COUNTDOWN T-MINUS 7 DAYS TILL MUNICH.
Yes folks we're off again. no need to be jealous, we're just good at being tight arses. We don't drink (much), we don't smoke (Thank god, yuk), we're not in to designer clothes to be fake "Look at me!" (Apart from Sian's Kurt Geiger fetish, i think it's the pretty colours) so we use our money to get away from this shitty country of ours which is going down the tubes fast. Roll on when we move to Canada, can't come soon enough.
So i didn't think there would be another update but it was Sian's birthday and i thought i would share it with my wonderful blog followers.
Firstly on the morning of Sians Birthday our little girl Squidly, the mini lop eared rabbit formally known as Squidles, the mini lop eared rabbit formally known as Squidlet, the mini lop eared rabbit formally known as Squid wanted to make a special birthday card out of cake, she had a problem making it as she was nibbling at at it all the time but i think she did real good job for a bunny only 2 1/2 years old.
For the evening i had booked us in to our favourite Italian restaurant Villagio. We've eaten here a few times but really difficult to get a table as it's usually fully booked for most of the week so i booked our Friday night table in March for June, yep that's how hard it is to get a table.
For our starter we always have olives now if we can and these were so good.
Sian fancied fish so why not have the whole lot, Whitebait (mmmm nice), Kalamari (heaven) and king tiger prawns (wow wow wee waa)
We've always had pasta dishes the times before and it was a really hot on the night so we went all fishy and i had a seafood pizza with mussels, cockles, tuna and prawns and oh my god it was better than our pizzas in Paris that were the best we've ever had and all washed down with a Zinfandel rose. As a side we had Truffle oil cooked fries with shaved parmesan, the chips were lovely but forget the the parmesan, yukky, smelly, blurgh!
Now then that's not the end of my birthday gift to Sian, oh no, i knew Sian liked ABBA as i had paid for Sian and her mum to go and see Mama Mia for the zillionth time in 2021 which was postponed until 2024 due to covid so as a surprise i bought Sian tickets for ABBA-Voyage in London which she went to with her mum. I had a prior engagement of doing nothing, i just can't get myself to like ABBA, my brain just chucks it out "OH NO YOUR NOT, GET THAT THOUGHT OUT OF YOUR HEAD, YOUR NOT LIKING ABBA". Unfortunately i had to give this present months in advance so they could book a hotel and they booked one just 5 mins walk away so they had a great time.
And it in the same area as all the Olympic stuff.
No pictures of the actual concert as cameras were not allowed but Sian said she could have stayed in there all night and it was amazing which i'm so pleased she had an amazing birthday. The problem is i'm making it more difficult for myself to trump the year before but i always find something.
Remember Zakytnhos, yeah i used to have the most successful bar for the whole Greece on Tripadvisor there for 13 years, remember? Well, guess what folks......Kalamaki the resort i had Oceanic in has stepped back in time to the 90's when the British tourist boom started. Brit greasy joe caffs and sport bars were few and far between so there was a surge in them with one trying to better than the next, aimed at your union jack wearing, English breakfast eating, beer swilling brigade but time moves on.
So..... i was amazed to see a sports bar had opened, hmm that's original and of course only about another 10 in the resort so no competition but sadly its been established where my dear friends Angelina and Nikos had their supermarket who were my saviour on many nights as i ran across to get emergency supplies. The good news is they have now set up in Tsilivi and good on them, they are good friendly people who deserved better than the Cavo Doro did to them.
How original and boring looking is this place.
Remember Oceanic that unique no bullshit, no gimmicks, no crap cabaret singers or TV's that was full every night rock chill out bar i had.....well......we've gone back to the 90's folks.....it's a caff! There used to be 3 caffs on the old road when i first visited the island in 1999 (Sooooo tonight were gonna party) Lighthouse, Yoyo's and Chequers all 3 were British caffs, then you also had Al Sandros which wasn't a British caff as such but did pretty much the same sort of menu and where are they all now???? Nowhere, all closed up as the tourists have changed and people move on from that style of establishment. Another thing i knew is you can't be everything to everyone, it just does not work. If your a bar your a bar, if your a coffee shop your a coffee shop, if your a Greek restaurant just do Greek food, you get where i'm coming from, be great at one thing not average at everything.
So here is the old Oceanic which is now a Snack Bar Cafe called Sunshine selling all manners of food from what the signage is showing also beers also cocktails and showing sports. So everything you need under one roof (Reminds me of Toys R Us) I really wish this new business all the luck in the world and hope they can make a huge success of it as they have lots and i mean lots of competition and there are certain business's on the old road that will try to make it difficult for them. The new owners i believe used to be customers of mine, so i've been told but that information may be wrong so give them your support folks, at least give it a try but for me i would never have gone down this route, when i opened there were no all inclusive and the resort was 80% British, now there are so many all inclusive hotels and the resort is now only 50% British and that's being generous. I also believe they have spent quite a bit on the refurb. When i opened i spent under £1000, that was it, open up, get your first season under your belt then upgrade the next seasons. Remember, your never in profit until you recoup the money it cost you to open, on top of that you have your utility bills, stock and staff. I had little to recoup as i worked it alone, my utilities were only €600 for all season as no tv's, no satellite channels and no wifi and i only sold drinks so no perishable stock like food that may end up being wasted. In fact i hit clear profit in my first season and it just went up every season from then BUT i hope i'm proved wrong about the type of business they've opened and they are there for longer than the 13 years i was there.
Now.......
And Before
And i've been on the chef tip again here is my Orzo and whipped feta with mascarpone bake.
And as if by magic plated and ready for you to tuck in to, it was so rich and creamy mmmmmm.
When Sian posts our food on Facebook Sians mum always comments "Eating again". Call me Mister Traditional but don't we all eat at least once a day? lol. Sian and i only eat once a day and that's our main meal on the odd occasion we may have toast while out with our coffee.
And that is definitely it for updates until were back from Munich/Paris. Overnight at airport Sunday, Flight to Munich Monday, few days there, train to Paris, few days there and Depeche Mode at Stade de France, we can't wait.
Visitors to blog last week 1576, it keeps going up, madness.
So until we land back in this crappy country which has the word "Great" in it (yeah right).......
Serve All, Love All, Peace All......Kevlar Out!
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