Eating a variety of plant-based foods

 It's fairly easy to eat healthfully in Cyprus. Fruit and vegetables in season are generally inexpensive; I have often bought a crate at the outdoor fruit market, typically two or three kilograms (sometimes more) of tomatoes, plums, peaches or apricots, when they are plentiful, for a couple of euros. I lightly stew and then freeze the ones I don't use immediately in 400g portions, so I have them available at other times of year. 

In the winter, citrus fruit is excellent value. Large, delicious Merlin oranges are currently 79 eurocents per kilogram, for instance. Lemons are even more prolific, and most years someone offers us a large bag of lemons from their tree. If not, a crate of about 15-20 lemons costs around a euro. The juice can be frozen in ice cube trays, or other containers for use all year round.

So it's pretty easy for us to get our 'five-a-day' - usually it's nearer eight or nine portions of fruit and veg - as well as the recommended 30g fibre, much of which is in the fruit and vegetables we eat. I do this not to be virtuous, but because I like fruit and veg, and also because I appreciate the related health benefits. 

What I hadn't come across until recently was a newer recommendation that, in addition to the above guidelines, we should aim for at least 30 different kinds of plant-based foods each week. A friend on Facebook mentioned this and I checked various links; it seems to be from a legitimate study. It's different from the 'five-a-day' principle (which should still be followed) in two significant respects:

(1) We don't just count fruits and vegetables, but other plant-based foods such as nuts, seeds, whole grains, and legumes. Starchy vegetables like potatoes and corn can also be included.

(2) Each kind of food is only counted once in each week.  

I am aware that being able to do this is a 'first world' privilege. We're fortunate to live in a country that offers a wide selection of high quality produce at affordable prices. In many parts of the world, food products are seriously limited, or highly priced, and it may be impossible to eat more than one or two different kinds of food in a week. 

I have to admit, too, that my first question was whether coffee, cocoa and sugar would count; all are, after all, plant-based. But they're not mentioned in any of the lists I looked at on this topic, so I assume not. Herbs and spices can be included, but each is only worth a quarter of a food 'point' as the quantities are generally so small.

Out of curiosity, I decided to keep a record of a week of typical eating for us, some weeks ago, without making any deliberate adjustments, to see if we reached the goal. 

Sunday

We're rather predictable as far as breakfasts go. I had my typical basic breakfast with freshly squeezed orange juice, and home-made muesli, which contains oats, coconut, almond meal, walnuts, sunflower seeds, flaxseeds, raisins, dried apricots and dried cranberries.  I had a cup of coffee, too. We don't use dairy milk; instead I make both cashew milk and oat milk. I can't count oats again, but cashews can be added to my list. Oh, and I always eat a brazil nut. 

So that was twelve at the start of the first day, but I couldn't count any of them again for the rest of the week.

Richard, meanwhile, had a glass of orange juice, half an apple, a banana, a pear, a little pot of mixed nuts (brazil, peanuts, walnuts, almonds) and a cup of coffee with the same two plant-based milks.  

So he started the week with ten different plant-based products. 

Sunday is the only day we usually have a cooked lunch. I used a previously made lemon chicken from the freezer (which, in addition to the chicken, contained onions, mushrooms, yellow peppers and lemon juice). We had roast potatoes, carrots and broccoli with it. 

That made seven more plant-based foods to add to our weekly inventory.

Our friends were coming over for an afternoon of games followed by a shared meal.  So I made a couple of loaves of bread in the breadmaker (with wholewheat flour, sunflower seeds, flaxseeds and chia seeds), and soup (which contained onions, tomatoes and courgettes, all pureed together after caramelising with garlic and spices, then simmering). For dessert I made an apricot crisp, which contained previously frozen apricots, some lemon juice, and an oat-based topping with some raisins in it. 

Already we were getting into duplicates which didn't count in the '30-a-week' guideline. but I think that made an extra five for me, and an extra eight for Richard as he didn't have apricots or seeds with his breakfast. 

