The last few days haven't been very adventurous, in a culinary sense. We picked up broad beans from a farmer on the side of the road. I hadn't had them before, and they were pretty good. It is a popular thing to eat in Malta. I think they are similar to butter beans. You need to take them out of the pod, then peel the outer layer off to expose the bean. They can be eaten with that extra layer, but I'm told that they are more bitter that way. All of the produce trucks are carrying them right now. I love the produce trucks. Every day, you can go and get fresh fruit and/or vegetables. We were driving behind a truck today, and a cauliflower fell off the truck when it hit a bump. We didn't stop for it, but someone must have had a free cauliflower!
A new thing we tried today was ftira. It is basically a Maltese sandwich. Ours had ham and egg. It wasn't made on the traditional Maltese bread, but it was still okay. They looked like they were put into a panini press. You see them advertised almost everywhere.
Since I'm not using sugar, the cappuccinos haven't been quite right. Sometimes I ask them to warm my milk since the cafes don't have lactose-free milk. I've been carrying around an airplane-sized wine bottle or my travel mug with lactose-free milk. I get some odd looks, but what can you do. I'm thinking of going back to a bit of sugar so I can enjoy them while we are here. Stevia just isn't cutting it. If I add two of the packets, I really taste the artificial taste.
Easter has to be the worst time to be in Malta when you are diabetic or watching your sugar intake. There are figolli EVERYWHERE! For those who don't know, figolli are traditional Maltese Easter cookies that are huge. They usually fit on a big dinner plate. You can even find them at the dollar stores. They are a sugar cookie (kind of) filled with an almond paste then iced with icing or chocolate or both. My aunt gave us a store bought one and another aunt brought a homemade one for all of us. There are a bunch of sweets that are usually made around Easter, and that makes it that much harder. Growing up with figolli makes it so hard to say no. We have just had small slices of them as an indulgence. I've thought about waking up in the middle of the night and devouring them. Must...be...strong...
The stores are still filled with the Easter eggs. It was neat that yesterday, Easter Sunday, the kids take their chocolate eggs and figolli to get them blessed after the procession of the risen Lord. I'm surprised they could hold off that long.
Today, we tried a new fish! It was called Awrat, and was wild caught. It is a milder white fleshed fish. We picked some up from a local fish monger and brought it back to the apartment to cook up. It was different, but not in a bad way. We just baked it in the oven. Mom cut off the tails, but the heads were the off-putting part. I found the eyeball, and it felt like a marble. We each ate the equivalent of one fish each.
I've been making vegetable side dishes with eggplant, cauliflower, mushrooms, and carrots. The carrots are usually really sweet, with I love. The cauliflower tastes a bit different than the one we get in Canada. It isn't as pungent. I roasted some in the oven and today I started them on the stove top and then put them in the oven because I made too much for the pan, then they went back on the stove.
I'm noticing my taste buds changing. After drinking water all day, I was getting sick of it, so I tried a diet Pepsi. It wasn't half bad. Now I'm drinking Coke Zero. I don't know if I can handle regular Coke anymore. I'll never be able to match Joe in quantity of Coke Zero consumed, but a bottle now and then seems to hit the right notes.
Tomorrow we are probably off to Gozo, so maybe we'll try some more new stuff!
Ciao,
Lisa
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