Anastasia

Christmas 2011 at the Golden Bay Beach Hotel, Larnaca

Naturally, Santa was there too!

Christmas at the Golden Bay Beach Hotel has always been a unique experience but it seems to me that this Christmas it's been the best ever in more ways than one.  Everything was just perfect: the decor, the music, the joyful festive atmosphere and the food! My mother and I joined Alkis early in the afternoon on Christmas Eve, had a light snack and then went up to our rooms to take a nap and get ready for the Christmas Eve Gala Dinner while Alkis went back to work. After a hectic week at the school which ended merrily with the Christmas party on Friday afternoon,  it was the best way for me to start my Christmas break.

The Christmas Eve menu was an amazing, gastronomic experience as the Executive Chef went out of his way to create .... works of art. Here's what the 6-course festive menu consisted of:

Smoked salmon pancake roulade with prawns and caviar cream for starters.

Chicken Cream Soup with Almond Crumble

Duck Rillettes with Red Onions and Mandarin Refish followed by an Orange Sherbet with Cointreau to refresh the palate.

Roast Turkey Rolls with Liver and Pine Nuts Stuffing and Foie Gras Sauce married with Wild Pork Loin with Pheasant Cream Mousse , Vegetables and Potato Amanti.

Baked Cheese and Chestnut Tart Light Chocolate Parfait with Cinnamon Cream and Rasberry Coulis.

...followed by coffee and sweet bites

Apart from the food, I was particularly impressed by the Home Band who played Christmas melodies throughout this exquisite dinner and later  helped us....burn some of the calories on the dance floor! 

We even got Christmas weather and white Christmas for all those who celebrated high up in the mountains of Troodos. On Larnaca Bay, we got strong winds and  downpours on Christmas Eve, overcast skies and some sunny intervals on Christmas Day.

How was your Christmas? 

Monday's Greek Recipe - Psaronefri Gemisto - Stuffed Pork Fillet

Last week was such a busy week at work that I didn't even have the time to do the shopping at the supermarket. Alkis usually does the shopping as he finishes work earlier than me, but he was away on a business trip, so the fridge was almost empty. Saturday night was unusually cold for this time of year, so while Alkis was making a fire, I decided to ...experiment in the kitchen. I came up with pork fillet stuffed with spinach and feta cheese. That's all I had in my fridge. My friend Stefania once advised me to chop fresh spinach and keep it in the freezer instead of buying it frozen as I used to. She was right. The spinach came in handy!

Ingredients

• 500 g. pork fillet
• a bunch of spinach - chopped
• 200 g feta cheese
• 5 tsp olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 1 big onion, finely chopped
• some oregano

Directions

• Beat the pork fillet flat with a meat mallet

• In a non-stick frying pan, sauté the onion in the olive oil, reduce heat,  add the spinach and stir for about 5 minutes.

• Drain the spinach and put a thin layer on the flat pork fillet.
• Crush the feta cheese with a fork and add it on the spinach

• Sprinkle with oregano.

• Roll the pork fillet and keep it tight with bamboo skewers.

• Sprinkle with some more oregano.
• Bake at 170*C in a pre-heated oven for about 45 minutes. This is what you get:

• Serve with brown rice, a mixed salad and a  bottle of Ktima Gerovassiliou - a great Greek red.

mixed salad

Avaton-Gerovasiliou

Kali Orexi!!! - Enjoy Your Meal!

 

 

Alkis' 60th Birthday

Both workwise and socially, it's been a very busy week which started on a bright note - Valentine's Day on Monday. I know I promised to cook a special dinner - I had thought of paté of  duck liver terrine for starters and roast saddle of veal in cognac cream sauce with glazed shallots and pesto gnocchi. But due to work I didn't have time to cook, so we had an exotic meal delivered and a great greek red called "Vivlia Hora".

However, the highlight of the week was Alkis' 60th birthday - a milestone - which we celebrated just the two of us last night. A couple of weeks ago, I suggested throwing a big party, which wasn't such a great idea as we both had to get up early this morning. So, I surprised him with the traditional birthday cake which we devoured soon after a cosy and festive dinner out.

Tomorrow is the parents' evening - a cocktail party I organise for my students' parents during which we have time to talk about their children's performance and, of course, spend a pleasant evening together.

Ninjas Service with Swords and Fires!!

