CASA OLIMPIA UPDATE.

TUESDAY 26th. January 2010.

We are still here in Tarifa, the saga continues! Just to say that nothing has changed in the last month since we last blogged on January 4th! Chris over in London is still madly chasing around the world, New York and Hong Kong being the latest, he was also not very well over the Xmas and New Year period which did not help. Joan has been OK but we had get the doctor in to check her over after she nearly had a very nasty fall, just by luck I walked into her flat and managed to do a flying leap and catch her! Shock then set in, Joan, not me and she was not well for a few days but the doctor gave her a good check up and said that for her age she is in remarkable good health. Boo and Millie are both fine and the two cats are in most over the time on the lower ground floor; the weather is still not good with severe rain storms hitting all the coast from here to Malaga with floods and landslides, the new motorway to Cordoba which has just opened since Xmas was closed after the hillsides above Malaga came down! This is now the worst weather on the Costa del Sol in over sixty years, but we can’t complain as the temperature is still in double figures and we have been able to sit out on the balcony on some days! Small transfers have been coming in and I have been back and forwards to Estepona and Manilva all the time to go to the bank, shops and check out the house as well as to get the Smart car repaired after some damage to the lighting and door locks after getting caught in the storms whilst I was out on the motorway, the house in Manilva is fine, the only problem was that the front door outside sun blind was blown away in one of the storms but one of our neighbors has fixed it back up and secured it in the last week. Meanwhile back at the villa the full menu repertoire has been in full use; Roast Beef, Pork and Chicken on Sunday, Curry, Stews, Pies including our famous Fish pie last Friday, Chicken breast, Pork escalopes, Lamb cutlets, Sausages, Liver and Onions, during the week and all served with Brenda’s selection of vegetables, too many to mention as well as the full range of Potatoes dishes and a very nice Ratatouille last week!
The problem with the internet took a little longer to get fixed as Mano and Anna have been over to Tenerife to see Sally Ann and their grandchildren, and as we needed Mano to come over to the villa as the only way to get it fixed was to have a Spanish speaker on the phone in front of the system to speak to the Telefonica people, they then diagnosed that we had a problem with the router and came out to install a new one within a couple of hours ! So we are back online and will catch up with all the e-mails and Facebook messages over the next few days.

CASA OLIMPIA NEWSFLASH 25TH JANUARY.

Monday 25th January 2010.

Great news - we are back on line,as you can see ! The Telefonica engineer has just installed a new router after Mano came over this morning and set things up with the telephone people,the old router had been burnt out with the storms! Watch out for a news update over the next couple of days,

CASA OLIMPIA NEWSFLASH.

TUESDAY 12TH JANUARY 2010.



Sorry but we have been off-line for over a week due to a rather large Atlantic storm hitting us here in Tarifa which cut off the local connections to the satalite in this area;as it so happens we are at this moment as I am typing this in the middle of a even more severe one! Watch out for a short update of the last seven days news - weather permiting !!

PS; The pie was delicious even if I do say so myself !

CASA OLIMPIA.

CASA OLIMPIA.

Saturday/Sunday 2nd/3rd January 2010.

After a little lie in we caught up with life in the outside world as we are having problems getting online at certain times; thanks Penny over in Bridgnorth for your Xmas and New Years e-mail cards! Last night we watched the last episode of Gavin and Stacy, it was terrific and finished all happy, for a change! In the morning we called our dear friend Tim over in Colwyn Bay to wish him a happy birthday and also wish him all the best for his last year of work, he retires in December! Braised Steak and Onions with Chips for dinner hit the right spot as we settled down to watch a film.
The weather is changeable at the moment with the sun out at one moment and rain storms at the next; Bacon and fried Egg butties soon got us going as we roasted our first Chicken of the New Year for a late Sunday lunch. In the evening we watched the start of the last Celebrity Big Brother but we are not going to follow it- honest! In the morning I have to shoot down to Tarifa to pay the large water bill before it is cut off, fingers crossed that the office is open as this is the week of the main Xmas holiday over here in Spain when the celebrate the day of the Three Kings in the middle of the week!