During the meal, we ate some raw carrots, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes and peppers brought by our friends. Only the cucumber is counted as a new food, but in all that made 25 different plant-based foods for me, and I think 26 for Richard on our first day. I decided not to count garlic, herbs or spices at all, just treating those as a bonus. 

Monday 

I went to the fruit shop first thing, to buy the vegetables needed for Tuesday evening, some fruit that we were running low on, and one or two other things. I was pleased to see locally grown strawberries at €1.49 per 500g. They looked and smelled good, so I bought a pack. And since cherry tomatoes were on offer (two for the price of one) I bought some of those too.

Just under nine euros bought me this lot: 

Our breakfasts were the same as Sundays, with the addition of about ten strawberries each. 

For lunch we had some cold turkey and mushroom pie left over from the end of last week, with cherry tomatoes, and the leftover apricot crisp. No new plant-based products there. However we then opened some new dairy-free chocolate from Lidl, with coconut and pecans. Even if the cocoa doesn't count, the nuts do. 

On Monday evenings we usually have something fairly quick to make and vegan. Since I had an avocado which was just right for eating, bought a week earlier, I made some guacamole to eat with black bean fajitas. The tortillas were whole-grain, with rye as well as wheat, and the filling, in addition to the black beans, contained onions, mushrooms and peppers... all of which were included in Sunday's lunch. We also had some tomatoes, cucumber and mixed lettuce and cabbage. 

So we only added seven different plant-based foods on Monday, but if I was counting correctly, it means I had already reached 32 and Richard 33 different plant-based foods in just two days.  

Tuesday 

A pear was an extra plant food for Richard for breakfast, but everything else was the same for both of us. Lunch was leftover bread and soup from Sunday, with more of the coconut and pecan chocolate. 

On Tuesday evenings we usually have some kind of fish, with roasted vegetables. This time I cooked baked salmon with lemon slices and roasted sweet potatoes, carrots, garlic cloves, red peppers and broccoli.  The only one we hadn't eaten earlier in the week was sweet potato, and I decided to add in garlic this time, since we ate four or five roasted cloves each, rather than just using a sprinkling. 

Still trying to keep track, I counted 34 for me by this stage, and 37 for Richard.

Wednesday 

In the morning I cut up the mango I'd bought at the froutaria on Monday, and we had that along with our usual breakfast foods. At lunch we ate leftover fajita filling and salads, so nothing new there. In the evening I made vegan sausages for me, which are mainly chickpeas; Richard had meat sausages, made a few months ago by a friend. We had them with potato wedges, roasted mushrooms and cauliflower,  and some home-made baked beans, which used haricot beans. 

Total plant-based foods so far: 38 for me, 40 for Richard.

Thursday 

We had some more of Monday's strawberries with our breakfasts, and more leftovers at lunch. In the evening I heated up a container of chili con carne which I'd made and frozen a couple of months earlier, along with a few of Wednesday's baked beans. I used the microwave and the air fryer to make jacket potatoes, with carrots and broccoli, also air fried, which worked well. I also microwaved some frozen peas which I thought would be the only additional plant food for Thursday, until I remembered that my chilis always contain a good amount of red lentils. 

So I'd reached 40 plant foods, Richard 42. 

Friday 

I took my trolley to the local fruitaria first thing, and bought this selection of fruit and veg for the next few days - enough to last us until Wednesday:.

That lot came to just over 15 euros.  The most expensive item was the three peppers; there weren't any in the reduced section, so they were full price, and I paid nearly a euro per pepper (about 300g each). Next highest is the pears. The oranges - lovely large, juicy ones - were still just 69 or 79 cents per kilogram and I bought two different kinds. 

Breakfast on Friday was as before, likewise lunch, with the addition of some apple pastries that were on sale at Lidl, where we went later in the morning (and spent rather more than €15 on items such as cat food, canned coconut milk and honey). And while the pastries were not exactly healthful, I realised that I hadn't had any apple so far this week. So that took me to 41. 

I was going to make spanokopitta in the evening but was quite tired, and we'd had pastries at lunch-time anyway. So we decided on our favourite local fast-food, Souvlaki Express. Chicken with salad in a pitta for Richard, falafel for me. I was losing track, but we had both exceeded 40 different fruits and vegetables, without having taken any added herbs and spices into account. 

