Pissouri, Cyprus - another "atmospheric" walk and citrus recipes

Today Jimmy was the walk organizer and as we had "recyed" the walk a few weeks ago and I posted lots of pictures then, so there wont be many pictures of the walk today.

I actually had to use the windshield wipers as I drove to the starting point and was wearing splash pants and a rain coat, but it just drizzled for the first 10 minutes.

We passed a compound of 3 huge houses surrounded by a wall, iron gates and statues. Inside the wall; a very fierce German Shepherd

and outside the gates; 3 big black Hummers. There was much conjecture - Israelis? Russians?

Irina told me the story of this house down in Pissouri Bay. The land was bought by a Russian (Irina is Russian and works in real estate). He had permission to build a 3 story house. He built a 5 story house. He was told he had to take down the top 2 stories. This was 5 years ago - he hasn't finished it, he hasn't occupied it and he hasn't removed the top stories.

As it stopped raining and began to get a bit brighter it also warmed up.

It became hot and muggy and we all started stripping off layers.

We heard the bells on this mixed herd,

sheep and goats, before we saw them on the other side of the valley.

We had heard gunfire earlier in the walk. A little worrying but Wednesday is one of the days that hunting is permitted. We saw him down in the valley, walking away from us. We hoped we were doing enough talking to make him aware of us, and scare away any prey. When driving home I saw a Sand grouse at the side of the road - run and hide little bird!

We talked sailing

for the last part of the walk.

Lunch at Artemis restaurant in Pissouri Bay and I tried the Kleftico (old goat cooked in the outside oven). It was very tender and tasty but my piece had a lot of bone and fat. Not something I will have again.

One of the couples on the walk had a grocery bag full of lemons to give away. I took a few and was given a recipe for Limonchello, which I love so I promptly went to the Cava and bought the required vodka. I made a half batch and cut up the lemon skin rather than grating it because I don't have a strainer that could take out those fine particles.

Limonchello
zest of 7 lemons
1 litre of vodka
1 1/2 cups of sugar.
Put it all in a container in a cupboard. Every day swirl it around to dissolve the sugar. Should be ready when the sugar is all dissolved, about 3 weeks. Strain and drink very cold (over ice or from the freezer).

As the second try at the Orange cake turned out I will now include that recipe. I think my problem with the first try was that I didn't put in enough almonds and I didn't wait long enough for the gas oven to heat up.

No Flour Orange Cake
2 oranges
250 gm ground almonds (I used 2 cups)
250 gm sugar (I used 1 cup)
6 eggs, beaten
1 tsp baking powder

Boil the oranges in a saucepan of water until they are soft (about 1 1/2 hours). Let them cool, cut them open and remove the pits, puree them (skin and all) in a food processor. Add remaining ingredients and combine well.
Pour into a 10X14 pan, lined with parchment paper and bake at 190C (375F) until firm to the touch, about 40 minutes.

As you can see from the picture, I tried a piece, it is very moist and tartly orange. I think it needs ice cream or whipped cream to complete it!