LPN January Competition

This Month's Competition Question 

Sponsored by
 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

Shepherd's pie….what can I say? Is it not on your list of 'Top Ten Comfort Foods'? Well, it's definitely on mine and not just a perfect comfort food but also a cheap and easy meal to make that is satisfying for the whole family. Also perfect for people with busy lives, the mince mixture can be made ahead and kept in the fridge or frozen for another day. Everyone has their own way of making this classic dish, I've tried a few over the years to end up with this one which has become a family favorite…hope you like it!!!

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

Where to GO this weekend

Bump and drive! - Paula Manoli-Gray

I can honestly say that I do not remember a time when Larnaca was without bumps, hazards and diversions, otherwise known as 'roadworks', and I think that despite our irritation at this status quo, most of us have become completely and utterly used to a lifetime of upheaval and construction.

It seems that no matter how many times they dig the darn things up and re-tarmac them, the roads are never, ever smooth, even, one colour or without potholes. I would love to know (or I probably wouldn't…) how much of my car's wear and tear costs are as a direct result of the bad state of the roads. And there can't be a single parent who hasn't cursed the bumpy ride with sleeping babies in the back that you do not – under any circumstances - want to wake.

And it's not just the roads. On a daily basis, year-round, the town is built, rebuilt, smashed up, jiggled about and changed, but nothing actually changes at all!

There is also a strange habit for major construction or road works to be started as the tourist season begins. There will be no activity during the quieter months then as soon as the first planeload of sun-seekers arrives to herald the start of the warmer months, in come the bulldozers and diggers. I suppose the 'winter' brings a risk of rain, but our rainy seasons are very short so I don't buy that, and surely working conditions in the burning sun are a lot worse for the crews that toil all day and turn a shade that indicates they have no idea what sunscreen is (probably not manly enough for them).

The other irritating thing is the very unclear diversions that appear. As you are diverted (yet again), a couple of arrows will appear but will suddenly disappear leaving you driving round in circles. The next morning you may smugly congratulate yourself on remembering there are roadworks and take a different route only to find the works and diversion have moved and are once again directly in your path.

I often try to look at the town through a visitor's eyes, as I have indeed become immune and accustomed to the sight of building sites and torn up roads, and it ain't pretty. I can only console myself with the thought that visitors assume that they have come at a time when works have started and are not aware that it is a permanent feature of our town.

Still, we can't grumble too much as Larnaca is still pretty easy to get around with reasonable traffic at peak times compared to the traffic hell of Nicosia. And besides, my children are at an age now where it is not imperative to get them to sleep in the car, so we just make the potholes and bumps a game. But I do hope that by the time they are old enough to drive, the town will have reached completion of whatever all these works and construction were all for in the first place!

First appeared in The Cyprus Weekly, 18/01/14