A productive weekend, courtesy of the Froutaria special offers

I mentioned - when writing recently about making and freezing raw apple sauce - that I have determined to make more use of the special offer pre-bagged produce at a euro per bag at our local froutaria.

On Friday last week, I went there and spotted a bag of lemons. They looked rather grubby and spotty - perhaps even windfalls - but as far as I could tell, they were locally grown ones. I hadn't made any lemonade since just before Tim arrived, early August, and Richard very much likes my home made lemon squash.

So I carried home a bag of lemons, along with other produce I wanted, and when I weighed them, discovered that I had bought over two and a half kilogrammes:


They were distinctly dirty...


But I scrubbed them well, particularly the ones I was using for peel. As they were small, and rather hard, they weren't all that juicy; it took 25 of them to make a litre of juice. But I got my three bottles of lemonade to put in the fridge, which should last a couple of weeks, probably:


Cost: approximately two euros (a little less than one bag of lemons, one kilogramme of sugar, and some cooking time).

I actually made the lemonade on Saturday morning, after I'd popped to the froutaria again. This time, the one-euro shelf was piled high with produce. I immediately decided on two bags of tomatoes:


- which turned out to be about 7kg in all when I weighed them. I also bought another bag of apples - big ones, this time - although I hadn't quite decided what to do with them. With the other fruit and veg I wanted, I was quite weighed down on the walk home.

Still, despite continued high temperatures, I was feeling quite energetic. So while the lemonade was simmering, I chose about two and a half kilogrammes of the slightly better tomatoes, and popped them, a few at a time, in boiling water until they had softened. The first time I prepared chopped tomatoes for the freezer (to replace canned chopped tomatoes, which are expensive in Cyprus, and apparently not very good for us as the tomato juice reacts with the inner coating on the cans) I carefully skinned them all after blanching. It was time-consuming, and seemed like rather a waste.

The second time, I left the skins on when I chopped them... and they were just fine when used in lasagnes or casseroles or soups. I still do the blanching, because it helps the juice to be released as I chop the tomatoes, but it's a great deal quicker not having to skin them.

The result of this was six 450g containers of chopped tomatoes in their juice to be put in the freezer:


As for the remaining tomatoes (more than 4kg of them) I had decided to make passata - thick tomato puree - which I also planned to freeze. I found many recipes online, some of them suggesting that the tomatoes be roasted first, most of them recommending that chopped onions and garlic be gently fried in olive oil before adding the tomatoes (roasted or raw). There were many variations on the theme, so I thought I'd begin with as simple a recipe as possible. I had a very large onion, so I chopped that and gently stir-fried it. Then I cut up about eight or nine smallish garlic cloves - too small to be worth roasting whole. But no point crushing, since they were going to be put in the blender anyway. I threw in about a tablespoon of basil, as I think it goes well with tomatoes. Then I roughly chopped all the remaining tomatoes, and added them, a few at a time, stirring as I did. My largest saucepan was fairly full by the time I'd put them all in:


Then I left them to simmer, stirring now and again. The recipes I'd found online gave different times for this process, but all agreed that the contents of the pan should be softened and reduced. A bit like preparing fruit for jam, apparently.

After about an hour, the contents all felt soft, and were somewhat reduced, although not as much as I had expected. I was also a little surprised to see that the colour now looked more like tomato soup than passata from packets:


It even tasted rather like tomato soup, although I hadn't added any stock, or flour, or any of the other tomato soup ingredients. So I've no idea how well it will work as passata. I went ahead and blended it in the liquidizer in smallish quantities, after it had cooled down a little, and found myself with fifteen 250g containers of pureed tomato mixture:


So they, too, had to be cooled, labelled and frozen.

By that time - late Saturday morning - I'd had enough of cooking, and I planned to use my bag of apples for dessert the following day, anyway, when we were expecting our friends for a cold evening meal.

I weighed the apples on Sunday morning, early, and found there were nearly three kilogrammes.


I kept a couple of the nicer-looking ones for eating or juicing, and browsed through some recipes. I decided to try some apple pies. I discovered that pies with pastry on top only are the English style of pie, while the sort we call double-crust pies (with pastry at the bottom as well) are more normal in America. The pies with pastry at the bottom and not at the top (such as pecan pie or lemon meringue) are technically tarts.