Saturday 

I made chicken jalfrezi in the slow cooker first thing, then breakfast and lunch as before... Saturday is our curry night, and we had the jalfrezi with wholegrain pittas, raisins, coconut, mango chutney, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, apple and banana. I don't think there was anything 'new' to the week's plant-based foods, other than the banana for me, as I hadn't had one at breakfast.

Having eaten, without any effort, considerably more than the 'ideal' number of different plant foods during the course of a week, my main feeling was an overwhelming thankfulness at living in a place with such an abundance of high quality, inexpensive foods. 

The following week

During that first week, we had eaten some foods that we don't eat every week, such as the strawberries and mango. We don't eat avocado every week, either or black beans (which we had twice), or baked beans... 

So I logged another week, less rigorously. We didn't have a fresh mango, but still had mango chutney with our Saturday curry. No avocado or baked beans, but we had some canned pineapple when I made sweet-and-sour cheese. We also had some brown rice, which is another one (white rice doesn't count - but I never buy it anyway).  

I don't know that we reached forty during the second week, but we ate well over thirty different plant-based foods. It's not as if we're vegans or even vegetarians, although we don't eat meat every day. And we don't eat a huge number of different fruits or vegetables. But the articles I read implied that many people don't even manage twenty different kinds. 

Rather than continue tracking, I decided to list what we eat by different types of plant-based food. 

Typical groceries

I go to the fruitaria at least twice every week, sometimes three times. A couple of typical purchases are shown above. I'm not very adventurous, which makes it easy to shop without making a list. Every week I buy, and we both eat:

Fruit:
Oranges - apples - bananas - pears 

Vegetables:
Potatoes - sweet potatoes - carrots - broccoli - tomatoes - onions - mushrooms - peppers - cucumbers - garlic cloves

Also, we always have and eat at least once:

Frozen:
Peas - french beans

Every six weeks, we go to a lovely little shop that sells nuts and various dried products.  Between €50 and €60 buys us sufficient of the following to last for the next month and a half, mostly eaten at breakfast:

Nuts:
Almonds - brazil nuts - cashew nuts - peanuts - walnuts

Seeds:
Sunflower - flax - chia

Dried fruit:
Raisins - dates - apricots - cranberries 

Also: 
Coconut 

With the addition of wholewheat (in bread) and oats (in milk, and my granola) I make that 31 plant-based products which we both eat almost every week.  I also eat a large courgette each week, and Richard has a portion of broad beans at the same time.  Even if we don't have a fresh mango, we have mango chutney. We always seem to have something containing lemon juice, too, whether used fresh or frozen. 

I could also include quarter portions each of: chili powder, sweet paprika, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, ginger, turmeric, parsley and basil, all of which we use pretty much every week - and other herbs and spices less frequently. 

At least once or twice a month we also eat:

cauliflower - spinach - cabbage - lettuce - avocado

brown rice - pineapple (canned) 

chickpeas - lentils - black beans - haricot beans 

And, when they're available in season:

clementines - apricots - peaches - strawberries - plums 

It's not a competition; the only 'prize' for eating lots of plant-based products is an increased chance of longevity, with good health as we age. There are, of course, those who eat almost no fruit and veg and still live to be elderly and free of disease. There are also those who are extremely fit and eat very healthfully, but who still develop serious diseases or life-threatening conditions at a young age.  

But I'm not a fatalist. I'd rather increase my chances of good health even if, in the end, environment or genetics beat lifestyle. I know some people have allergies or specific foods they don't like. But there are many more fruits and vegetables than the 50 or so that I've mentioned. So I'm a bit puzzled how anyone in a developed country with widely available (and reasonably priced) produce could NOT eat thirty or more different plant-based foods in a week.  

Cyprus Meze

Some long-standing friends of ours are in Cyprus at present. We were surprised when we learned that they were here, having flown out from the UK early in October; most potential visitors have been forced to cancel. But we were delighted to hear from them, and were able to invite them for a barbecue here a few weeks ago. We were also able to lend them some books. This evening, they took us out to eat, at the Monte Carlo restaurant along the McKenzie part of the sea-front. 

