THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM A VERY HOT & SUNNY MANILVA;

A VERY HOT & SUNNY MANILVA ON WEDNESDAY;

WEDNESDAY 27^th/ MAY 2015

Well I awoke this morning to a little surprise, no Brenda or ‘Charlie’?! He had nudged her first and so she got up and took him for his first walk of the day and left fast me fast asleep with my head buried in the pillow!! She choose the right morning as it was already warm and sunny! It’s going to be a hot one today and by lunchtime it will be reaching 28/29degs – the forecast for the rest of the week and over the weekend is for more of the same down here on the ‘Costa De Sol’ in sunny Manilva.

After breakfast I prepared this evenings supper, the classic dish from the 70s - “Chicken Kiev” – to my own version of the classic recipe, routed in time with all sorts of stories from where it originated from! I made the Garlic Butter yesterday and popped it in the deep freeze over night, using un-salted Butter, crushed Garlic cloves (most important) using a Garlic crusher, finely chopped Parsley with a little seasoning.

This morning a cut the Chicken Breast down the middle of the back and formed a pocket, then I filled the envelope with the chilled Garlic Butter and wait for it – crispy Smoked Bacon snippets! – I know but it works! Then the Chicken Breast is tossed in seasoned flour, dipped in ‘Campo’ Egg wash and then coated with local fresh breadcrumbs and gently patted down, then back in fridge to chill.

This evening I will gently fry them in shallow Vegetable Oil before placing them on a baking tray, after drying them on kitchen paper, to finish off cooking in the oven over a medium heat until they are cooked & golden Brown! We are having them served on a pool of my Tomato Salsa with finely sliced Green Bean, sautéed Mushrooms and thick-cut slices of Baked Potato dry sautéed .See below;

In the old days I used to make a big thing of serving them by giving the usual warning and then placing/tying a large napkin round the guest!! Watch out Brenda!!

At lunchtime we will go for a nice walk with ‘Charlie & Chispa’ - who has just come calling. ‘Charlie’ is very good and lets us know straight away when he needs to go out by barking and nudging us before standing at the front door! 

We bumped into our handyman while we were out , I had rung this morning to organise him to come and entstall the new Gas Boiler,Extraction Hood & Gas Hob in the small back kitchen - he's going to call in the next two weeks!Watch this space.

Now for a little plea to all our family & friends all over the world; please don’t forget to send us a postcard when you are away, or even at home, as we love receiving them, it’s such a nice surprise to find them in the postbox! They go up on my pin boards in the office and by return post you receive one back from sunny Manilva! Oh and yes you also get an honorable mention on the Blog!! See the pin boards below;

Today over in Italy the ‘Giro d’Italia is in the lake district in Northern Italy and finishes in the town of Lugano in the Southern part of the Italian speaking part of Switzerland, on the banks of Lake Lugano between the two most famous and spectacular lakes of Lake Maggiore (my favorite) &  Lake Como; Lugano is known as the ‘ ‘Monte Carlo’ of Switzerland and is at the bottom of the Southern Alps blow the famous ‘Monte Ceneri Pass’    See the picture below.

This evening after our supper, I can smell the aromas of the Garlic now, we can’t wait, we will find something to watch after channel hopping.

                                           We are also on the " Seafood Diet "  - We 'See' food & 'Eat' it !!

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

..

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

" CALLE SAN VICENTE" SUNNY MANILVA ON MONDAY AFTERNOON;

THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM SUNNY MANILVA;

A WARM & SUNNY MANILVA ON TUESDAY, GETTING HOTTER LATER.

TUESDAY 26^th/ MAY 2015.

Well this morning it was the workmen on the site/development, all six of them, that woke us all up as they arrived as usual at 8-00am. I took ‘Charlie’ for his first walk of the day( 4 in al!) around the bottom of the village, when we came back ‘Reina’ arrived so we all went back to bed for another half hour lie in!

It’s a beautiful day here in sunny Manilva, the sky is blue, the sun was out early and there is no breeze, by lunchtime it will be hot – 25/26degs with more of the same over the next few days towards the weekend; on Friday. Saturday & Sunday there is a large ‘Music Festival’ taking place down on the ‘Rastro Ground’ in the valley below the village- it was originally supposed to be in Malaga but the organizes fell out with the authorities so Manilva has picked it up! The main act over the three days are “The Christians”

At the moment as I’m typing the Blog I’m listening to ‘Castle Radio FM 89.2’ via the WWW – loud through my speakers in stereo with the sub woofer at full blast!!

Yesterday on the site there was a lot of activity with the six construction workers erecting the iron work and shuttering before the four cement workers arrived in the late afternoon; they took over 4 hours pumping the cement down from Calle Mar, meanwhile the construction men were joined by two bosses and carried on making as much noise as possible until 10-00pm when it was then dark! See the pictures above.

They are preparing to pump down more cement this afternoon!!

