The down sides were that it was damn hard work and very long hours with not a whole lot of money in return. It saw me through well though, gave me enough money to afford my own little two bed flat in town (also owned by the greeks and right above the restaurant, handy for them, not so handy for me when I wanted to escape on a rare day off lol) and kept me out of trouble, I mean I literally had no free time to get in trouble.

So whilst working there I did a bit of everything, I worked in the kitchen as a not so glam washing up assistant, did the food prep, helped with the cooking of meals and the odd bit of cleaning. I also did some really bad waitressing, but it was soon to be discovered that I’m far too clumsy for this.

I got all my meals for free, so my food bills were low and made some great friends, some of whom I still keep in touch with now. I had a lovely holiday for two weeks in an amazing family villa and actually found that despite my geeky ways, I loved the club life of Ayia Napa, granted I did spend more time at this awesome rock club they had there (I would love to go back just for the atmosphere of that one place if it still exists, that was my idea of the perfect night out with quality rock tunes) rather than the more dancey, rave type clubs.

EDIT: OMG it totally does still exist and HERE it is, it still looks just as fun as when I was there. They play the most awesome tunes and the atmosphere is electric. Go!

So, back on track – whilst working a the restaurant I learned how to make a few greek meals and deserts, and every now and then I get a craving for them. My daughter loves most greek food and my husband likes some of it but is rather more picky. Usually when I make these meals I have to cook up extra to share with my mum and sister as they also seem to share my passion for greek food, maybe its a nostalgia thing for us all.

So, here’s what I made yesterday, I usually do a Moussaka at the same time when I make this dish but I didn’t have time so instead we have greek salad (not pictured as it was in the fridge) stuffed vine leaves (Dolmades) and stuffed tomatoes and peppers with the vine leaf stuffing, feta cheese, herbs, olive oil and a vine leaf for flavour.

The vine leaves soaking:

The Mixture in the pan cooking (If anyone writes a recipe I can try and write it down but basically do it from memory, it includes lamb mince, tomatoes, greek herbs, seasoning, onions, courgette, rice and probably some other stuff I can’t remember lol)

The cooked stuffed toms and peppers:

And the stuffed, cooked vine leaves, rolled into small parcels. They are an aquired taste do to the destinct flavour of the leaves but very, very moreish!

So there you have it, some more ramblings from me. Thanks for reading and feel free to send me any of your own greek recipe ideas if you have some, I’m always looking for more to try out!