MANILVA THIS WEEKEND.

SATURDAY/SUNDAY/MONDAY 16TH/17TH/18TH OCTOBER 2010.

After breakfast on Saturday morning Brenda was doing the washing and ironing; I made Ratatouille for Sunday dinner as it matures over night! We had an at home day and took things easy, Brenda was out on the roof terrace as the sun was out and the forecast for the next few days is more of the same, it is cooler in the morning and evening but goes warm during the day with our usual clear blue skies and the views over the valley to the mountains get even better. After a light lunch I tried on the Skype video to contact Jeff and Annette in Kuala Lumpur, they answered straight away as they where just posting some pictures and a video on Facebook; Lyn had told us that her daughter, Annette Rose was over there for ten days visiting her brother and as we have never spoken to her, we have only seen pictures and made contact on Facebook I decided to call as a surprise for Brenda;so for the first time in over fifty years Brenda was able to see and talk to Annette,they were both very moved ! The outcome is that Annette Rose is now thinking of coming over to see us next year,please note that we are starting to pencil bookings in for 2011 !! We all ready are expecting the two sisters to return, Jane and David to come over, Jack and Lyn are on the possible list and Tim when he finally decides to retire is threatening to come for a long stay! Please book early to avoid disappointment !!

On Sunday morning we were up bright and early to get the Lamb in the oven and things on the go; Mano and Anna had bought the Leg of Lamb ( 3Kilos ) from the Moroccan butchers down in Sabinillas so it was “ Halal ” meat, the Arabic for permitted/lawful. I studded it with Garlic Cloves and rubbed in fresh Rosemary before putting it in the oven on a bed of chopped vegetable trimmings which I had seasoned with herbs and some secret ingredients which later help to make my famous finger licking herb Lamb gravy ! The Potatoes for dinner were Goose Fat roasted and a large dish of Boulangere especially for the Lamb, the vegetables from Brenda were Fine Green Beans, Broccoli and Cauliflower florets topped with shavings of semi-Curado Goats cheese, Garden Peas mixed with baby Carrott’s and the Ratatouille ! The Lamb was delicious, succulent and moist with bags of the Garlic and Rosemary flavor, a memorable roast ! We sent around to Carlos and Ana Mari a large oval platter two person takeaway and tonight we are having Cold Lamb and the leftovers for supper !

Today we are catching up ( Brenda ) with the chores and I am typing up the blog and Facebook; we will go out for a walk later and we will see if we can collect Cheta from her owner, yesterday we took her for a walk at lunchtime and bumped into Mano walking his big Boxer Dog,Feria so we ended up down at Mano and Anna’s for an hour catching up with all the news. Later I watched on the PC the Liverpool/Everton derby match in Russian, Liverpool lost and played terrible despite what Roy Hodgson the manager says and then I followed the Manchester City/Blackpool game in English which was a really good match and City won ! I get all the sport live from a Web Page that Carlos and Brian gave me the details about, they watch all the sport via a link from the PC to the large screen TV. It covers all sports and you have to work a bit and use a couple of downloaded links to pick up the best connections from around Europe and it’s all free !! Over the weekend the live Spanish football on the TV was also very good, Barcelona and Real Madrid both won.


Thought for the Day ;


Don’t let adverse facts stand in the way of a good decision.


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