Random images around Larnaka

 I'm trying to post on this blog more often, and on one topic - or no more than two or three - at a time. But sometimes there are random things where there's not a lot to say... so here is a small selection of my most recent collection of local photos that don't fit other subjects, taken over the last month or so.

We were given a small papaya plant several years ago, and this is the first year that it has produced flowers:

We have no idea whether it will eventually produce a fruit; that depends on the flowers being fertilised, and whether it's a male or female plant.  The flowers aren't spectacular, but there are a lot of buds.

In contrast to these tiny flowers which we almost missed, we were delighted that our bird of paradise plant bloomed for the third year in a row:

Meanwhile, lemons continue to be seen on every street, and are inexpensive in the shops. So I bought a few extra, grated some zest to freeze, and also made several ice cube trays of lemon juice:

These will be very useful in the summer, when the lemons in the shops will be small, with minimal juice, and much higher priced. 

A less successful experiment in the kitchen involved an attempt to make pitta bread. Unlike the naan, which I've now done twice (and which work beautifully) the pittas were very messy to make, and I could not get them to the right shape. These are probably the best:

These are the worst:

And while they taste reasonably acceptable, they don't really open into pockets... and, to me, that's the most important part of pitta bread. 

So that's one thing I won't be making in future, despite my focus on avoiding ultra-processed ingredients. One of the things considered least bad is bread, and while I make most of my own bread, I shall, in future, continue to buy locally made pittas. 

I walked into the city centre a few days ago to collect a photobook that had arrived at the Post Office, and on the way back took a couple of photos of the ongoing construction in one of the main roads into town:

There are paths for pedestrians, but it's noisy and dusty... and seems to have been going on for a very long time. 

Here's Lady Jane looking over her dominion. She's on quite a narrow ledge three storeys up.. but, thankfully, her balance is extremely good. 

Here's one of Richard's photos which I have stolen. He calls it 'Schrödinger's pharmacy':

We didn't check whether or not it is, in fact, open or closed.

I've written elsewhere on this blog about restaurants we have been to, but we tend to stick to the ones we know we're going to like. However a friend took us out to eat at a very nice Chinese restaurant:

I was a little concerned about it, since I react badly to both MSG and soy sauce, but our friend assured us that they were able to deal with all tastes. Sure enough, they don't use MSG in the cooking, although they do generally add a little to enhance the flavours. But when we requested no MSG, it was no problem.

The manager did rather pale when I asked for no soy sauce, however. This is a staple in many Chinese dishes. But he said he would make rice and vegetables without it, and that I could have a lemon chicken which was soy sauce free. The rest of the party had a shared selection of dishes which looked very good, but I stuck to my lemon chicken with the rice and vegetables - and it was excellent. 

And finally... for now, anyway.  I wrote in January about the pot-bellied pig which has made itself at home along the Salt Lake trail. We've seen a little shelter built just outside the park, with bowls of water, and there's also what was evidently a feeding place inside the park. 

Then a couple of days ago, above the feeding place in the park, we saw this notice:

Local people continue to bring random food, which the pig eats when hungry. We thought 'Rooney' was an odd name for a pig, until I had a lightbulb moment - as you do - early one morning, when I recalled, from the depths of my subconscious (and from Duolingo), the Greek word for pig: γουρούνι. Which is said something like 'you-roony'.  

Basically it's like calling an English pig 'Piggy'.