PS; We have just finished the last of the Trifle!

FRIDAY 1ST, JANUARY,NEW YEARS DAY 2010.

Friday 1st January 2010.

The start of a new decade down here on the Costa del Sol and we hope to resolve our little technical difficulty over the next couple of weeks, watch this space ! As we got up in the morning after the night before the sun came out, a good sign for the future? We had two New Years Eve celebrations, the first with Joan as we celebrated the Spanish one with twelve grapes and Cava and listened to the ships horns from the Bay of Gibraltar and followed the fireworks above Tarifa as we also watched the fireworks display from Berlin and Paris on TV. We then watched Jools Holland and saw in the English New-Year an hour later down in the TV lounge as we hit the cocktails, the programme was excellent with Sir Tom Jones singing the Green, Green Grass of Home being the highlight ! At the same time we watched the fireworks in London and Edinburgh on Sky TV which were both spectacular.
This morning Joan came down for a breakfast of Scrambled Eggs with Smoked Pink Trout and a very nice Pink Cava to welcome the New Year in the right fashion; we then hit the Skype phone to wish a Happy New Year to all our family and friends who we always ring traditionally, we had caught Jack and Lyn over in Australia earlier on New Years day morning, ten hours ahead of us, Brenda’s two sisters were next, Tim in Colwyn Bay was just surfacing, Hilda also in Colwyn Bay,Mano and Anna who were on the way home from the party at the Aparthotel in Manilva, Zoe our dear friend and her husband Graham in Manchester and Jane over in Chester.I have also answered all the E-mails and Face book messages from over Xmas and the New Year. We have also in our thoughts over the next few months Jane’s daughter,Alexa and Yolande and Daves daughter Jasmine over in Switzerland who are both not very well. For dinner we had Braised Steak with vegetables and New Potatoes, I had made two dishes of the Braised Steak so I did not have to cook! The picture below shows the Sherry Trifle that was a joint effort between us, getting all the right ingredients was a major challenge, its going to last us for days!
Finally we would like to wish everybody a peacfull,healthy,prosperous and happy New Year for 2010.

CASA OLIMPIA.

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CASA OLIMPIA.

Monday/Thursday 27th/31st December 2009.

After the long Xmas weekend we took things easy on Monday and Tuesday and just pottered about the house and caught up with some reading; Turkey Curry was on the menu for Monday and kept popping up during the week! On Wednesday morning we went down to Tarifa to do the shopping and at the same time we took Boo to the vets for another check up. He is fine and the tablets are working! The same as me!!! Today I was up and out before 7-30am to go to the bank in Estepona to collect a cash transfer to pay the water bill, it eventually came through but it was to late to get to the office to settle the account. Tonight we are having Steak and Frits for dinner and are then going to watch the New Year in with Jools Holland, at twelve o’clock we will go out on the top balcony and listen to the ships horns in the Bay of Gibraltar as we crack open a bottle of something sparkling to toast a happy and healthy 2010 as well as a more prosperous one, fingers crossed!!

CASA OLIMPIA - SUNDAY SPECIAL.

Sunday 27th December 2009.

The best day by far over the Christmas period; no wind or rain and the sun starting to come out and the temperature going up! Eggs and Bacon for breakfast started the day as we meant to go on, as it was Sunday we had a special roast, Rib of Beef on the bone, cooked rare and served with oven baked Onions in a white sauce, puree of Carrots and baby new Turnips, whole Green Beans, Honey glazed Parsnips and Baby Herb crusted roast Potatoes; I made a Red wine gravy to fill the Yorkshire puddings! It reminded us of a very dear friend many years ago who used to Roast a whole Fillet of Beef smeared in Mustard and made the gravy/jus roti with a whole bottle of Chateau Lafitte Rothchild 1973, those were the days!! After a late lunch we sat out on the balcony in the sunshine with a clear blue sky and the views of Africa for the first time as we had our tea (No great Coffee drinkers) with our Xmas chocolates and After Eight mints! The picture below shows Joan in her Sunday best finery.

