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My father bought a box of these chocolate biscuit snacks from the supermarket for just LM1.00. The packaging is quite attractive and the ingredients are written with many different languages.

It consists of 2 biscuits with white marshmallow-like material and all covered with cacao chocolate. I say it straight away but I did not find this snack very tasty. The biscuits are not crispy (as if a bit moist), and they have little taste. The marshmallow layer melts in your mouth and leave no taste at all, and the chocolate layer is nothing special. After you finish the snack, it leaves you with a feeling of fat or butter in your mouth, probably from the poor quality chocolate covering.

On Valentine's day, I and my girlfriend decided to celebrate and dine at the afternoon instead at the evening. We went to a unique restaurant found near the historic temples of Hagar Qim at Qrendi.

The restaurant is situated in the middle of the country side, in a very quite place, except from the barking of dogs kept in kennels at a very nearby location. It is ideal for midday or afternoon meals in sunny days. There also tables in the shadow (for hotter summer days) and inside if it is cold or rainy. The service is acceptable for a middle class, 'countryside' restaurant. The waiter was very helpful and friendly and he speaks German, English and Italian apart from Maltese. There is plenty of starters and main courses to chooses from, such as Pasta, Pizza, and several meat portions including Maltese rabbit speciality.. I ordered gorgonzola steak (with blue cheese) and my girlfriend chicken breast with herbal sauce, and both found that the food was delicious. The tables are large and found them clean, and the place was tidy.

The only things that I can mention as a down thumb was that we had to wait considerably between the starter and the main course, but it did not ruin our day becasue we were not in a hurry at all. Also at that time there did not yet have a wine list but at least they had the wine I wanted. At the end we were very satisfied with our full tummies, and about two hours in the fresh air and the warm pleasant sunshine.

For tourists being in Malta during Autumn to Spring, I suggest that you first go and visit the temples in the morning, go and eat at this restaurant for launch, and after go for a nice walk around the country side and coast line in this area.

Recently I bought a cordless telephone, the Panasonic KX-A141es priced at Lm40 / 6 months guarantee. I always had the idea that Panasonic had great cordless phones, so i did not make much shopping around. This phone is wonderful - packed with features, light, small - looking like a medium sized mobile phone, and cute metalic-grey (plastic) look.

Features include ID caller (50 max nos), phone book (20 max), redialling list (10 max), clock+date+alarm, intercom (if you have more then 1 handset), hot key short cut dialing (you press a number 1 to 9 for 3 sec and a specified number is phoned up), various tones to select from, redial, and many other settings. It takes 2 Ni-MH or Cd-Ni rechargeable batteries (easy to find and and cheap), where the former are much better which gives 120hours standby time and 10 hours continuos talking time. The programing of phone book / id caller is a bit fiddly in the begining and following the manual is recommended, but once get used it feels very easy with the up/down/left/right cursor keys. The manual is easy to follow, but sometimes you need to read a section twice or more again to get it done. The base is also small (12.5 x 10.0 x 4.0cm) and have a special button to make handset ring in case you forget where it was last placed. Finally the transmission is perfect, no hiss, no background noise, strong clear voice.

There is not much on the negative side. I wish that the phone have back-lit illumination for using at dark or night. Then, I was very surprised that the phone book stores only up to 20 entries. Even cheap 199x mobiles used to store 100 entries. However from the little I shopped around, all the cordless models I checked stored between 10 - 20 entries. Another thing which annoys me a bit is the rounded back body. When you place the phone on a flat surface, such as a table, it is very unstable on its round back and can easily be knocked off if lightly hit by mistake. It is not recommended by the manual to put the mobile in the charger before the battery low indicator flashes up. Also you cannot try the phone up immediately after you buy it, first you have to charge its batteries (included in the package) for 7 hours. This seams very important because its written several times everywhere in the manual, leaflets etc.

At LM40 (Feb2004) this phone is affordable, have all the important everyday-use features, does its job very well, and finally Panasonic are renowned for top quality electronics. I recommend it.

I and Malin went to Xlendi / Gozo to eat for midday. I was told that there is a good restaurant at the steep street beside at the left side of the bay. There where 3 restaurants if I remember well, but the one named il-Cima attracted us the most and we dined here.

We were lucky and found a table beside the large windows (or glass walls) facing the bay, and the huge cliffs. The service was very good, especially if the person with a french-like accent comes and serves you. I believe he is the owner. The menu large number to choose from, especially the pizzas, where there was at least 20 different types. I and Malin took a starter (those potato gnocchi in cream sauce were superb!) and then a Pizza each. The pizza dough was about 10-15mm thick, crispy, and full of ingredients. Again it was very good.

