichanga

Both dishes were beautifully presented and delicious. As usual on an evening the restaurant was almost empty, maybe 3 other couples were in in the time we were there. To be fair, there were no more people in Pizza Hut just down the road, so I guess it was a quiet night all round.

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Location:Darlington

My Boy

2011-05-09T15:03:00.001-07:00

The best thing about coming home from holiday...

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Location:Darlington,United Kingdom

Lazy Last Day

2011-05-04T03:28:00.000-07:00

We intended to spend the morning of our last day at the beach, but the weather put paid to that idea. Plan B then was to spend a few hours at Deck bar with a couple if drinks, the papers, the Internet and lunch. It's brightened up since, but that only makes our time here even more pleasant.

On an annoying note there's still 1/4 tank of fuel in the Impreza, more profit to Avis. Perhaps I should spend the final hour bombing up and down the motorway in 2nd gear...

Well, time to leave now. Farewell Cyprus, we'll be back soon...

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Tales From The Dark Side

2011-05-03T13:11:00.000-07:00

Nicosia today. The person who rented us the house in Kalavassos reckoned it was 25 minutes to Nicosia. Even in the Impreza it was closer to 50, especially when you factor in the inevitable city-centre traffic.

First port of call on arrival was The Cyprus Museum. We don't usually do indoor stuff, especially when the weather is nice and today was a 27 degree scorcher, but wife was desperate to see Severius Septimus. Born in Libya, this Roman emperor died in York and life-sized ancient statue of him resides in The Cyprus Museum.

Well, as fate would have it we weren't able to see old Severius as his room was being redecorated and all the exhibits were covered up! It wasn't a wasted journey though as many of the other exhibits more than made up for it. My favourites were the terracotta warriors (why are the Chinese ones so famous and these ones unheard of?) and some very whimsical pottery figures. Whimsical but ahead of their time, incredibly detailed they could be mistaken for items produced much later. While we were struggling to accurately draw cows and horses in the middle ages, the cypriots were making wholly realistic figures several thousand years ago! The pottery too was simply amazing.

Leaving the museum we headed straight for "the dark side" (Turkish North Nicosia). It's really nice over there and for anyone who's been to (for instance) Marmaris or Bodrum on holiday and been sick to death of people trying to drag you (sometimes quite literally) into their shop or cafe, let me just say this is NOTHING like that. In the entire time we were there (and on our last visit too) not one person attempted to tempt us into their emporium.

We visited the Great Inn first because we know we like the cafe there and wanted lunch. We had "cheese pies" (more like giant cheese-filled ravioli, but in a kind of "crepe" pastry rather than pasta, and "buttered layers" (the same kind of pastry built into layers with butter, cinnamon and (maybe) honey inside). Delicious.

While we were dining the call to prayer went out. All but two of the group of 8 men on an adjoining table, along with many others in the Great Inn, left in a hurry. 20 minutes later they were all back, back at the tables with fresh coffees ordered. This was good - we knew that if we left for the great mosque now we'd be able to see it without running the risk of overlapping with prayer time (when we wouldn't be allowed in).

The mosque is converted from a former cathedral, still recognisable as such from outside despite the addition of minarets. Inside it's much plainer than the cathedral would probably have been, decorated only in white with the odd motif or inscription here and there. I overheard a fellow visitor comparing it unfavourably to York and Durham saying it had "had its guts ripped out". This presumes that she knew it was once decorative, but I don't think its plainness was any bad thing - it was an oasis of calm and tranquility.

Leaving the mosque we wandered the side and back streets, searching out more mosques, old houses, cafes and shops. It was a very enjoyable stroll.

Back in the south side again we passed some time in a quiet square away from the main shopping hubub of Ledra Street, really just killing time until we were ready for a late, late lunch (at about 4pm, so maybe it was an early, early dinner). It was a bad choice of venue mind, as it had a vast array of the most wonderful cakes and pies and I was sorely tempted. But resisted.

So lunch/dinner brings us to Fanous, our favourite Lebanese restaurant anywhere. Each time we go it seems bigger and bigger and this time it has annexed the other side of the street where a mock Bedouin tent forms a sort of Internet cafe. We were forced to eat in there due to the fact it was packed to the rafters elsewhere (a good sign). We ordered dinner - Tabouleh, hummous, an aubergine, onion & tomato dish (omg how good it was) and felafel. Now we've had their felafel every time we've been and never thought anything untoward. Today though... it just seemed like they were chicken nuggets! Texture, taste and most especially smell - everything said chicken. I asked - "no, is not chicken, is chick pea".

We were not convinced and wife couldn't eat them. I had two, choosing to believe what i was told rather than what my senses were telling me. There was nothing else on the menu that it could have been, they must just work magic on the chick peas! Well, everything else was as delicious as ever and also as cheap. It was amusing watching some of the blokes there sucking on their hookahs. They sucked like there was no tomorrow, in through the mouth, out through the nose, barely pausing for a real breath and certainly not letting the fact that they were on the phone put them off!

So that was that - a 50 minute drive back "home" and we were packing cases, ready to fly back home tomorrow. Is it really time to come home??

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Larnaca

2011-05-02T22:22:00.000-07:00

Larnaca remains the only place of note on Cyprus that we'd not been to, so that was our destination today.

Naturally we didn't go straight there. First call was the Hala Sultan Tekke mosque outside of Larnaca (right by the airport as it happens), one of Islam's most important holy places. When we've been here before it's been closed - today it was open so we got to have a look inside at last, seeing amongst other things the tomb of Muhammed's Aunty.

Next up Kiti with its lovely church and then Perovolia with its equally lovely one, dedicated to Saint Irene. This one was quite a large affair with a whole cloister of associated ecclesiastical buildings surrounding it. Perovolia itself was quite a nice and relaxed little resort town with a quaint centre (centred on the church just mentioned) and a plethora of eating and drinking places.

On then to Larnaca and the famous Mackenzy Beach. The beach was nice, fine, clean black sand backed by palm trees and fancy cafes and restaurants. It was lunch time but none of the restaurants suited our needs (too expensive, too fishy) so we moved on to Larnaca proper.

I parked in the first available parking area (after one close shave with an unfinished multi-storey) and got the shock of our lives on rounding the corner coming out of the car park. We were right by St Lazarus' Cathedral, an absolutely outstanding sight and surrounded by a host of tempting cafes. We settled on Blu Bar which had an offer of "free orange juice with cheese pie or spinach pie". One of each for us then, and a portion of chips to help it along. Very nice, best spinach pie ever, in fact.

That done we photographed the church (it was closed) surrounding streets, mosques, fort, seafront, you name it, it was all very photogenic. We walked the length of the promenade ("The Nice of the Eastern Med") finishing at the marina. The prom is lovely, beach to one side, eatery after eatery on the other and the odd kiosk and beach bar scattered along it for good measure. It was really lovely. The Rough Guide disparages the beach, but there's nothing wrong with it (at the end of the day it's Blue Flag and Blue Flag pays no attention to the colour of the sand).

We stopped off for almost an hour at Fini's beach bar, really enjoying the Brazilian vibe music, the cocktails and the fact it was 6 feet from the sea. Perfection.

On our way back to the car we looked inside the church which was now open. Rough Guide describes it as "drab", we describe it as "magnificent", ornate iconography everywhere and in particular on an alter screen that must have two dozen or more panels.

Home once more we dined at Georges, having the same meal as last time (the only veggie option) and a bottle of ouzo. Being by now regular customers, we also got a free glass of Zivanhia. Ouzo AND Zivanhia... think I'm in for a rough night.

No sight of Ginger tonight so Fluffy got most of the food, though a new, as yet unnamed and very timid cat also showed up and got a few biscuits.

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Limassol

2011-05-02T12:09:00.000-07:00

Sunday afternoon saw us in Limassol. We've been enough times before that there was nothing we needed to see, we were just there to enjoy being there and to pass the time. Oh, hold on, there was ONE thing we needed to see - The Syrian Arab Friendship Club (more later).

We stopped off on the resort strip (this runs for a whole 16km along the coast) and found some free backstreet parking. We headed down to the beach and walked along it for a while, looking on enviously at the beachside apartments here.

When we ran out of promenade we cut back inland and went in search of food & drink. We settled on the Coffee Beanery despite having initially been drawn to Coffee Republic (packed to the rafters when we first arrived, totally empty after our stroll!). We ordered 2 Frappes, 2 Sticky Nutella Muffins and a cheese pie (pasty to you and me). Both the frappé and the muffins were declared "best ever", and the frappés were full pints too - we were jumping at the end!

We then went in search of the Syrian Arab Friendship Club (SAFC), a legendary restaurant in Larnaka with a branch also in Nicosia. We found it no problem, it's menu looked exceedingly good and exceedingly cheap - just a pity we weren't actually going to eat there today!

Next off to the old town. We parked in the usual place by the promenade and as usual the immigrant population were out in force. I don't mean that in a bad way, but the promenade is almost always packed with them, for some reason. There were hundreds of Phillipinos relaxing and picnicing on the grass, then further on slightly less Sri Lankans doing much the same. Native Cypriots were dotted about but heavily outnumbered. It's quite surreal.

We cut inland earlier than usual as a huge swathe of the promenade is now closed for redevelopment - a marina and all the associated paraphanalea that goes with it - shops, cafes, luxury apartments, boardwalk, you name it. It will be lovely when it's finished, which I hope is sooner than a lot of developments in Paphos ("first phase opening June 2009" signs standing next to piles of rubble on cleared ground).

We ate at our usual place, Stretto in the Carob Mills. The streets around here are all dug up too, either part of the same development or as something else altogether. It meant the meal lacked some of its usual charm, but none of its usual quality. Wife went for a filo baked goats cheese salad with pomegranite and I want for a kebab of Mozzarella, tomatoes and foccacia on a bed of salad leaves. Both were wonderful.

The desert menu looked very tempting, even stretching to the elusive and mysterious "Mahalepi" ("maybe next week..." we were told in Paphos, as though it were some seasonal fruit) but we were way too stuffed for dessert.

Back home after that then, after a very full and very fun filled day!

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The Limassol Coast - Governor's Beach

2011-05-01T13:12:00.000-07:00

If Zygi was strange, Governor's Beach was not much less so. A network of minor roads crisscross the hinterland behind the "beach", each leading to different areas which have their own clutches of yet more fish tavernas. Some of these are huge too, one having a range of seating that went from fully indoors (like 50' back) through covered terrace, open terrace to cute beachside decked areas. The beach itself at these areas was a bit scrappy and some of the tavernas had lawned areas with sunbeds on as an alternative.

We eventually found Governor's Beach proper, still backed by a huge fish taverna (Kalymnos) but having a pretty decent beach at the bottom of steep white cliffs. The sand was black sand, but very fine and clean, though the fact it was black meant it was about 50 degrees! It was too windy to stay long, the breeze whipping the sand into sandstorms that made it too uncomfortable.

We headed back to the car and set off for the fleshpots of the Limassol Tourist Strip...

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The Limassol Coast - Zygi

2011-05-01T13:01:00.000-07:00

Today was a day for exploring the coast south of where we're staying and east of Limassol. First stop was Zygi, stopping off on the way at the shopping heaven of "Zygi Crossroads". This is a weird place, on a crossroads in the middle of nowhere it has all sorts of shops, several of them "corner shop" style (Peripteros they call them here), fish monger, butcher, pharmacy, shoe shop, tavernas, and so on. Presumably they've sprung up here to service the local rural communities. We did a bit of shopping...

On to Zygi proper then. This is one weird place. It's grown into the area's prime "Fish Taverna" centre, and presumably the fish is landed fresh at its fishing harbour. This harbour is HUGE, at least 4 maybe 5 times bigger than it needs to be, with a stack of empty berthing piers. The whole sea front and several streets behind are lined with fish taverna after fish taverna, some looking very swish, some very ramshackle, some enormous (like the biggest fish restaurants I've EVER seen) and some minute. How do you choose one faced with such a selection? A moot point for us, fish is not on our menu. Pork maybe, fish no.

So that was Zygi. How do such places spring up? It would be interesting to see it when it's packed with diners, if that ever happens - that would be thousands of people!

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Kalavassos

2011-05-01T12:47:00.000-07:00

We're staying up at Kalavassos now, a village up in the once copper mining hills between Limassol and Larnaca. We're here because we saw the villas on "My Greek Kitchen", a cooking show we used to watch!

The house we're in is strange; it has a lovely big bedroom (huge in fact) with en-suite on the ground floor and a second bedroom with a huge balcony up above. The house faces out onto a nice courtyard and is right next door to the village square and its exceedingly convivial taverna. All good so far. The only thing that knocks it down is the horrible furniture, old, dark wood pieces that are doubtless supposed to be "in keeping with the character of the building". We hate them.

The wardrobe features a comedy hanging system (it needs a photo to explain it) but is surpassed by the dresser that has legs at the front and not the back and so leans at an alarming angle! All that dark wood makes the place look dark and a bit forboding. I'm not saying to kit it out in Bauhaus, but a bit of modernity to lift it would be a plus, in my eyes at least.

We're enjoying being here though, it's handily placed for the places we want to visit on this leg of the holiday and I can think of no better way to spend a summer evening than sat in the square supping Keo and watching out for Ginger. Ginger is a gorgeous tom cat who scratches a living scrounging scraps at the taverna. We bought cat food today so we could feed him and he gratefully gobbled down a whole bowl of Wiskas tonight. We've seen

dozens of beautiful strays in Cyprus, I'd adopt them all if it was at all practical.

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Birthday Day

2011-04-30T08:53:00.000-07:00

Yay, my birthday, and the day we leave Agia Napa for Kalavassos. After
breakfast (and our hotel, the Napa Mermaid, does the best of any hotel
I've been to) we headed to Konnos bay, the little bay on Cape Greko
that we "discovered" yesterday.

It really is a little paradise and quickly became one of my favourite
places anywhere. It's so picturesque and the water there is about the
clearest I've ever seen, almost like bath water. An unusual feature is
the beach chairs that double up as canoes - at least they do if you
weight less than I do, wife had much more success.

The cafe too is sympathetially built, blending in to its surroundings
and offering stunning views across the bay. We had lunch there before
we left, the usual halloumi pitta for me and, unusually, apple pie for
wife! I almost cried when it was time to leave, this really was my
paradise. I could have gone there every day for a fortnight.

So 3 nights in Napa over, and we never got to do do many things we
would like to, because there were so many other things that we did do.
That leaves us plenty to do when we come back, and we will come back
for longer next time. There's enough going on around Napa to keep us
entertained for a good long while.

Kalavassos is rather different... A quiet hill village it's cooler for
a start and a whole lot quieter. It does at least posess some tavernas
and kafenions so scores over the mountain village we stayed at last
time around where eating in was the only option (except we had no
cooking facilities) or else drive to somewhere else on the narrow,
twisting, switchback mountain roads in the pitch dark. We've yet to
choose a place for dinner tonight, but one of the two places right
next door (literally) to where we're staying is looking favourite. No
open shop means no milk means black coffee and dry cornflakes for
breakfast though!

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Dinner And Excitement In Paralimni

2011-04-29T12:25:00.000-07:00

We'd yet to see Cape Greko so instead of lazing by the pool we decided to head to Paralimni early and go via Cape Greko. We went up to the viewpoint there and marveled at the view which is fabulous. Unfortunately the siting of a military transmitter at the end of the cape means a plethora of "no photography" signs, and these were enough for wife to forbid me to take any despite the fact everyone else was! These "no photography" signs are only ever found within paranoid regimes - I have dozens of photos of Fylingdale and Menwith Hill.

From there we went on to Konnos bay, a tiny and very, very picturesque sandy bay at the foot of some cliffs. It has a spectacularly sited beach taverna with fanulous views from its tables - if it's nice tomorrow we know where we're going!

Finally arriving in Paralimni we went to Senso for some drinks in the fading but still bright late evening sun. It was apparent something was going on at the big church there (the service being broadcast over speakers and the handful of food & trinket stalls that had sprung up around the church were as much a giveaway as the smartly dresses men, women and children who filed in and out). Uniformed children appeared, along with clergy, dignatories and military personnel. All filed in through one door and out through another.