Waitresses wield swords and flare flames at diners, who have to get past a moat before sitting at their table in the dimly lit dining hall.

The same customers are also encouraged to take photos with the warrior-like waitresses, who dress in black or red to look like ninjas in keeping with the theme of a dark but lively restaurant that opened last month in Taiwan's capital. "The ninja is mysterious," said Ou Chia-wei, owner of the restaurant simply named Ninja, explaining why he chose that theme for the Japanese-style restaurant. "On that premise, we can do magic tricks and light up the food."

Waitresses working the barely lit dining room floor burn speciality menus, which vanish without a trace of ash, and send flames snaking across tables as customers watch. A moat and screen of cascading water just past the front entrance make customers wait a few minutes until the drawbridge goes up, leading to a dark stairwell toward the dining hall. There are professional magic shows, as well as cabarets, for those who walk in at the right times.

Ninjas were mercenaries who resorted to unusual warfare strategies such as espionage, sabotage and assassination from as far back as 700 years ago in feudal Japan. They remain a common, enduring theme in Japanese folklore. Ou, who also owns a hospital-theme restaurant in Taipei, and his wife put the three-storey Ninja eatery together on their own without hiring a designer, said his landlady Ting Tsui-lan.

The overall investment was T$15 million ($470,000). "The owner had already liked ninjas and figured that would be a pretty obvious, visual theme for the restaurant," said restaurant sales manager Hsiao Dai. Ninja competes with restaurants that specialise in airliner, dinosaur and toilet decor in a city teeming with theme diners.

Owned and staffed by Taiwanese, it serves Japanese food priced for office workers who frequent it at its location in a congested part of town. Japanese cuisine and culture are popular in Taiwan, where Ninja has seen steady full-house crowds of 150 since opening in late January. Customers are intrigued by the theme, with a 26-year-old woman say ingshe might rather work than eat there. "We make friends with the customers," said waitress Tu-tu Lin, laying her sword aside to explain to the woman the tricks of her trade.

via timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Not sure I'd love this kind of restaurant, however much I love sushi, but I'm sure my friend Telis will love it!

A Christmas Treat

This savory stuffed turkey will enhance your Christmas lunch with a greek taste that everyone  will love. Original recipe yield: 12 servings. Prep Time: 30 Minutes Cook Time: 4 Hours Ready In: 4 Hours 30 Minutes Servings:  8

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INGREDIENTS:

• 1 (12 pound) whole turkey, thawed
• 3 lemons, juiced
• 1/4 cup butter
• 4 medium onions, chopped
• 2 turkey livers, finely chopped
• 1 pound ground lamb
• 2 1/2 cups long grain white rice
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh mint leaves
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 3 cups water
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup butter, melted

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DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Rinse the turkey inside and out, and pat dry with paper towels. Rub lemon juice all over the turkey and inside the cavity. Set aside.
2. Melt 1/4 cup of butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, and cook for about 5 minutes, until tender. Add the chopped livers and ground lamb. Cook, stirring to crumble, until evenly browned. Stir in the rice, cinnamon, mint and tomato paste. Mix in 1 cup of the water, and season with salt and pepper. Cook over low heat for 10 minutes, stirring constantly.
3. Fill turkey with the stuffing mixture, and truss. Place on a rack in a shallow roasting pan, and pour the remaining 2 cups of water into the pan. Mix together the remaining lemon juice and melted butter. This is the basting sauce.
4. Bake for 1 hour in the preheated oven, then reduce the temperature of the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and continue roasting for 2 more hours, or until the internal temperature of the thickest part of the thigh reaches 180 degrees F (80 degrees C). Baste occasionally with the melted butter and lemon juice.

Autumnal Sunday

Last night, Alkis came back late from work as there was a wedding reception taking place at the hotel and he had to check on things so that everything would be perfect for the happy couple. By the time he got home , the wedding reception at the  swimming-pool area had already finished and everything went off swimmingly! He had a long, hard day at work so I rewarded him with a very special treat for dinner on the terrace. Perfumed candles, lillies floating in a crystal bowl, Neil Diamond's September Morn playing in the background, my famous coq au vin avec pommes dauphinoises for main course and poires a la beaujolaise  for dessert. And, of course, a great French red - Chassange-Montrachet. I'm afraid I was too distracted to take any photos! The terrace is semi-covered with a pergola so we didn't really feel the first drops of rain as both the wine and the dessert kept us quite warm. Within minutes it was pouring! It was one of those rare times that I enjoyed the rain as I go back to school tomorrow. Like my friend Stefania says on her blog, it feels much better to go back to school when autumn's in the air.

