MANILVA THIS WEEK.

WEDNESDAY/THURSDAY 12^th/13^th OCTOBER 2011.

Wednesday, is a national bank holiday in Spain; ‘Hispanic Day or National Day ’ ( Fiesta Nacionel de Espana ) which is the anniversary of when Christopher Columbus first set foot in the Americas in 1492 ! We watched the King and all the royal family in Madrid as he took the royal salute at the parade in the main tree lined avenue in glorious weather. All four branches of the forces take part with military vehicles, fly passes and of course all the troops marching pass the dais. It starts when a sky diver lands right in front of the King with a large Spanish flag flowing beneath him, then after the ceremony of rising the flag the parade starts, all the different regiments are in full and very colorful uniforms, the Spanish Foreign Legion has long flowing capes, they are the one regiment that marches at a quicker pace, including the band and the regimental ram! The one problem with the bank holiday is that the Spanish banking system totally closes down, not just the banks, so for instance we have transfers in and out of our account on the 12^th and they are now two days out of sinc! Another piece of good news from over in Burton on Trent is that one of our staff from the Riverside has just given birth to her first child, a boy named William Joseph, so congratulations to Hannah and her husband Simon!

The weather is even more glorious at the moment with clear blue skies, a little breeze and of course hot sunshine, we have just come back from a walk with the dog. Tonight we are having Chicken Curry for supper as we are using our stock from the deep freeze as our house sitting over in Guadalmina has been cancelled because Joan, Clives mum, had a fall on Sunday evening so Clive and Carolyn had to postpone their trip to England, then we will watch a film on the TV, at the moment there is a Clint Eastwood season on one of the channels.

Today, Thursday we are having a at home day, Brenda has now finished with her cleaning regime and is so able to take things a little bit easier, and I’m in the office catching up with the WWW ! Meanwhile over in Kelsall,outside Chester, they are holding at ‘ The Lord Binning Pub and Kitchen’ the first of their special wine dinners, hosted by a Yorkshire man that lives and works in Rioja,the Spanish menu and wines look excellent and there are a few seats left ! David and his partner in the business, Paul Newman, have got the place up and bouncing, the food looks and sound great and the reviews are also very good! There are all sorts of ongoing activities taking place, they have just opened ‘Upstairs ’and are now in the function business as well! The picture above shows a wonderful rare breed, Old Spot, ham glazed with Tarvin Honey, mustard and brown sugar which has just come out of the oven, David is at this moment having a slice with proper chips and free range egg! The other day amongst many specials ‘Rabo de Toro ’ Braised Oxtail was on the menu – check the web page out !!

Tonight we are having local Pork Cutlet with now proper chips !!

SIMPSON DESERT 2011 UPDATE;

The picture blog below only gives you a brief view of the trek; Deb has also sent me the story of the trip and also her diary which lists all the food that they ate. They had a very exciting time as the weather fronts went around them, at one point they had to change their route as there was desert fires over hundreds of Kms.The animals that they saw,Lizards,Marsupals,Camels,Donkeys,Dingoes,Zebra Finches,Kites,Hawks,wedge tail Eagles, Kookaburas,Emu,Owls,Parrots,Galahs and the Pelicans all added to the experience. The menu reads like an gastronomic tour; Italian Chicken casserole with Cous Cous,wraps with Beef and salad, Porterhouse steak with Coleslaw and Cheese Risotto,Chilli Con Carne,Corn Beef with peas, carrots and mashed potato, wraps with Chicken and plum sauce, Spaghetti Bolognaise, Sausage casserole, Bacon Minestrone and not mentioning the breakfasts, Own baked Bread and the desserts ! At one point they ate at one of the outback hotels,Deb had the crumbed fish with chips and Dornoch had an 500gm, T-bone steak ! What a life !!

Thought for the Day;

There is no present like the future.

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