Eventually a parade began, marching band, page boys holding crucifixes, the clergy, the military, off they all went, preceeding the icon of St George, which was enough to make us realise this was all for St George's day.

Eventually, after an hour of unexpected watching and photographing, we got to Medialuz for dinner. These do Veggie Moussaka which we both adore and a veggie version of Pasticcio which I'd been dying to try. Wife's Moussaka was everything it should be. My pasiccio was delicious, but left me wondering what it was they used as a meat substitute. I'm guessing at pork... Or sage and onion stuffing that had had some miracle worked on it. Whatever, I'm trusting that it was ACTUALLY vegetarian and declaring it delicious! I'll make it at home with quorn mince and sage & onion stuffing.

The cafe, Medialuz, was one of our typical "Greek only" places that we favour, but this was the most Greek only so far, complete with staff who didn't speak English and a clientele who's average ages was nineteen. N-n-n-n-nineteen. Ok, we pushed that closer to 20 for the hour we were there. How lovely it was to see hordes of young folk drinking cold coffees, fresh juice, lucozade, etc, playing cards and backgammon and having a great time. If only Britain's youth could shake it's obsession with getting plastered and starting aggro.

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A Day Of Beaches

2011-04-29T11:59:00.000-07:00

Glorious day today, so only one thought in our minds - Nissi Beach,
one of the lovliest beaches we've been to. We headed there straight
from breakfast and were probably on the beach by 10. The sand spit
joining the main beach to the island was under water (the sea must be
fuller these days) so we had to properly wade across.

We laid out our towels and got down to the business of topping up our
vitamin D reserves. I can never rest for long though, so we were soon
up and taking photos of the fabulous vista. The sand is so white and
the sea so turquoise here, you could easily imagine it being somewhere
more exotic. The small chapel on the beach and the plush gardens of
the Adams Beach Hotel add to the scenic splendour.

Something we've noticed before here is the way that some people (we
guess eastern European or Russian) pose for photos. They pose like
it's a professional model shoot, pulling exotic poses, heads thrown
back in dramatic fashion, reclining in the surf or draping over rocks.
Perhaps it's for their portfolio on ARussianBride.com, or just for
Facebook, but it's amusing to watch, whatever.

After a couple of hours there we moved on to Makronissos beach, a
couple of k further on. We arrived there, by chance, just in time to
watch the key part of The Royal Wedding - the bride arriving and the
service itself.

That over we hit the beach again. While wife relaxed in the sun I
strolled off to explore (there's a necropolis here somewhere) and
found a smaller, deserted beach just past a small outcrop. An hour or
so later, while I wandered off to get a takeaway lunch of Haloumi
Pitta (praise be that the Cypriots invented Haloumi), wife moved our
stuff round to the deserted beach. It was still deserted.

We ate our lunch on the rocks at the end of a pristine white sanded
beach by crystal clear waters with not another soul around. It was
perfect. Later I larked about, pulling "Russian" poses at the surfs
edge while wife took photos. She could barely take them, she was
laughing so much.

Our fun and frolics over for the day we headed back to the hotel,
where we had originally planned to lounge by the pool, but now we had
a plan B...

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Ayia Triadha

2011-04-28T14:06:00.000-07:00

On our afternoon drive we went to Ayia Triadha, a small and fairly
picturesque beach by a small and fairly picturesque fishing harbour,
both overlooked by a small and fairly picturesque church. Reason
enough to visit, but an even better reason is the pride of feral cats
that hang out near the church.

These cats are absolutely gorgeous, some of them the most beautiful of
colours and mostly with longish, fluffy hair. They earn a meager
existence by scrounging fish scraps from the fishing harbour but are
helped out a great deal by kindly local ex-pats who bring cat food,
biscuits and fresh water down each day.

One of the poor little darlings only has three good legs, but has
(apparently) been that way since a kitten and has managed to become
full grown despite being low in the pecking order.

They all seemed good natured and none showed any fighting injuries or
fought to keep food to themselves. After being fed they all laid
contentedly in the sun, grooming their fur and looking as playful as
any house cat. It was quite possibly the highlight of wife's day.

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Dinner in Deryneia

2011-04-28T13:48:00.000-07:00

We'd arranged to meet Marie for dinner at a taverna of her choosing,
Misohoro in Deryneia. Deryneia's main claim to fame is its proximity
to the buffer zone and the ghost town of Famagusta. Apparently some
cafes and tavernas there are built facing this vista and have
binoculars and telescopes to let you take it all in.

We saw none of that, Misohoro is a proper, traditional taverna set in
the main square next to the very picturesque church. Its menu is
largely mezze format, including a vegetarian version which three of us
went for.

This was very much a more traditional (or at least more typical) style
of mezze than that at 7 St Georges in Geriskipou where you are
presented with single carrots or single leeks. Each dish of this mezze
was fairly substantial, the kind I'd order 3 or 4 of if we were making
a mezze for two. The number of dishes we had came to 10 or 11! These
were:

Dips (Tahini, tzatziki, potato, olives)
Bread

Chips (yes chips, but really good home made ones)
Courgette & greens with egg
Greek salad
Couscous
Veg Tavas (veg in a sort of red wine & cinnamon sauce - first time
I've ever had this delicious dish)
Grilled tomatoes & mushrooms
Saganaki feta
Grilled Haloumi
Fried Courgettes
Fried Cauliflower

Fruit including a local one called Espina which we eventually worked
out is Medlar.

This was a fabulous meal and with a couple of drinks came in at a very
reasonable €17 per head. No wonder this is the only place that
actually gets a mention in The Rough Guide.

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Paralimni

2011-04-28T08:08:00.000-07:00

Dull day today so we went up to Paralimni. It didn't sound like there
was much cause to visit it according to The Rough Guide, but we went
anyway.

Parking proved troublesome but we got parked eventually after a few
laps round the block. No sooner had we got into town than it started
to rain. Cafe time then...

We went into the excellent Senso, just off the main square. Typically
chic downstairs it had an even chicer "chill out lounge" upstairs with
a balcony overlooking the square. Meals looked good, but it was too
soon for lunch.

The rain stopped and we ventured out. The main square has not one, not
two but three lovely chuches, ranging in size from smallest to largest
across the square and ranging in age the same way. We went into the
newest and largest first, which has a lovely interior. Crossing the
square the next church was closed so we couldn't take a look inside.
The final, smallest and oldest church (700 years old) was open and its
interior was fabulous with old wall paintings and iconography, and
with plates and bowls embedded into the walls.

It was lunch time now and as chance would have it we spotted a very
traditional looking Taverna just down the road. Quiet outside it was
packed inside, and the menu had a lot of our firm favourites. We
didn't want a lot for lunch so we plumped for saganaki feta, hummous
and tzatziki, all with lovely soft Pitta breads.

Leaving the taverna the sun came out so we went back to the square to
take photos of the three churches.

We liked Paralimni and I can't for the life of me think why The Rough
Guide would omit to mention the three churches! We also liked the cafe
life and spotted one to come back to for dinner tomorrow night.

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Arrival In Napa

2011-04-27T09:15:00.000-07:00

Transfer day today. Such is the level of traffic on Cypriot motorways
that a 120 mile drive at the speed limit of 60mph took 2 hours. Cruise
control engaged all the way an no need to touch any controls
whatsoever. I could have done it in my sleep, and in fact the journey
was so lacking in driver input that I almost did fall asleep!
We stopped at Panorama services, somewhere we're well familiar with,
for both refreshments and to ease my aching back (the Impreza doesn't
have the most comfortable of seats).
Once in Napa we checked in (lovely hotel, oozes quality and has the
unusual feature of the bathroom in the bedroom having a glass wall!)
We wandered into town via the beautiful Grecian Beach (white sand,
crystal clear turquoise sea) and looked for something for lunch. We
found a dightful Greek fast food place that did Haloumi & grilled
vegetable pitas. It was absolutely superb and has instantly become our
favourite fast food joint, ousting Ruxana in Rhodes into second place.
Afternoon was spent relaxing around the pool. It's very stylish with
lovely "real" beds rather than the typical loungers, including some
doubles.
Going out for dinner now, probably to one of the "Greek only" cafe
bars that we found on our lunchtime scouting mission.
Sent from my iPod.

OmNomNomNia

2011-04-27T07:57:00.000-07:00

We ate at Omnia it Paphos old town last night. It should have been
called OmNomNomNia because not only was the food delectable but so
were the staff and, according to wife, the rest of the clientele.

The salad with char grilled vegetables was superb, the piped music
fabulous (Greek chillout) and the live music an unexpected bonus. It
was just a pity we had to leave before we could hear more.

Top marks to Omnia.

Sent from my iPod.

Cypriot Driving

2011-04-26T12:31:00.000-07:00

I've not driven or been driven in every country in Europe, though it
has been quite a few, but from my 3 experiences of driving in Cyprus I
can state categorically that these are the worst drivers I've seen.
I'll list everything in detail when I have a few hours to spare, but
for now I'll just mention the new favourite.

There are 2 things Cypriots do habitually.
1) Run red lights if they go red when you're closer than 20 seconds of
travel away.
2) Creep forward at red lights to the point that you're actually half
way across the junction with the lights still on red.

Put these 2 together and it's a real recipe for disaster and I'm quite
surprised we haven't actually seen any accidents (though we did see a
cyclist knocked off his bike by a car running a red light at a pelican
crossing).

This creeping forward at red lights seems a relatively new phenomena,
I've not noticed it other years. Perhaps it's just other drivers
reaction to having the Impreza next to them or behind them at the
lights- they feel challenged.

Other crazy manoevers have included overtaking me on a narrow village
road by mounting the pavement and making pedestrians jump into shop
doorways to avoid being killed; driving with a dog on your knee; and
almost running me down on a pelican because they were looking sideways
instead of straight ahead and didn't even know there was a crossing
ahead.

I see more dangerous incidents each day than I see in a year at home.

Sent from my iPod.

Back to Evdimou

2011-04-26T08:41:00.000-07:00

Another glorious day so we stuck to our plan to go back to Evdimou
beach for lunch. On the way we stopped off at another hillside
village, this one Anogyra, famous for its Carob production.

Unlike yesterday's supposedly famous village, in Anogyra Carob
production was much in evidence. We passed two places making it,
stopping off at the second one, a "carob museum". We had a very
interesting tour with a most delightful old lady who's family business
it has been for generations.

After a coffee stop and a wander around the lovely village (it would
be a fabulous place to live) we headed for Evdimou. The place was less
busy than yesterday, but still busy enough. We found a table with a
view and tucked into lunch of Haloumi, chips & eggs, washed down with
beer (for me) and wine (for wife).

Lunch was digested by relaxing on top of the large rock down at the
water's edge, doing our best impressions of Copenhagen's Mermaid.

All too soon it was time to head "home", stopping off at Geriskipou's
main square on the way. This has had a major facelift since our last
visit. We liked Geriskipou before, we like it even more now. Its
unique 5 domed church looked fabulous in the late afternoon sun.

Dinner tonight will be at Omnia, a swish "Greek Only" place up in the
old town. Live music is playing as I write this - an unexpected bonus.

Sent from my iPod.

A Day At The Beach(es)

2011-04-25T13:44:00.000-07:00

Not a cloud in the sky today (as opposed to the previous "partly
cloudy" days) so we decided to strike out for the beaches a little way
distant from Paphos. First of all though we headed for the inland
village of Nata, up past the dam and said to be "famous for its
Haloumi". It was a typically torturous inland drive, with badly paved
roads and hairpin bends every couple of yards. I knocked the Impreza
into sports mode as in ordinary guise it was struggling to decide
which gear to use. The drive was fun and the scenery spectacular, the
valley a mass of flowers and goat sheds - always a good sign when
you're Haloumi hunting.

We arrived at the village and found it to be a little disappointing.
There was no taverna, kafenion, shop or anything. Or if there was it
was all well concealed. We found the "political club" which was
crammed with old men chewing the cud and wandered a few picturesque
streets but found nowhere where we might buy some of their famed
Haloumi.

No worries - to the beach it is! We wound our way back down the
hillside and headed for Aphrodite's Rock, one of our favourite spots.
It's awfully picturesque and not just because of the rock(s) but also
because of the sea which is some of the most lovely shades of blue
that you'll ever see.

We took photos, walked along the beach, ate our picnic, took photos,
walked back along the beach, took photos (you can never have too many
of this spot) then headed for beach number two. This was Evdimou, a
very long stretch of "sand" (mainly pebbles) with an access road and
beach taverna at each end. We plumped for the Kyrenia Taverna first on
the basis that it was renowned for its desserts. Unfortunately we
found it to be closed (possibly for ever) and its next door neighbour
Zias Beach Club charged extortionate prices (4.50 for soft drinks, 6
for coffees). Back in the Impreza we hopped and zoomed round the
access roads to the far end of the beach to the other Taverna, The
Malandra.

It was well worth going to - this end of the beach was way more
picturesque than the other (a ramshackle jetty adding to the natural
scenic beauty) and the taverna was sheer heaven. Right on the beach
and doing its own version of "shabby chic" (high on shabby, low on
chic) it had a chips-with-everything menu that was listed down either
side of the central service hatch. Seeing Haloumi and Chips on this
list was enough to sell the place to us and we took up a table in the
sun and out of the wind to enjoy our food and drink at.

It goes without saying that the Haloumi and chips (just the one
serving between the two of us - we'd already had our lunch) was devine
but an unexpected bonus was that wife's cappuccino was the best yet!
We decided immediately that we'd be back again tomorrow for a proper
lunch (haloumi and chips EACH).

After eating we wandered down both ends of this part of the beach,
taking plenty of photos, before heading back to Paphos. What a
fabulous day we'd had, and what a great find Malandra had been!@

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Swanky Or What

2011-04-24T13:14:00.000-07:00

As if to complement the fact that we got a category L hire car even
though we only booked a C, our apartment has swanky electronic gates
at the end of the drive. We have a key fob that we keep in the car and
click as we're approaching, the gates slowly swinging open to the
accompanyment of orange flashing lights.

Timing is crucial as the gates are off a dual carriageway and we don't
want to be stopped on there waiting to do a left turn if we can avoid
it. Which usually we end up having to do as wife hasn't QUITE got the
timing right yet... Thankfully it's not exactly the A19 and there's
never too much traffic on it.

Sent from my iPod.

St George's

2011-04-24T12:43:00.000-07:00

We spent today at one of our favourite places - St George's. This
place has a grand cliff-top church, ruined basilica, caves, fishing
harbour and wild, windswept beach with rockpools and offshore island.
It's both an interesting and picturesque spot and we always come here
more than once on each holiday. It could be even nicer if not for that
most beloved of pastimes "dropping plastic bottles", though I guess it
must get tidied from time to time as it doesn't seem to get
progressively worse.
We spent a few hours down by the sea, having a picnic lunch and an ice
cream in that time and turning the traditional British colour of
Lobster Red. We'd thought about going on to Lara Bay, down the dirt
track road "recommended for 4wd only". Well the Impreza is 4wd so
now's our chance to do it, maybe, though the fact it has about 2"
ground clearance kind of offsets the fact it has 4wd when faced with
lumpy dirt tracks. We decided not to go. For now.
Evening was spent at Deck, amongst the chic young Cypriot families all
out enjoying a sunny Easter Sunday. Wife declared Greeks (for all
they're Cypriot they're really Greeks) to be the most stylish and cool
looking blokes on the planet, ahead of Italians. It was hard to argue
with that, and my Bloc sunglasses felt grossly outclasses by whatever
they were wearing, be they expensive or cheap they just really looked
the business, and that's what it's all about. I think the women still
come second behind Maltese though.
Dinner at PizzaExpress was not as "special" as it is at home - it's
got too much great competition over here. Plus we had to pay with
money instead of Tesco vouchers. Now that was a shock to the system!
Sent from my iPod.

Greek Easter. Not An Egg In Sight.