PS; We had another bottle of a fine Rioja with the Beef !

CASA OLIMPIA.

CASA OLIMPIA - BOXING DAY.

Saturday 26th December 2009. BOXING DAY.

Toasted Bacon butties for breakfast with mugs of steaming tea started the day in the right way; Joan is not feeling well, her arthritis in her back has been acting up over Xmas so we decided to have a lazy day about the villa and take things easy. For lunch we had Lobster soup, Baxters, with cream and Brandy added along with Brenda’s Melba toast (Memories of the good old days when we served it in our restaurants all the time) In the afternoon we watched the racing from Kempton Park; Kauto Star won the King George VI Chase for the fourth straight time and the Bank holiday crowds went mad, the atmosphere was electric and the coverage on Channel 4 was great. In the evening for supper we had cold Turkey with Bubble and Squeak as we settled down to watch the TV.

JENNY'S BIRTHDAY.

Sunday 27th December 2009,

We would like to wish Jenny, Brenda’s baby sister, a very happy birthday and hope that she has a “ Helluva ” day! Our love to all the family as Jenny is staying with her sister Norah,her son Darren and her elder son David and his wife Claire and their children Catlin and Elie who are visiting today and have come down from the wilds of Carlisle !

PS; They did not make it due to the snow on the lanes by their house !!

CASA OLIMPIA - CHRISTMAS DAY 2009.

25th December 2009 CHRISTMAS DAY.

We decided at the start of the week to sort the problems out here at the villa after Christmas and so settled down to having a good as Christmas as we could have; it is only in the last few years since we retired that the Xmas period has meant anything to us as we have been working over the festive season all our lives and although it was always enjoyable it was not the same as normal people! So our Xmas day got off to a great start as we called the folks over in Australia from our bed! We knew that Jack and Lyn had planned to go out later to see all the family so it was the right time to catch them and at the same time surprise them; we caught up with all their news and sent out love to everybody over in Australia. We then called Tim over in Colwyn Bay as we got up. He was just starting the same breakfast as us, back here, of scrambled Eggs with Smoked Salmon and Bucks Fizz! Joan came down and joined us to start off the day in the proper fashion! We then got the Turkey into the oven; it was a Spanish one but prepared English style, not like last year! I then made the Chestnut stuffing and the Pigs in Blanket with the Chipolatas and Smoked Bacon from the English butchers. Brenda got going on the vegetables; Baby Sprouts with streaky Bacon, Parsnips in Spanish Honey,Galzed Carrotts,Cauliflower and Broccoli florets in a Cheddar Cheese sauce and garden peas; the roast potatoes were cooked in Goose fat, from home, I then made finger coating pan gravy and we also had the crispy bacon from off the Turkey. Joan came back down and we sat at the large table in the main lounge for our starter of Smoked Pink Trout and Crab. We are saving the fine wines for another day so we opened a very nice bottle of sparkling rose Cava and then a fine bottle of Rioja; during the day the phone never stopped as all Joan’s family called and we got through to Jenny and Norah over in Runcorn after their Xmas lunch, Jenny is staying with Norah over the Xmas period. After our late lunch and as we sat at the table we received two surprise calls on our Spanish mobile; one was from our Spanish neighbours in Manilva, who were having their Xmas party and called to wish us “ Feliz Navidad ” and the second one was from a sunny beach in Trinidad – Vidal !! Who is over at his mothers’ house for the first time in years with all his family! The pictures below give you a little taste of the decorations around the villa, the Xmas table and Joan in her cracker hat, Brenda put the bows on the two dogs who were not impressed! Later we settled down to watch TV, one programme that we usually don’t watch is Eastenders but this episode was very good and got terrific reviews in the papers this morning unlike the Queens speech which was terrible, I’m sorry to say.Then the Royal Family was very funny and Gavin and Stacy was excellent.During the early morning of Xmas day and all through Friday the weather has been terrible – thunderstorms with 80km tornadoes and power cuts all the time!! Finally we would like to wish all our family and friends a very “ Merry Christmas ” we hope that you all had a “ Helluva ” day just like us !!

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