Party Animals

Well I am getting even lazier! The trouble is that the 'more you do less'
then the 'less you do more', or sommit like that, and we have actually had
quite a busy week or so.
It all started last Saturday with the 'six' having lunch out in the
sunshine. Sue made some assorted bruschetta for starters, Anne a lasagne for
main, and Libby a salad - Libby doesn't cook much! After the excellent food
and a few drinks we had an evening of games. We started off with Jenga
outside, most amusing, and not easy when it got dark and we were playing by
candlelight. After retiring to Noddy for the evening, we played silly games
like pictionary. The girls had the better of the boys over the course of the
evening, but they didn't take winning gracefully, I think they thought we
let them win. Only the boys will ever know. It was quite ironic that even
though Noddy is the smallest of our 3 vans, he actually has the most room
for six people to lounge in.
The following day was a day of rest after all the 'excitement' of the day
before, not to mention a beer or two, Steve. The early part of the week
followed in the same style with some general lazing around in the lovely
sunshine. Thursday was market day again, in Noddy this time, and then off to
Lidl at Vittoria to stock up on a few things. It was a bit of a rush shop as
despite the Lidl advertising 'all day' opening outside they actually shut at
13h00 and we got there at 12h50. So we ended up doing a bit of a
'supermarket sweep', Dale would have been very proud of us!
On Friday, we joined Kevin and Libby for a stroll along the beach to the
next town along the coast, Punta Secca. I say along the beach, it was some
beach, then the scrubby grassy path above the beach, then mostly along back
roads in between all the poly tunnels that they grow all the fruit and
vegetables in. The town was deserted when we arrived, another place that is
only open for 2 months of the year in high summer. Thankfully there was a
café open so we fuelled up with a Cappuccino and set off for the return
journey.
Then another Saturday, and another luncheon, and this time for the whole
campsite. The owners had laid on a party for all the guests and did a BBQ.
They cooked huge Cumberland style sausages, grilled aubergines, made tomato
salad and also orange salad. The main event though was the Sicilian dish of
artichokes. We had helped wash them out in the morning, and then they cooked
them on the BBQ. They put salt and olive oil in the flower heads and then
place them bottom down in the hot coals and let them cook. They were very
nice but a lot of effort to eat for the amount of nourishment you get from
them, not to mention the black hands from the burnt outside. To follow we
had some delicious cakes. Small doughnut type cakes filled with ricotta, and
also Cannolli, a sweet crisp rolled tube filled with ricotta and pistachio.
The cakes were truly delicious. They even laid on red wine, water, and some
champagne. It was a fantastic day, and all gratis! After we had finished up
and some people had returned to their motorhomes, they took the remaining
dozen or so stragglers around the corner to the café and bought us a coffee!
Needless to say we are not in any great rush to leave here! The funny thing
was that it was probably Sue and my fault that it all happened. When we
originally arrived at the site and were chatting with Angela the owner we
told her we did not known how to cook artichokes and had not even tasted
them. Thus the BBQ, and all the trimmings.
To cap the day off, seven or eight Italian motorhomes had arrived in the
morning. When evening finally arrived, the music started! If you cant beat
them, join them. So we went and enjoyed the impromptu disco for a while.
Unfortunately we missed YMCA!
Sunday was a day of rest, well only after we had gone for a cycle ride in
the morning to the nearby nature reserve / park. We had to cycle the long
way round to get into the park as we were unable to find the entrance that
was allegedly just down the road from the site. We eventually got into the
park, cycled a bit, and then ended up on the beach next to the park. We
cycled back along the sand, which was hard work. We emerged from the beach
just down the road from the site in a rocky car park that we had earlier
been at not thinking it was where we should have gone. Never mind, it was a
nice outing.
On Monday we took the tourist bus, Kevin and Libby's van, to Modica. By the
time we arrived and found a place to park the sky opened and it poured down,
so we had a coffee and waited it out. When it had stopped it was still grey
and overcast but we had a nice walk around and even bought some of the
chocolates that the town is famous for. We will let you know what they are
like!
The Tuesday brought on the next lunch with a nice Dutch couple that had
arrived a few days earlier. The weather nearly put a 'rain check' on the
meal with the sudden arrival of a thunderstorm, but it passed quickly and
the day turned out lovely and sunny.
Today, hot sunshine, rest, phew!
Ciao
M&S