I also discovered a packet of frozen blackberries in the freezer. Commercial ones, which were probably well past their sell-by date and probably bought by mistake when I wanted a few frozen raspberries for smoothies. (Neither fresh raspberries nor fresh blackberries are available in Cyprus, other than in tiny quantities at extortionate cost for a few weeks of the year). So I thought I'd make one basic apple pie, and two smaller apple-and-blackberry pies.

Unlike crumbles, the fruit doesn't need to be pre-cooked for apple pies, so I peeled and chopped five, to fit in my larger pie dish, sprinkling with brown sugar (less than any of my recipes asked for, as these were not cooking apples) and a little cinnamon:


Then I cut up another three for each of the smaller pie dishes, and divided the frozen blackberries between them, sprinkling sugar on top:


I then made shortcrust pastry, using half whole-wheat flour as I usually do, and was pleased that I'd estimated almost exactly the right amount for topping these three pies, with just a few scraps left to decorate them:


I then even remembered to brush them all with egg before cooking, and was rather pleased with the result:


The consensus on Sunday evening was that they were good, although the blackberries didn't really affect the taste at all. Perhaps they really were too old to have used, although they didn't do any harm.

We didn't even start the second of the blackberry-and-apple pies, so I put it in the freezer for some future occasion.

Yesterday morning I went to the froutaria for various bits and pieces, and there was nothing on the one-euro pre-bagged shelves other than pickling onions. Not something I use - so I didn't get any special offers. Just as well, really, because despite my burst of enthusiasm for working in the kitchen at the weekend, I feel less energetic this week and am glad not to have to do any more preparation. I shall probably feel better when the weather starts to become more autumnal, which must surely be some time soon...

Sunset in Larnaka

Richard was in Italy for most of the week. He arrived home around 6.25 last night, just the right time to set out on foot for the cell group we attend which meets at our friends' home nearby.

To get there, we have to cross the main Fanoroumeni Street which is sometimes extremely busy. It was particularly so last night... but it didn't matter, because at the far end was one of the most spectacular sunsets I've seen for some time.

A photograph never really does justice to a sunset, but I pulled out my camera anyway...

Inexpensive applesauce (apple purée) in Cyprus

In our favourite Froutaria, mentioned regularly in this blog, there are two kinds of discounted fruit and vegetables. Firstly there is the 'pink bag' aisle, with various produce, a little older than that in the main part of the shop, at a discount. I usually look there before buying anything else.

But there's also a large shelf with pre-bagged fruit or veg, usually about 2kg, for one euro per bag. Occasionally I've bought oranges there, sometimes grapes, once or twice pears or french beans. I never know what to expect: it could be fruit in high season, which is excess to requirements, or it could be older produce which won't last another day. However it usually looks good quality - discarding three or four grapes when they're so cheap is hardly a problem.

Recently, I've thought about using these one-euro bags more effectively. Once the weather gets cooler - I hope this will happen, although the last couple of days have seen 32-34C once more, and high humidity overnight still - I plan to walk to the Froutaria at least three times each week, sometimes four. I also plan to buy one or two of the pre-bagged produce every time, if there's anything at all that looks useable. I may make jam, or chutney, or blanch and freeze vegetables, or try out some new dish.

On Tuesday I spotted that the Froutaria had bags of small apples in the one-euro aisle. I picked one of them up. I couldn't see any bruises or mould; the apples didn't even feel soft. I regularly buy apples anyway, and while we wouldn't use that quantity for eating and juicing, I thought perhaps I could make some apple sauce. One of my favourite easy bar cakes is chocolate chip applesauce cake; I haven't made it for a long time, because jarred applesauce is pretty expensive in Cyprus, and I don't usually have sufficient apples to make my own before baking a cake (which is usually at the last moment anyway).

So I bought a one-euro bag of apples. When I got home, I tipped them into my large fruit bowl immediately, checking as I did for any bad patches.


I didn't find any problems at all. I tried one of the yellow apples, and it wasn't at all soft, but quite refreshing.

Yesterday I weighed the remaining apples. There were about 2.2kg (which is around 5lb, for anyone who thinks in imperial units). I picked out three of the nicest-looking apples for eating, and decided to make the rest into apple sauce. There were sixteen of them; they really were rather small.