It's not somewhere we've been very often. Maybe twice in the twenty-three years since we moved to Cyprus, and one of those other times was with these same friends. They suggested we have a meze, and it seemed like an excellent idea. Since none of us has an enormous appetite, we opted for what is officially a two-person meze to share between the four of us. 

Meze (pronounced something like 'MEZZ-ay') is a traditional and popular form of eating in this country. Here's a brief explanation of a meze in the InCyprus online news. Most years we have meze maybe a couple of times, with visiting friends, at a restaurant that's walking distance from here, Kura Giorgena's. Not this year, though...but then nothing much has happened normally this year. 

I wasn't keen on mezes when we first came to Cyprus, as the focus was very much on different kinds of meat and/or fish (including sea-food) and I prefer vegetarian options. But nowadays mezes usually include more than just different kinds of meat or fish, and they're great to share with friends. There's usually a minimum of two portions per party, but it's quite normal for three or even four people to share a two-person meze, as we did this evening. 

A meze is a kind of ongoing meal, starting usually with salad, bread and different dips, moving on to some vegetarian dishes and perhaps halloumi, bacon and/or sausage. Then other kinds of local meats are brought out, gradually, and usually some chips (french fries).  It's surprising how much one can eat when new, tempting foods keep arriving on the table and one takes just a spoonful... 

Tonight's meze started with a Greek salad (tomatoes, cucumber and feta cheese, with a bit of lettuce), accompanied by two kinds of warm bread, olives, Greek yogurt, tzatsiki and a couple of other dips. I enjoyed that very much, and could have made a meal on just that 'starter'. 

The next things that arrived were halloumi and bacon (I had halloumi but not bacon), then three vegetarian dishes: pasta with grated cheese, mushrooms in a lemon sauce, and scrambled egg with courgettes.  

All delicious (from my point of view) and although the others had some of them, I then finished all three when the meat started arriving.  I did eat a little chicken and several of the chips, but much preferred to eat, slowly, a bit more salad, or egg, or mushrooms.  

Meze has the advantage that each person can choose as much or as little of each dish as they wish - if any of them ran out, we could have asked for an extra portion of just that. But there were so many different kinds of meat that there was plenty for both the guys who liked it, and some (though not much) left at the end. 

After we'd finished, and everything was cleared away, we were given a dessert - some Greek pastries containing anari (a bit like cottage cheese), and some candied fruit and walnuts.  I was extremely full after the first part of the meal, but couldn't resist the pastry - though I forgot to take a photo - or one of the candied walnuts.

We wore our masks as we went in, of course, and the staff of the restaurant were wearing theirs all the time. However it's fine to take them off while seated, so long as there are no more than six people at a table. 

We arrived early, around 6.15pm so were not surprised to find the place empty. One other couple came in shortly afterwards, and ate at a table several metres away.  And when we were thinking of leaving, around 8.00pm, a few others had come in. But it certainly wasn't crowded. Restaurants have been hard-hit by the Covid restrictions, and the greatly reduced number of tourists this year.

Meze at Kura Giorgina in Larnaka

A few weeks ago, some friends stayed in our guest flat, and, during the course of the week, offered to take us out for a meal. When they were here a year ago they took us to a meze at a taverna called Kura Georgina. It's in William Weir Street, about a kilometre away from where we live, so easy walking distance. We all liked it, and they suggested going there again.

We had booked a table, although it wasn't necessary when arriving at 6.30, as we tend to do. Cypriots often eat much later, arriving at restaurants at perhaps 8.00 or even 9.00pm. But my metabolism doesn't do well with late eating, and we much prefer to be in an uncrowded environment, free from smoke. Cypriot restaurants are now smoke-free indoors, but there's still usually smoking outside making it unpleasant to go in and out.

