Thursday, December 16, 2010
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Malta, Europe
It’s fast becoming a tedious process keeping my blog up to date in a chronological order. It ain’t easy keeping the entries recent when free wifi becomes a prized commodity ever since I moved out of the university hostel. Since the last post, I’ve been to Venice, and then Malta. In fact, I bet I still smell of Maltese air since I only just got back to London today.
Malta has been a destination both Talib and I were much anticipating. Why? It’s way warmer than any part of UK. The food’s not going to just comprise of the same old potatoes and deep fried meats. And there’s going to be an abundance of nature. True enough, we got what we expected, and more. Talib managed to survive prancing around the streets of Malta with just a Muji cardigan, while I kept my feet bare 24/7 and wore old-fashioned sandals—which got quite a bit of stares from the locals. The local food was crazy exotic, and sometimes too much for us to swallow. We had our virgin taste of rabbit meat and lampuki fish pie. I must admit the novelty wore off after the second bite. The pie left a pungent, fishy aftertaste on my tongue which I simply could not wash off even with a whole bottle of Kinnie (their local version of fanta—gassy soda made with bitter oranges and herbs). The rabbit meat was like little cubes of fatty meat—really chewy and squishy. Phooey. I didn’t give those two a second chance after that. What we both did binge on throughout the trip though, was the local Maltese cheese and pea cakes. You’ll see their cameos in the series of photos I’m posting up. These cakes are made of crisp and buttery phyllo pastry, and stuffed with generous fillings of ricotta cheese, green peas or chick peas. When baked fresh from the oven, the cheese and peas just ooze into your mouth, and when combined with the buttery pastry… heavenly! I think we bought approximately three cakes a day. Thankfully the cakes cost a mere 25 cents each!
The weather was kind to us the first few days, and there was lots of sunlight, giving us great opportunity to snap some neat shots of the cliffs and limestone landscape. Interestingly, what we thought were sculptures and statues turned out to be water fountains only on the last day when it started to pour. We learnt from the customs officers on the first day of our arrival that the country had been suffering from a drought of rain the past few weeks, and the wells had all gone dry. I didn’t expect him to be serious when he first explained it to me, but the sudden rejuvenation of the fountains definitely proved me wrong.
Disclaimer: be prepared for a great many photos of cliffs, rocks, sea, sky and two overly excited kids. =D
Malta has been a destination both Talib and I were much anticipating. Why? It’s way warmer than any part of UK. The food’s not going to just comprise of the same old potatoes and deep fried meats. And there’s going to be an abundance of nature. True enough, we got what we expected, and more. Talib managed to survive prancing around the streets of Malta with just a Muji cardigan, while I kept my feet bare 24/7 and wore old-fashioned sandals—which got quite a bit of stares from the locals. The local food was crazy exotic, and sometimes too much for us to swallow. We had our virgin taste of rabbit meat and lampuki fish pie. I must admit the novelty wore off after the second bite. The pie left a pungent, fishy aftertaste on my tongue which I simply could not wash off even with a whole bottle of Kinnie (their local version of fanta—gassy soda made with bitter oranges and herbs). The rabbit meat was like little cubes of fatty meat—really chewy and squishy. Phooey. I didn’t give those two a second chance after that. What we both did binge on throughout the trip though, was the local Maltese cheese and pea cakes. You’ll see their cameos in the series of photos I’m posting up. These cakes are made of crisp and buttery phyllo pastry, and stuffed with generous fillings of ricotta cheese, green peas or chick peas. When baked fresh from the oven, the cheese and peas just ooze into your mouth, and when combined with the buttery pastry… heavenly! I think we bought approximately three cakes a day. Thankfully the cakes cost a mere 25 cents each!
The weather was kind to us the first few days, and there was lots of sunlight, giving us great opportunity to snap some neat shots of the cliffs and limestone landscape. Interestingly, what we thought were sculptures and statues turned out to be water fountains only on the last day when it started to pour. We learnt from the customs officers on the first day of our arrival that the country had been suffering from a drought of rain the past few weeks, and the wells had all gone dry. I didn’t expect him to be serious when he first explained it to me, but the sudden rejuvenation of the fountains definitely proved me wrong.
Disclaimer: be prepared for a great many photos of cliffs, rocks, sea, sky and two overly excited kids. =D
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