Today it’s time to move on to the next lent recipe, however, before doing so I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Elanguest team upon receiving a very special International award earlier on this week.  I’m talking about the ISLQ award – International Star in Leadership in Quality.  This award is given annually to companies to recognise and continue to encourage quality, continuous improvement and customer satisfaction.

It’s time to go back to the food now….and today I shall be talking about the Maltese Fish Soup, which is another very common dish especially during the lent period.  As I mentioned last week, there a quite a few Maltese who refrain from eating red meat on certain days throughout lent and fish is one of the most common replacements.

Here are the ingredients…

• 1 lb white fish
• 2 onions, chopped
• 12 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 lb tomatoes, peeled & sliced
• 1 tsp tomato paste
• 1 tsp olive oil
• pinch of marjoram & dry mint
• 5 peppercorns
• 1/2 cup cooked rice (optional)
• 4 cups fish stock

(Recipe taken from http://www.aboutmalta.com/grazio/maltarecipes.html )

Enjoy cooking   See you next week!

As promised, in the coming weeks I shall be writing about some traditional Maltese food that is associated with the Lent period.  I will start each blog by giving you some information about these dishes and end with the recipe, so that those of you who are interested could even decide to try them out!

So today I’m going to start with my personal favourite – the Lent cake…or as we call it in Maltese, Kwarezimal!  This is an almond biscuit scented with citrus zest, and also with cinnamon and orange blossom water.  The surface is glazed with Maltese honey and almonds or pistachios.

Without further ado, here’s the recipe (8 to 10 portions)!

Ingredients:

• 100g blanched Almonds
• 100g plain Flour
• 125g Caster Sugar
• dash of Brandy
• grated ring of 1 Orange,1 Tangerine and 1 Lemon
• 1 tablespoon Cocoa Powder
• Honey and almonds to decorate

(taken from <http://www.thehealthyrecipes.com/kwarezimal.php>)

If you are interested in more information about this recipe, why don’t you send us a message on Facebook? I’ll be happy to help out

Enjoy cooking!!

The first major event of the year is finally here – I’m talking about Carnival!! In fact it starts today and if one goes to Valletta they will see the majority of Maltese children dressed up in their colourful costumes roaming around the streets. Carnival is meant to be for young and old alike, and whilst the younger generations are normally very keen on dressing up as their favourite cartoon heroes, adults tend to express their artistic skills in the several dances and floats filling up the streets of our capital city.

However, if one takes the ferry to Gozo and goes to Nadur, the scene which awaits them will be completely different. There, one could witness big groups of adults wearing costumes, dancing around…..in a few words, behaving like kids (in a funny way, of course!) The tradition in Gozo is to have big street parties, where everyone is encouraged to wear funny costumes and have a great time!

Do you have any special Carnival traditions in your countries?

How do you feel about Carnival?

Are you going to wear any funny costumes this year?

We’d love to know your opinions……

This week I shall be talking about the first public holiday of the year (well technically the second one after New Year’s Day) – the 10^th of February which commemorates the shipwreck of St. Paul in Malta which took place in 60 A.D. This event is also registered in the Acts of the Apostles: 27, 28.

This is a very special day for Maltese people especially since St. Paul is also the patron saint of the island.  It is claimed that during his three-month stop in Malta The Apostle to the Gentiles stayed in a cave in Rabat, which nowadays forms part of the Parish Church of this picturesque town, and which is visited by hundreds of tourists every day.  When the late Pope John Paul II visited the island (on two separate occasions in 1990 and 2001) he too had paid a visit to the sacred grotto.

2010 marks the 1950^th anniversary of St. Paul’s shipwreck in Malta so if you happen to be on the island this Wednesday make sure that you pay a visit to Valletta (the capital city where the actual feast of the Shipwreck of St. Paul is celebrated), Rabat (where you can find St. Paul’s grotto, and also where the feast of the martyrdom of St. Paul is held) as well as Safi (which is the third town in Malta that celebrates the feast of St. Paul’s conversion).

Isn’t it amazing how time just flies?  January is already over and, speaking for myself, I can say that it’s passed in the wink of an eye! In a few weeks we’ll start preparing for Carnival, and then Easter, after that we’ll have the World Cup to look forward to….and before you know it, summer will have arrived!!

That can only mean one thing….that we’re all being kept busy here at Elanguest.  As I’m sure you all know, last year was pretty challenging for all businesses worldwide so this year we’re all doing our best improve the situation.  However, we cannot and do not want to do it alone.  We’d like to hear it from you too!

Is there anything else that you would like to see at Elanguest in Malta or on the Elanguest website?

For those students who have already visited our school; what were the things that contributed to making your stay at Elanguest memorable?

And for those students who are thinking of coming; what are your expectations?

