Saturday, January 23, 2010

Cooking and Cleaning in Cyprus

After a day in the house, resting, sleeping and all that fun stuff I ventured out to the new base which is an old restaurant. It’s a pretty cool setup and I am really excited for the adventures waiting in Fraktis. Before dark I had a chance to take a peak at my new office set up which is in the old corner store. The corner store apparently was so hopping they built a big ‘ol grocery store down the road…so now its just a normal grocery store.


I helped Marissa cook some homemade marinara that she turned into Bolognese and I turned into a yummy

veggie sauce over penne with a simple salad. Only base staff are eating meals together right now so last night there were merely 6 of us. We could only find 3 forks so 3 of us used spoons! =)


Today I got up with the rest of the group and headed to worship around 8AM. I spent the rest of the day setting up the library and organizing stuff…making beds and getting ready for school to start!


Matti and I were the cooking team tonight and we had fish on the menu. The GTS I team had dinner together so it was just 4 of us. Julia really helped me out because the boys were out late dropping off a load of things to the land.


We made roasted rosemary potatoes, sauted green beans and a yummy lemon, garlic fish. The fish was to die for. The recipe is as follows…


4 tilapia filets (totally defrosted)

olive oil

1 whole lemon (1/2 juiced, ½ thinly sliced)

salt and pepper

garlic powder

fresh dill (one bunch)

3-4 cloves of fresh garlic (coarsely chopped)

Preheat oven to 200º Celsius. Arrange filets in pan. Drizzle a little olive oil over it. Juice half of the lemon and pour evenly over fish. Salt and pepper to taste. Add a little garlic powder. Rub seasonings into fish. Evenly disperse garlic and dill over fish. Place a sliced lemon in the middle of each fish. Bake in the oven for approximately 30 minutes or until fish is flaky.


Erev Shabbat dinner was a dream! The Wilks' invited two car loads of us to Paphos to enjoy a relaxing evening in Aphrodite Hills. We watched as the sun set over the Mediterranean and fellowshipped together over a pot of chili and red wine from our land. The night ended with a cheesey action flick that everyone criticized and I dozed off in the car ride home.

After sleeping in as late as possible (try over 12 hours) I took a long walk over to Cas' apartment in Trimiklini. Hannah joined me on half of the 45 minute walk and I took my time taking photos through Moniatis and Trimiklini of all the familiar homes and shops we drive by often. I really enjoyed myself and wanted to share these with everyone who hasn't been here or have missed the beautiful Cypriot mountains!



There were lots of Cypriots out and about on this lovely, sunny Saturday and I was SO tempted to take pictures of them as well! I couldn't pass up the chance of showing you how incredibly expensive petrol is! Now don't forget, this is in euro cents, PER LITER! With the exchange and multiplying it by 4 (4 liters in a gallon) gas is roughly $5.44 a gallon. Now you know why I walked for 45 minutes to get to Cas' apartment.

Well we are attempting to stay warm and trying to get everything ready for the students coming this week. Please keep us in your prayers and that we are productive and have everything ready to welcome in the new school year. I hope to keep up the blogging!

3 comments:

  1. great blog. I can't believe you got one up so fast. You are so much cooler than me.

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  2. Xaun! It was so great to read about your first few days in Cyprus! We all miss you so much here already, but I know that God has great things in store for you over the next 5 or so months til we get you back! ;-) Also, you are absolutely gorgeous in that blue dress! Love and miss you!

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  3. Great blog! Loved seeing all the pictures, too. The corner store looks lonely and weird. Didn't it used to be blue? It looks so spare in white. Love you!!

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