July in Malta

Sometimes, England gets a little too English, particularly the weather, and I feel the need to hop on a plane home for a few days of sun, sand, sea and good food. And of course, family.

So last week that is precisely what I did. Husband couldn't take a week off so get left behind. He didn't mind too much once I made him a ginormous full fat lasagne to keep him going, although as usual I did manage to pick the only weekend in a month when there was no sport on tv to keep entertained. Oops!

Look at that masterpiece of a lasagne!

So one week of gorgeous Malta has left me tanned, relaxed and ready to face all the Englishness. I was incredibly lucky to pick a week where Malta was in the midst of a heat wave: 38 degrees on average, not a cloud in the sky, low humidity and a light breeze to help take the edge off. Needless to say, the suncream worked hard and I relaxed harder.

Super relaxed face

I must admit I didn't actually do much in my week there. I spent a full three days at Mellieha beach: wading out into the cool, clear waters of the Mediterranean, eating ice creams of all shapes and sizes, a pizza dinner right on the beach, sipping a refreshing cisk in the afternoon, playing rounders with my cousins and catching up on all the family gossip. Some things never change: my mum and her friends have their standard tennis chat, my family talking about their upcoming weddings :D and I was able to read book after book without a care in the world.

Love me a nocciola ice cream

Friends on the beach

My sister and fiance are now living in a gorgeous penthouse flat in Swieqi, and invited us over for a BBQ on their terrace one night. I love a good Maltese BBQ: no burgers on paper plates for us! Champagne in celebration, lots of wedding chat about venues and dates and of course, food! Plans to go to New York to pick out dresses and catch something on the West End at the same time. Steaks and chicken and super spicy chicken wings with sides of roasty potatoes and a lovely fresh salad. Espresso martinis for dessert then a luxurious long night's sleep (until mum wakes me up too early for a morning walk to burn off the calories).

Champagne and family,
the perfect combo

We obviously also had a BBQ on a sunday evening, with friends and family. I did the cooking: crispy roast potatoes and a burned pepper salad, souvlaki style pork loin and honey glazed chicken thighs. Lots of little pink sausages and grilled aubergines....we had so many leftovers. It's hard work on the BBQ in those temperatures but easy enough to cool down with a quick dip in the pool (including a cheeky little 11pm dip when the wine told me I was bored of conversing). Those nights are always magical to me: the familiarity of family and conversation, relaxed around the pool under the gazebo, nanna typically eating so much cheese from that cheese board that it makes me wonder where she's putting it, the standard tedium of realising that the night is over and we have to clean up. I always insist on these nights when I go to visit, because I simply cannot get them in England.

One of my favourite restaurants in Malta is Da Nino, a little family style trattoria in Gharghur, only five minutes drive from our house. We went there on my first night back and pigged out for on foccaccias and spare ribs and bowls full of chips. The wine is fresh and fruity, not as cold as we'd always like but certainly cheap and plentiful, as is the food. Mum and I could only manage to eat half our plates because there was so much....we took the leftovers home and ate them as wraps on the beach the next day. Magic!

And for a change, on Saturday night, we went down to Surfside in Sliema, got a table overlooking the sea and as far away from the tourists as we could possibly get, drank wine and munched on some pretty good food (I had a delightful tagliata). There was a breeze to keep us cool, and we had a great view of the sea and the waves, and we had such a great time doing nothing in particular. We had planned to go watch the fireworks at the Feast of Sacre Coeur in Sliema, but by the time we got there we had missed the ciccifogu which, for those of you who don't know what that is, is a massive wheel of fireworks placed on the ground that sends up the most incredible displays of fireworks. Never mind, we'll catch it next time.

Happy Surfside times

And that pretty much sums up my week. So thanks to all of you that helped to make it special. I'll be back In August for a slightly shorter visit, husband in tow this time, and can't wait to do it all over again :)