So many hopes….so many resolutions….so many expectations!  But what is 2010 really going to be all about?

In all honesty, no one can answer this question, but let’s be realistic!  It will very likely be just like any other year before it – with its ups and downs, with its challenges and aspirations…as many would say…a ‘normal’ year.  However, even if we are aware of all this, most of us, still have long chats over never-ending New Year’s Day family lunches during which we promise the human race that we are indeed going to try to make the world a better place this year (at least I definitely cannot help it).  Despite knowing that such guarantees are way too ambitious for any human being, one still finds some kind of comfort and inner peace when making resolutions.

This year, one of my aims is to make this blog as interactive as possible…so I’m going to conclude by asking you to share your own resolutions for 2010. Have you made any?  If so…do you think you’ll manage to keep them?  If not, what is your opinion about such promises, and why don’t you make any?

If you are reading this on facebook feel free to leave your comments below – we’d love to read them!  If you are on our website – email us your thoughts…or even better yet, take a minute to find the Elanguest group on facebook and come interact with us there!

See you all next week….oh and by the way…..HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010!

Walking into the office this morning had an utterly different feel to it…presents were scattered all over, food was being brought out of boxes, and everyone wore extra-nice outfits.  After spending a big chunk of 2009 working hard on a number of new projects, including quite a lot of online material which I’ve discussed with you in the past weeks, the last and much-awaited-for scholastic day is finally here!

One of the highlights at Elanguest at this time of the year (apart from the Christmas party) is the Secret Santa activity which has now been running for a couple of years.  Everyone should turn up at 12.30pm and that is when the party should start.  As you can probably tell…we’re all looking very forward to that hour!

On the other hand, one must keep in mind that Christmas is not all about presents, parties and fun.  At this time of the year we should also think of those who will not be with us to celebrate this special feast…friends or family members who are working in different countries far away; or special people who passed away…

However, I really do not want to end the last blog of 2009 on a gloomy note, so I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have made this year as successful as it has been…starting with my bosses David and Ursula West, all my colleagues in the office, all my other colleagues who make sure that the school premises are always spick and span, all the teachers,   and of course, all the students who have written yet another chapter in the story of Elanguest

On behalf of everyone I want to wish all of you and your families and very merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year 2010.  All the best to all!  God bless!

Friday the 13^th…a day that freaks out many superstitious people from all around the world, but for some of us it’s merely one other day.  But what is it about Friday the 13^th that is so scary?  In truth, there are very few documented tragedies which took place on this day, so one could conclude that this is the result of legends that were passed down the generations through words of mouth.  However, for the more cynical of us, the answer to the question above could be found in numerology theories…

Basically, in numerology the number 12 is considered to be the number of completeness, probably resulting from the fact that we have twelve months in a year, twelve hours on the clock, the twelve Apostles of Jesus, and also the twelve gods of Olympus, amongst other. The number 13 was, therefore, considered as going against this completeness.

There is, obviously, nothing to prove these theories; however, I would suggest that you all keep your eyes wide open today….just in case…..

Autumn has officially started in Malta, and with that we also got the first showers and storms of the new season.  Needless to say, after a very long and hot summer, the rain was very welcomed by the vast majority of the Maltese population (even thought I must admit that I got really scared due to the thunder and lightning last night).

This week was also marked by the first school buses which once again started filling up our roads in the morning; as well as the typical ‘first-week-of-school’ scene, characterized by mothers accompanying their young kids to the various shops in their towns and villages to stock up on pens, copybooks and other stationery.

On a completely different note, I must also mention the fact that last week we celebrated the feast of the saint who is the protector of Elanguest – Padre Pio of Pietrelcina.  As most of you already know, our school is dedicated to the memory of this Great Saint.

Hello again….it’s the end of another week and time for yet another of our updates!

Today is actually a more special one than usual (well at least it’s more special for us) because we will not be here on Monday since we have another Public Holiday.  This time we shall be celebrating Independence Day.

As most of you know, Malta was a British colony for over a century and a half.  In 1800 the British colonized the island, taking it from the French, who had only been here for 2 years; and from that moment onwards 164 years passed, including two World Wars and many ups and downs; until the Maltese finally gained their independence on the 21st of September, 1964.  The man behind all this, and the Maltese Prime Minister at the time was George Borg Olivier.

This is very basic information which can easily be found online; however, what most of you might not know is that the man who gave Malta its Independence happens to be the grandfather of one of our teachers at Elanguest – George!  What about that?!!  The grandson of one of Malta’s most influential historical and political figures could have been…or could be your English teacher!
We really do live in a very small world, don’t we?!

Well, on that note I can only wish you a very happy LONG weekend….and I’ll see you all in a week’s time

Take care!