We did not have space for a dessert but 2 days after (on Sunday) we came again to eat here, and took 2 flavours from the 5 or 6 different flavours of ice-cream as a desert. Again very high points for the ice-cream, it was served in a large, fancy glass and took us at least 15 minutes to finish it off.

On Sunday, the owner showed us a variety of fresh fish, in case we would like to choose one for our main course. Despite the fish looked very inviting, I choose again a pizza since the last one was superb. Malin took pasta with blue cheese cream and this was also very good. There where quite some people (but not full up) and Food was served efficiently.

One thing to mention on the thumb down side is that there is not the option to dine in open air, like those restaurants just in front of the bay. Another thing is that the tables are small and are a bit too much near each other and crammed up, so it looses a bit of space-comfort and privateness. For instance, I could follow the conversation of the 3 neighbouring tables easily. Despite that, I and Malin look forward to dine here again when we visit Gozo.

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I went again in June to Xlendi, and of course I headed straight to this restaurant to dine at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. It was pretty hot and I was quite tempted to try again some new restaurant with open air tables down the bay. As I arrived near Ic-Cima Restaurant I was delighted to see that they had open air tables opposite the restaurant. Probably they have this service for Summer only. There was a free table for us facing the wonderful Xlendi bay and its cliffs. It was again a perfect meal and excellent service for reasonable prices. 6 points more to the overall score.

One of my favourite Restaurants that I like to go every time I visit Gozo for a holiday is Martin's Diner Restaurant at Nadur. The way to go to the restaurant is still confusing for me, but in some way or other I always manage to arrive. Usually I find parking in the street, exactly by the restaurant.

One of the great features of the restaurant is the panoramic view there is at the terrace. I often like to eat open air, so such restaurants are preferred. The terrace is covered by a wooden roof (I think made by bamboo-like pipes) to provide shadow in case it is hot sunshine. In case it is cold or windy, you can eat in the ground floor which is cosy, warm and very large.

The tables are quite well spaced and large. The menu is vast, including a list of burgers and a list of pies (called 'ftajjar'). For some food, there is the take-away option. The food can take some time sometimes because this restaurant is a very large one, and the cook could not cope well when there are many people dining.

A large bottle of local wine is given for free for every meal. The wine is generally good, but sometimes it is so and so. In this case it wasn't very good so we ordered half a bottle of Dolcino. Similarly, sometimes the food here is not the best taste, but more often it is very good. Today we took pasta as starter and meat as main course. Malin took roasted chicken. The service was not so good, but again it was the problem that there where not many waiters serving around. The waiters (which where very young, in their teens) try to remember many things at one go and so they often forget something. At least 2 more waiters are required when the restaurant is quite full of people, like Sundays and public holidays.

The pasta was a bit un-tasty, especially my tortellini with White cream sauce. The tomato sauce is by far more good. The main course where then very good. The T-Bone steak was perfect, and Malin liked very much the Nadur roasted Chicken. The portions are very large with plenty of salad (local fresh vegetables), chips, some rice, etc. We were full so we did not order dessert. The prices here is also a thumb-up becasue both drinks and food in general are not expensive at all. I really like this restaurant and look forward to come here again. I hope next time I find the way quicker.

Today we went to Mdina to have a coffee and some delicious cakes at around 6 pm. We went first at that cafeteria nearby the main Mdina fortifications called Fontanella Garden. It was nearly full up with people, but there was a small (and dark) room with 3 or 4 tables free. I felt the room was a bit too much closed and dark, and the waiter would take ages to serve us (if he will ever note us), so we decided to leave and find another restaurant.

While walking, we found a luxurious looking restaurant (and cafeteria) called Pallazzo Costanzo. Since it seemed the entrance of a palace or poshy place we believed the prices are sky high, but when we looked at the menu outside they were reasonable. (Cappuccino 55c, Milkshake with panna = 1.25c, cake slices 83c, Pizzas 2.50 max, to mention few examples) Still not the cheapest but we decided to try this cafeteria for the first time.

One thing that we soon noticed was that there was nobody there, but it did not bother me much. The waitresses were dressed in some Maltese traditional colourful garments which looked between funny and cute. We took a table in the heart of the place, hence an internal garden (without ceiling). Everywhere was clean and organised. The chairs were made of solid decorated iron which I forgot its specific name (the chair was so heavy that it took an effort to move it) and the tables were stable (no see-saw effect) and clean. There was also some plants, and chirping birds to improve the atmosphere of being in a garden.

Malin took a cappuccino, and I ordered vanilla milkshake, and we selected 2 slices of cakes form the display (there where about 10 different types to choose from). My Qassatella (with sweet rcotta) was quite good, and Malin's Tirami Su was also great.

