Monday, November 2, 2009
Blogging Women
Oh! I've just discovered that I've won a contest in Blogging Women. My blog will be featured for the month of November. Isn't that lovely? All you female bloggers out there - I invite you to hop over to Blogging Women and have fun discovering other blogs. Thanks Fay!
Monday, October 26, 2009
Chilling out with friends at Ghajn Tuffieha
Yesterday, we decided to go out in the afternoon and dine out with our friends at Ghajn Tuffieha - (pronounced 'ine' as in 'nine' Too-fee-ha ) one of the most beautiful sandy beaches in the North of our island. Although the air is now somewhat cooler than in summer, yesterday a good number of people were either sunbathing or frolicking round at the beach. When I saw all the activity at the beach, I kind of forgot that it's been almost a month since Autumn started. We are still enjoying warm days here in Malta. There were even some daring people who went for a dip in the choppy sea even though it was windy. We enjoyed ourselves so much that we did not notice how time flew. At the end, after watching sunset, we reluctantly made our way home.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Bird Hunting in Malta
There goes my staying late in bed this weekend. Living near the countryside does have its repercussions. Why is it that weekend or no weekend I have to be woken up so early? Today, (like in the past 4 weeks) the constant gunshots of heartless bird hunters, somewhere in the vicinity of our house woke me up at around 5:30am. I can't imagine, for the life of me, how they can make out the birds flying in the darkness of morning. Don't they strain their eyes? Their incessant killing starts from 5am!!! Today, I've been tossing and turning in bed waiting for the shots to abate - in vain. Blessed Sunday indeed!
As I'm typing, the sound of gunshots is still going on. The sound of the lead pellets hitting our skylight and the side windows is very unnerving. I feel sorry for those birds, that, after flying for so many kilometers in so many days, their life ends up in one second here in Malta. It's heartbreaking. Unfortunately, the news that makes headlines is only the bad publicity! The BBC and other foreign news are having a field day with our hunting issues. Take a look at these links and you'll see what I mean:
Our island is rarely in the news but wonder of wonders when our hunting season opens we get to be very 'popular' or should I say 'infamous' with the rest of the E.U countries.
Recently, Maltese educators were asked to refrain from passing any negative comments to the students with regards to bird hunting because they were told that the children might turn against their hunter parents!
If the FKNK (Federation for Hunting and Conservation representatives) had the time to prepare the Teachers' Pack, I suggest that they keep on reading it themselves. As a teacher, I would never impart positive comments regarding hunting. Hunters should go and get a life! They should abide by the law! The lengths hunters will go through to justify shooting birds is amazing.
img credit Wildlife Extra
Monday, October 12, 2009
Banana and Chocolate Squares
With the onset of the rainy season, I usually start looking for some good baking recipes. This weekend, while I was browsing through some food blogs this recipe caught my attention. It was very easy to prepare - in fact, I think it only took me an hour from start to finish. And, mark my words, once you take these delicious chocolate and banana squares out of the oven, they won't last long - they're simply irresistible! One last thing..make sure you don't forget the chocolate chips - I completely forgot about them - I sprinkled them in the last minute and, as expected, they didn't melt properly!
Monday, October 5, 2009
Another authentic Maltese recipe - Torta tal-lampuki ( Dolphin-fish pie)
Since we are in the lampuka season I thought of posting a lampuka recipe. The Lampuka - also known as Mahi Mahi, Dorado or Dolphin Fish – is Malta's 'national' fish. The season stretches from the end of August to the beginning of November. This is a seasonal fish and is very much in demand during its season. The following recipe was extracted from The Food and Cookery of Malta.
For the pastry
400 g plain flour
200 g margarine
Pinch of salt
4 tbsp (approx.) cold water
For the filling
2 medium sized lampuki (approx. 400 g)
1 onion, sliced 2-3 tbsp olive oil
2 large tomatoes, peeled and chopped or 1 dessertspoon tomato puree
1 medium cauliflower
800 g spinach
8 black olives
1 tbsp sultanas
6 walnuts, shelled
(I also added some boiled potatoes, and some green olives too. )
Make the pastry. Use no more water than necessary. Keep the pastry cold while you prepare the filling.
Cut the fish into 4 or 5 steaks, coat lightly In flour and fry in shallow oil until just cooked. Remove any bones and the skin. Reserve. (Tip: I prepared the fish the night before because it takes a long time.)
In a large pan soften the onion in olive oil. Add the tomatoes, cook for a few minutes more. Add the cauliflower broken into florets and the spinach. Add about 250 ml of boiling water, cover tightly and cook until the vegetables are just tender. Remove from the heat and add the olives, sultanas and walnuts. Season. It is import ant to let this mixture and the fish get quite cold before finishing the pie.
Line a large shallow pie dish with slightly more than half the pastry. Put half the vegetable mixture over it, then the fish, then the remaining vegetables. Roll out the rest of the pastry to cover. Decorate and brush with beaten egg to which you have added a few drops of oil. Bakc at 200°C/400°F/gas 6 for 30 minutes, then at 180°C/350°F/gas 4 until golden brown and the filling heated through. This pie tastes equally good hot or cold.
Some prefer to cook the cauliflower and spinach separately. In this case, add the 250ml water to the tomato and onion mixture and simmer gently for about half an hour.