Kura Giorgina's is a traditional building with a bar near the entrance, and tables laid out in typical Cyprus style:

Since there were five of us - our younger son was visiting too - we ordered a meze for four. There's always so much food that it's normal to ask for fewer portions than the number of people, unless everyone has a huge appetite. We debated ordering for just three, and in retrospect that would have been plenty.

Two of us drank water, but the other three ordered a bottle of wine. It came in an unusual traditional bottle, and was poured into pottery cups, which were quite attractive:

The 'first course' of a meze, if one thinks of it that way, is usually a Greek salad, complete with feta cheese, bread of some kind, and dips.  That's exactly what arrived on our table within a few minutes of our order:

Unusually the bread was neither pittas nor village bread, but a warm, apparently freshly baked bread that was very good. There were also some slices of processed meat and cheese, and some capers. I had a lot of salad, some bread, tahini dip, tsatsiki, and a pepper/yogurt dip which was delicious. It's all too easy to eat a lot of the starter, when one is the most hungry, and feel almost full by the end but I know from experience that this is a bad idea.

It wasn't long before other dishes started to arrive. There were plates of meat of varying kinds, baked eggs, a plate of freshly cooked chips, and - my favourite of all - some deep-fried aubergine slices with Greek yogurt.  I had a lot of those!

There was a great deal more which I forgot to photograph: halloumi, other vegetables, scrambled eggs with courgettes, olives, and much more. Each dish arrived just as we were wondering if we had come to the end. And, as so often, there was a large dish of different kinds of fried meat near the end.

We were told that this was the end, which was fine since we were all quite full. I eat almost no meat but I had a small piece of chicken, and it was very good. The rest of the party managed to finish most of what remained.

We chatted a while, and nibbled at bits and pieces, and then, after the waitress cleared away most of the dishes, it was time for dessert. This is often included as part of a meze, but we were still pleasantly surprised and very impressed with what they brought.

There was a selection of fresh fruit, clearly only just prepared, and some candied fruit which was a bit too sweet for me, but which the others liked:

And then, when we thought we couldn't manage another bite, they brought out loukoumades:

These are a sort of deep-fried doughnut batter with honey; probably very unhealthy, but rather scrumptious. And despite our order being for four people, they brought five loukoumades... so we decided we should each have one....

We were probably there for a couple of hours, and could see that the area outside was getting quite full. People started arriving to eat inside, too, but we thought it was about time to leave. We could have had coffee if we'd wanted to, but that would have kept us awake all night.

Here's what the front looks like after dark since I forgot to take a photo on the way in:

All in all, we thought it an excellent meal.  While some mezes can be very meat-focused, we liked the wide range of non-meat options at this one, and the friendly family atmosphere. 

Visiting a taverna at Zygi

It had been a busy few weeks, but at last we had bought a comfortable and - we hope - reliable car. Richard wanted to take it on a slightly longer journey than just doing errands around Larnaka, and since we had not been on a 'date' for a long time, suggested we have lunch at the fishing village of Zygi.

My knowledge of Cyprus geography is extremely limited, and I vaguely assumed it was about ten or fifteen kilometres away, so was a bit surprised when it took us nearly half an hour to get there - it was, according to the signposts, nearly 40km away. Still, the journey was very comfortable and smooth; Cyprus roads are really very bumpy, particularly around town, but this Megane seems to smooth them out better than any other car we've previously had.

Richard had heard good things about the main restaurant looking out over Zygi marina, and it was easy enough to spot from the car park. A covered area had lots of tables and chairs, and there were several people eating. There was a big menu on the way in so we paused to take a look.

Just as well that we did. The theme - unsurprisingly, perhaps - was sea-food.  While Richard does quite like shellfish, I can't bear any of them.  Even looking at them makes me queasy. And the prices looked extremely high. So we glanced down... there was a section of the menu that said it was for people who wanted something different, but that was all steaks, at even higher prices. All we wanted was a light lunch... but there were no sandwiches, no baked potatoes with fillings. There was a pasta selection, but it was all related to sea-food.

I expect the food is excellent quality for people who like sea-food, want a large meal, and don't mind paying high prices. But I could not find a single thing on the menu that I could have eaten.