My method for doing this is very simple. I had a couple of elderly lemons in the fridge, so I juiced those with my citrus juicer (after warming them for ten seconds in the microwave to ensure maximum juice).

Then I put half the juice at the bottom of the blender. It's a one-litre blender, so I thought I would probably need to make two batches. From past experience I knew there was no point putting all the apples in at once. So I peeled a couple of the yellow apples, cut out the cores, cut them into chunks, dropped them in the blender, and whizzed. They turned into purée satisfyingly quickly. I did a couple of the harder, green apples, and it took a bit longer but still worked well.

I hated to waste the peel, but couldn't eat it all, so for the next apple I simply washed and cored it, leaving the peel on. That, too, blended easily into the purée.

I had to use my spatula to ease some of the apple sauce from the sides of the blender, where it was getting a bit spattered. Despite the lemon juice, it started going a light brown colour:


- but it tasted very good. I continued until I had done the first eight apples, and the blender was showing that I'd made about 800ml. Then I decanted into three small margarine tubs (250ml/1 cup size):


I labelled them and put them straight in the freezer.

Then repeated with the other eight apples, but didn't bother to peel any of them.

Result: nutritious raw apple sauce, to be used in cakes, or on cereal, or for any other reason; about 1.5kg in all, for a cost of about a euro (including the two lemons, and the minimal electricity used by the blender). Orange juice could have been used instead of lemon juice - I've done that before, sometimes; probably even water could be used, since the main purpose of the juice is to give enough liquid to get the blender started. Fresh citrus juice does slightly delay the oxidation/browning.

The entire process, including stopping to take photos, took me about forty minutes. Had I not peeled the first few, it would have been a bit quicker. Had I used larger apples, it would have been quicker still.

Recycling in Larnaka - at last!

In the UK, recycling is a way of life now. Everyone we know sorts out cardboard, glass, plastic and so on, separate from other general rubbish. Some have to sort them into separate boxes, some use wheely bins, some large sacks... each district has its own methods. But the whole country now recycles large quantities of household rubbish.

One of the things I found difficult about living in Cyprus was the total lack of recycling facilities. At first we kept jars and bottles and paper, in the hope of finding somewhere. A few times, friends were going to Dhekelia, where there are some recycling facilities on the British army base, and took some boxes of old papers for us. But it's not worth driving that far - thirty or so kilometres - just to recycle. More would be wasted on petrol than would be conserved.

So I have re-used jars for jam and chutney, kept margarine and ice cream tubs for freezing food portions and home-made ice cream, and plastic bags for bin-liners and disposing of cat litter. We have re-used water bottles, and tried - where we could - to minimise waste. Eventually, a couple of years ago, I realised that there was no point keeping stacks of paper that would blow away or get rained upon, and empty bottles to get full of dust. So I gritted my teeth and started throwing them out with the rubbish. The dustmen come three times each week, and we only really half-fill a black sack each time, when there's just the two of us. Since we no longer have a compost heap, I don't think that's TOO bad... certainly not compared to our neighbours.

So.

Imagine my surprise when, last night, I picked up the junk mail (or so I thought...) from our outside mailbox. One item was in a plastic bag, and I almost threw it straight in the dustbin... but, thankfully, brought it upstairs.

Inside were two large folded plastic bags. And a booklet, half in Greek and half in English, telling us that recycling has come, at last, to Larnaka and the nearby districts:


I was delighted! I had almost given up hope of it ever happening - and assumed that, if it did, it would be fairly chaotic. Perhaps it will, but the plan, at least, seems very well thought-out. Glass, it seems, will have several collection points. As they point out in the booklet, broken glass could be a problem if it was collected along with other recycling. I didn't recognise most of the collection points, but there's one at Metro supermarket. It's not as if we get through that much glass: a jar of mayonnaise perhaps every couple of months. A little Marmite, now and again, although I don't eat it any more and Richard doesn't have much. The occasional wine bottle, if friends who like wine come to dinner. I'm sure I can keep glass jars and bottles for a few weeks in between our monthly visits to Metro.

