Winterposts:Nolene Psaila

Winter food

Winter is the coldest season and sometimes it can be a very wet one too.I guess to keep warm you need to eat soups or that food that keeps you warm.One of the favourite soup with Maltese peole is the ‘Chestnut soup’,in Maltese we call it ‘Imbuljuta’,I think you can have it as a soup or as a snack.Before it was more popular with Maltese people for there wasn’t any heaters so to keep warm they used to have more soups than today.

What you need for this soup
500g of peeled chestnuts
rind of orange
rind of lemon
rind of tangerine
pinch of nut meg
3 heaped tablespoons of fine chocolate powder
4 heaped tablespoons brown sugar
2 or 3 cloves
pinch of spice
pinch of cinnamon
if you like you can put a tot of brandy

Method:
Soak the peeled chestnuts overnight
The throw the water away
Place the chestnuts in a pot,
cover them with water,
add all the ingredients,
when it reaches boiling point simmer until chestnuts are soft and tender
Before serving remove the rinds and the cloves

It is quite filling,delicious and keeps you warm.It used to be like a special snack around Christmas time when Maltese people used to come from the midnight mass and have a bowl of the chestnut soup (Imbuljuta).

Winter festivals

In Winter we have the Malta song festival which occurs in February.There will be about twenty songs, sung by maltese singers written and composed by maltese composers.The best song and performance will participate in the Eurovision song contest overseas. Compare there will be about twenty or more countries, last year we placed second, so I hope this year we will win it.

One of the traditions in the Maltese islands is the celebration of Carnival. These are 3 days of merriment dating back from the time of the knights. Traditionally also at this time of the year the Maltese delight in eating a cake called "Prinjolata" which as the name implies is made from pine nuts amongst the many ingredients. These can be bought in various sizes from leading confectioners or better still you can make your own.

There’ll be a defile, King Carnival will lead the way. There’s the Maltese ‘Kukkanja’ which was created by the Knights of Malta. The ‘Kukkanja’ is a pole that has a flag on the top and who takes off the flag will receive a price. The main event of this festival is held in Valletta though there’ll be villages that celebrate Carnival too. Even in Gozo, the most popular Carnival is in Nadur, where people dress in macabre costumes.

Maltese people like Carnival for sometimes you’ll see little children even babies wearing costumes like Minnie mouse, Tweety, Dalmations or any characters from the cartoons.



Winter activities

In Winter most Maltese families stay at home when it is very cold and wet either they watch a dvd or a good program on television. There are others who play cards, scrabble or other indoor games. Another activity is if there is a good film they go to the cinema or a good play at the Manoel theatre. The other contrast if it is a beautiful day, Maltese people go for a pic-nic in the countryside. You’ll find youngsters go on a hike in the beautiful countryside. I guess the best place for hikes is Girgenti, Salib Ta’ l-Gholja limits of Siggiewi and the most lovely place is Chadwick lakes limits of Rabat.