Happy St Pats Everyone

St. Patrick's Day is with us,
The day when all that's seen
To right and left and everywhere
Is green, green, green!


OK so i'm not Irish ! ....but I do like to have a little fun on the day , well as you can see here I have been playing a little at dressing up ...thanks to my fun lovng Cowboy in USA who thoughtfully sent me this wonderful gift pack saying he always wondered what I would look like in Green hair !! ( : wonder if he is running yet ...
my son has just gone out the door with his best buddy Aris , who is half Irish ,they have gone off to a place called Molly Malones which is a super place in Limassol , as you can guess by the name geared toward the Irish crowd that live on the island ,but of course many nationalities are welcome....I have been quite a few times myself and they serve great food.....and yes tonight will be serving Green Beer well one of the things that may be on the menu tonight could be the famous Irish Stew.......anyone who likes to cook...here is the recipie :

Irish Lamb Stew
Serves 8
Prep time: 30 minutes
Total time: 2 hours 15 minutes
Ingredients :
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Coarse salt and ground pepper
3 pounds boneless lamb stew meat (preferably shoulder), trimmed of excess fat and cut into 2-inch cubes
3 tablespoons canola oil
1 large onion, chopped
3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1-1/2 cups dark beer
1-1/2 pounds medium new potatoes, peeled and quartered
1 pound carrots, peeled and cut ? inch thick diagonally
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Preparation :
In a large bowl, season flour with salt and pepper.
Dredge lamb in flour mixture, shaking off excess.
In a Dutch oven, heat oil over medium heat. Working in batches, brown lamb on all sides, about 5 minutes per batch. Transfer to a plate.
Pour 1/4 cup water into pot, scraping up browned bits from bottom with a wooden spoon.
Add onion; cook, stirring occasionally, until water has evaporated and onion is beginning to soften, about 5 minutes.
Return lamb to pot; stir in thyme, beer, and 1 1/2 cups water.
Cover; simmer until lamb is tender, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
(can also be refrigarated, and taken later)
Add potatoes, carrots, and 1/2 cup water. Cook, covered, until vegetables are tender and stew has thickened, about 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Let cool completely before storing. Stir in parsley just before serving.

Well I have yet to visit Ireland , but my daughter who is having an irish boyfiend living in a town named Eniskillen , is lucky enough to be going there soon for a wedding , so maybe I will get to see some nice photographs later on and can post a few here on the blog......they say Southern Ireland is the prettiest part to go and visit ,but Im sure Northern Ireland has also some wonderful places too, I sure would like to add that to the list of places Chester and I plan to someday visit together ,

The irish have turned out quite a few famous singers over the years, they have actually had quite a few winners of the Eurovision song contest , Johnny Logan got first place two years in a row and a lovely girl named Dana won it way back in the very early 70's it must have been .....must go and check it on the You Tube sometime . im sure there are a few more but I havent got my thinking head on tonight, I got dizzy trying to do an Irish jig around the dinner table and bending down trying to find the lucky Leprochauns that my friend Paddy insist are existing LOL......OH well I guess I had better go and mail my cousin who is having a birthday today.....
just in case you are reading this Stuart ...Happy Birthday !!

well if anyone want to know more about this special day ,here is a page giving a bit of the history :
http://www.theholidayspot.com/patrick/historyofpatrick.htm

and just to finish off .......
May you be in
Heaven a half hour before the
Devil knows you're dead!

Green Monday In Cyprus (beginning of Lent )

The day after the Big carnival parade is the Green Monday, the first day of lent. The Cypriots are deeply religious and young or old, most fast during the forty day period. They go vegetarian for the duration. Green Monday is the first day of fasting. The many picnic sites are full of people eating, drinking, enjoying with friends and family and flying kites. Yes that is the tradition; the sky is full of colourful kites of all sizes.
Its a really fun day out in the open countryside and weather at this time of the year is just beautiful, And the table is laden with variety of salads, pickles, olives, breads and delightful traditional vegetarian and sea food preparations. All washed down with the famous Cypriot wines......In our case lots of it ; )


Well this year we were three couples and myself and all the kids too, we have been doing this tradition since 1984 without fail,we started off just 2 couples but as the years have gone by more and more of our friends have joined in until it has became quite a big group ! and the kids have gown up now but still love coming !



Here are 2 of our daughters ages 3-5 in 1990 Laura and Natalie

We were very lucky this year with the weather , it was absolutely boiling , and we had to have sme umberellas for shade !
we had a bit of fun this year too as one of the guys came in his carnival outfit , the parade was yesterday ,but I think Marios really fancied himself as a mexican bandit of some kind and was a bit reluctant to remove his poncho and sombrero hat !


Well over the years after we have eaten and had our fill of all the goodies like grilled squid , King prawns and other seafood stuff,







the guys would try to play a game of football with the younger boys and the woment would go for a walk around the country to try and burn some of the calories off ....well the most energetic thing we managed this year seemed to be the women lifting their wine glasses and the men sitting playing backgammon !!! old age creeping up ....even the kids who used to go and find frogs and other pond life to have some fun have grown out of those activities and were just lounging about with I pods in their ears .....oh well still we had a great memorable time, its so nice that in Cyprus the weather permits these wonderful days ....speaking with my mom in the UK today they were having Gale force winds that were disrupting a lot of things including the flights into some of the airports , well we had just enough to help fly some kites.

Well all in all we had a great Green Monday 2008 , I dont think I will be her next year , if all goes to plan I will be with my love in USA well I will not be here in body but in Spirit I think I will always be with my friends here in Cyprus , and who knows if Chester and I come up with the winning numbers on the Lottery then we mat just fly back and join them again ! but anyhow I guess I could always start a tradition over in North Carolina of having a Green Monday of our own ,



Well if you want to see more of our pics from todays picnic just click on the link here :
http://picasaweb.google.com/alison.markides/GreenMonday2008

Off to have a sleep now its been a long long day ......