A CRISP & WARM SUNNY MANILVA ON SATURDAY;

SATURDAY 2^nd/ JANUARY 2016.

Another long lie in for all of us this morning, ‘Reina & Charlie’ ended up on the bed earlier in this morning and we had to wake them up to go out for the first walks if the day; overnight it rained but by this morning we were back to normal with a clear blue sky and the sun just breaking through, by lunchtime its due to reach 19/20 degs! The forecast for the next couple of days into next week is for more of the same with a little bit of the wet stuff hitting us from time to time.

Brenda produced her famous ‘Campo’ Poached Eggs on Toast for breakfast  along with a mug of hot tea, I then watched on BBC 1 ‘Saturday Kitchen Live’ before coming up to the office to catch up on the WWW. I have some E-Mails and messages to catch up on before typing and posting the Blog; we have a quiet weekend taking things easy and just relaxing at home, next week we are hoping to go ‘Sale’ shopping over in Marbella, we are then trying to meet up with our dear old friend Joyce up in Alhaurin El Grande before she goes home to Chester the following week. She rang us on New Years Eve so we exchanged greetings and are looking forward to catching up with her for a good gossip.

Yesterday afternoon our dear friend Brian called in so we had a nice chat with him along with a good local gossip, at the end of January he’s going with some of his mates to watch his beloved Everton play Manchester City, they have arranged a private box at ‘Goodison Park’ so will miss seeing David & Jane as they are due to arrive about the same time! Meanwhile over in New York the folks went to see the latest production of 'Phantom of the Opera' on Broadway, see below.

In ‘Doggy World Heaven’ both the dogs are due to be picked up on Monday, sometime, then ‘Reina will be back with us on Tuesday & Thursday depending on when the folks are working; on Monday I will have to do some chasing up/checking on the phone as one of our Pensions has gone missing and not arrived in our new Spanish Bank Account when it was due?! I rang the ‘International Pension Services’ before Xmas to check and they said that it was on its way but the Xmas Bank Holidays would effect it, Brenda’s did arrive OK  in the new account, early in fact, before Xmas, so we need to sort it out ASAP – also we have a little problem with the ‘Jazztel’ account being collected from the new accounts so we will ring them at the same time!

Over in England today our very dear friend Tim is down in London with his family and a lot of friends celebrating his 70^th birthday, they all went down on the train yesterday from Colwyn Bay and are staying at an hotel, this evening he’s arranged a table at an Italian Restaurant for 20 persons, it reminds us off his 60^th birthday when we all went to Budapest with the same crowd, we would lie to wish him all the very best for his special birthday and we will raise a glass or two to him this evening! Cheers!!

For our supper this evening I have treated us to Fillet Steak, so I’m making a golden oldie of the traditional “ Tournedos Rossini “ I will season them well before wrapping them in slices of local Smoked Bacon, I seal them on a very hot griddle plate before placing them in the oven to bake ‘Med-Rare’ They are served on a toasted ‘Crute’ before topping them with an ‘Quenelle ‘ of local ‘Iberian Pate’ with a pool of a strong Red Wine Glaze ( Brenda’s best - thanks!) on the plate; we are having on the side some finely sliced Green Beans and of course not forgetting the twice-cooked ‘Frits’! See below;

Tomorrow evening we are having ‘Lamb Shanks in Minted Gravy’ with Baby Brussels Sprouts & Chopped Chestnuts and a dish of my famous ‘Boulangere Potatoes on the side!!

See the picture below of me cooking 'Brunch' last New Years Day in my favourite 'Pirate Hat' - we have mis-placed it and can't find it for this year!!

Next week on Monday its the traditional ‘Three Kings Parade’ here in the village before the ‘Dia Los Reyes Magos’ on the 6^th January when all of Spain goes mad, we have ordered our ‘Rosca De Reyes’ cake from Antonio in Calle Mar. Watch this space.

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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