2011-04-24T05:23:00.000-07:00

This is the second time we've been here over Greek Easter (which isn't
always the same date as ours, but was this year) so we knew what to
expect. Many businesses not open and most of those that were open were
closing early. This included our favourite cafe/bar Metaxi Mas. Once
again we were the only English in there, quite probably the only
tourists in there and most definitely the only people over 30 years of
age in there!

We downed our dinner (felafel, hummus & tabouleh pitta for me, veggie
burger for wife) and went for a walk along the harbour and back to
fill in time between the cafes closing (10) and the festivities
beginning (11.30).

Our walk only took up half that time, most of that being spent
chatting to a Cypriot ex-pat (ie she now lives in England), her
husband & son. With time still to kill we ended up in Cafe Vienna,
where we killed time last Easter too, one of the only cafes still open.

Eventually we headed up to the church and joined the throng outside.
We bought a candle (the service culminates in the lighting of candles
- you're supposed to get it home without it going out. Obviously we
have no chance, but it's fun watching families, and even "young guns"
trying to cram into their cars with candles still burning!) I wondered
if you would fail your entry into the Greek Orthodox ministry if you
didn't have a decent voice - I've not heard a Greek priest yet who
can't carry a tune, at least passably.

Eventually the flame emerged from the church and passed through the
crowd, each person lighting their neighbours candle until everyone's
was burning. The crowds drifted away and we got back to the car, our
candle now out as we decided to preserve it to light for a few minutes
at home each Easter from now on.

It struck us that this was Easter celebrated the way it ought to be,
with not a chocolate egg in sight (they're a rareity in supermarkets
and probably only there for ex-pats).

By the time we got home it was well late, but as luck would have it,
just in time to see Sunderland on Match Of The Day!

Sent from my iPod.

Old Town

2011-04-24T00:08:00.000-07:00

We'd noted on the map of "local facilities" in our apartment a large
indoor market on a road that led up to Paphos old town so we decided
to go and take a look (we love markets). The road it was on was one
we've not walked before either, coming from a different direction to
which we'd approach it on our previous stays in Paphos.

Nice road! Quite a few interesting shops including a couple of Russian
supermarkets and a fabulous bakery (naturally cakes were bought).

The indoor market wasn't, I don't think, a true market, being more of
a huge fruit & veg shop with butchers & fishmonger attached. It was
rather like George Bolam's in Sedgefield. It was wonderous though with
fruit and veg of every size, shape and variety, many of which we
didn't know. Perhaps one was the mysterious Tarot Root that we always
get served at 7 St Georges. The also had a vat full of live snails!

Up in town we found ourselves there in glorious sunshine for the first
time ever, we usually pick cloudy or even rainy days to go there. We
also found ourselves in a part of town we'd never been to, with a
parade of trendy cafes with loads of outside seating. A glass of wine
in the sun (a bailey's frappé for wife) was soon being enjoyed,
accompanied by the un-understandable chatter of the dozens of Cypriots
(mainly men, only 2 women amongst them) who were also there. That's
what we love, places filled with locals and not with tourists.

We had a wander round town, taking some sunny photos here and there,
especially of the mosque, then had a Cypriot coffee (don't dare use
the word Turkish here) and a piece of Cypriot delight (ditto) at a
Kafemion with a panoramic view of the ocean and town.

After that a walk back to the apartment for lunch and ready for the
next part of the day - Greek Easter Celebrations.

Sent from my iPod.

Seven St. Georges

2011-04-22T13:59:00.000-07:00

When in Cyprus, and especially when in the Paphos area, a trip to
Seven St. Georges is a must. Most other places that advertise the gut-
busting Cypriot mezze say "12 courses" or maybe "14 courses". The
difference at 7 Saints is that there is no fixed number of courses -
the food keeps on coming until you give in and beg for mercy.

As anyone who knows me will testify though, that is never. I'm sure I
heard the chef telling the kitchen "those veggies on table 7 STILL
want more...".

When I stop it's out of politeness, or a need to get back home before
I turn into a pumpkin (and get served to myself as another course!)
Last time out we had 16 courses on top of the dips intro, bread, salad
and dessert. This time, mainly because of overload in the kitchen I
think, we had 14. By the time you include all the dips, bread etc.,
that's like 20 courses, spread over 3 1/2 hours.

Wife loves this kind of meal because I usually just Hoover up my meal,
finishing well before her. This style, with individual dishes turning
up every 10 minutes or so keeps the dining slow paced and the
conversation flowing.

The dishes are listed below. It may sound just like "carrot" or
"leeks", but that's just shorthand for "best way I ever had carrots
served" and "most delicious leeks ever". Of course ours was the veggie
mezze, you can also have meat, fish or mixed. I reckon doing a veggie
one gives the kitchen palpitations.

Dip Intro - Pickled chilli, beetroot, smooth fava, cauliflower dip,
carrot dip, potato salad, tzatziki, kessari cheese.

Courgette with egg.
Sauteed Cauliflower.
Leek braised with fennel.
Imam.
Tarot Root.
Mushrooms.
Coarse Fava.
Roast carrots.
Basmati.
Cous cous.
Roast potatoes.
Ratatouille.
Spinach, wild fennel & garlic.
Wild asparagus.
Haloumi.
(So 15 courses after the starters)

Village Salad
Rustic Loaf

Bread & Butter Pudding.

Caraf of wine.

Total bill €45 - a bargain really for the quantity & quality of food,
the congeniality of the staff and the rusticness of the surroundings.
All the food is organic and locally sourced, grown by the proprietor
if possible.

That was our 4th visit - I'm looking forward to number 5.

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The Greek Breakfast Wrap

2011-04-22T06:28:00.000-07:00

We've invented a new delight.

Typical Greek breakfast (or at least the one peddled to tourists) is
Greek yogurt, honey and walnuts, and this is what we usually have.
Here in Cyprus though they do the most amazing pitas and flatbreads
and we love those too.

The idea then was to combine them. Warm a flatbread to make it
pliable, spread liberally with yoghurt, sprinkle with walnuts, smother
in honey then roll up "wrap style". It was totally delicious and a new
breakfast sensation was born.

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Kurion

2011-04-22T06:22:00.000-07:00

This morning we went to Kurion, the cliff top setting of some pretty
extensive ancient ruins. It's one of our favourite sites and you go
there as much for the views along the coast as you do for the ruins
themselves.

We took in the Amphitheatre, Agora, Temples and ancient mansions and
then fed the cats. Yes, the snack bar there sells pouches of cat food
so that you can feed the "strays" that live around the site. Naturally
these all congregate near the snack bar and all look pretty well fed
and in very good condition. They're quite a draw for children both
young and old!

After that we headed down to the beach. The sand down at Kurion
wouldn't win any prizes, being dark and quite pebbly, but the sea is
beautiful and the three beach tavernas very tempting. We had our
picnic of feta & cucumber pitas on the sand then hit one of the
tavernas for a coffee and hopefully some cake. No luck - getting cake
in Greek tavernas is very hit & miss, they seem almost to be a
breakfast item. Turn up after 12 and they're all sure to be gone.

We drove back through the British base at Episkopi, which was
interesting to see, and stopped off at a supermarket on our way into
Paphos to stock up on Flounes, cakes and Lebanese flatbreads - vital
for our culinary invention "the Greek breakfast wrap" (the flatbreads
that is, not all three things!).

So now just chillin' on the balcony again, wife buried in her book and
mr writing this. 7 St Georges for dinner tonight. A Paphos area
"must", it will be our 4th visit. Let's see if they've discovered any
new ways to serve vegetables since last we were there.

Sent from my iPod.

Party People

2011-04-21T12:51:00.000-07:00

We didn't do an awful lot today, but that's what holidays are all
about, especially when you've seen all the "must sees" several times
already.

We had a lie in, a liesurely breakfast and then made our way down to
Deck Bar for a couple of glasses of wine by the sea. This ended up
lasting a couple of hours and it was almost 3 by the time we got back
for lunch on our balcony - fried Haloumi in the lovely pitas you only
seem to get here.

Another walk out took us to another waterside cafe for another drink
via St Paul's Pillar & Church.

Back to the apartment once again for a quick turnaround and back out
again, back to Deck Bar for dinner, a lovely salad (a proper one, not
a "side salad") and vegie burger. We parked the Imprezza next to a
Mitsubishi Evo, which made me wonder if I was gatecrashing a hot car
car park meet!

Paphos has seemed really quiet so far, even for April (we always come
in April) - a sign of the recession maybe. Anyway, normal service was
resumed when we went to Metaxi Mas, our fave nightspot (and one few
tourists seem to visit). It was heaving, inside and out.

We grabbed just about the only free table and perused the drinks
menu... What to have... Cocoas all round I think, "special" (with
marshmallows) for wife and iced for me. We know how to party on down!

There's no loss of cool for having such things in Greek/Cypriot bars
though, the majority seem to drink coffees and soft drinks here. On
the way back to the car we spied out another couple of cool (& busy)
bars for another day. One does a Ginger Mojito which I simply must
try. Have to leave the car at home that day.

And so now chilling to Rock FM's ambient show, some great tunes, a few
of which I've never heard before, it's so frustrating that they don't
say who they're by!!

Tomorrow... Maybe St Georges by day and definitely 7 St Georges by
night!

Sent from my iPod.

Arrival In Paphos

2011-04-20T13:29:00.000-07:00

Up bright and early for our flight, which was no hardship as we'd
barely slept anyway. 3 minutes to the airport, another 2 to baggage
drop, 3 more to pass security and the delights of Leeds Bradford
Airport early in the morning were very apparent - never had a quicker
transit from doors to airside. This left us loads of time for
breakfast for a change, instead of the frantic rushed affairs of our
last two holidays. So long in fact that I had 2 breakfasts, though
admittedly the second one was just a cookie, but they were an hour
apart.
What is it with LBA though? It's like they've grown capacity beyond
what the building can cope with. Departure gates have no seating,
queues for the gates file through the cafes, shops and foreign
exchange desks, and the whole thing is a bit of a melée. Still, we got
through OK, without anyone resorting to fisticuffs because of others
"trying to push in". Oh the joys of pre-booked seats versus the run-as-
fast-as-you-can approach of other budgets.
Only one word on the cabin crew. Om nom nom. Ok, so that's three
words. In flight breakfast was in flight breakfast - I always enjoy
them and this was no different. Top marks to them for bringing the
veggie meal straight to us, as opposed to Air Malta who lost them in
both directions.
We landed in Paphos to rain - a first - but it was still nice and
warm. Had a surprise at the car hire desk when handed the keys to a
Subaru Imprezza. Even more surprised to find it was an auto, never
having driven one before. I'm yet to remember there is no cluch and
continually screech to a halt at junctions when I'm only trying to
push the clutch in. An accident will occur soon, most likely wife
being propelled through the windscreen by the negative gees of the
excellent brakes.
Apartment is spot on, with everything you could need to live here, not
just holiday.
So that's it - a quick, and quite late, dinner at Pinguino and off to
bed to try to catch up on the sleep we missed last night. It's great
to be back.

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And So It Begins

2011-04-20T13:09:00.000-07:00

It was a good decision to stay at the Chevin Country Lodge Hotel, it had a much nicer feel to it than a Travelodge/Premier Inn style of place and meant we really felt "on holiday" from the moment we arrived. Only a 3 minute taxi ride to the airport too, so very convenient. Explorations of grounds and facilities were made "for next time" and then wine was drunk on the sunny terrace overlooking the lake. Idyllic.
Dinner at Murgatroyd's was an experience. Limited choice for vegetarians (it's a fish & chip restaurant after all) meant we both went for veg lasagne with a side portion of chips each and mushy peas for me. Yes, I know that sounds a weird combination, but then so does their own choice of serving lasagne with both garlic bread AND bread & butter! It also came with side salad that would put some main courses to shame and the portions of chips & peas were enormouse. Seriously, one meal would have fed both of us, two meals just meant that stuff went to waste. Mental notes have been made for next time.
It was all very, very good though, with a very tasty and well crisped cheesy topping to the lasagne, delicious chips and the best mushy peas I've ever had. I don't do side salad though, not even one this size.
So off to bed, well and truly full. The only complaint would be the double bed. We don't do doubles. To us a double feels like a single - we're just too spoiled by the even-bigger-than-kingsize that we have at home. Not a great deal of sleep was had.

Sent from my iPod.

Sent from my iPod.

Interpol, Life On The Balcony: More View, Less Bass

2011-03-23T11:30:00.000-07:00

Seeing Interpol in November last year was one of those life changing moments. I went from liking them to loving them, and loving them so much that I was instantly in a panic over whether I'd ever get to see them again. As it turns out that wasn't much of a problem, as their tour took them away from the UK but then back again in the early part of the new year, so I was online straight away getting tickets for Leeds in March.

In what seems like a bizarre decision, having seen them in Newcastle in the mosh with my 2'6" baby niece, I decided to get balcony tickets this time as I'd be with my 5'10" wife. How would the balcony compare to the mosh? Well hopefully it'd give a better view - the entire Newcastle concert had appeared as a back-lit silhouette and we'd barely seen the faces of band, let alone Dan Kessler's groovy footwork.

We got to Leeds O2 close to doors opening and got more-or-less straight in. First impressions were that Leeds O2 was a bit minging compared to Newcastle. You stuck to the floor as soon as you entered the building and you were nowhere near the bar or arena by then. By the time you reached those parts of the building the stickiness was almost superglue in strength and you stood still at your own peril. It at least explained the bag-search at the door - worried someone was trying to smuggle in cleaning products!

Other than that it was quite a nice building, internally the architecture, layout and lighting surpass Newcastle. We got seats in the second row of the balcony, which gave an excellent view, though I was slightly tempted by the standing that was available behind the side rows of seats. The fact that standing there for a few hours would probably mean I'd have to leave my shoes behind when I left persuaded me otherwise.

After almost and hour and a half of nothing the support act came on and the evening's entertainment finally began. Matthew Dear was someone I'd never heard of, let alone heard, so I didn't really know what to expect. What followed, therefore, was all the more surprising. I just sat and watched almost open-mouthed, the sound and stage presence that he generated being quite mesmerising. I particularly liked the trumpet (? - I'm no brass expert) that featured on many tracks. I donwloaded (legally, from iTunes) his album when I got home - it's good, but nowhere near as good as the live show, and I don't really notice the trumpet on it.

Matthew Dear and his trumpet player

So he came and went, and after a further (relatively) short interval Inperpol were finally on. The setlist was much the same as in Newcastle - the best tracks are the best tracks, so you can't change a set too much. The differences between the sets were that C'mere, Hands Away and Specialist replaced Length of Love, Not Even Jail and NYC. Good in some ways, especially as Specialist seemed to be the most "requested" song at both concerts, but bad in that Length Of Love is my favourite track and was omitted.

Paul Banks, Interpol

The view was indeed better and we got to see Kessler's footwork in all its glory, as well as being able to actually see the band's faces. All tracks were performed immaculately, though as always at these smaller venues, the vocals sometimes got a bit overpowered by the music. The bass was a lot less prominent on the balcony than it had been in Newcastle's mosh too - only to be expected I guess, due to the large difference in distance from the speakers. This totally changed the feel of the concert, and feel is the right word. The deep base resonated your whole body so you did indeed "feel" the concert when closer to the front, and it was that that had really grabbed me at Newcastle.

Paul Banks, Daniel Kessler & Sam Fogarino, Interpol

So this ranks as my second favourite concert of all time, after the Newcastle one, though if you take into account the much better support act then maybe it could be up there as equal first.

Guitar change for Mr Kessler... Must mean Slow Hands is on its way...

Setlist

Success
Say Hello To The Angels
C'mere
Hands Away
Barricade
Rest My Chemistry
Evil
Lights
Narc
Summer Well
Take You On A Cruise
Specialist
The Heinrich Maneuver
Memory Serves
Obstacle 1

Encore:

Untitled
The New
Slow Hands

Apparently Not Even Jail was also planned for the encore but time was against them.

Leeds and Leeds and Leeds!

