Amathus Ruins

Wow so I woke around 7.30am Stitch had his walk before it became too warm, and then it was time for my breakfast and the long wait for the Little King to surface, I think it was around 11.45 before he shuffled up the stairs so when I cooked his breakfast of bacon and eggs I decided to join him for lunch, then it was a quick swim for him and a cheer up call for myself to a hospitalised friend stuck in Darenth Valley hospital.

After breakfast-lunch we headed off into town as having had a we while in the sun whilst I went to the bank the Little King had managed to make the sun disappear, unfortunately it was replaced by a thunderstorm, if he keeps this up he will be sent packing tootsweet. So we headed down the seafront and I gave him the tourist tour of the shoreline, we stopped off at the local ruins and had a walk around snapping pictures as we went, then we headed along the shoreline again until we came to my favourite Starbucks and only because some frappingmochingchinko drink is his must have now drink we decided to stop off for a while before heading down to Debenhams for a little shopping.  I loaded my basket will lovely treats including pistachio ice-cream (not for me) and the Little King picked up some tasty treats for his friends back home, Keo and Zivania a traditional Cypriot drink.

When we arrived home the Little King sunned himself in the garden in the last of the afternoon rays whilst I set about organising my fridge (OCD really kicking in), then one more swim and it was time for supper, fajitas were made a first for me as I have never cooked them before, and for myself I made a lovely garlic chicken salad with sour cream paleo style, which the Little King said is the best sour cream he has ever tasted.

We spent our evening chatting it's actually quite nice not having TV it forces you to talk to one another, just think how much you could be missing with that TV on. Stitch had a couple of business trips, I am now under the impression he thinks if he squeezes his bum cheeks together as he walks he will get extended walks throughout the evening, tomorrow I am going to try a new approach to getting his business done, I just have to decide what it is.

Zivania

Zivania is produced from pomace, the residue of grapes that were pressed during the winemaking process mixed with high-quality dry wines, all produced from the local grape varieties of Cyprus. Zivania is exclusively produced by the distillation of the two indigenous varieties, namely Mavro and Xynisteri. Zivania may also be produced by other, either local or imported varieties, but the variety used must be distinctively indicated on the label, for example as Zivania Cabernet or Zivania Maratheftiko.

The grapes must be unblemished, neither crushed, rotten or overripe, and they must contain relatively high acidity. The process adopted for the fermentation is the one which is used for red wine making, irrespective of the grape varieties, without the addition of SO2 as a preservative. That means that the whole grape mass is fermented, as it emerges after crushing the grapes.

The bouquet of zivania is ensured by the volatile compounds which are transferred from the grape residue during distillation. The pomace/wine mixture is distilled in special distillation apparatus which was traditionally named ‘lambikos’, an ancient Greek word that was paraphrased by the Arabs. Traditional distillation, as known by villagers, has today given way to modern technology and zivania is produced in large distillation tanks made from stainless steel where the wine is mixed with the grape mass (zivana) and heated up in steam. All approved zivania producers have in-house chemical labs for analysing the final product before this reaches the market, checking that methanol levels are within the specified limits.

Since 2004, Zivania has been protected under EU regulations as a product unique to Cyprus and as such cannot be produced in any other country or marketed under that name.

Zivania is characterized by its typical taste and aroma. It is colorless and it has a pleasant alcoholic content with light aroma of raisins. The typical alcohol content is 45% by volume. It is a pure drink that contains no sugars and has no acidity.