I can't judge much on the service becasue we were alone, but I can say that the waiter was kind and friendly. The one disadvantage is that the tables are not open air (like Fontanella) and the small internal garden does not have the atmosphere that it is open. The tables inside the rooms are a bit in the dark too, more ideal for evening dinner.

I and Malin went to visit this highly acclaimed film at the cinema of Valletta. About two thirds of it was filmed in Malta and Gozo so I was more looking forward to watch it. I found the film very interesting, learning more about the history of our ancient times in Greece. So there is some element of education. However the main element in this film is battle fighting and lots of blood spilling. The main personality of the film was Achilles (Brad Pitt) - a very brave warrior who made the rulers win their wars - especially in the very first minutes where he defeated a giant rival in just one hit. At a certain point it happened that I started hating him because he is too much invincible and you predict that his is going to win everytime.

There is also the element of love, the reason of the bloody war between Sparta and Greece, and also the reason why Achilles died. Finally I really liked to see some background scenes taken from Malta, especially that part taken from the Blue lagoon at Comino.

Sonja is only 16 years old when her parents tell her that she is going to marry a 40-year old relative. She cries over her lost youth and over becoming the second wife of an old man, but no one is taking notice of her feelings in the matter. The 40-year old Sultan Khan is a wealthy and respected man, so everyone thinks Sonja should be grateful about her parents' choice.

The 12-year old boy Aimal works twelve hours per day, seven days a week, in his father's shop. For his father, earning money is more important than giving Aimal a proper education.

Every day Leila wakes up before dawn to prepare warm water and breakfast for the rest of the family. Or it does not really feel as her family, since she is living with her brother, his wifes and children, as well as with her mother and two sisters. Since Leila is the youngest daughter in the family, 19 years old, she is the lowest on the scale. Everybody is commanding her and complaining that she does not take care of the house properly. She is secretly in love with a man called Karim, but in Afghanistan you cannot hope for a happy ending.

These are three of the persons in the Khan-family, a middle-class family in Afghanistan. The Norwegian journalist Asne Seierstad spent a few months living together with them, and gives a shocking inside view of what life is like in Afghanistan, mainly concentrating on the women's situation. Sometimes it is difficult to believe that this is really a true story, Afghanistan is not situated that far away from Europe, and still some practices there seem to be centuries behind.

Torey Hayden is a psychologist specialized in children who are not able to speak due to psychological reasons. She has written many books describing different cases, and I have read one of them, the book is called "Murphy's boy" in English and "Burpojken" in Swedish.

One day Torey was contacted by the manager at a treatment center for children, because the manager had tried everything to help one of their patients, but nothing worked, and Torey was their last hope. The troublesome patient was a 15-year old boy called Kevin, but everyone just called him Zoo boy. The reason for his nickname was the fact that he always hid himself under a table placing chairs around the table, creating himself a cage. In addition to this very odd behaviour, he did not speak and was terrified for water, in fact he seemed afraid of almost anything.

Torey admits that she was not looking forward to starting to work with this boy, mainly because it seemed to be such a hopeless case. But fortunately for the kid, she could not come up with an acceptable excuse and therefore started to visit him once a week. The first problem she tried to solve was his silence. In his records it said that he had been talking in his early years, 2-5 years old, but the information about him was very scarse and not very reliable. However, after some weeks hard work Kevin suddenly started to speak. This was of course a very triumphant step, but Torey soon realized that the silence was only the tip of the iceberg. After crossing this obstacle all the other problems in Kevin's life became more visible.

Bit by bit Torey learns to know about all the horrible experiences Kevin had to go through as a child. His stepfather treated him very badly, and this created a huge amount of hatred in the poor boy. Despite the number of setbacks and disappointments Torey never gives up on Kevin, and I think this is the fact that saves him.

Lately this book has been topping the bestseller lists in many countries, and it has received a lot of publicity for its controversial content. It is a crime story, but it still contains a lot of interesting facts as well as speculations about history and religion.

Robert Langdon, a teacher in symbolism at a university in USA, is in France to hold some lectures. By a strange coincidence he becomes the main suspect of the murder of a famous French art historian, since he was sceduled to meet this Frenchman the same night as the man was killed. Robert manages to escape the police with the help of a young woman, who turns out to be the granddaughter of the murdered man. He gets to know that the man was an important member of a secret society called Priory of Sion. The legend says that this society holds a secret which makes it very powerful, and a secret that the catholic church is very afraid will be revealed.

The murdered man, Jacques Saniere, knows that the secret will be lost forever if he dies before he can pass it on to someone. Therefore, before he dies he manages to leave clues behind him, which he hopes his granddaughter will manage to solve, together with the symbolism expert Robert Langdon. They contact an old man who knows more than anyone about Priory of Sion and its secret, hoping that he can help them to solve the complicated riddles. but things do not turn out the expected way.

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