2011-03-22T23:00:00.000-07:00

We went to Leeds yesterday. The primary reason for going was to go to a concert, Interpol, in the evening. We got there early enough to have a little time, and dinner, in the city beforehand and were blessed in that it was a lovely sunny day.

I thought I'd sussed out the car parking well, well enough that the chosen car park was amongst the cheaper options and also very close to the concert venue, so not much of a walk back afterwards. Very convenient for getting onto the A64 too, our route home. What I hadn't managed to ascertain though was that the damned car park locks its gates at 9pm, a fact we didn't realise until after we'd parked. This led to us immediately moving to a different car park, but still cost us £2 for the pleasure.

After triple checking the closing time of car park plan B we finally headed into the city. The first thing that caught our eye was the lovely sunny decking of a pub, overlooking Merrion St. Gardens, so that was us sorted for the next 3/4 hour.

A Beautiful Cuthroat Porter

Merrion St. Gardens

Not long to go before dinner after that, so we had a quick wander around The Victoria Quarter, Leeds most picturesque area. The late afternoon sun streaming in through the stained glass roofs of the arcades made for a lovely way to go window shopping.

After a quick look around and successfully managing to avoid spending anything we headed off for dinner at PizzaExpress on Park Square. It's the first time we've been down that way and I was quite taken by some of the architecture down there, as well as with the square itself.

Dinner at PizzaExpress was faultless as always and also free as always (thank you Tesco). We were finished just in time to get to the O2 Academy right on doors opening time, so no hanging about and (thanks to a strange bit of stewarding) no standing in a long queue, as we were ushered straight to the "express" queue which was supposed to be for O2 customers only.

The concert was fabulous, the blog about it can be seen here.

Interpol

Getting out of Leeds afterwards was a nightmare, Traffic lights every 20 yards always seemed to be on red so progress was slow, but when it speeded up that just confused my sat nav as we were constantly past the junction it wanted me to go down before it had a chance to tell me. Its constant re-caculating of routes didn't help and we were permanently one step behind. Time to go back to basics and use eye and brain to find our way to a road that was at least heading the right way. Once on the M1 it was finally time to engage cruise, disengage brain and waft back home in the minimal amount of traffic that uses the motorway after midnight.

Great Day Out In Whitby

2011-03-19T18:40:00.000-07:00

On the spur of the moment, it being unexpectedly sunny, we went to Whitby for the day. Rather than head straight into Whitby we decided to head for Sandsend first and drive along the coast from there. We parked in the car park there at the bottom of Lythe Bank (extortionate fees) and I noticed there were some steps up out of it onto the moor behind. Wife told me they used to go that way as kids, but that she hadn't been for years. We decided to take a look.

What a "discovery", a beautiful walkway along what used to be the railway ends at the point where the railway vanishes into a blocked-off tunnel. How had I not known about this before?

The path continues up and over the hill that the tunnel vanishes into so we followed it a little further, on to a beautiful stretch of clifftop before turning back. Strangely I saw no sign of where the tunnel emerges at the other end. Perhaps it no longer does.

This short section from the car park to the point we turned back was about a mile and a half each way and took in some lovely scenery. To our right was the sea and to our left what appears to be former quarries, now turned into a nature reserve/country park.

There was even a track down to the base of the cliffs to a small pebbly beach - somewhere to take a look at next time we come when we're both wearing more appropriate footwear.

Back at the car park we were feeling peckish and decided to find somewhere for a snack. We ended up at Woodlands Eat, a nice little bistro/cafe bar. The sunshine had brought out the crowds and we got just about the last two seats left, but those crowds had also snaffled almost all the cakes and scones. We were left a little bit with Hobson's choice - Pannetone and Ginger Parkin, but they certainly didn't disappoint us. Both were delicious, the Pannetone being easily the nicest I've ever had. I could have gone back and scoffed the lot. The ambiance, music and full menu looked good enough for us to want to go back there for a proper meal sometime, most likely in summer, when we'll also take stouter footwear and do a longer hike along that old railway trail.

Fully sated (for now) we headed into Whitby and had a wander round, discovering some parts of town that we'd never seen before despite having been going there for over 30 years! It wasn't long before we were feeling hungry again though, and remembered a place I'd seen on earlier visits and had always wanted to try - Humble Pie 'n' Mash.

This cafe serves just one thing - the thing it's named after. Pie, mash, peas and gravy is the only thing on the menu (apart from the kid's choices), but there is a large and varied selection of pies on offer. We plumped for one each of the two vegetarian options - Homity for me, roast veg & goat's cheese for wife. Everything was spot on, the pies delicious, the mash just how we like it, nice "real" peas (wife has an aversion to mushy) and lovely gravy. Even the Yorkshire Tea came in a great big mug - lovely. Good prices too, at just £4.95 for the pie meals.

Deserts looked too good to miss too, so we didn't! The Jam Roly Poly was ace, just how we like it with a nice crisp baked crust and a soft gooey interior with plenty of Jam. We could have gone around the whole desert menu, each one sounded delicious (and each one was an old childhood favourite - I was especially tempted by the rice pudding).

After leaving there we had another wander around the shops, up past the Kipper smoke house, down to the pier and then back into town and up to the car park. It had been an absolutely fabulous day and one that filled us with enthusiasm for just how lovely England, and especially Yorkshire, can be on a nice day. You tend to forget after day upon day of gloom and rain.

And Then There Was Beer...

2011-03-17T23:00:00.000-07:00

I do love a good beer festival, and here in Darlo we're blessed with two each year. March is the date for The Spring Thing, a beer & folk music event running for four days. We usually go on the Thursday, the first day, when beer is at its freshest and most plentiful - who wants Sunday's left over dregs?

It's always a bit of a challenge for me to choose a handful of beers to try from the 50+ on offer, so I usually go for the styles that I like best - very dark beers (stouts & porters) and very strong beers. If there's a very strong, very dark beer then all the better.

Things didn't start as planned though - this beer caught my eye as soon as I went up to the bar, and being a lover of proper Belgian Kriek I thought I'd give this young pretender from Yorkshire a go. I thought it best to try it early too, before my palate was tainted by too much bitterness from the other beers ahead.

Saltaire Cheeky Kriek, 4%, 7/10

I gave it 7/10, a mark that was skewed by the fact that it was the first beer and I had no idea how good or bad the following ones would be - a tough call to give your first drink too high or too low a score. On reflection by the end of the evening, I'd got it spot on. It was very much like a traditional British bitter but with cherry aromas and a subtle cherry flavour hidden behind the bitterness. It was nothing at all like its Belgian equivalents, and wouldn't stand up to any sort of comparison to them in a side by side tasting. On its own merits though, it was a decent enough drink.

Next up 4 Kings, the strongest ale on show and also (consequently?) the most expensive. This didn't disappoint, being smooth and full of flavour and tasting very much like a much stronger barley wine. Could I risk a 10/10? Best go for a 9 just to save space for anything potentially better.

Battledown 4 Kings, 7.2%, 9/10

After that some Inn Stable from the Heart Of Wales brewery. Disappointingly cloudy in appearance, it at least didn't taste spoiled, certainly no hint of being tainted by yeast. It didn't taste great though, lacking the depth of character of the 4 Kings despite being only marginally weaker. 6/10 for that then.

Heart Of Wales Inn Stable, 6.8%, 6/10

As always I'd decided to go for the pint glass and drink halves. This gets you a good deal more beer than using a half glass as no one fills it too carefully.

When is a half not a half?

Next up Ulverston Bad Medicine, one of the darkest beer I was to have tonight and (possibly because of that) the best. It was absolutely spot on, not too heavy or cloying and with just the right amount of bitterness. Its own write-up was spot on - "A surprisingly light winter beer, strong but easy to drink". 10/10, no doubt about it.

Ulverston Bad Medicine, 6.3%, 10/10

Things could only go downhill after that I suppose, and so they did, progressively so. Starting with the Wall's Dark Horse, marketed as a stout but not having enough body, being more of a porter to me. Still, I like a good porter, but unfortunately this wasn't one. It wasn't too bad though, so 6/10.

Wall's Dark Horse Stout, 4.4%, 6/10

So on to Just A Minute "Darkest Moment", a "full blown black stout with chocolate & coffee aroma lasting a slight liquorice finish". If they'd just written "tastes foul" they'd have been nearer the truth. I was reluctant to give it too low a mark as there were still futher beers to go, so 4/10 it was.

Just A Minute Darkest Moment, 4.3%, 4/10

Then on to Special K, had to try that as one of the lads I was with's wife is called Kay... Wish I hadn't, it was even worse than the Darkest Moment, though possibly that was because I'd switched to a light ale after all the dark. Whatever, it was hard to finish it off it tasted so bad to me. Just 3/10 for that one then.

Cleveland Special K, 5%, 3/10

Its only saving grace was that it was at least 3 times as good as the appalling Burnside Black Katz (no photo), something I had to try as I have a black cat and Sunderland AFC are called The Black Cats. This not only smelled foul, it tasted as bad as it smelled. Surely it was off and shouldn't have been up for sale? More like black katz pee. 1/10.

I think I had more poor beers here than at any other Darlo beer festival. Bad choices on my part, or bad choices on the part of the organisers? Who knows. No complaints though, it was still a cracking night out, good conversation, good atmosphere and even bad beer is better than no beer!

Muddybums + 1

A Week Without Heat

2010-12-03T22:00:00.000-08:00

It couldn't have come at a worse time of year. The week that much of Britain saw its lowest ever temperatures, our heating decided to go on the blink. It showed itself as large pools of water on the workbench below the boiler, the water visibly dripping from every corner of the boiler.

Investigation by the gas man revealed that it was actually the flue that was at fault, the moist warm air condensing in the flue and then leaking back out onto the boiler casing. And if water was leaking out then so would flue gases. The boiler was temporarily condemned and disconnected.

All we could do after that was wait for the replacement flue fitting to arrive at the depot, and given the state of the country's roads this was longer than the usual overnight wait. It took from Monday until Friday for the part to finally arrive (with one false call on Wednesday when they thought it had come but it hadn't) and then a few hours of actual fitting time. In the meanwhile we tried to stay cozy in the one room that had heating, thanks to an electric radiator kindly lent by a friend. The other electric heater that we had spent most of its time in the conservatory to prevent the pipework in there from freezing - without heating and with outside temperatures down to -8C this was a distinct possibility.

For the first couple of days it was fun - our own mini version of "the blitz spirit" - but by Friday I was really ready to have the heating back on. Internal room temperatures were dropping to 10C in the rooms with no heating, and getting washed from sinks filled from a kettle was getting a bit tedious.

All sorted in the end, and we're tankful of our service contract with British Gas. It was all sorted out with a minimum of fuss really, especially given the circumstances with the weather. It really makes you appreciate the heating too. How we managed back in my childhood with no heating in any of the rooms of the house except the one we lived in is beyond me! Well actually I remember it - I used to have the warmest of pajamas, a couple of duvets and several blankets on my bed in winter - and still felt freezing cold!

Seasons

2010-11-27T14:00:00.000-08:00

Seasons, the cafe/bar/restaurant that we like so much in The Station at Richmond now has a branch in Darlington. We've already been in for a quick snack and a coffee and went back again on Saturday for a full blown lunch. They had one of their special menus on, this time being "French". Limited choice for us vegetarians meant that we both had to have the same meal, something we don't normally go for, but what it lacked in choice it made up for in quality.

We started with a Brie & roasted pepper filled crepe, served alongside a portion of ratatouille. For main course we had a winter vegetable cassoulet, served with Dauphinois potatoes. It was all absolutely delicious, esepecially the cassoulet which had good chunks of all sorts of vegetables and whole, tiny, baby carrots.

The previous time we'd been into Seasons it was rather empty, and there's nothing sadder than an empty restaurant. This time it was almost full, the window seats in particular being very popular with their view out onto the snow falling on Post House Wynd being very picturesque, Christmasy and rather romantic. We spent almost two hours in there over our meal, the papers, drinks and finally, dessert. This was a Crème brûlée (pictured) over spiced apple compote and was an absolute delight, so lovely in fact that we forgot about the coffees that we hadn't received. Not to worry, the fact that they'd forgotten to bring them meant that when they did arrive they were on the house!

Seasons is in Post House Wynd, Darlington in a converted pub. Don't be put off by the rather dark and still pub-like exterior, inside it's wonderful.

Interpol

2010-11-25T19:30:00.000-08:00

Paul Banks, Interpol

Funny what circumstance throws at you. One day I'm saying to Baby Niece how "all the bands I really want to see, like Interpol, never seem to tour" and two days later she's texting me saying "Interpol are touring, we have to go and see them...".

So it was that we found ourselves at The O2 Academy in Newcastle this fine, snowy November evening. It was a surprise to find myself standing - I usually go for the seated tickets in these, my advancing years, and expected that my vertically challenged niece might prefer a front row balcony seat too. No matter, we were here now, and we'd darn well enjoy it!

The support band came and went, Surfer Blood, being a little in the Interpol style, 3 guitars, an obvious Joy Division (or maybe Interpol?) influence and two drummers. They made a good noise, but they had next to zero stage presence - no lights, no movement, no character. OK, it's never easy being support!

Eventually Interpol came on, and having standing tickets, and being just a few rows from the front, and therefore from the sound system, proved to be the best move ever. The sound that Interpol make is just incredible, it's just a wall of guitar and drums that almost knocks you over. It was a sound so fantastic that tracks I previously only rated as so-so suddenly became favourites, seen in a totally new light (well, OK, in darkness - I felt them!).

Paul Banks's style has obviously drawn comparison to Ian Curtis, though I'd not paid it that much attention. Seeing them live, the comparison was obvious, and that's no bad thing. It made me rather nostalgic for those late 70's days when Joy Division were the band I most wanted to see, but failed to due to a combination of no-shows and his untimely death.

Unlike Surfer Blood, Interpol totally owned the stage. The set was constantly smoke-filled and back-lit by coloured lights, meaning that (from our vantage point) the band were almost always visible as silhouettes against coloured smoke. Carlos Dengler may have been missed for his iconic stage style, but musically his fill-in performed admirably.

The playlist was pretty evenly split between most of the albums - 5 or 6 tracks from each of Interpol, Turn On The Bright Lights and Antics, but strangely only two from Our Love To Admire. Maybe it's their least favourite album...? Stand out tracks for me were Slow Hands (unexpectedly not an encore track), previously my favourite of their tracks, and Length Of Love, my now favourite track of theirs. In honesty though there wasn't a weak track to be heard, though Say Hello To The Angels didn't work quite so well, it's chaotic style being a bit too much for The Academy's acoustics I think.

Seeing them left me feeling excited for days afterwards (it still hasn't fully dissipated) and I'm now panicking that I may never see them again! If it wasn't for the short notice and the current bad weather, I'd be off to Manchester this week to see them again! As it is, I'm content to wait until March next year when I'll see them in Leeds.

Sam Fogarino, Daniel Kessler & Paul Banks, Interpol

Newcastle Setlist:

Success
Obstacle 1
Length of Love
Narc
Barricade
Rest My Chemistry
Say Hello To The Angels
The Heinrich Maneuver
Untitled
Summer Well
Take You On A Cruise
Lights
Slow Hands
Memory Serves
Not Even Jail

Encore:

NYC
The New
Evil

Ramla

2010-09-09T13:09:00.001-07:00

No messing about today, Ramla Bay was the only place we wanted to go. We enjoyed it so much yesterday (but the blog post of it isn't up yet - written but waiting for a wi-fi connection) that we couldn't wait to come back.

First thing though we strolled around Xlendi, our last chance to do so, and took some photos. Then it was off to Ramla! It wasn't as rammed as yesterday, at least not when we arrived. We still payed to park, it's nice to right by the beach rather than have to drag along that dusty road, and then went into Rose's for lunch. More junk ood, I'm afraid, Veggie burger & chips for wife and "Gozo sandwich" (Gozo peppered goats cheese, capers & olives - that was one savoury sandwich!) for me.