Romantic Christmas

I've always had a great time at Christmas even though I knew my husband was one of those people who had to work throughout the Holiday Season. For the last 20 years or so there have been no days off work for him as his job is to make sure the hotel guests have a great time at Chritmas. For the last 20 years, he would go to work at 8 am on Christmas Eve, come back home just to change and then go back to work till the early morning hours. On Christmas Day, he'd get up at 7 am and here he was off to work again. But he could always get away for an hour and have the traditional Christmas dinner at my mum's.

So, I'd always spend Christmas with him at his place of work. And I always had a great time whether I was with friends and family or just me. I knew that on these days when other people are with their friends and families, he had to check on everything at the hotel so that everyone has a great Christmas and a very happy New Year. His food was left uneaten, a conversation was interrupted and many times on Christmas Eve, I'd just have to engage in small talk with friends and family at our table, or just sit there by myself till Alkis could get away and at least ..finish his dinner! Knowing how much he loves his work, not only have I never complained or vented but I was there to offer him support and sometimes some ideas and suggestions.

This Christmas, the hotel was closed for renovations and for the first time in many years we decided to break the rule and spend Christmas away...just the two of us! So, we kindly refused some friends' invites as well as  my brother's invitation to spend Christmas with mum and his family and booked a room for two, instead, at Intercontinental Aphrodite Hills Resort Hotel situated high on a hill, at about 20 km from Paphos. The Resort overllooks the Eastern Mediterranean and Petra Tou Romiou ( The Greek's Rock) which is,according to the Greek Mythology, the birthplace of Aphrodite - the Greek goddess of beauty and love.

We set off at about 12:30 pm on Christmas Eve and stopped at the picturesque village of Pissouri to have lunch before checking in at the hotel. The first snow that had fallen on Troodos earlier that morning resulted in great Christmas weather. It was freezing cold when we arrived at Pissouri. We rushed to the nearest taverna and were welcomed by a glowing fire and the friendly staff. We decided to have a light lunch - just grilled chicken and salad - as we had booked for the Christmas Eve Gala Dinner at the hotel.

 

Check-in at the Intercontinental was fast and efficient and once in our spacious mini suite, we were very happy to see that our luggage had already been carried there. There was a bottle of champagne in ice waiting for us as well as some fruit and sweets. Alkis ceremoniously opened the champagne bottle - right he can still impress me! - and then we had a toast -  far away from everyone : family, friends, or other social obligations.

At about 10 pm we went to the ballroom where we had booked a table for the Christmas Eve Gala Dinner. Oh my! What a shock that was! It was sooooooooooooo noisy! The music was too loud, children were running to all directions and playing on the ...dancing floor! We decided that this was not our idea of a Christmas Eve as neither Alkis nor I are Fred Astairs and Ginger Rogers! Back to the reception. We asked the if we could cancel our reservation in the ballroom and book a table somewhere quieter. We were very lucky to have the last table at their gourmet restaurant - the Lavender. There were about 20 diners.  It was so romantic. Christmas Carols were playing in the background - We decided to have their ...Lobster Extravaganza!

Here are the details

 

Maine Lobster and snow crabmeat pancake, pea shoot salad, ginger salad emulsion for starters.

 

Lobster "Kakavia" with pumpkin tortelloni drizzled with chives chilly oil - a bit hot to my taste

 

The Main Course: Butter poached lobster au gratin, flavoured with brandy and cardamom bisque and served on truffles polenta.

   

Alkis and I enjoying a Christmas dinner for two.

Who would resist to this divine dessert on Christmas Eve? Panna Cotta with wild berry sauce and mango sorbet.

On Christmas Day, we drove to Paphos. At last the sun had come up again! I really hate snow and cold weather, after all! We had coffee in the sun and then a typically Christmas lunch :chicken liver pate, stuffed turkey with lots of gravy and cranberry sauce, apple pie , chocolate cake and , of course, Christmas Cake and coffee.

Last night just before yet another great festive dinner

   

It was one of the best Christmases I've ever had!