For a change, I made small pies (qassatat) instead of a large one. Qassatat come in very handy when I'm at a loss at what lunch to prepare for work.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
House Parties
I did mention that I like to host parties, didn't I? Well, these past couple of weeks I was busy preparing for two parties, aside from preparing for work too. One party was to congratulate our dear friends from Luxembourg, Ana and Karl, who tied the knot a few months ago and who came to visit us last week, and the second one was our housewarming party. It took us more than 6 months to celebrate our housewarming party with our close friends! We just never found the right time to celebrate it.
When I make up my mind to host a party I get carried away with planning the event, and that includes the decorations, cleaning the house and preparing the food on time. I don't know why but even if I start preparing from three days before I rarely finish on time. My husband, on the other hand, does his best to concoct original cocktails and serve different drinks. When our parties are over our friends usually leave our house,slightly if not totally intoxicated, holding on to their bulging tummies.
I just love throwing parties but they practically, take up all my energy. As soon as I send out the invites I browse my collection of recipe books to get some ideas, and write a list of appetizers. I try to keep to 12 items per person but somehow in the preparation process the items increase in number. Next, I disseminate each food item to its basic ingredients and write all the ingredients that I would need in a list, then buy the ingredients, prepare each item and finally put the final touches to each item..and each time I invite our friends over I always say to myself that next time I should prepare less food but somehow I never manage to..
The collage above shows some of the food I prepared. Clockwise from left: Choco,Oat and Nut balls, parma ham and melon kebabs, artichokes stuffed with Maltese sausage filling, bacon and avocado squares, double decker egg and ham sandwiches, pancakes stuffed with seafood, classic Maltese timpana, lampuki rolls, apple and pork rolls. Centre: S almon and caviar hors d'oeuvres.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Award Time
I've been awarded again - this time by my bloggy friend - Sue from CraftySue: http://craftysusie.blogspot.com/. I am so honoured to receive yet another award. She's got this passion for making lovely crafts and sharing her ideas with all and what's more she's just adopted this cute cat Tod. Do hop over to her lovely website.
Thank you Sue!
There are a few rules that come along with this award. To accept the award I have to do a few things:
1. Thank the person who nominated me for this award.
2. Copy the logo and place it on my blog.
3. Link the person who nominated me for this award.
4. Name seven things about me that people might find interesting.
5. Nominate seven blogs.
6. Post links to the seven blogs that I nominate.
7. Leave comments on all seven blogs letting them know I nominated them.
Now to award seven other blogs... this is always a difficult part, all the blogs I follow merit this award but I can only nominate seven, here goes:
7 things about me
1: Am crazy about pigs - They're such funny creatures!
2: Love all things blue.
3: I'm a summer girl, love the sea, sun, summer fruits, bbqs ...
4: I'm a shopaholic.
5: I love cooking and trying out new recipes.
6: Love hosting parties and making all the party food myself.
7: I like watching TV programmes where there is a drastic change or a complete makeover involved such as: Take Home Nanny, Houses Behaving Badly, Extreme Makeover
And now for the nominated blogs...
1. http://heavenisinbelgium.blogspot.com/
2. http://ladelirante.blogspot.com/
4. http://ruby-marie.blogspot.com/
5. http://fromthenorthfork.blogspot.com/
6. http://allaboutg.blogspot.com/
7. http://sugarmama-sugarmama.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
A walk round the city of Vittoriosa, (Birgu), (Part 2)
The different food aromas wafting up from the windows signalled the approach of noon. Walking in the shady streets I got so engrossed in distinguishing the different smells that were teasing my olfactory senses that I nearly missed this quaint old Norman style house in North Street.
I went back a few steps and looked at the open door - was this a museum? or was it just open because it happened to be so I asked myself. I read the Information display outside: This house with Siculo-Norman features was built in the 13th century. My! That was a long time ago!
I ventured inside, making shuffling noises just in case there was anyone inside. Silence...I became more adventurous and nimbly climbed up the tiny stairs that led to this one tiny room upstairs. There was a chest of drawers, a plate for donations and an album displaying the 'before' and 'after' photos of the house I was in. Yes, it was a kind of free museum - its owner had restored it to its original design and left it open for the curious tourists. How nice of him! I didn't take photos inside as it was too dark. I was glad for two things: that I had gone inside a very old house and seen with my very eyes the interior of an old house in Birgu and that I discovered another Norman house in Malta. I had previously thought that there was only one house with a Norman style in Malta and that was in Mdina.
I carried on with my journey of discovery round Birgu and spotted this small niche of a small Madonna lovingly decorated with sea shells. I spied another niche with a carved Madonna in another street corner. It is evident that the Madonna holds a special place in the hearts and minds of the Maltese people.
Wandering in the silent and shaded streets I found this Butcher's shop - couldn't help taking a photo of it. And I also loved the facade of this new restaurant.
Finally, in Pacifiku Scicluna Street, I came across this small building wrapped up in old electricity supply wires which used to house the executioner and his family during the times of the Order of St John and the Inquisition. His symbol can still be seen engraved on top of the windows.
There was so much to discover in Birgu. Each street had its own characteristics that distinguished it from the others leading to it. The inhabitants of Birgu have worked together to beautify their city - they have put plants everywhere, they have restored their houses with pride and they make sure to keep the streets clean. My journey came to an end with a mobile call which reminded me that my time was up - I had to go back home.
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