So we decided to walk into the village itself. We rejected one or two rather scruffy looking places, and then we spotted this:

'The Plateia' looked like a pleasant little taverna. There was building work going on at the side:

But it was open, and when we sat down we were brought a menu almost at once. It was exactly what we were looking for: sandwiches, filled pittas, or platters, at very reasonable cost.  We decided on the platters, after being told that they came with both chips and salad.

Richard chose sheftalia, a kind of Cyprus sausage, and I chose halloumi.  It wasn't particularly quick, but that didn't matter; evidently it was freshly cooked, and when it came was nicely presented and delicious:

They brought us a bowl of pitta bread too, but we didn't want extra carbs so we didn't have them, although I'm sure they would have been good too.

We were there for about an hour, and nobody else came to eat there, but it didn't matter. The place was secluded and quiet, and while we couldn't look over the sea, there was greenery and fresh air and sunshine, and our table was pleasantly sheltered.

Two Cyprus restaurants in two weeks!

Eating out is quite a rare event for us. I know, in the US, some families eat out two or three times per week, as it's relatively inexpensive there. Even here in Cyprus, there are some of people who eat out regularly. It's never been part of our lifestyle, however. Meals at restaurants are for special occasions, or when visitors want to treat us.

A couple of weeks ago, our friend Alison was visiting. She comes on a working holiday each year to deal with the accounts for Richard's ministry; I cook most evenings, but she usually likes to take us out for a meal at some point.  We've previously been to our default - Alexander's - on the sea-front, but this year Alison decided she'd like a change. She checked an online site for recommended Greek food restaurants in Cyprus, and the top rated one was To Kazani, in Aradippou.

We found the location via Google Maps, and it took perhaps ten or fifteen minutes to drive there. It looked very authentic on the outside:

We were greeted with enthusiasm by the staff, and given a choice of tables. Inside looked equally authentically Cypriot - even if there was a TV at one end, and a wifi router on the wall near where we sat! 

The menu was simple - only about ten items, including the traditional meze. We asked how big the portions were, and the waitress - or, perhaps the owner - said she thought that for four of us, three servings of meze would be right. So that's what we opted for.  

We then ordered drinks - water for two of us, juice for the others.  The juice was certainly Cypriot, but not exactly how we had envisaged it... 

A meze is a series of different dishes, presented a few at a time, and usually starting with a Greek salad. This means that there's very little waiting time, and plenty of opportunity to taste different local foods. Sure enough, the salad arrived quickly, accompanied by some toasted village bread, a bowl of Greek yogurt, some chopped beetroot, and various dips:

I didn't take any other photos of food - the table quickly became crowded as we were given an aubergine dip, halloumi, various meat dishes, a bowl of chips, some mushrooms, an egg and courgette dish (which was my favourite), more that I don't remember... and even (ugh) some snails. Alison and Richard tried them but didn't much like them. Tim and I did not. I don't even like to look at snails. But they were the only thing that none of us liked.  

By the time we were nearing the end, we were feeling very full, so when a large dish with yet more meat arrived - small pieces of chicken, and pork, and Cyprus sausages - we couldn't begin to do justice to it. So Richard asked if we could take it home with us; this isn't an unusual request in Cyprus, so we were given a suitable container and the leftover meat then provided protein for our lunches (for three of us) for the next two days. 

After we thought we had finished, we were brought dessert: some fresh fruit, and some pieces of Greek baklava. Despite having ordered three meze meals between four of us, they made sure that when there were individual portions of anything, there were four, so we each had some baklava - and somehow found room to eat it! 

We enjoyed our meal very much and can certainly understand why it's so highly rated. Other visitors - including a group of people we know - gradually arrived as we were eating. But then, as Brits, we like to start eating around 7.00pm at the latest, whereas many Cypriots don't eat until well past 8.00, sometimes not starting until 9.00 or later. 

I had not expected to visit another restaurant for a while, but last Sunday Tim said he would like to take us out to his favourite Indian restaurant, Masalas, in celebration of the British Mothering Sunday. The only available evening was Monday, just a week after our visit to To Kazani.  