After that it was down to the beach! The water was even clearer than yesterday as the wind had totally died down, it was like swimming in a huge warm bath. Delightful. A bit of sun time after that, and then suddenly the wind picked up. Someones umbrellas was uprooted - I adjusted the angle of ours so that it wouldn't catch the wind. That didn't work - 5 minutes later it was up and off, being whipped along the beach like some automated destructor machine, taking down three other brollies on its way before someone lept on it and killed it! We left it down after that, and went in for another swim!

Back to Xlendi, a bit of packing (back to Malta tomorrow) and then out to order our pizza. Tonight was our last romantic evening in Xlendi, and what better way to spend it than with a take-away pizza and a bottle of pop sitting on the rocks at the head of the bay watching the sun set. Unfortunately some distant clouds spoiled the sunset as a spectacle, but they couldn't take away the romance, Sometimes the simplest things are the best.

A few long-exposure night shots of the bay and the resort and then off for the nightcap, this time a glass of red and a glass of white at Moby Dicks. By the way, we looked around their apartments (http://www.mobydickgozo.com/) this morning and they are stunning, simply stunning!

So back to Malta tomorrow. We'll miss Gozo and Xlendi, but I'm sure we'll be back.

A Busy Day. And One Full Of Junk Food

2010-09-09T08:40:00.000-07:00

A busy and fun filled day today. We started with a trip to the capital (of Gozo), Victoria. It was a good day to go, being a bank holiday meant no parking restrictions but did not mean that anything was closed! We parked at Arkadia as always and walked up into town, passing the new Duke shopping centre on the way. Victoria is really coming up these days and has a lot of good shops now.

We headed straight for our favourite place - what we call "the Franciscan Square" because the Franciscan church is there. There are tons of local cafes in and around this square and one side or other is always in the shade. We went to The Beehive and had pea pastizzis and Kinnie, our first junk food of the day.

Then we headed up to the Citadel for a quick look around there. We've been plenty of times before, but it's interesting and picturesque and has stunning views from the ramparts. On our way back to the car we had a look in The Duke centre and had a bite to eat there. Almond pie with a frozen cappuccino really hit the spot.

Next we headed off to Ramla bay for some sun worship. We'd been here before too, but on that occasion we were just about the only ones there, today it was rammed. That's what a bank holiday will do for you. We got one bed and one brolly and picked our spot on the beach before taking a dip. The water is gorgeous, as is the whole look of the bay, promontories on each side, one with a ruined fort, lovely red sand and The Madonna Of Ramla statue right in the middle of the beach. Perfect, and time for a bag of crisps to keep us going.

Two swims and a bit of sunbathing later and it's time to head back. We have to be out early again tonight to go to Xaghra festa, festivities start at 6 and we don't want to miss a thing. It's a good job we do go early as parking is already a problem when we arrive, but it seems double parking and parking on yellow lines is allowed during festa times, so we're OK.

We head into town and get a good spot on the church courtyard - pole position for watching La Bambina being brought from the church. The bands march and play, mass goes on inside the church and then suddenly it's time. A whole procession of religious artefacts is paraded out of the church before finally, at the rear of the

procession is the statue of La Bambina, all shimmering silver and gold, carried by 6 or 8 bearers. There's a sharp intake of breath as someone at the back loses his footing and La Bambina teeters, but disaster is averted as a dozen helping hands rush in to steady things.

As La Bambina is paraded out of the square we go off in search of food. Should be easy, there are dozens of stalls about. We have a slice of pizza that tastes better than it looks (it looks like it's been kept warm for hours, and probably has been). Then we hit the sweets stalls - fresh made do-nuts dipped in sugar syrup and chopped nuts and our favourite, the fried date pockets. These are if anything even tastier than those from Valletta bus station!

A return into town via one of the decorated streets sees us catch up with the procession. A stop for a prayer and a blessing every 50 or so meters along the route makes for slow progress, and you must be pretty

dedicated to follow it round the whole route, and to participate. It was too much for two young choir boys who were sent home for "larking on"! A few dozen "Hail Marys" for them too, I would guess.

After that, back to Xlendi for our usual bedtime aperetif, this time at what we call The Pirate Bar, for no good reason. A full and busy day, and one filled with nothing but junk food. It's what holidays are all about.

Festa

2010-09-07T14:00:00.001-07:00

It's Xaghra's festa tomorrow, so the build up has been going on all week. Today was a "Re-enactment" of the two great sieges of Malta, the one by the Turks in 1565 and the one by the Italians during WWII. It was a very touching and moving event, especially the WWII one. Brought tears to the eyes.

The town was done up lovely, as it always is at festa time (this is the third time we've caught Xaghra festa, though only the first time we've seen this re-enactment ceremony). The flags, banners and statues make a very colourful sight. The church was lovely too, with all of its chandeliers on display, as well as an amazing display of solid gold chalices and the Maria Bambina Icon statue. Wonderful stuff.

For lunch we hit Stephen's Snack Bar. A ricotta Qassata and a pea pastizzi, along with 2 bottles of iced tea cost the princely sum of €2.55, which I thought must surely be wrong. But no, the pasizzis were only 15 cents, making them the cheapest of the holiday by some margin. Once you get away from tourist hot spots prices really fall. That's the cheapest pastizzi since the 6p one we had at Paola about 10 years ago. Allowing for inflation it's probably the same price.

After that we went to Ta' Pinu, Gozo's holiest place, with a huge Basilica. A quick look around and a prayer and an offering from wife (she's the spiritual one of the two of us) for all of our loved ones, and we were off to Dwejra for all it has to offer (Azure Window, Inland Sea, Fungus Rock, Qara Tower). By now we were starting to flag - it had been a long day with two hours on our feet at Xaghra.

We hurried back to Xlendi for our pm dip in the sea, to find it rather rough. Wife contented herself with dangling her toes in off the end of the jetty, but I went in for a full-scale swim. It was very re-invigorating.

Dinner was at St. Patricks and was outstanding. A plate of grilled vegetables to start (sounds dull - to you at least -, tastes divine) and then pasta for main course. Wife had spaghettin in a delicious sauce which was then bundled up, wrapped in thin slices of grilled aubergine and roasted in the oven. De-lic-ious! Mine was spaghetti with broccoli, peppers, pine nuts and chilli. Once again, top notch, the chilli heat not overpowering but enough to let you know it's there. WIth drinks it came in at €20.50, another bargain. Food has been cheap and really excellent on this holiday.

After dinner drinks at Moby Dick (where we'd also had afternoon drinks!) and then time for bed. Up later tomorrow, we're off to Mgarr Ix Xini for a dip if the wind has died down.

Xlendi

2010-09-06T12:28:00.001-07:00

So here we are in Xlendi, on the island of Gozo. It's a million miles away from Valletta, indeed all of Gozo is a million miles away from Malta. Gone is the wall to wall urbanisation and the constant traffic jams, to be replaced by small, discrete and charming villages, separated by discernable countryside and with very little traffic.

Xlendi itself has way exceeded my expectations, even though I've been here before and should have know what to expect. It very much has a "one town island" feel to it, like Symi in the Dodecanese. When night descends you think "this is it, there's nothing beyond here". It's such a friendly place too, full of families (a fair few local) and divers (who replace Symi's yacht crews) made up of many nationalities but (oh how we love it) with very few English.

We hit lucky on arrival day (yesterday). It was the Festa of the town, though as some festas go it was pretty low key - no fireworks, no marching bands. There was however a fun day based in and around - and above! - the water. Event 1 involved a rope that was strung right across the bay from one cliff to the other. Contestants had to shin along it as far as they could, collecting pennants as they went. Whoever got furthest won. The winner, as well as a cup and a bottle of wine, had a fair old rope burn to show for his troubles. He made it right across to the other side.

Event 2 was the slippery pole. A telegraph pole mounted into the wall sticking out across the harbour, a Maltese flag embedded in the end. Contestants had to edge their way down the pole and try to reach the flag. This becomes easier and easier as time goes on (the grease on thepole gets washed off and diluted by water from wet feet) so it eventually becomes a race to get round again before your rival. As the flag gets tantalisingly nearer the contestants resort to desparate dives and lunges to try to grab it as they fall. This explained the 5 paramedics on standby beside the pole.

Other, less exciting, events involved diving for bottles of wine (to a depth of 12 or 15 feet) and racing pedallos around the harbour.

The evening was one long party. We dined outside, right at the water's edge, and retired to bed well before the rest of the revellers. With the super-coolness of our hotel room we were quickly out like lights for our first full night's sleep of the holiday!

The Three Degrees

2010-09-06T12:17:00.001-07:00

In Valletta our room was a constant 28 degrees. Here in Xlendi it's a constant 25, and as cool as Christmas. I no longer have to shower 3 times each night, normal sleep patterns have been resumed and I no longer wake up in a pool of sweat every morning.

Who'd have thought that just 3 degrees would make so much difference!

Qormi Wine Festival

2010-09-04T14:30:00.001-07:00

What a fabulous evening we had last night. It was Qormi wine festival,
Qormi being a town I'd not even heard of until I heard of the wine
festival. It was rather convenient that this festival was on, as we
really enjoyed a similar event in Gozo a few years ago but would be
missing that this year by a day!
We got the bus to Qormi (driven by a driver who was frequently looking
behind rather than at the road and often with no hands on the wheel!)
not knowing what to expect of the town and were very pleasantly
surprised. The centre, where the festival was bring held in the
shadows of St George's church, was very pretty and "historic" looking,
with loads of attractive townhouses and civic buildings. It instantly
appealed to us, and had wife on the lookout for "for sale" signs!
As we were early we had a look around the church first. In fact we got
a guided tour. A kindly man named George rounded a few of us up and
showed us around, explaining about the festa, the processional statues
and the iconography. When he mentioned the "museum, full of old books
and documents - it's very interesting" the others all made excuses and
left us to our fate. Fate was on our side though, as the museum was
strangely locked up!
Outside things were livening up. We bought our glasses (€10 per
glass, which you keep, and then as much wine as you can drink!) They
had a similar system for food, but we didn't want any.
We strolled around the various areas of the festival, wines in hand,
looking at art and wine making exhibitions and noting the various
stages that had been set up for different performances. We sat on some
steps by one such stage where a group of kids (no more than 15 or 16
years old) were setting up. While they were doing that some really
great indie tunes were pumping over the sound system, so we decided to
just stay there. It was conveniently close to two wine stalls too.
When the band came on they were excellent. I think everything they did
was a cover, though there were some tunes I didn't know, but they did
them all in their own style.
In a slightly surreal moment two lovely young girls came up and asked
us to take their photo (with my own camera) and then gave us their
facebook page to post them on!
5 white and rose wines for wife and 8 of a whole mix of styles for me
and the evening was over. Where did the time go? 4 hours had simply
flown by.
Time for one final pleasant surprise. Our pre-booked taxi with eCabs
turned up without problem and the driver George was an absolute
delight. As nice and as interesting to talk to as you could hope for
and a careful and courteous driver. We were whisked to our door at
sensible speeds without once fearing for our lives, something not
always true of other taxis, nor indeed the buses.
Sent from my iPod

Mdina

2010-09-02T12:48:00.000-07:00

The tour parties were out en masse as we worked our way up Republic
Street to the bus station. I lost count of the number of identical
looking groups we passed, their language being the only thing that
differentiated one group from the next. The fact that we saw groups
51, 52 and 53 spoke volumes - obviously a big cruise ship was in town.
Lucky they were here and we were off to Mdina...
We started our visit to Mdina with a quick pop into Rabat, its
neighbour from outside the wall, often overlooked by tourists. There's
a lot there, a nice church with a fascinating grotto and various
different catacombs. Throw in the shops and some decent cafes and it's
well worth a look.
Into Mdina and those tour groups are back - but different. These ones
are from the Oriflame conference (which numbers 5000 delegates). That
makes our trip to Fontanella Tea Rooms interesting as they all seem to
be eating there too - I've never seen it so full. It leads to a bit of
frustration amongst the diners too as the time allotted for lunch
seems to be shorter than the wait time for food orders. We're not
bothered, we have all day. That's made a big difference on this
holiday. We have all day. Every day. There's been no hurry or
necessity to get to somewhere else for the entire holiday. It's made
it very relaxing.
The pea pastizzis (slightly curry flavoured) and cakes are up to the
usual standard and make a delicious lunch - and one which gives wife a
bit of a sugar rush!
A quiet stroll around the entire city of Mdina after lunch, our second
circuit of it today, this time without the tour groups who have now
departed (it's 2 o'clock, time they were in Mosta, or wherever is
next) and it really does feel like "the silent city".
A slow bus back to Valletta and then out for dinner. King's Own Band
Club for the second time. This time we don't feel like we stick out so
much as the place is pretty full of people of all ages and
nationalities. Last time it was just us and pensioner ex-pats. The
deep fried ravioli were delicious (one of wifes favourite dishes) and
my Ricardo's Platter (Gozo cheese, olives, tomatoes, mushrooms, butter
beans and ftira in a salad) was divine. House wine was delicious and
well served.
Earlier to bed than usual, and a better night's sleep too, right
through to 9.30!

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Romantic Evening

2010-08-31T14:33:00.000-07:00

We had a beautiful, romantic evenin this evening. We started the usual
way, with a stroll up Republic Street but then sidestepped into
Merchant Street on the lookout for new, as yet unknown restaurants.
There really weren't any, Merchant Street is pretty much dead as far
as nightlife goes. What we did find though was St James's church,
doors flung wide and an African service going on inside. The music and
voices as they sang their "hymns" (they didn't sound like hymns as we
usually know them) was fabulous and quite moving.
Next up was dinner overlooking St Paul's Co-Cathedral. A trio of pizza
places to choose from here and we went for Caravaggio's. Pizzas were
beautiful, ambience divine, views spectacular and the company
delightful.
It was a shame to leave, but leave we had to in search of The Bridge
Bar, a place we'd found before, 3 years ago, but which never gets a
mention anywhere (I intend to change that). Laid out in the street and
on the bridge just behind Victoria Gate it's a real gem. Candles light
the steps of the pavement which doubles up as seating when the chairs
are all filled (which is always). Once again the setting and ambience
coupled with the supeb wine proved an unbeatable combination. We
noticed that they do "platters" - the cheese one looked tempting - so
we may go back for dinner there one night.
On the way "home" we stopped at the all-night bakery for breakfast.
Seem mean to only spend 30c but a freshly baked loaf is just sooo cheap!
Off to bed now and Mdina in the morning.

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Valletta

2010-08-30T14:27:00.000-07:00

It's lovely living in Valletta. We're staying in a three storey
townhouse, or rather we have the lower 3 storeys of a 5 storey house!
Our bedroom (which is the largest room) has a typical Malese balcony
that sticks out into the street and is a lovely place to sit and have
breakfast/afternoon tea/evening wine.
It's in a residential part of town, not particularly frequented by
tourists and that only makes it better. Within a few seconds walk are
the local food stores, fruit & veg stalls, hole-in-the-wall bars and
the all-night bakery. There are also dozens of eateries of all
descriptions.
The impression often given is that Valletta is dead at night. True
it's not wall to wall bars and restaurants like some places, but
there's a regular smattering of places spread about around the city.
Tonight we ate (and drank) at The Kings Own Band Club (band clubs are
a great Maltese tradition) and were the only tourists in there. It was
superb. A good plate of honest down to earth food, and damn good house
wines for a real budget price. Not that price was an issue when we
went in, that was just a bonus. What we were after, and what we got in
spades, was local atmosphere and hospitality.
After that it was off to Floriana Granaries to see what was going on
there. A week long conference hosted by Oriflame cosmetics was holding
an outdoor evening of dining, fashion and music. We stayed and watched
(from as close as we could get) to the live performance by 80's German
pop duo Modern Living. It brought back some memories and was a quite
romantic, cheap ending to a lovely evening.

