Around this time last year my family was in Cyprus. It was warm and I swam and ate ice cream every day. I was looking through some photos of summer in the hopes that I could warm myself and found these pics. I had misplaced these photos for a whole year.
On my birthday in Cyprus I requested one of my favourite meals of all time: fresh louvi. It is one of my family’s staples and was my first post on Gibberlicious so I thought it was fitting it was also my 100th.
Before my yiayia died we would gather on their balcony in the evenings as the day cooled down and we would do things with our hands. Sometimes it was threading lavendar into these bulb like things for the linen cupboard. Sometimes it was crocheting or knitting. And sometimes it was shelling black-eyed beans. It became a ritual of sorts, especially seeing as we don’t really get fresh black-eyed beans here. It became such a thing of pleasure that my 90 year old grandfather tried to bring several kilos of unshelled beans through customs when he came to visit. Needless to say they were confiscated (along with several pieces of village haloumi).
So on my birthday, my mum, sister, cousin and I shelled the blackeyed beans in the 35 degree heat. In South Africa we usually cook the beans with spinach, but in Cyprus you get these massive marrows which we used instead. I can’t find the rest of the photos of the meal, but needless to say it was amazing. The fresh beans and marrows and the delicious olive oil…
I miss my yiayia.
Lovely pic! I love all the rings. Congrats on your hundred.
I have more pics- should I send them? Alexia even got in on the shelling and Josephine
Yes please!
I also miss her! But what a tribute – our weekly memory/reminder /celebration as we spoon those beans with lots of lemon juice olive oil and fresh green onions!