LPN January Competition
This Month's Competition Question
Sponsored by
Enoteca/Wine Bar Larnaca
Enoteca/Wine Bar Larnaca
Simply answer the following question and you could win a €20 Enomatic card.
When did Enoteca Wine Bar open ?
The Winner will be announced on Friday 31st January ! Good Luck :0)
Our Enoteca/Wine Bar which opened on the 21st December 2013 is finally completed and fully operational. With our 3 ‘Enomatic Wine Serving dispensers’ intergraded into a common wine-card system, 16 different wines are served by the glass every day at their proper temperature.Charge your own wine-card with any amount you wish and enjoy various wines by the glass at your own pace!
Our wine shop ‘The Oak Tree Wine Cellar’ right next to our Enoteca, gives you the option to select/open any of our 500+ different wines with an extra €8.00 per bottle serving charge from our retail prices.
Various types of cheese/meat platters are served to accompany your wines. We are open every day until late at night, except Monday!
Please give us a call at: 24815044 for more information.
Bugged by bugs - Paula Manoli-Gray
This time of year is a particular worry as a parent of two little ones as it is the dreaded bug season.
We literally live in daily fear that one of our two will catch a virus of some sort as it inevitably means the other one will too. And if hubby and I are particularly run-down, then so will we - just like dominos knocked down one by one!
Of course, it is not nice for anyone to get ill, child or adult, but parents of young children will know exactly what I mean about the worry, as children's immature immune systems are far more susceptible. If you are lucky, a stuffy nose is all you will have to contend with, but even that is tricky to handle as you struggle to squirt stuff up their noses, suction their snot (if they are too young to blow it themselves), battle with the fear that their mild cough will turn into pneumonic-bronchitis, and put up with their neediness and whining. If you are very unlucky then you will enjoy countless wash loads of clothes and sheets that come courtesy of tummy bugs and their colourful and frequent vomiting and diarrhea, or the sheer panic of monitoring a child's raising temperature.
This year, there has been an outbreak of Scarlet Fever in Larnaca, which causes a sore throat with white spots, swollen tongue, fever and rash - a horror straight out of Medieval times. And there have also been reports of Swine Flu on the island. It almost makes you want to put your kids in a giant protective bubble and never let them leave the house again.
But, I don't ever remember being this ill this frequently when I was a child. Am I remembering incorrectly, or were we just not so sickly in those days? My mother wouldn't allow us to stay home from school unless we were 'dying' (her words!), and I had very few sick days my whole childhood. Clearly, something was different back then – was it our immune systems or the bugs themselves?
It seems that nowadays, my kids spend the entire winter season with a runny nose at least, and it's not as a result of nutritional deficiencies. I am somewhat of a hippy mum in that area and I supplement them (naturally), give them herbal teas, chia seeds, flaxseed oil, probiotic powder, elderberry syrup, astragalus, all manner of inventively hidden fruit and vegetables, fresh air and cuddles… and still they get ill!
To be honest, bugs absolutely petrify me because you never know who is harbouring one until its too late, or how bad it will be. What if the next time round it is a new, incurable Super Bug, like in the film Contagion?
The bug season also rudely reminds me that for all our bravado and power trips, man is not the one in the driving seat, and it makes me all the more aware and appreciative of the importance of good health, above all else. I am just hoping 'the bugs' will be appeased by my awareness and acknowledgement of their power over us and take pity on us this year!
Shepherd's Pie
Ingredients
1 tablespoon oil
1 large onion, chopped
2-3 medium carrots cut into cubes
1 cup of frozen peas
1 tablespoon mixed herbs
Dash of Worcestershire sauce
700g of Beef mince…
1 pint of beef stock
1 tablespoon flour
11/2 kilo of potatoes, boiled and drained
Milk
Butter
Salt and pepper
Method
Heat oil in a large pot, add the onion and on a low heat, cook until soft and transparent.
Add the meat, and cook slowly, I usually put the lid on the pot with quite a low heat and it cooks nicely with the steam in the pot, but keep an eye on it, making sure it doesn't stick.
Once the meat has lost its red color and has cooked through, add the carrots and peas, sprinkle with the herbs, add Worcestershire sauce and mix well. Now add the stock and cook on a slow heat. Don't allow your mixture to dry out, adding water if needed.
When everything is cooked and tender season with salt and pepper. Add the flour and mix well. Your mixture shouldn't be too dense, if needed add a little water, so it has a nice sauce. I like making it this way, so my shepherd's pie doesn't dry out too much once the potatoes are added.
Add butter and milk to the potatoes, season with S&P and mash until creamy.
Place your mince in an ovenproof dish and pile potatoes on top. Rough up with a fork so you've got a few peaks, that will brown very nicely once baked in the oven,
Bake for about 25 minutes, at 180c, until the top of the potatoes start to color and you can see the meat starting to bubble around the edges…this is the part when I say ''Mmmmmmm!!!''
Serve piping hot!
Androulla xx
Salt and pepper
Method
Heat oil in a large pot, add the onion and on a low heat, cook until soft and transparent.
Add the meat, and cook slowly, I usually put the lid on the pot with quite a low heat and it cooks nicely with the steam in the pot, but keep an eye on it, making sure it doesn't stick.
Once the meat has lost its red color and has cooked through, add the carrots and peas, sprinkle with the herbs, add Worcestershire sauce and mix well. Now add the stock and cook on a slow heat. Don't allow your mixture to dry out, adding water if needed.
When everything is cooked and tender season with salt and pepper. Add the flour and mix well. Your mixture shouldn't be too dense, if needed add a little water, so it has a nice sauce. I like making it this way, so my shepherd's pie doesn't dry out too much once the potatoes are added.
Add butter and milk to the potatoes, season with S&P and mash until creamy.
Place your mince in an ovenproof dish and pile potatoes on top. Rough up with a fork so you've got a few peaks, that will brown very nicely once baked in the oven,
Bake for about 25 minutes, at 180c, until the top of the potatoes start to color and you can see the meat starting to bubble around the edges…this is the part when I say ''Mmmmmmm!!!''
Serve piping hot!
Androulla xx
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