FRIDAY 2nd/ AUGUST 2019.
I was up early this morning and after a
quick freshen up I shot off on my travels, down to Sabinillas for the weekly
shopping, I called into ‘ ItZabar’ for my usual toast & tea ,before ‘ Mercadona’
opened, which was ‘ Mega’ busy, I then stopped at the ‘ English Bookshop’ for
the local English newspapers, before dropping down to the far-end of the promenade
to the local market, for our fresh flowers and some wall plants, before finally
calling into ‘ Super Sol’ for our English essentials.
Back at the house Brenda took ‘ Chico’ out
for his first walk of the day, before it gets too hot, he’s settled in very
well, as usual, yesterday evening when we came back from our supper at ‘ Bar
Castillo’ he shot up stairs and went to bed, under our bed on the marble floor,
and slept there all night, he goes up when he’s ready! This afternoon ‘ Scruffy’
is back with us for few hours, little princess ‘Reina’ is now joining us for
her sleep-over tomorrow lunchtime, ‘Chispa’ will be calling in & out as
usual to see all her friends!
Last night was the hottest so far, we didn’t
get much sleep we were very hot and ‘ sweating’ a lot, we put towels on the
pillows and sheets, to help a little, with, off course with the fans on, the
sun was out first thing this morning and the sky is clear and blue, with just a
very slight breeze, so by lunchtime it’s going to reach 32 degs+ - overnight
hovering on the 22 degs mark, tomorrow is going to be the same, for the ‘ Noche
del Embrujo – Night of Enchancement ’ – which the ‘ Council & Contractors’ workmen
are preparing, five stages, new decorations and lighting systems etc, more bits
on Saturday, then on Sunday it’s going a little hotter, all of next week it’s
in the low 30s, up to 35 degs+ on Wednesday and by next Saturday 36 degs+ -
watch this space.
Over the past couple of days two boats have
tied up at ‘Raynes Quarry’ at Llanddulas in North Wales, for their cargo of
crushed stone, first the ‘ Peru ‘ and then ‘
Amadelis Amethist’ - which you can see
before and after loading!
Before;
And after!
On Wednesday evening we watched the next ‘
Remarkable Places to Eat ‘ as Michel Roux Jr, first went to the World famous ‘
La Tour D’Argent’ in Paris, resting a little bit on it’s ‘ Laurels’ after loosing
two ‘Michelin’ stars, now down to one only! He had the classic ‘Canard a la
Presse’ which has been on the menu since the 19th century! ( 130
Euros per head!) The ‘ Duck’ waiter carved the whole ‘herb’ infused Roasted
Duck, taking off the Legs for second course later, he then slices the breast,
no skin, then presses the Duck carcass, bones and skin, in the ‘Silver Duck
Press’ the juices are then thickened and flavoured to taste, with Cognac/Madeira
etc, later the Duck Leg came back, as very modern version of ‘ Confit of Duck! The guest receives a ‘ Postcard’ with the
birds serial number, now well over a million! The ‘Wine List’ has over 15,000,
wines on offer, and is nearly a foot thick! The cellars are guarded around the
clock and the ‘ Head Sommelier’ is English!
See below a ‘ Silver Duck Press’ - the Restaurant on the top floor of the
building and a ‘ Postcard’
Many years ago, back in the mid 60s I was
shown how to serve the same dish, in the Restaurant of the ‘ Stork Hotel’- by
the ‘ Maitre ‘d’hotel’ - Mr Oliver, and in other famous Restaurant’s around the
North West, the whole Duck was carved at the table, with the Legs going off to
become a plain ‘ Confit of Duck’ later,
the breast was carved ‘ skin on’ - a lot harder to keep the slice just right,
with a thin topping of ‘ crisp duck skin’! I was shown how to do it by my Uncle, a ‘
Master Carver’ – along with many other carving skills, of Beef, Joints on the
bone, Legs of Lamb, Whole Turkey, Ham Joints, Suckling Pigs, as
well as Smoked Salmon on the board! Then
the crushed Duck juices were made into a ‘Jus Roti’ style sauce, not thickened!
See below the ‘ Stork Hotel’ in it’s ‘ Hey
Day’!
This evening we are going back along to ‘
Bar Castillo ‘ to take in the fresh air and sit outside for a nice cool drink
and a light ‘Tapas’ supper, again!
Thoughts for the Day; See above.
....
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