A STILL VERY ' CRISP' AND SUNNY MANILVA ON SUNDAY.

SUNDAY 26^th / NOVEMBER 2017.

We managed a nice lie in this morning as the village is very quiet, including no traffic coming down our street, we grabbed quick breakfast of ‘ Weetabix’ toast & tea before getting this evenings supper prepared, Brenda then showered, I’m having mine later, no sign of ‘ Chispa’ at the moment, no doubt she will call in later, ‘Reina’ is back next week on Tuesday & Friday, yesterday we had a call from Laura, asking us if we could take ‘ Chico’ for week, from a week on Wednesday, it just fits in with our plans, he’s back before Xmas also.

This morning started a little grey, cold & overcast but it’s now cleared the sun has broken through and the sky is blue, it’s due to reach 19 degs+ by lunchtime, next week is looking cooler, due to the ‘Atlantic front that is bringing in colder and wet weather, hovering on the 15/16 degs mark and for the first time, the coldest overnight temperatures that we have had since we arrived down here in sunny Manilva all those years ago, 6/9 degs?! By next weekend the sun is back! Watch this space.

Our plans for next week are weather permitting, on Monday we are going down to the garage to see ‘Pedro’ about the car, fingers crossed, for not so bad news, on Tuesday Brenda is going down on the local bus for some shopping in Sabinillas, I will be out on my travels on Friday morning, on the bus, for the weekly shopping, we were going out on Wednesday for our 46^th wedding anniversary, but will now have just a little celebration here in the house, we will celebrate it when we go to Malaga, the following Tuesday, on the pensioners coach trip, to see the Xmas lights etc. Watch this space.

For our supper this evening we are having my version/recipe of the classic “ Lancashire Hotpot “ – using ‘ New Zealand, South Island, Lamb Steaks/Chops’ – I marinate them in Rosemary & Olive Oil before ‘ browning’ them on a very hot griddle-plate, I build up the layers in the pot with sliced/diced Onions & Shallots with Garlic, Carrots & Turnips, Leeks & Celery and Mushrooms, seasoning as I go, the potato layers go thinner as I build up the ‘pot’ until the top layer is very thinly sliced, by hand, so that it will crisp up later, after studding the top with knobs of butter, I then pour in a very rich Vegetable & Meat stock before sealing the pan with tin-foil and the lid, ready to go in the oven this evening, half way through cooking I take the lid off and leave the ‘Hotpot’ to finish cooking and the top crisp up!



See below!

We are having Cabbage with Acelgas and Pickled Beetroot – we can’t wait, ‘Comfort’ food to die for, the ‘Aromas’ this evening make the mouth water!

Last night after watching the regular programmes we went over to ‘BBC TV Four’ to catch the new ‘French’ drama series, ( sub-titles) with the first two episodes, back to back, it all takes place in Northern France in the ‘Pas de Calais’ “Witnesses: A Frozen Death “ starts with the discovery of 15 deep-frozen, male corpses, all dressed in new suits, ties shoes etc sitting on a parked bus in the wind swept countryside, it turns out that they had all been missing for over three years and all had been on ‘ intimate’ terms with a women, who had contacted them through a online dating agency, after she had walked out on her husband & children, also three year ago! She is then discovered wondering with total ‘ amnesia’ – the plot deepens as she had had a baby six months before?! All the victims and her have been drugged with a powerful hypnotic drug, the men’s bodies has all their bones broken, so as the murderer could ‘ dress’ them up!! 

The main detective is played by Marie Dompnier and the missing woman by Audrey Fleurot, more outlandish revelations kept coming, as the police found the bumper-sized freezers, with the dead body of a man in an armchair ,left to starve to death, he was the front man for the murderer, who has been doing the same things for many years, in the abduction and murder business, the weirdness of the case was balanced by the nuts-and-bolts details of detectives private life as a single mother with two young children. We can’t wait for next week’s double episode, watch this space.

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

..