Going Mexican

We were treated to dinner at Scena on Sunday evening (thank you again J&J), and what a treat that was. This is the café, bistro, bar by the playground in Horio, not far from the bus stop, and offers a view down the Pedi valley to the sea. It changed hands last year, and this year, Stavros (of Mythos fame) is running the kitchen and cooking. They have an extensive menu every day, but on some Sundays, they put on a speciality menu, and for us, that was Mexican. They have had a Chinese speciality night, and Stavros said he was thinking about also doing Indian food one weekend. As he explained, the restaurant is called Scena, meaning scene, and so why not have food from various ‘scenes’ around the world. Needless to say, it was wonderful, and a €20.00 set menu was enough for two people that included a large salad, baked potato with chilli, a chicken dish and a take on a giros full of Mexican flavours, homemade guacamole and salsas… Perfect. My photos don’t do it justice, and I’d made a bit of a mess portioning things out onto Neil’s plate, but… Well, you’ve got to try it. The regular menu is great too. Oh, and the sweet was a gift from the house.

And on the note of eating out, Taverna Zoi opened on Monday night. This also offers a lovely view down to Pedi and offers home cooking with local produce, including goat and lamb straight from the family farm. I’ll tell you more about that next time we go.

And today is…?

I don’t know about you, but staying at home so much and being in a ‘groundhog day’ scenario, I forget what day of the week it is. This wasn’t helped on Friday when we took a long walk to Nimborio for breakfast, then walked back and had lunch at Meraklis, and because of that, it felt like a Saturday. And that didn’t help Saturday which then felt like a Sunday, and this morning is Sunday, but I only know that because my computer tells me so, and actually, you’re reading this on Monday. Unless you’re in a different part of the world and it’s already Tuesday or something… Anyway, we had a good old stroll for five miles there and back, taking the zigzag down from our house rather than the usual steps and heading ‘over the top’ as they say. Not that there’s anything unusual in that for either of us, going over the top I mean. We came back around the road, which from the end of Nimborio bay to Meraklis taverna in Yialos is 2.2 miles, according to my step counter. I’ll get on with Wednesday now and let you see some photos.

Friday Photos

A collection of photos to see you through the weekend. We’re off for a long walk this morning, around to Nimborio for breakfast, back to Yialos for lunch, and Horio for supper at home. Have a good weekend and stay safe.

Free car wash

Wandering back from To Vrisi the other morning, I was met by a traffic jam. Not the usual mules or goats, but the council fire trucks coming towards me with Yiannis from the village square watering the cars. I think (but I’m not sure) they were actually watering the verges, but the lads were having some fun along the way and washing down a few cars as they passed. He missed me but did manage to douse his colleague amid much laughter. The sight got my day off to a good start, unlike yesterday when I woke with indigestion at two in the morning and couldn’t get back to sleep.

Still, here’s a distant shot of the water-work in progress, and a couple of others from the other morning.

Birdwatch

I was wandering up the hill the other day, my mind full of the next chapter so I didn’t notice the aching legs, and I had a bit of a birdwatch moment. At this time of year, I’m forever disturbing flocks of partridge (or whatever they are, I’m not good at identification). They lie in wait for me along the hillside path, and just when I think I am alone, clatter up from the bushes squawking and complaining en masse. The other morning, there were a couple on the path ahead of me, waddling along minding their own beaks when they noticed me. They set off at a faster waddle until they remembered they could fly, and took off with much faffing about. It made for a humorous sight and reminded me of the Aristocats. ‘Abigail Gable and my sister, Amelia Gabble.’ ‘We’re geese, you know.’ (Thomas: ‘You don’t say!’) ‘Yes, on a walking tour of France.’ ‘Swimming most of the way.’ ‘On water, of course.’ (Much laughter.) I didn’t look that up, it’s just what I recall, but then I can probably quote most of that film in my sleep. Anyway, the birds… They were too quick to get a photo, so you’ll have to make do with this.

Also, during that birdwatch day, I heard the little owls in the trees, and it was just after sunrise. Maybe it was the same pair who were at our house earlier that morning having a contretemps on the telegraph pole. But then I saw something else, and I’ve never seen one like it before. It was about the size of a thrush, possibly slightly smaller, and ten feet ahead of me. It was grey, but I couldn’t see its belly, but it had a medium length tail that was black either side with a white strip down the middle. Maybe it was three feathers. Now I know what you’re thinking, it was a pied wagtail, but it wasn’t any kind of wagtail, it was too stout and chubby, let along too big, and its tail wasn’t that long. I tried looking it up, and the closest I could come was a gnatcatcher, but it was bigger (similar shape) and they, for a reason best known to themselves, live in North America – and South, to be fair. It was also too big to be a grey tit, and I didn’t notice a black cap on its head, so I don’t think it was a blackcap. It might have been a Sardinian warbler, according to a photo I found, but again, It wasn’t quite like the one in the picture, and it was too quick for a photo, so you’ve got this:

Whatever. It was a birdwatch moment, and seeing the waddling partridges, hearing the squabbling owls and wondering what the other bird was, I paused for a while to look at the view down to Pedi. Mainly, I looked at the trees and the outcrops of rocks because the sun was playing tricks in the distance between them, giving the kind of perspective effect you see when watching a 3D film; almost real but not quite, which was odd as it was real and, obviously, three dimensional. I tried for a photo (below), but the phone camera doesn’t give you the right depth of field.

Well, that’s my morning chat. Now I’m off to chapter ten of a new mystery. Ironically, in this one, the culprit of a poisoning could well be a poisonous bird, but not the grey one I saw, as my deadly bird is now extinct.