After posting the Blog I’m in the kitchen to get tonight’s supper ready, we are having “ Steak & Ale Pie” ( Iceland) with twice-cooked ‘Frits’ and Baby Carrots with Garden Peas, them I’m going to make my special savory ‘Garlic Butter’ for tomorrows “ Chicken Kiev” All will be revealed tomorrow – watch this space!

At lunchtime we will take all three dogs for a nice walk and probably stop for a cool drink in one of our many ‘watering stops’! We ended up at Carlos's 'Bar Antiguedades' sat in the garden as you can see in the pictures below;

At the moment we can’t go up on the roof terrace for our ‘Happy Hour’ due to the noise and dust from the site but we still have it either in the ‘Chill’ out room or in the lounge. We are now back into our reading and are at the moment back on the ‘Patterson’s’ when we find one that we have not already read!

No news at the moment about who is going to be the new Mayor and the governing party/coalition to form the new Council, also who gets the jobs in the various departments?! There is no sign of anybody around and just a few comments on Facebook, so far – watch this space.

After supper this evening we will catch up with all the world & national news, the sports round ups and most importantly the weather details.

Last night over in Liverpool after one 'Helluva'  Day there was a spectacular fire work display down at the Pier Head and over the River Mersey with the " Three Graces" lit up; see the pictures below.

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

..

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

THE " THREE QUEENS" ON THE' RIVER MERSEY' LIVERPOOL THIS AFTERNOON;

                                                                   
                                                                  And finally " 4 Queens " !!!!

THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM SUNNY MANILVA;

A NOW WARM & SUNNY MANILVA ON MONDAY AT THE START OF THE WEEK;

MONDAY 25^th/ MAY 2015.

I was up early this morning to take ‘Charlie’ for his first walk of the day down the lower part of the village, more like he takes me around his route & ‘message’ spots! See the picture below of ‘Charlie’ flat out on the bed before we went out, showing all he owns!

It’s still a little overcast this morning but at the same time its warm, the threat of rain is still in the air, as forecast, before the week ahead starts to pick up.

In the village its still the morning after the night before as the ‘Election’ result starts to become reality, all the locals are stunned as you talk to them, why you may ask? Well the result was that the ‘PSOE’ had the most votes, then the ‘Compormiso’ party were next and in third place it was the ‘IU’ party! This means that the ‘PSOE’ have 5 seats, the ‘Compromiso’ party have 5 seats and the ‘IU’ have 4 seats with – see the chart below;

Overall the Council is made up with 17 seats and it takes 9 seats to be the ruling party in Government; this means that over the next few days there will be lots of wrangling and political maneuverings as the three main parties try to gain power and form a pact in a Coalition Government! WATCH THIS SPACE.

As I was coming back with ‘Charlie’ the ‘PSOE’ candidate and possibly the New Mayor ‘Diego Jose Jimenez’ was in his vegetable shop on the cross roads, so I took the chance to congratulate him and his party on the win! His party was last in power over 25 years ago here in sunny Manilva so he was rather pleased to say the least!

After our breakfast Brenda shot upstairs to shampoo her hair and meanwhile I was busy in the kitchen making another batch of my famous ‘Tomato Salsa’ and then getting tonight’s supper ready “ Albondigas - Meatballs” in a rich Tomato and Mushroom, Pizzaiola Sauce served on a bed of Spaghetti .See below;

Tomorrow night we are having ‘Steak Pie’( Iceland) with twice-cooked ‘Chips’ and on Wednesday the ‘classic’ dish of the week is “ Chicken Kiev” with a little twist to my version!

At lunchtime we went for a short walk with 'Charlie & Chispa' to pick up some tablets from the chemists and on the way back we stopped at Bar Rojas for a cool drink and a chat with Lumy. The workmen on the site have been banging away since first thing this morning and the pipes have just  arrived  ready to pump a large load of cement down from the top of our street later this afternoon!!

On the sports front yesterday on the final day of the ‘Premiere League’ Everton lost 0-1 to Spurs ( sorry Brian at the match!) Manchester City won 2-0 at home to Southampton but the worst result of the day was when Liverpool lost away at Stoke 6-1, 5-0 down at half time, the only Liverpool goal was scored by Steven Gerrard on his final game for the club!!

At the ‘Monaco Grand Prix’ Lewis Hamilton’s team made a huge mistake very near the end when they called him into the pits to change his tires and so lost him the race which he had lead from the start! He was not a happy ‘Bunny’!! Over in the ‘Giro d’Italia Alberto Contador was at his best in the ‘Dolomites’ and retained the leaders ‘Pink’ jersey.

Over in Liverpool on the ‘Bank Holiday Monday’ the excitement is building as they await the arrival of the two other ‘Queens’ on the River Mersey to start the celebrations – see the Pier Head this morning with the “QM2” berthed -  all the picture to follow later above!

                                                                                  Here they come !

                                                                 
                                                                    All Three 'Queens' !!!

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

..