A WARM & SUNNY MANILVA ON SUNDAY.

SUNDAY 9^th/ JUNE 2019.

We had another nice lie in this morning, the last for the next five days, in fact Brenda left me in bed, fast asleep! ‘Lolo & Scooby’ slept all night, after freshening up Brenda took then out for their first walk of the day, they are both very good and are getting on like best mates, ‘ Scooby’ is due to collected later this afternoon, we will miss him as he’s a real little character, ‘Lolo’ is with us for another ten days!

I was on the breakfast rota so I prepared my famous ‘ Crispy Smoked Bacon Butty ‘ – on soft buttered white bread, smothered in ‘HP’ Brown sauce, for me and open on toasted brown bread for Brenda, with mugs of strong ‘ PG’ Tips Tea.

This morning the sun had broken through earlier and the sky was blue, as the clouds were blown away by the very light breeze, by lunchtime it’s going up to 27 degs+ a little cooler in the shade, with just a few patchy clouds, at times, tomorrow at the start of the week it will reach 29 degs+ - then sadly as the breeze stiffens and a new ‘Atlantic’ front blows in, bringing with it some of the ‘ wet-stuff’ – over next Wednesday/Friday,  it’s also dropping back down to 22 degs, very unseasonal for the time of the year, next weekend will be a little warmer, hovering in the mid 20s, the following week is looking hot & sunny, back to normal, watch this space.

See below a view taken last night, across the River Mersey, showing the Pier Head and Liverpool, at it’s best!

The picture below shows a view, behind the ‘Royal Liver Building’ showing the ‘Tower Building ‘ and the ‘ Church of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas ‘ – known locally as ‘The Sailors’ Church’ – behind it is the famous “ Atlantic Tower Hotel “ opened in 1972, it was designed to look like the prow of a ship, I tried, twice, unsuccessfully, despite making the short list of two, to become the ‘General Manager’ – back in the early 80s!

As usual I was listening to the ' Pete Black Retro Roadshow' on ' Castle Radio FM 89.2 & Online on the WWW ' as the " Movie Quiz " came on, I didn't get it the first time, but on the second listen, after a little checking on ' Google' I came up withe correct answer " House of the Haunted " with Vincent Price, from 1959! 'Lady' Brenda is in the monthly draw for the Mug! Watch this space.

For our supper this evening we are having ‘ Baked Pork Loin Steaks ‘ – seared first on a very hot griddle-plate, then topped with a ‘ Mixed Herb ‘ stuffing and baked in the oven, garnished with seared Button Mushrooms, accompanied with glazed ‘ Fuji’ Apple slices, served with glazed Carrot Batons, diamond- cut Green Beans & a little Cauliflower Florets in Cheese sauce.

Meanwhile I’m attempting to make, for the first time, in a very long time ( 55 years!) – the old classic ‘French’ dish of ‘ Pommes Anna ‘ – sliced, by hand, layered, seasoned, potatoes, cooked in a very large amount of ‘Clarified’ Butter, then fried/baked until they form a round cake, in a special ‘Cocotte’ dish ( which I don’t have!) – so I’m improvising, pressed down and turned over until the outside is golden & crisp all over! Watch this space!!



The 'Pommes Anna ' turned out nearly perfect, crisp on the outside, soft inside, with a rich Butter taste, the only slight problem was turning them out from the  improvised 'Cocotte' dish, as you can see below!  9/10 - try harder next time!! 



PS; Brenda's ' Cauliflower Mornay' in the background!

The ‘dish’ was created by the Chef ‘Adolphe Duglere’ a pupil of ‘ Careme’ – when he was the ‘Head Chef’- back in the 19^th century, of the ‘Cafe Anglais’ in Paris, the dish was named after a famous actress of the time ‘ Anna Damiens’

Yesterday evening after supper we settled down to watch this first episode of the new series of the award winning “ Killing Eve “ – it started with a sign saying ‘ 30 seconds after the stabbing’ – as Eve, the MI5 agent made her way back to London from Paris after stabbing the lady assassin ‘ Villanelle’ – to try to fix her marriage and find a new job, meanwhile ‘Villanelle’ was not dead, but badly injured and escaped, ending up in hospital, where she then killed a very injured patient in the next bed, who had helped her, by breaking his neck! She’s now on her way to London, in the boot of a family’s car, to find Eve!!

This evening after supper it’s the next episode of “ Gentleman Jack’ – will she get her wicked-way ?!

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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