A VERY HOT & SUNNY MANILVA ON ' ROMERIA' SUNDAY.

SUNDAY 11^th/ JUNE 2017.

We had another lie in this morning as the village is very quiet, they are all still down at the ‘Romeria’ which carries on today, after freshening up we had our regular breakfast of fresh fruit, Nectarines, toast & tea, we then got this evenings supper preparations on the go.

I made a large dish of our favourite ‘ Boulangere Potatoes ‘ with the help of the ‘ Vegetable Chef’ – who peeled the potatoes, I finely sliced the Onion, then the potatoes, each layer thinner than the last, I then build up the layer, seasoning as I go, finally the top thinnest layer is compressed down and the dish is nearly covered in a rich Chicken & Vegetables stock, sealed with tin-foil, ready to go in a hot oven this evening, meanwhile the ‘ Vegetable Chef’ was preparing Cauliflower Florets in a three Cheese sauce, glazed Carrot Batons & Garden Peas.

I will cook the ‘ Barnsley Lamb Chops ‘ on a very hot griddle plate this evening before placing them on top of the ‘ Boulangere Potatoes’ to finish cooking and let the juices drip down! The history of the Chop is lost in time, some say it was first served at the ‘Brooklands Hotel’ in Barnsley, but the main contender is the ‘Kings Head’ on Market Hill back in 1849, on market day hungry farmers were served a large Lamb Chop, then the ‘ Prince of Wales ‘  in the 1930s was served at a ‘Civic Banquet’ the Chop!  It was then a stable on all ‘ A La Carte’ menus in the great hotels for many years, we last served them at the ‘ Hotel Seventy Degrees ‘ back in the early 80s as a ‘Special ‘ using of course local Welsh Lamb, home killed, from a family butchers in Ruthin. The rest is history!!

See below the finished dish as it came out of the oven, with Kidneys & Mushrooms across the lower part!

The sun was out early this morning and the sky is already bright blue, there is no breeze so by lunchtime it will be hot, next week is looking also to be even hotter, as the days go on, and over next weekend it will be more of the same reaching the 30 degs+ mark, watch this space.

See below the grapes on the ground vines starting to come to full growth as they mature in the warm sunshine, ready to be picked at the end of August in time for the  “Vendimia Festival “ on the first weekend in September.

Last night after supper we watched a very exciting game of Rugby Union, as a young England team took on Argentina ( The ‘Pumas’ ) at the stadium in San Juan in the first test, before a very partisan crowd in a spectacular high terraced stadium, the match was fast and furious, from end to end, with eight tries, turn-over’s from both sides, spectacular goal kicking from England, all the young un-capped players played out of their skins, then the controversial cross-code winger who has only played 15 games of Rugby Union, came on, made two, horrific, defensive mistakes and then scored a fantastic try right at the end to win the game 34-38!

This afternoon we will be watching the final of the ‘French Open Tennis’as Rafael Nadal plays Stan Wawrinka as he attempts to win his 10^th French title, later after supper we will be glued to the screen as we watch the start of the new series of ‘Poldark’ on BBC TV!

PS; See below two pictures of the ' Caribbean Princess' leaving Liverpool yesterday lunchtime.

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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