MANILVA START OF THE WEEK.

MONDAY/TUESDAY/WEDNESDAY 18^th/19^th / 20^th JULY 2011.

After our little bit of excitement over the weekend we settled back into our weekday routine on Monday;Brenda had one of her cleaning/washing/ironing days before she relaxed up on the terrace and read her book, meanwhile I caught up with the blog and e-mails and of course checked out Facebook and Twitter ! In the evening we had Pan Fried flattened Chicken Breast in Balsamic vinegar for supper before watching a film on TV.

As we got up on Tuesday morning we had no water, this happens quite often, but this time it did not come back on until eight hours later! We do have an emergency tank on the roof terrace which you can switch over to if necessary but on this occasion as the spring water well outside our front door was on we didn’t need to.Cheta, as usual, is in and out all day and was due to come and stay with us for a week as her owner Isobel was going away to their Campo, but at the last minute she decided to go next week ! In the evening Brenda sends her home but as she went under the shutters a local dog went past and she went after her up towards Calle Mar, Brenda shot up after her, calling her to come back but the little minx just carried on; the outcome was that Brenda ended up chasing her around the village until she finally caught her down by the church! She was severely reprimanded,Cheta not Brenda ! I had picked up some Pork Cutlets for supper which we had with local New Potatoes and Green Vegetables.

Yesterday,Wednesday,after a short walk with Cheta we stopped at Bar Rojas for a Tapas lunch, we had the diced Liver in a rich sauce with a plate of Lumy’s Patatas frits, they are made with her own Campo Potatoes and cooked in a rich Olive Oil from Jaen,the Olive Oil capital of Spain. Their family produce a small amount just for their own use ! The frits are to die for !! In the morning before we went out I made, for a change, a large dish of Braised Steak with Onions and Mushrooms; the sauce is made before and contains diced Onions,Carrots,Celery,Leek,Swede,Green Beans and Peppers and Mushrooms all cooked in Red wine and Beef stock then seasoned with my secret ingredients, I sauté a lot of sliced Onions separately before browning off the Braising steak which has been dusted in seasoned flour, it is all put together and whole sautéed mushrooms added before it goes in the over in the evening for two hours ! You get the aromas up on the roof terrace as well as them going up the street, we had local new Red Potatoes with crisp local Carrot Batons and whole Green Beans from the vegetable Chef ! A fine Rioja was called for !! Over the next few days it is all happening in the village, we have three music concerts on Thursday, Friday and Sunday on the stage in front of the old Town hall at 10-00pm; then next Tuesday it is the Festival of Santa Ana, the patron saint when we are awoken to fireworks and the Chi Chi Pom band, then there are children’s games in Calle Mar and in the evening the Tableau is carried into the village from the church led by the Brass band. The evening is then finished off with a live samba band on the stage till the wee small hours !!

TOUR DE FRANCE 2011;

After the rest day on Monday the tour headed up into the Alps from Saint-Paul-Troix Chateaux to Gap over 162kms. on Tuesday. World Champion Thor Hushvod outsmarted his fellow Norwegian, Edvald Boasson Hagen to take the stage but all the excitement came on the final climb over the Col de Manse when Contador attacked all leaders, for the first time, back to his bullying best and apparently recovered from his injured knee he broke free from the Schelk brothers, who chickened out on the wet decent into Gap, Cadel Evans and Samuel Sanchez stayed with him and they all made time on the rest of the riders. The overall leader Thomas Vockler retained the Yellow jersey.

Yesterday ,Wednesday, took them from Gap over four Alpine climbs over and down into Italy over 179kms to a finish in Pinerolo. Team Sky’s Edvald Boasson Hagen made up for his defeat on Tuesday and secured his second stage win. Over the first four mountains the leaders played cat and mouse as they went up to the Italian resort of Sestriere. There was then a spectacular 50kms decent to the final climb Pramartino, aggression then took over once again when Alberto Contador and his fellow Spaniard Sanchez,thought not in the same team.attempteted to gain a lead going up but the rest kept with them, it was the very dangerous and narrow decent through the trees and the village that proved more profitable as one after another the leaders crashed,Voeckler even ended up in a car park of a house at one time, the excellent commentators on ITV4 said that it was the finest attacking decent that they had ever seen, at one time Contador was out of the saddle ! No great change in the overall classifications but breath taking to say the least ! Today’s stage is from Pineroio to Galibier- Serre - Chevalier over 200kms and takes the riders back into France over three HC top rated mountains and takes the tour to the highest spot it has ever been on the Col Agnel at 2,744mm !

Thought for the Day;

Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, and drink the wild air.

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