Sunshine?
Check! Cyprus receives abundant sun over 300 days each year and sees very little rainfall.
Romance?
Check! Aphrodite, the Greek God of love and beauty, is said to be from the island.
Beaches?
You bet! The country has 400 miles of coastline.
Of course, when I first started researching recipes I did not know any of this. What I did know was that Cyprus is in close proximity to Greece and shares a similar cuisine. I didn't want to make something that was stereotypically Greek, so I chose a dish called Afelia, which is pork in a red wine sauce.
I marinated cubes of pork loin in red wine with coriander, salt, pepper, and a stick of cinnamon all day. I browned the meat in a pan and then added the marinade back in and simmered for about twenty minutes. The recipe said that the marinade should reduce and get thick. It didn't, so I ended up making a little roux with flour, water, and butter, and adding it to the red wine in a separate pan.
In retrospect, I should have picked a more interesting recipe. Afelia sounded good on paper. It tasted okay, but was a a bit bland. Sadly, it was not even close to one of our favorite meals and we scored it a 2.5. Bummer! No Cyprus vacation for me.
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