Masalas is in the other direction, along the Dhekelia Road which runs along the sea-front. The only photo I took was on the outside, before we went in:

Again, since we like to eat early, and arrived about 6.30, we were the only people in the restaurant when we went in. It looks quite up-market inside, with tablecloths and wall hangings in shades of peach. The menu is extensive, as is so often the case with Indian restaurants. They have a special offer of any curry with popadoms, rice and naan for weekdays so long as one orders before 7.15pm so we decided to do that rather than making multiple selections from different pages of the menu. 

Tim almost always opts for chicken bhuna which is his tried-and-tested favourite; Richard had a lamb curry, and I decided to be brave and have a chicken madras, marked as 'hot', but - I was assured by the waitress - not 'burning hot'.  The first time we went there, back in June, I tried the chicken balti, which was excellent.

The food was piping hot, served in traditional Indian pots and pans, and very delicious, although mine was perhaps a tad hotter than I would have chosen! However, it was very tasty. 

The one disadvantage of this restaurant is that they don't offer vegetarian options. I do eat some chicken and beef, and occasionally pork, but when I'm out I usually prefer to choose something vegetarian. Indian restaurants normally have a wide selection, but Masalas does not.  I was happy with what I ate - and would happily go there again - but it would be no good for a vegetarian. 

The end of Lent

Given to us in Advent, our poinsettia, now outside my study, is still thriving at the end of Lent:

We don't usually do a whole lot during Lent, other than (if we remember) eating pancakes on Shrove Tuesday and hot cross buns on Good Friday.

But at the end of February, while chatting over the dinner table about food in general and the cost of groceries, Richard made an idle comment that perhaps we could try giving up meat for Lent. Since I have decidedly vegetarian leanings I thought this was a great idea, and Tim said that in Anglican tradition, Sundays (and other feast days) are excluded from Lenten fasts, so perhaps we could stop eating meat for six days a week only...

As it happened, in the first week of Lent we had friends staying, one of whom is a vegetarian anyway. So it made a good excuse for me to experiment with a few new recipes, as well as making some old favourites such as Spanokopitta, or vegetable and nut cobbler.

It doesn't help that Richard and Tim are both dairy-free; cow's milk products cause their ears to block up. Goat and sheep cheese are fine in moderation - perhaps once or twice per week - but it meant that I had to experiment with other forms of protein, primarily beans and lentils. Some of the things we ate were pretty good; others less successful, although I don't think anything was inedible.

It's been interesting, but although I haven't felt any cravings or inclinations to eat meat for the past six weeks, Richard definitely has. I'm convinced that some people actually need meat for their metabolism and general health, and he seems to be one of them. So we'll be back eating meat four or five times per week as of tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Daniel and some of his colleagues in the UK were producing a series of mini videos which they released during Lent; one per week at first, and then several this past week. They are in the form of a modern video blog, taking the events leading up to Easter as if happening in the 21st century, from the point of view of the apostle Matthew.  This is the trailer for the whole series:

It took me a little while to get used to the style, but I've liked it very much. It's quite thought-provoking, and certainly helps to understand a little better what it might have been like to be one of the first disciples.

Links to the whole series can be found (with the most recent at the top) at the Matt's Blog, or the related Facebook page.

When we first moved to Cyprus, Lent was quite a big thing: the Greek Orthodox (who are the majority in this country) are supposed to fast from meat and various other foods during Lent. But even in fifteen years, secularism is growing stronger, and there seem to be fewer and fewer who take any notice of Lent.

Well, other than some teenagers and young adults, presumably bored and unemployed, who collect wooden items from around their neighbourhoods - not always with permission - and have bonfires each evening, usually culminating with a huge one on Easter Saturday. Here's a site of an unofficial bonfire site near where our friends live:

In recent years these have become more competitive, and are often accompanied by home-made firecrackers, which are extremely dangerous as well as illegal. Every year there is an accident of some kind; last night our friends' neighbour, a young man in his twenties, was rushed to hospital after a firecracker exploded in his hand. The police were involved, and the bonfire site cleared, later on; but how terrible for the young man and his family.