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Athens In Half A Day

2010-06-24T13:14:00.000-07:00

So we arrived in Piraeus at 14.20, by 15.20 we'd got to central
Athens, checked into the hotel and got back out onto the streets to go
exploring. Naturally we had to do the Acropolis and the grey skies and
generally cooler weather made this a much more pleasant experience
than it would otherwise have been. Unfortunately it also ruined our
photos, but we made the best of it. On a day like we'd been having up
till now we'd have been too frazzled to see anything.
We did the Acropolis and most of the other things within the
"archealogical park" such as the ancient agora and temple of dionysos,
though there is a ton of stuff we haven't seen - plenty for another
visit or two.
After all that we had a quick shower and went back out to a restaurant
that we'd spotted while out and about. Called Kuzina it has fabulous
views of the Acropolis and Agora and fabulous food! We shared as
delicious salad with kythean goat's cheese, Santorini tomatoes and
crostini then each had a risotto of pumpkin, raisins and corn. This
was fairly sweet but not too much so. The service was outstanding,
with each dish (and even the water) announced and described when it
arrived. Prices were the highest of the holiday, but still well worth
it for the food, service and setting.
It poured with rain briefly - thank goodness for canopies. Rain, I'd
forgotten what that was.
Tired but happy (and very full) we returned to the hotel, ready for
bed and the flight home tomorrow.
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Highspeed Indeed

2010-06-24T03:03:00.000-07:00

I forgot for a moment that knots are faster than mph. We're currently
doing 48mph which is disconcertingly fast when you consider we don't
feel like we're moving! The lack of reference points out at sea makes
speed hard to judge. It's also disconcerting to think that the fastest
speed I got up to while driving on the hairpin bends of Naxos and
Tinos was 43mph.
1 hour 20 to go.

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Leaving Syros

2010-06-24T02:33:00.000-07:00

So we've left Syros. We were out bright and early into the sunny, but
not overpowering warmth of morning for breakfast by the harbour. By
10am (yes, here you can easily stretch breakfast to be over an hour, a
big contrast to the 10 minute dash at home) our ferry had arrived on
its outward journey to Mykonos, so we knew we were going home.
We still had two hours, so Sue did the last shopping that she'll be
doing for sometime while wearing Havianas. Her perfect little toes
will be crammed back into shoes for the next couple of months.
Eventually midday came and so did our ferry. We upgraded to business
class (an outrageously cheap €6) and left the seething mass of
backpackers behind. Here I have my very own cafe (ok, it's for all of
business class but there are only 4 of us in here) more legroom than I
could dream of and an uninstructed view straight aheead. That's not
always a good idea on a Greek ferry, especially if there's an
important football match on (that comment is only relevant to those
"in the know").
Piraeus in 2 hours (we're on the fastest boat in Greece, 40 knots from
a full sized ship carrying people cars and trucks is not to be sniffed
at) and then a quick look at the sights of Athens. It will be a VERY
quick look - thankfully we're staying right amongst them!
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Syros

2010-06-23T08:44:00.000-07:00

Have we found island paradise? I'm not sure, we certainly rank it
right up there with the best and it really complicates matters now
when thinking of future island trips. Syros is somewhere we simply
MUST come back to.
Ermoupoli is a gorgeous city, mainland in size but island in feel.
It's town hall is the largest in all of Greece with a huge square in
front of it surrounded on three sides by bars, cafes and restaurants.
In the evening it fills with families and children play happily while
their parents look on. The surrounding buildings are as handsome as
they come, some pristine, some shabby, but all gorgeous. Those
opposite the town hall are arcaded and we've eaten breakfast in one of
them each day.
Beyond the city are a variety of beach resort villages. Ignored or
disparaged by our guide book, we love them. They have everything we
want, namely lovely bays, beautiful warm, clear sea, beach tavernas
with tables almost in the sea and a relaxed, quiet atmosphere that is
perfect for holidaying. The place we went to today, Galisas, had a
beach at the back, a lido down one side and a whole array of cafes. We
swam in its safe, enclosed, warm shallow waters until we were almost
prunes, then dried off naturally on the sun before hitting the cafes
for crepes, "toast" and Bailey's frappes. Heaven.
Where to eat tonight is a difficult choice. Literally dozens of places
line the waterfront while what seems like hundreds fill the streets
and squares behind. We had a perfect pizza last night at The Tasty
Pizza, an English named establishment where not a word of English was
spoken and we had to point at what we wanted on the menu. That's been
quite common here. We watched Greece crash out of the world cup there
and later in the main square amongst an atmosphere that didn't once
border on rowdy.
The harbour is a constant source of fascination with its constant
ferry movements, made all the more interesting by the fact that
several ferries are based here, including by big favourite the Aeolis
Kentetis II. These ferries circle the islands without ever going back
to Piraeus and give us further options for future holidays.
Tonight's our last night, replacing a night in Athens thanks to the
one day ferry strike. Are we disappointed to have missed out on
Athens? Not a bit -we gained an extra day on Syros!
Sent from my iPod

Syros

2010-06-21T09:30:00.000-07:00

Wow Syros doesn't get nearly enough press in tourist guides. We saw a
view of a Syros feature for the first time in the Speedrunner's on
board magazine that is simply stunning, and spent the whole afternoon
there. This is the swimming lido below St. Nicolas's church in
Ermoupoli. If it was in Mykonos it would be in every book and on every
postcard!
The whole town is gorgeous with neoclassical architecture everywhere
and a lovely waterfront. A little disappointing at lunch time that the
cafe we had chosen had run out of desserts but this is quite common -
trying to get dessert any time after breakfast is almost always
troublesome!
We're not even attempting the walk up to Ano Syros until morning, the
sun will be cooler then and also in the right direction for photos.
The sun sets over the back of the town's hill and this has provided us
with blessed relief. It's the first hotel we've stayed at on this trip
where the setting sun doesn't blaze into our hotel room, turning it
into an oven. Note to self: forget nice views, ALWAYS get an east
facing hotel room!
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Tinos

2010-06-20T14:14:00.000-07:00

The last few days have confirmed Tinos as one of our very favourite
places (but it must join Naxos which really pushed its way up there
too).
For such a small place (Island population 8000 shared amongst one town
and 40 odd villages) it has such a lot going for it. The inland and
coastal scenery are stunning, the villages are charming and sometimes
spectacular, and Tinos town is a real gem. There's such a diverse
range of eateries, bars, cafes and so on and an interesting array of
shops, many of which are open till midnight. It's a colourful scene at
night, and lively and bustling but in ever such a friendly way. And
the constant to and fro of ferries, many of them the sleek high speed
variety, is a source of fascination to us.
We're off to Syros tomorrow. Somewhere new, and hopefully somewhere
we'll enjoy and find interesting, though it will be hard pressed to
match Tinos.
Sent from my iPod

Scorchio

2010-06-20T14:01:00.001-07:00

Probably the hottest day so far, certainly the hottest feeling day,
perhaps due to less of a cooling breeze than previous days.
It started out cloudy though - so cloudy that it forced a change of
plan when our trip to Kechrovouni Convent hit thick cloud in the
mountains. Rather than drive on almost blind, we headed for sea level
again and spent an hour in Kionia. When we returned the cloud base had
lifted but it was still there. This made for disappointing photos -
white buildings against white sky doesn't work too well. It was still
a very interesting visit and wife added another relic to her
collection in the shape of Pelagia's skull.
After this we headed for Kardiani. This was lovely, a beautiful
village built high on a hillside above a double bay down below. There
are paths down to the beaches, but we were over 1000 feet above sea
level and there's no way we fancied that descent, let alone the climb
back, in the windless heat that had now developed.
After Kardiani we went on to Isternia. Similarly situated to Kardiani
it is a village with much marble work and a lovely, rather large,
church. Unusually it was open - it's been quite a disappointment to
come across so many locked churches on this trip.
We were almost melting by now so we headed back the most direct way to
hit the beach at Agios Ioannis Porto. This is really two beaches down
either side of a promentory. Both are of dissappointingly dark sand
that stays strangely wet and soft, I can't say we were awfully keen on
it. The sea was nice though, warm and clean, though quite choppy in
one of the bays but calm in the other. We went in the choppy one for
some reason, and I had fun riding the swell.
Eventually, after fresh orange juices in the Puki Beach Bar we
returned to the hotel, where I inexplicably turned across the oncoming
traffic without even looking. Panagia Pelagria was watching over us
though and nothing came of it.

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Pizza & Tom Cats

2010-06-20T09:56:00.000-07:00

Having had "Greek food" just about every day for a week we decided to opt for Pizza instead last night. Mesklies was the one we chose, one of the string of cafes and restaurants that line the road behind the old harbour. Various guides (and the person at the hotel) say to avoid these places. I don't know why - they play to the local crowd more than to tourists and for that reason alone are quite appealing to us.

We certainly weren't disappointed - the Greek Pizza (feta, tomato, onion, green pepper and fabulously tasty fresh oregano) was delicious and huge! We're certainly glad we didn't get a pizza each, but shared one. The place was full of locals and Greek holidaymakers, there wasn't an English voice to be heard. Along with the other cafes that sit shoulder to shoulder along here there was quite a buzz, animated and excited talking and a lot of laughter. It was lovely.

Afterwards we went to a bar that had looked quite appealing. I had a "karafaki" which is a 200ml jug of Raki, a Greek firewater that is an aquired taste. For only €3 it was a real bargain. The bar turned out to be The Tom Cat, which was one we'd wanted to try because of our Charley boy. We found it by chance! Once again we were the only English in, in fact it begins to feel like we're the only English on the island!

Perfect.

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Tinos

2010-06-19T08:58:00.000-07:00

This place we're staying in Tinos is wonderful. The Vincenzo Family
Hotel has really impressed us with both the quality of the room and
with the welcome we've been given. It's ideally situated (for us) too
as it's just a couple of minutes from the town centre which is right
where we like to be.
Today we went exploring by car. We went to the convent first but
couldn't get in as you need long trousers. Should have thought of that
really, but we'll try again tomorrow.
After that we visited three villages, Falatados, Volax and Komi. All
were absolutely gorgeous, as well as being very tranquil and they all
served to reinforce the opinion that we absolutely love Tinos.
After the villages the beaches were calling. First off Kolymbythres,
the clearest and warmest water that we know. We went there last time
on Tinos and it was high on our list of places to revisit. We lunched
at the taverna overlooking the beach and spent an age over it. Then we
had a dip in the warm waters before heading back off to beach number
two - Agios Iannos Porto.
This is a slightly scruffier beach due to the weed that washes ashore
but the water was no less clear. We sat in the taverna there for an
age, loving the view and the music. Eventually it was time to head
back to the Vincenzo. We got completely lost in the backstreets of
Tinos but miraculously found ourselves right outside its door!

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Meltemi

2010-06-18T12:47:00.001-07:00

We moved on from Naxos to Tinos today. In fact we have been to 4i slands today, Naxos, Paros, Mykonos and Tinos. We had just enough time between boats on Paros to visit our favourite "transit lounge" - the harbourside cafe there that does fab coffee and pain au chocolate. Same waiter as two years ago too.
On Tinos the strength of the wind was really noticable. Cutely the Greek meteo uses beaufort scale for it's wind speeds whereas we seem to have switched entirely to using plain old mph. Must be their maritime heritage. Anyway, it's scale 5 today, which to me appears to be about 30mph, and 100% constant too, no gusting. It just feels weird and we had to abandon our afternoon beach session as we were getting sand blasted to death!
We dined at our usual spot in the Dolphin Square. We had Imam, courgette, 4 cheese saganaki and tomato keftedes. It was gorgeous and we spent 2 hours over it and the litre of local wine.
During this time 6 ferries were in and out and I was constantly up with my camera like an over excited scoolboy. Speedrunner looks fantastic and I can hardly wait for Monday. Well, except that it will mean we're leaving Tinos.

We had a look around the narrow backstreets of shops and cafes and it was a lively and lovely bustling atmosphere of local families mingling with what tourists there are (not that many).

Back in the hotel (absoluely FABULOUS by the way, the Vincenzo Family Hotel) I'm writing this and keeping one eye on an extremely inept England performance. I'm really glad I have better things to do.

Sunset Beach

2010-06-17T23:39:00.000-07:00

Naxos has more than its fair share of beach cafes. The strip along the
front at St George's beach has more than a dozen and as the sun begins
to set and the sunbathers leave the beach bars move right onto the
beach.
We planned to spend our last night on Naxos having dinner as the sun
went down and we chose the Flisvos Beach Club as our venue. Being the
last place along the strip there would be less people passing by and
spoiling the view or the ambience.
It worked out perfectly and we luckily managed to nab the last
unreserved table by the beach. Our meal of Spinach Ravioli and
Courgette & Mushroom Tagliatelle was delicious and in some ways the
perfect antidote to all of the Greek food we'd had the past few days.
Sunset was less spectacular than it could have been due to the haze on
the horizon, but no matter, it was still a perfect evening.
Dinner done we walked back to town along the length of the beach,
weighing up the other beach bars for next time we're here. A stop at
the Waffle House for 2 more delicious ice creams and then off to
Escoba for a final cocktail. Nice to be recognised on only our second
visit there, and the bowls of snacks with our cocktails just kept
coming. I was totally stuffed as we walked back to the hotel, this
time along the promenade rather than the bar strip. Beautiful.
So off to bed and ready for a pretty early start in the morning - on a
ferry when we'd normally just be waking up.
Farewell Naxos, we'll definitley be back.

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The Long And Winding Road

2010-06-17T14:25:00.000-07:00

We hired a car today to see a bit of Naxos that we've not seen so far.
While we didn't do what has come to be known as a "Smith's Tour" we
did see a fair bit. We had a look at the mountain village of Moni and
it's church of Agios Drossiani, one of the most important old churches
on the island. We also visited the village of Apiranthos, a
picturesque place of marble streets and buildings filled with a
labyrinth of alleyways, arches and steps. In both of these places we
were promised "cool mountain air" but found none - it was hotter up
there than on the coast, away from the cooling sea breeze.
Eventually we ended up at Appolonas, a small fishing harbour village
with a lovely beach backed by cafes and tavernas. We had feta filled
crepes and a superb plate of home made chips then took to the sea for
a cooling dip that we were well in need of.
We returned via the coastal route, which (not) coincidentally took us
past the Kouros, a giant unfinished statue to Dionyses. The road back
was torturously twisting, moreso even than the road up, and with the
added "bonus" of having us on the dangerous, outer side on all of the
hairpins. Luckily in the close on 50km we drove we passed about 7 cars
coming the other way, and 5 of those were on the last 10km. This meant
I could drive the whole way in the middle of the road!
I was bushed when we got back, the constant concentration and the
constant effort (we never drove straight once) left me a bit drained -
I had to take a nap before we went out for the evening! Well worth it
though, we saw some lovely scenery and interesting antiquities.

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Paradise. And Escoba.

2010-06-16T14:04:00.000-07:00

The song says "It's you and me another day in paradise" or something
like that. That pretty much sums things up. Certainly the day started
in Paradise, or the Taverna Paradiso to be precise. A few tables set
on the beach under a clump of Tamarisk trees it was the ideal place to
stock up on caffeine for the long day ahead.
That done we walked right down the beach from Agia Anna to the end of
Plaka, feet on the water all the way until we got just to the far
fringes of the FKK (nudist) beach. It was very quiet here and it
looked and felt for all the world like we had the entire beach to
ourselves. White sand and turquoise sea streched as far as the eye
could see in both directions.
We swam a while and then just laid, half in, half out of the sea, wife
reading her holiday romance novel, me just enjoying the peacefulness
and the scenic beauty.
Eventually lunch time arrived - same place as yesterday, the wonderful
family taverna that we had stumbled upon. Briam and Imam between us,
and I dared to try the home made Raki. It was very good, less rough
than some others I have tried.
All this relaxing, eating and drinking had left us feeling pretty
tired so we got sunbeds and brollies and had a snooze on the beach.
One final swim and we were back on the bus to town to get ready for a
night of traditional singing and dancing on The Kastro.
Well that was the plan, however we were put off that plan by the €46
it would have cost us. That's a fair bit of food and drink. Instead we
hit the town. Rendezvous provided us with delightful cakes and
cappuccini in a lovely waterfront setting and The Waffle House
provided the best ice creams I've had since we were in Venice 8 years
ago! The Kahula & Cookies was a sheer delight, the other, a local
speciality I forget the name of was even better, with chunks of citrus
flavoured sponge in it.
On the way back we were drawn into Escoba by the vibe coming from it.
In the garden a party was in full swing, someones birthday was being
celebrated in style. One cocktail turned into two before we knew it
as the DJ turned out top tune after top tune. Some we knew, many we
didn't, being either Greek or "international". I have to say that it
was fabulous that this was not in England nor anywhere the English go
en-masse. Nothing ruins a great bar more than a roomful of drunken
English louts.
Well eventually we had to leave and come back to the hotel. But I know
where we're going tomorrow night...

