Our last days in Patnem….. our time has gone so quickly…. it seemed a long time at the start… it was indeed luxuriously lengthy for some weeks… but these last couple of weeks have flown by.
Saturday night we ate at Ciarans….. A nice live music set but food a bit of a shame. They had a special which was “Crispy Pork Belly with Hasselback potatoes”. Now, I has no complaints. Mine was a decent slab of tender pork with a thin sliver of fat then a crust of crisp, well seasoned crackling. Bob and Linda’s was quite the opposite. Hardly any meat, rubbery crackling and a huge blog of white flubbery fat in between. Absolutely inedible. We complained and after a bit of a struggle with the head waiter when he tried to tell us that crispy belly pork was always like that and we assured him that we were connoisseurs of said belly pork…. they removed it from Bob and Linda’s bill……
Today Bob, Daisy and I had breakfast at Jaali. Lovely breakfast enjoying their lovely view and even lovelier, their special brew coffee. Wandered back along the beach to Sea Front and a mega day in the sun and sea. Haven’t seen Daisy this brown in years. We’ve had such an amazing time with her and count ourselves so lucky that she chooses to spend her hard earned cash and leave here in Goa with the Aged Parentals..
Tonight we had a last gang dinner at Cow Corner. It was a bit weird. When we booked, they told us it was a night of Hebrew music. Didn’t know quite what that meant but sounded interesting. And when we arrived, the music was fabulous. However, as the evening progressed, frankly it turned into a pro Israeli mega gathering. There seemed to be only one other table that was there for the dinner. The waiters were completely over run. Orders went astray. I made my feelings known to the manager and he said they thought it was a music night for 20, not 100….. Food and Tickle gins were nice though and the music was fabulous.
Came back to Eve’s for more chat and nightcaps. Can’t believe everyone is leaving tomorrow. Thank heavens we leave for Cochin on Monday morning. It would be too sad to stay on now without our friends and Daisy. As it is, we get a train at breakfast time on Monday to head south.
We are so profoundly grateful to all our friends, old and new, that have enlivened our stay here this winter. It has been a procession of joyful company from beginning to end and we hope we have many years to come when we can enjoy this place, feeling at home and in caring company, both local and incomer….
So just one day left in our beloved Patnem…. Hope you read on and join us for the rest of our winter escape, first in Kerala and then in the UAE.