However, from October 1st there are apparently going to be weekly collections from the street of other kinds of recycling. Our area will be Monday nights. These bags will be widely available. I don't know if they'll all be free, but this one was:


In that bag, labelled PMD, we can place plastic bottles of any kind, metal containers, and drink cartons. So, empty shampoo or dishwasher powder, empty cans of any kind, tetrapack juice cartons, milk containers of any kind. No margarine tubs, but those are the ones I use for freezing leftover meal portions anyway.

The other sack is for paper recycling:

In that can go magazines, advertising leaflets, office paper, cardboard boxes... not toilet rolls or tissue paper, but just about anything else.

The booklet was full of exhortation to recycle, pointing out that it was of benefit to the consumer, and saying that there would be incentives to recycle in the future. I don't need any incentives. I've already started collecting things that can go in these sacks when the first collection takes place. I can't believe how happy it makes me that this is starting. I just hope it actually works as it's supposed to, and that people in Cyprus take it up as thoroughly as they do in the UK.

The only slight irony is the bag that the leaflet and larger bags were in, since it can't actually be recycled...


I suppose I can use it for cat-litter.

(General information about recycling in Cyprus can be found at the Green Dot Cyprus website)

Cyprus bi-coloured bougainvillea

Our bougainvillea, sitting in a pot on our front terrace area, doesn't seem to be very successful for much of the year. In May, when bougainvilleas typically flower profusely, it was rather sparse.

But for some reason, ours is doing rather well in September this year:

 

It's predominantly pink; not my favourite colour in general, but I do like the deep pink of some flowers (or, technically, bracts in this case. The flowers are the tiny, insignificant white ones in the middle of some of the bracts). The very pale, almost white bracts interspersed with the pink makes it very attractive.

September in Cyprus - the first two weeks

As I said in my last post, about the end of August in Cyprus, September doesn't usually herald the beginning of Autumnal weather.

And yet, I wondered if I was going to be proven wrong for once. On September 1st, to my surprise, the day which started warm and sunny grew increasingly cloudy by lunch-time. Some visitors who had been in our guest flat for the previous fortnight, sometimes struggling with the hot temperatures, left to fly home. Richard was away in Egypt for work. I was in the house alone... and was convinced I heard thunder rumbling in the distance. I assumed it was on Troodos - even in the summer, there is usually at least a little rain in the mountains in Cyprus - so was quite startled when I heard a few drops of rain outside.

I was even more surprised when, a minute or two later, we had quite a substantial downpour.. for about four minutes. Not enough to do more than settle some of the dust, but the road did look fairly wet by the end of it:


I heard later that in the villages only a few miles away there was as much as an hour of rain, with large puddles left by the end.

After the rain, there was extremely high humidity for an hour or so as it evaporated, and then a light breeze which was almost cool.

Since then, it hasn't been quite as humid as it was during August. And the early mornings feel very pleasantly cool, although daytime shade temperatures are still up to 32C or thereabouts, with unremitting sunshine.

A few days later, when Richard had returned, we attended a very important birthday party. My youngest best friend Helen had her second birthday:


Four days after that, our friend Mick arrived from the UK to stay for a week. Richard took a couple of days off... not to visit any tourist attractions, but so that they could work on King Malu, and instal the outboard motor which had arrived. On Sunday they were delighted to do some sea-trials.

I spent Sunday with our friends - Helen's family. Four of them went to St Helena's Church with me in the morning, then came back here for a couple of hours. We went to lunch at the bilingual house church, then back here for a game of Seafarers of Catan.

Then we ate a cold meal together... and Helen, who had not taken a nap all day, fell asleep with her head on my plate:


Other than that... the Friday night cell group has started again - and is now meeting weekly. We've played several other games with our friends. Last night we (with Mick) were invited to a meal at the home of some friends, and sat out on their penthouse balcony. There were two or three spots of rain, although not enough to force us inside. By 9.30 it was almost beginning to be chilly. Perhaps it was as cool as 24C.

More significantly, it didn't feel humid at all and we managed without any air conditioning at all last night for the first time in some months. I haven't turned it on today at all, even in my study.

So, I hope, the worst of this summer is over. Temperatures of 30C+ are predicted for the next ten days, still, but the nights are a little cooler and the days are less humid.