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Success At Last

2010-06-15T10:23:00.000-07:00

Hooray, I finally got my iPod connected to the Internet. It seems that
the public hotspot all along Naxos waterfront is simply overloaded
most of the time.
It was scorching again today. We went to Plaka beach which is simply
stunning. In fact all of the "different" beaches down the coast here
are really just one long continuous beach of beautiful white sand and
clear turquise water. All that distinguishes one from another is the
facilities both on and behind the beach.
At Plaka we stumbled on an absolute gem of a taverna. Family run with
several generations in evidence and a place where they still take you
into the kitchen to "show you the menu". I had Briam, one of my
favourite Greek dishes of various vegetables slow cooked in oil and
herbs. Wife had "breakfast number 4" which ended with so much Greek
yoghurt and honey that we shared it as a desert. The whole thing threw
tomorrows plans into chaos as we simply MUST eat there again!
The delightful food didn't end there either. This evenings dinner was
at Scirocco, a place we got from a book. This lived up to its billing
and provided is with possibly the best Greek meal we've had - and
we've had a lot! Vegetable Souvalaki, giant beans (beans so large I
recorded the end of each bean with my gps unit!), cheese saganaki and
a dish of aubergines,tomato and cheese that was simply divine. We were
stuffed full at the end, so much so that once again we were unable to
call in at any of the dessert stops that we have lined up. I wonder if
we'll EVER manage to get in one! At €25 it was also one of the
cheapest meals out that we've had on holiday lately.
Well we're just sipping cocktails now as we wait for the sun to slip
onto the ocean. Happy days, and still many more of them left!
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Saddo

2010-06-14T12:58:00.000-07:00

Hmm, seems I'm so much into Greek ferries that I've become a bit sad.
We were swimming in the sea at Naxos when a ship began to round the
headlands. "wow it's the Aeolos Kentris" I said, despite the fact that
we could really only see it's chimneys. As it swung into view I was
proved correct, the pride of the NEL high speed fleet it most
certainly was. We've never even seen it before, I just knew it from
books and marinetraffic.com!
I think I'm a bit too hooked on ferries right now, I was like a kid in
a sweetshop this morning, seeing all the Speedrunners and Highspeeds
(and forgetting how huge those are!) in Piraeus.

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Scorchio

2010-06-14T12:49:00.000-07:00

So first day on Naxos and the start of the holiday proper, no more
early mornings and long journeys on the rest of this trip. My God but
it's hot here, well over 30 and it would really feel it if not for the
moderating effect of the Meltemi which gives a constant light breeze,
a double blessing when combined with a dip in the sea.
We went to St George's beach, Naxos' town beach really, had a swim and
a bit of lying around in the sun. It's hard work but someone has to do
it. When we tired of that we hit the Flisvos Beach Club for a couple
of ouzos, some chilled vibes and some deep and meaningful
conversations about paracetamol and other analgesics.
For dinner we went to Picasso, a respected and long-established (15
years) Mexican restaurant. We ate there last time we were on Naxos but
seemed to forget just how large the portions are. We were stuffed full
at the end of the meal, which we could barely finish.
A gentle stroll back to the hotel took us through at least a dozen
wifi hotspots, none of which actually allowed my iPod to send emails
or access the web. Just what is going on? I'm starting to wonder if
any of these blogs will see the light of day before we return!

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Flat Calm

2010-06-14T08:58:00.000-07:00

We were up at 5.40 (which to my unaclimatised body clock was 3.40) to
get out for the ferry to Naxos. Fittingly this was the Blue Star Naxos
and it was already boarding when we arrived at the port.
We sat outside for the first part of the journey before the baking sun
got to be too much and we retired to the air conditioned lounge. This
gave me the opportunity to catch an hour's shut eye before awaking
just in time for the ship's arrival at Paros. We had been going to
have a couple of nights here, but decided we'd be stretching ourselves
too thin.
Half an hour later we were off again, and 40 minutes after that we
were on Naxos. It has been a good journey, the sea flat calm to the
extent we hardly felt we were moving, despite doing close on 30mph.
Getting picked up at the port by the Hotel Grotta bus was an
unexpected and welcome surprise, as we had omitted to tell them of our
arrival time. We know where the hotel is and had just planned to walk.
Once again this place offered free wifi and once again it was of a
type incompatible with iPods and phones! Some day soon I will get
connected and actually post these blogs!

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Piraeus

2010-06-13T11:55:00.000-07:00

Make no mistake, Piraeus is no holiday resort. It's a suburb,
commercial centre and port and makes few overtures to the tourist.
That's not to say it makes no effort at all, most of the tavernas
around Zea Marina had menu boards out in English and there are a few
decent hotels. Ours, the Piraeus Dream is excellent, having very good
facilities (free wifi and free room safe), one of the nicest rooms
we've had in any Greek hotel and an ideal situation just 5 minutes
from the port.
We spent the afternoon just wandering around the marinas and popping
in here and there for frappés, beers and ultimately dinner. This was
as nice a meal as we've had anywhere. Fava, feta & honey pie, tomato
keftedes and stoufakia washed down by a beautiful house red, all right
by the water as the sun went down.
Tomorrow is a 7am ferry to Naxos, and since we've not really adjusted
to the timezone that's like a 5am start! We're thakful the room has
good aircon as it's at least 27 degrees right now!

Sent from my iPod

Speedy Boarding

2010-06-13T01:19:00.000-07:00

Speedy boarding is what you need when flying EasyJet. Don't think that
online checkin alone is going to save you much time if you have hold
luggage. At Manchester this morning at the ungodly hour of 5.30 the
queue for baggage check was even longer than the queue for check in,
and with only 45 minutes till boarding opened and us in desperate need
of a large Costa's, the last thing we wanted was to stand in a queue.
Thankfully there was no one at all in the Speedy Boarding queue so we
waltzed straight up, checked our luggage and headed for Costa. One
huge cappuccino later and I was finally ready to face the world.
Speedy boarding also had us amongst the first dozen on board the plane
so grabbing that all important Emergency Exit Seat was a breeze. It
was all well worth the £9 that it cost.
Well only 2 hours to go (at time of writing) till landing in Athens.
With any luck the next coffee I have will be a frappé on the Glyfada
coast, overlooking the turquoise ocean and baking in the Greek sun.

Sent from my iPod

Just Like Come Dine With Me - But With Weddings

2010-06-09T15:14:00.000-07:00

Did I say there was nowt on TV anymore? I forgot about 4 Weddings! For anyone who's not seen this but who has seen Come Dine With Me, it's just the same, right down to the wisecracking commentator (it's not the same guy, but he obviously models himself on him). The difference is, of course, that the four people go to each other's weddings.
You can tell it's all a bit staged, when for example they ask one girl "What's your wedding nightmare?" and she says "Anything on a boat" and the next girl says "My wedding is on a boat...". We've seen all sorts, from totally chavtastic weddings, fancy dress (Sci-fi and Horror to date, another Halloween is coming up), budget bashes and over the top extravaganzas. Today there was even a wedding that was called off - naturally she didn't win the prize.
It's no surprise that every girl thinks their wedding was the best, that's just as it should be, but the entertainment really comes from their fly-on-the-wall critiques of the other girls' weddings - aided by that wisecracking commentator!
Wife said "It's good, but I couldn't watch it every week", obviously forgetting that we do watch it (almost) every week, and will have watched 3 in 3 days by this time tomorrow! With only Big Brother as an alternative, thank God for 4 Weddings!

The End Of It All

2010-06-08T10:12:00.000-07:00

There's nothing left on TV that we watch. 24, Heroes, Lost, FlashForward and 90210 have all finished in the last week or two, the first four of those forever! What am I going to do? Well luckily it's summer and there are plenty of other distractions, such as going on holiday, biking or just sitting in the garden all night supping beer!
Beyond that, or on cold, wet nights such as this week is bringing, I guess there's always the three series of 24 that I have on DVD and haven't watched yet! It's always better watching 24 when you have a load of episodes to watch at once because usually I can't wait for the next one to come along! The downside is that that could lead to some very late nights as we watch "just one more episode...", not something we really want or need.
So I wonder what the next hot, new series will be to come over from the 'States. Anyone any clues?

Risking The Seajet

2010-05-24T04:43:00.000-07:00

We've booked all our ferry tickets for our trip to Greece. We decided to take the Seajet 2 (of which we'd read mixed reviews) from Paros to Tinos, mainly because there's only two boats a day (at least in the advertised schedules) and that one is the first boat. The theory is that if the boat you're going for is cancelled, it's better that it's an early boat than the last boat of the day. Reduces your chance of getting stuck.
Anyway, wife had ordered Greek Island Hopping "The Island Hopper's Bible" from Amazon. It came today. I looked up Seajet 2. Their advice: "Do not book tickets in advance for this boat, it's quite prone to cancellation". I think even with this warning in mind I'd still do what we did, I think my own advice of "always book the earlier boat" takes precedence over theirs.

P.S. We've now been and the crossing was great; on time, comfortable and fast, no complaints really. Seajet 2 is now in a nice pink livery!

Seajet 2 at Tinos

Computer Says No

2010-05-24T04:31:00.000-07:00

According to the BBC weather site we should currently be seeing light rain out of the office window.
Sticking my head out reveals warm sunshine and clear blue skies, not a cloud in sight. If they can't even get the current weather right, what hope for a longer forecast?

Galadoboureko(Sometimes known as Galaktoboureko)

2010-05-19T04:54:00.000-07:00

We made a lovely dessert last weekend, a trial run for having some friends round this weekend.

On our travels around the Cyclades the other year we visited the island of Tinos. In the beautifully picturesque marble village of Pyrgos there were several tavernas that served what was seen as a local specialty - Galadoboureko. I think in actual fact this dish is common to a lot of areas of Greece, but perhaps Pyrgos & Tinos make the best examples.

It's basically a custard slice - a good layer of solidly thick custard layered between crispy filo pastry and - in typical Greek fashion - smothered in a sticky syrup. It's best eaten on the day it's made, but not immediately after making it. It needs to sit for several hours for the syrup to incorporate its way into the rest of the pie. Eat it too soon and the syrup is still separate and way too sickly and cloying.

The recipe is as follows, and we're indebted to this site for their version of it.

(Use the same glass for measurement throughout - i used a half pint which goes well with 2 eggs)

Syrup:

4 glasses of sugar
2 glasses water
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 stick of cinnamon

Filling:

6 glasses of milk
1 glass cornflour
1 glass sugar
2 eggs
1/2 glass of rosewater (or orange-blossom water)
1lb (450g) filo pastry
6oz (180g) unsalted butter or 1/2 glass of ground nut oil

Method:

First make your syrup, put the sugar, water, lemon juice and stick of cinnamon into a pan and bring to the boil for 10 minutes. Allow to cool
To make the cream filling, beat the eggs and mix with the cornflour to make a paste using a bit of the milk.
Heat the rest of the milk to boil.
Pour a little of the hot milk into the paste, stir well, and repeat until the mixture is quite runny and smooth then pour it all back into the pan. Stir continuously until the cream is smooth, taking care not to let it burn the bottom as this will taint the flavour.
Add the sugar and rosewater.
Take off the heat
Take 6 sheets of pastry, butter or oil in between each one and place at the bottom of a deep baking dish
Then pour in the milk mixture
Cover with 5 or 6 sheets of pastry again, buttering in between each one.
Place into a moderate 150C oven for 1 hour, turning up heat a little at the end if it needs browning.
Take out of the oven and while still hot, pour over cold syrup.
To serve cut into wedges, can be eaten hot or chilled.

Walker's Flavour Cup:Day 13: Scottish Haggis

2010-05-14T09:13:00.000-07:00

Finally got hold of Scottish Haggis, though it wasn't really worth the wait or the search. It tastes nothing at all like Haggis, even though it contains a multitude of meat extracts (poultry and mutton to be precise). It is slightly peppery and a little meaty (yes, once again I tasted before I read the ingredients) but all in all a real disappointment.

Scottish Haggis: "Tastes nothing like haggis, despite containing bits of animals" 3/10

Walker's Flavour Cup:Day 12: Argentinian Flame Grilled Beef

2010-05-10T04:33:00.000-07:00

Bovril.

"These just taste of Bovril" was the almost unanimous verdict of the blind taste panel. I had to agree, or more precisely they taste of Bovril flavoured crisps, which in themselves don't taste exactly like Bovril.

A decent effort if you want Bovril crisps, but in that case you'd just buy Bovril crisps! A poor effort if you want Argentinian Flame Grilled Beef!

There will now be an indefinite hiatus in the Flavour Cup reports as I have had no luck obtaining the last three flavours, Welsh Rarebit, Haggis and Irish Stew. If anyone sees them, either tell me where or get me some!

Argentinian Flame Grilled Beef: "They just taste of Bovril" 6/10

Perfect Day

2010-05-08T23:47:00.000-07:00

What a lovely day we had on Saturday. A lazy morning in bed with pastries, cappuccini, magazines, books and a snoozy cat. Then up and out to get the garden in shape (some digging, some pruning and some cutting) and a trip to the tip to get rid of the rubbish that that had generated and it was still only lunch time! It's amazing what you can get done if you wake up early.

An hour or so in the conservatory, "lunch" of cookies and more cappuccini, making the most of the afternoon sun and the snoozy cat.

Then off to Durham for dinner - albeit an early one - at Pizza Express. I had a starter of torn mozzarella, rocket & tomato, followed by one of their specialty pizzas, the one that has loads of different types of mushroom on it. Best of all, Tesco footed the bill. Every little helps.

After that we were due a trip to Newcastle Airport to pick up the in-laws, but there plane was delayed so we'd have a fair few hours to fill in. We did this by going to The Metro Centre and going to Cafe Rouge for more food! Just (yet another) Cappucino and a dessert each - mine a "pot au chocolate", a beautiful cup of semi-solid chocolate (more solid than a mousse would be) served with a glass of Sauternes on the side. Delicious. Once again Tesco footed the bill, you gotta love 'em.

We eventually did get to Newcastle Airport where the in-law's plane was early (earlier than it's later scheduled arrival time) so we didn't have to hang around too long.

By the time we got back home it had been quite a long day, but one that was nice from start to finish, where we got things done, relaxed and enjoyed ourselves all in one day!

Walker's Flavour Cup:Day 11: Australian BBQ Kangaroo

2010-05-04T15:01:00.000-07:00

Hmm. No one's really sure just what Kangaroo should taste like, other than it's a kind of red meat. Therefore the fact that these crisps tasted like a very nice BBQ Beef (as most of the blind taste panel guessed at) means that I must put them down as pretty good crisps.

Certainly it was one of the most flavoursome efforts so far (some have been so subtle as to be almost indistinguishable from ready salted), too flavoursome for one of the panel who prefers those subtler flavours (but who often states "they taste of nothing" - you just can't win!).

Definitely one of my favourites, and now knowing that the Roast Beef and the Bratwurst contain "poultry extract" and are therefore docked a mark, this goes up into joint first with them and the American Cheeseburger. (Come the tie-breaker those meat-containing flavours won't be included, so they are effectively out of the running now.)

Australian BBQ Kangaroo: "Not sure if it really tastes of Skippy, but it's a fine BBQ flavour and up there with a chance of winning" 8/10.

