A VERY COLD BUT WARM LATER SUNNY MANILVA ON SATURDAY.

SATURDAY 21^st/ JANUARY 2017.

We had a nice lie in this morning as we had no dogs in ‘ Doggy World Heaven’ for the first time this year, ‘Chispa’ came calling in a little later to see us, we had a breakfast treat of crispy ‘Smoked Bacon with Fried Eggs’ – Scrambled for Brenda ( still not Campo!) – with buttered toast and mugs of steaming PG Tips.

This morning it’s still very cold with a cloudy sky, there is no breeze and the sun is trying to break through, by lunchtime it should, as forecast, warm up a little, tomorrow it’s going to be similar, next week is still looking dry & settled and getting a little warmer as the week goes on, watch this space.

For our supper this evening I’m cooking, to order, ‘ A La Carte ‘ style the classic ‘ Steak Diane ‘ that I was first shown how to cook & present by the Head Waiter, Mr Oliver, at the ‘ Stork Hotel’ in Liverpool back in 1965!

 

I will trim the Sirloin Steaks ‘ French’ style before seasoning them with Sea Salt & crushed Black Peppercorns, then smearing them with Dijon Mustard, I then pan-sear them and take them out to rest, in the same ‘Flambe’ pan I sweat off the finely diced Onions & sliced Button Mushrooms, add a dash of Lea & Perrins and Tabasco and then de-glaze the pan with a slug of Red Wine, a large spoon of Dijon/English Mustard is then added before the rich Beef & Vegetable stock, the seasoning is checked and the sauce is left to thicken before placing the ‘Steaks’ back in the pan to cook until ‘ Med-Rare’ – finally I ‘flame’ the sauce with a good slug of Brandy and then a good dash of Double Cream, a sprinkle of chopped Parsley as they are presented! Whole Baby Green Beans and twice-cooked ‘ Frits’ on the side.

This weekend on the sports front; over in the ‘Premiere League’ Liverpool welcome Swansea City, Everton go down the M6/1 to play Crystal Palace and Manchester City are at home to Tottenham Hotspur at they come up the MI/6! In the ‘ La Liga’ Real Madrid welcome Malaga and Barcelona are at Eibar; the National Hunt Racing today on ITV4 is from Ascot & Haydock.

This evening we will channel hop between BBC, ITV & TVE etc to find something to watch, later we will watch the next episode on ‘ Taboo’ on BBC1.

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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