Birthday Boy

2010-04-30T09:52:00.000-07:00

It was my birthday today. I went out for lunch with my two favourite girls and my little nephew. We went to Saltholme, an RSPB reserve close to where I work, which has a lovely visitor centre with cafe (the reason for going) and one of the most unusual skylines you'll see at any RSPB reserve - the Seal Sands chemical complex!
The cafe was nothing to write home about. They wouldn't do me a breakfast as I was 30 seconds too late (breakfast ended at 12:15) so I had Beanburger & Chips. The burger was decent, the chips were old and cold. The company was fantastic though.
AJ was more excited by the tractors that passed us while we were waiting at some traffic lights and by the "horsies" on the wasteland by the chemy works than he was by the birds at the reserve. Oh, he loved the chips though. Old & Cold is his favourite way to have them!

Walker's Flavour Cup:Day 10: American Cheeseburger

2010-04-30T09:41:00.000-07:00

Amazing. Probably the most identifiable flavour so far. Almost all of the blind taste panel identified "gherkin", "mustard" and "meat", though no one mentioned cheese. Someone said the crisps "tasted like a McDonald's". Praise indeed. Most were agreed it was their favourite flavour so far too.

American Cheeseburger: "Tastes just like a McDonald's Quarter Pounder With Cheese - but without the cheese" 8/10

Ouch

2010-04-30T03:12:00.000-07:00

I took a nosedive into some rocks while attempting a flat drop on a bit of trail near Guisborough. No idea what went wrong, it's an easy manoeuvre on an easy bit of trail.

I blame my rain-soaked and steamed up glasses for making me mis-time the jump, and it was those same glasses that took a big chunk of flesh out of my nose. Grazed my chin, bust my top lip (lucky I didn't break a tooth), and bruised & scraped my shoulder, upper arm, elbow & thigh too. Fortunately did no damage that won't heal fairly quickly. I went straight back and did the drop again, successfully second time around.

Birthday Cakes

2010-04-29T04:50:00.000-07:00

Had my birthday cakes at work today. It's not my birthday until tomorrow, but as I'm going out to lunch with my two favourite girls (hope the wife doesn't find out!) I've had the work's birthday cakes today. A Thornton's Celebration Cake, which unfortunately had "slipped" (top layer slid over by a couple of inches) and some ASDA Fancy Cupcakes.

I can feel the prickly sweat on my brow from the sugar overload!

Walker's Flavour Cup:Day 9: South African Sweet Chutney

2010-04-29T04:47:00.000-07:00

OK, hands up if you know what South African Sweet Chutney tastes like? Why did Walker's even choose that as a flavour? Desperation to include South Africa while not really wanting to do a "BBQ Springbok" flavour (which would probably taste identical to the BBQ Kangeroo that they already feature)?

Well, the blind tasting panel detected "Prawn Cocktail", "Tomato Ketchup", "Worcester Sauce" and "Tomato Ketchup mixed with Worcester Sauce". That's how I described it, like ketchup but a little spicier. Not a bad flavour and one I could eat again.

South African Sweet Chutney: "Like Ketchup mixed with Worcester Sauce" 7/10

Walker's Flavour Cup:Day 8: Dutch Edam

2010-04-28T15:16:00.000-07:00

The first blind taster to try these suggested "ready salted", such was the amount of "flavouring" on them. There seems to be quite a bit of variation in how strongly/mildly some varieties are flavoured - are Walker's letting QA standards slip?

That aside, if you tried really hard, you could actually discern a mild cheese flavour, and as Edam is a fairly bland, inoffensive, mild cheese I suppose this was a pretty good effort. I'm not sure that it doesn't just taste like Cheese & Onion would if you missed out the onion, maybe the cheese in that flavour has a bit more tang to it.

Anyway, I liked it, most of the panel could tell it was meant to be cheese, and most thought they were "alright" (they've not been very enthusiastic about any of the flavours so "alright" counts as a thumbs up!)

Dutch Edam: "Tastes like bland, mild cheese, so a pretty good effort" 7/10

Walkers Flavour Cup: Warning To Vegetarians

2010-04-27T10:47:00.000-07:00

Ugh. No wonder the German Bratwurst flavour tasted so authentically meaty, I just read the ingredient list (or rather a colleague of mine did) and it contains "poultry extract". What the hell is that? Obviously it comes from poultry, but describing it as "extract" is a bit nondescript and rather vague. Probably intentionally so. To call it by what it actually was would probably sound even worse and more off-putting.

Well, that means that the remainder of the 6-pack of Bratwurst crisps that I had are going into the Tuck Shop for general consumption by people who don't care what they put into themselves!

This led me to check up on the other flavours and my other former favourite, English Roast Beef & Yorkshire Pudding contains "Poultry Broth". I suppose that sounds a little better than "extract".

I guess the lesson to be learned (apart from always read the ingredients) is that the best flavours contain meat, so it must be difficult to make good analogues of meat flavours from non meat sources.

Gone are the days when the only non-vegetarian Walker's flavour was Cheese & Onion!

Footnote: The Scottish Haggis flavour is also non-veggie, containing the ubiquitous "poultry extract" and also "mutton broth".

Walker's Flavour Cup:Day 7: Brazilian Salsa

2010-04-27T10:42:00.000-07:00

Back to disappointments again today. Brazilian Salsa was lacking in anything identifiable as "Brazilian" or "Salsa", not tasting of spice, tomato, onion or of very much else actually.

Once again the overriding flavour was "sweetness" (a lot of these Flavour Cup flavours are pretty sweet). None of the blind taste panel had the faintest idea what it was supposed to be, which is hardly surprising. What is "Brazilian Salsa" anyway? How does it vary from any other kind of Salsa?

No, I have to say this ranks as one of the most disappointing flavours of the whole bunch.

Brazilian Salsa: "Tastes of nothing, really." 2/10

Walker's Flavour Cup:Day 6: German Bratwurst

2010-04-26T06:13:00.000-07:00

The competition is really heating up. Having found what I thought would be the winner on Friday, along comes another contender today.

Being neither German nor carnivorous I'm hardly in a position to decide what tastes authentically of "German sausage" and yet I fancy that these do. They certainly taste undeniably "sausage-like", a nicely seasoned, slightly smoky, meaty kind of flavour.

The blind tasting panel were equally conclusive. Three of them said it was "some kind of sausage" while a fourth said it was "some kind of smoked/burnt meat". Most agreed it was the best flavour so far.

I'm marking it equal top with Roast Beef & Yorkshire Pud, we can have a play-off at the end of the competition.

German Bratwurst: "Undeniably tastes of sausage, an excellent effort" 9/10

Walker's Flavour Cup:Day 5: English Roast Beef & Yorkshire Pudding

2010-04-23T07:37:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a winner. Or at least a probable winner. I loved this flavour and it's going to be pretty hard to beat. Even (most of) the blind taste panel agreed it was the best flavour so far, and one even guessed that it was "roast dinner" flavour. Pretty good considering they've been totally clueless about all of the other flavours so far.

Tasting (naturally) of beef, having that elusive, hard-to-describe "Yorkshire pudding" sub-taste, a touch of gravy and even a "hint of greasiness" I thought it was superb. I'd give it 10/10 but have to hold 1 back in case an even better flavour comes along later.

English Roast Beef & Yorkshire Pudding: "So good you could confuse it with a real roast dinner" 9/10

Walker's Flavour Cup:Day 4: Japanese Chicken Teriyaki

2010-04-22T08:47:00.000-07:00

Another flavour that I liked that didn't go down well with the taste panel here at work. To me it was chicken, tomato & Marmite & sweetness all mingled together into quite a nice flavour. As Teriyaki is a sweet soy sauce, I thought it a fairly decent effort.

Obviously I was picking up Marmite where I should have been getting Soy, but then I'm a big Marmite fan. Some of our tasters detected BBQness, some the sweetness, very few of them the chicken.

For me this is the second best flavour so far, but maybe I'm just swayed by the Marmite.

Japanese Chicken Teriyaki: "Tastes like chicken in sweetened Marmite" 7/10

Walker's Flavour Cup:Day 3: Italian Spaghetti Bolognese

2010-04-21T01:00:00.000-07:00

You could imagine what these were going to taste like before you even opened the bag. A bit of beef, a bit of tomato and a bit of oregano was what I was expecting, and that's exactly what I got.

The blind tasting panel didn't agree, they thought them rather tasteless and not one of them guessed at the supposed flavour. The best one taster could come up with was "a bit like BBQ Pringles". None of them even noticed the oregano, which was quite apparent to my cultured taste buds.

Italian Spaghetti Bolognese: "Taste exactly as you'd expect them to, a very decent effort and the best of the bunch so far" 8/10

Losall's Chillie Paste

2010-04-21T00:12:00.000-07:00

Anyone ever seen this stuff then? If you have you'll have to be either

Fairly (I hesitate to say very) old or
You've raided your granny's medicine cupboard.

Not sure why anyone would do the latter, and yet that's exactly how I came to posses this jar of wonderment. A friend got it from his gran's house and presented it to me because he knows of my love of chillies.

At first glance you may think it's culinary but no, it's medicinal, probably for "external use only" although it doesn't say so anywhere on the jar. It says it is

"A concentrated Application containing the Stimulating Properties of the Capsicum Fruit"

and bears the instructions

"To be applied with Brisk Rubbing until a Warm Glow is obtained" (their capitalisation).

I presume it's an early version of things like Deep Heat. It has the texture of petroleum jelly and smells of nothing in particular, although any scent has probably been lost in the annals of time.

God only knows how old it is. Judging by the label and the above legends I'd put it at pre war, or certainly no later than the 50's.

Googling it provided no results whatsoever, and not much at all for Losall's. What happened to them? Did they simply go out of business, or did they get amalgamated into one of the bigger pharmaceutical companies? If anyone stumbles across this page and has come across this stuff before, leave a comment.

Walker's Flavour Cup:Day 2: Spanish Chicken Paella

2010-04-20T05:18:00.000-07:00

So day two of the Walker's Flavour Cup brings us Spanish Chicken Paella. Using the same blind tasting technique as before, none of the panel had any idea what the flavour was supposed to be, not even picking up on the Chicken-ness of it. "Damp" and "Fried" were two "tastes" that cropped up, not bad considering how Paella is produced.

Ultimately, on knowing what the flavour was, no one said "Oh yeah, of course!" and most agreed they would never buy this flavour, though I actually liked them.

Spanish Chicken Paella: "they taste OK, but nothing like the flavour they are supposed to be" 4/10

Walker's Flavour Cup:Day 1: French Garlic Baguette

2010-04-19T06:01:00.000-07:00

OK, so after the false start of Jamaican Jerk Chicken here's the first REAL day of The Walker's Flavour Cup.

I've decided to use my test audience as blind tasters and not tell them what flavour the crisps are supposed to be. This gives quite interesting results. 5 people thought these crisps were Sour Cream & Chive, one thought it was anything from Lime & Coriander to BBQ'd something or other (makes us wonder about his taste buds) and one thought they just didn't taste of much at all.

So did anyone think it tasted like Garlic Baguette once they'd been told what they were? Only the Lime/Coriander/BBQ guy :-/

French Garlic Baguette crisps: nice enough tasting crisps, but nothing like garlic and entirely like cheese & chive. 5/10

Trapped

2010-04-19T05:26:00.000-07:00

My sister & brother-in-law, Baby Niece and Minstrel Boy are trapped in Gran Canaria by the Ash Cloud. They've been checked out of their original self-catering accommodation and are now staying full board (including a drink with meals) at the holiday company's expense, so at least they don't have to worry about running out of money to buy food with.

Who knows how long it will be before they can get home. At the moment there's the prospect of them having to fly back to Spain and come home on Ark Royal or something. Very exciting for many children I'm sure, but something most people would rather do without.

This whole Ash thing is casting a cloud (see what I did there?) over my own holiday plans. We're not due to go until June, but will it be clear even by then? And I still need to book loads of things up for that holiday (it's independent travel). Is it a bit risky to book anything now? Maybe I should consider an overland holiday instead...

Decisions, decisions.

Bishop Auckland

2010-04-19T05:08:00.000-07:00

We went to Bishop Auckland on Saturday. It's the first time we've been there in almost 20 years. The thing that drew us there was The Bishop Auckland Food Festival. These food festivals are everywhere these days, particularly in market towns, but we enjoy them and they're a fairly cheap day out, if you can resist spending too much on the stalls.

Auckland Castle

It was a particularly warm and sunny day, which made the day all the more enjoyable and also a lot cheaper! The warmth meant we were unable to buy much as it would not keep well in the hot car for the rest of the day. So bang went Sticky Toffee, Lemon and Marmalade Puddings that we might otherwise have bought! We did get a couple of pieces of Chocolate Brownie from the Burtree House Farm stall (who also make those puddings that I just mentioned), possibly the finest brownie I've ever had (their puddings are delicious too).

My favourite thing, as usual, was trying out the various stands that sold hot chilli sauces. There seems to be a growing number of these, and that suits me. My mouth was well warmed up by the time I left the festival! "Best In Show" for me was Trees Can't Dance who do a number of sauces, dips and marinades of varying strengths, all of them delicious.

The event also allowed you free entry to the chapel of Auckland Castle, a beautifully decorated chamber (above).

I have to say that I was quite pleasantly surprised by Bishop Auckland. I don't really know what my memories of it were from when we visited those 20 odd years ago, but it strikes me now as a very pleasant town. It has a good array of shops, with very little on the main street (Newgate Street) that is disused or looking tatty. The buildings in the market square are all quite interesting architecturally, even though most of them have been converted into pubs and bars. The Town Hall would not look out of place in some Northern French town or village.

The main shops included a good number of "family bakers", which I always find more interesting than a whole town full of Gregg's. Some of the cakes and pies looked absolutely fabulous and I was sorely tempted - but we already had that brownie! There were also a number of what you might call "greasy spoon" cafes, but they weren't so "greasy spoon" as to be unattractive. Quite the opposite in fact and I was tempted by a number of them. I could have had an all-day veggie breakfast at one of them for £2.80, but instead opted for a different cafe that had some nice outside seating and who's veggie breakfast included Quorn sausages for £3.20. Absolutely delicious, as was wifes cheese toastie and chips and our two cappuccinos. Simple, quality food at an affordable price, just what we were looking for.

I could go back to "Bishop" again, just to have another breakfast!

"Lovely Old Cat"

2010-04-18T15:22:00.000-07:00

Our new neighbours described Charley as "a lovely old cat".

Old? He's still a kitten to me! You should have seen how playful and inquisitive he was tonight when he saw the piles of duvets around the bed (we're changing from winter to summer weights).

At 12 years, is he old? I guess at 17 I'd consider him well old, and that's only 5 years off. I can't bear to think of him as slow, old and arthritic, that's just not who he is!

Stay young, Charley boy, just like your dad is!

No $hit, Sherlock

2010-04-16T15:40:00.000-07:00

Strangely we knew this right from the start, from the very first moment we saw it on the local TV news. I'm guessing the police did too but just needed time to gather enough evidence. You didn't have to be Miss Marple to read between the lines of what was being said and to deduce from what was being done.

False Start

2010-04-16T15:19:00.000-07:00

Apparently the Jamaican Jerk Chicken isn't part of the "Flavour Cup" contest, despite it having the logo etc. on the packet!

Our Tasting sessions will begin afresh on Monday then, with French Garlic Baguette.

My local ASDA doesn't have all of the flavours in so I'm on the lookout for the missing culprits. I'm determined to get the lot!

FYI the nations/flavours involved in the cup are:

American Cheeseburger
Argentinian Flame Grilled Steak
Australian BBQ Kangaroo
Brazilian Salsa
Dutch Edam Cheese
English Roast Beef & Yorkshire Pudding
French Garlic Baguette
German Bratwurst
Irish Stew
Italian Spaghetti Bolognese
Japanese Teriyaki Chicken
Scottish Haggis
South African Sweet Chutney
Spanish Chicken Paealla
Welsh Rarebit

Walker's Flavour CupDay 1: Jamaican Jerk Chicken

2010-04-16T06:04:00.000-07:00

Day 1 of the Walker's Flavour Cup challenge begins with Jamaican Jerk Chicken.

The decision of the voting panel here at work was:

"Decent tasting Chicken crisps but with no hint of the heat and spice that defines 'jerk'. Therefore, quite a disappointment".

Jamaican Jerk Chicken 5/10