MANILVA AND THE WORLD.

FRIDAY/MONDAY 25TH./28THJUNE 2010.

During the week we stocked up with food in the deep freeze to take with us next week when we are over in Guadalmina from Wednesday for six days. On Friday morning we stocked up for the weekend and in the evening we went down to Mano and Anna’s to watch Spain v Chile – Spain won 2 – 1 and play Portugal this evening in the next round; On Saturday Brenda had a day about the house getting ready for the visitors, who arrived in the early evening on Sunday – all the details are below.

So after talking to the folks on Sunday evening we changed our plans and went to Ronda as we had originally told them; The weather inland is always hotter and it got up to 33degs.during the day, we set off on Monday morning and went down to Sabinillas and then up the road to Casares,then onto Gaucin before going down to Ronda over the top of the mountains. We parked in the underground car park which keeps the car cool and walked down the main street past the church and went across the park to the panoramic views across the 300ft.cliffs to the mountains; next on the agenda was the Bull Ring, as you walk into the centre of the ring you get a sense of what the bullfighter see’s as he waits for the bulls arrival! We then had lunch in our favorite
Restaurant on the cliff face by the bridge,the hotel and restaurant Don Miguel, the girls had the Brochette of Monkfish and Prawns and we had the whole Roast Leg of Baby Lamb ( with Mint Sauce which Brenda had in her handbag ! ) We then walked across the famous bridge and into the old town of Ronda to take in the sights and sounds.

On the way back to the car we had a cooling ice cream before we set off down the road to the coast, the A376 is one of the great drives of Europe and the views have to be seen to be believed; we had decided to make a day of it so we next went into Puerto Banus and had a walk around before we stopped for a drink and got stung with prices, being three times what they are here in the village ! By then it was early evening so we set off along the coast on the infamous N340 to Estepona to show the folks our favorite town and then called into the Casares Costa Golf Restaurant for supper as the sun went down behind the hills of Manilva; Brenda had a huge Club Sandwich with a fried egg on the top which I had with my thick Entrecote Steak and Frits, Annette had the Chicken Salad with Apple and Pineapple and Jeff chose the Tomato Carpaccio with fried Garlic, Jabugo Ham and Mozarella Cheese, everything was spot on.We arrived back in Manilva at 11 -00pm twelve hours after we had left; one “ Helluva ” day down and about on the hot and sunny Costa Del Sol ! On the way up to the village the Brazilian Bar was going mad as Brazil had just beaten Chile. We all slept well. The picture’s below will give you just a little taste of our day out with Jeff and Annette who left this morning to catch the plane back to England, at the end of the week they are flying to Canada as their daughter ,Kate, is 21 – Happy birthday in advance Kate !

As I have mentioned in the Blog below Jeff has a very special talent, among many others ! The company that he has worked many years for “ Kerry ” is an international world wide food producing company and they are the sponsor’s of the world wide” Barista Championship” which take place in various cities around the world, he is a judge and his knowledge about coffee and coffee making knows no bounds ! He was in London for this years World Championship, which an American won, so when we took him to Bar Rojas for a Carajillo it was with some feeling of apprehension – no worry he was very impressed ! When we started talking to him it was fascinating how the various types of Coffee’s are judged and how the competition works; in his job he has been all over the World and has eaten all sorts of strange things including the Coffee bean that comes from Wolves s - - t in South America and is the most expensive made, when he was in Japan he was taken to a restaurant and had Sushi, as he was asking his hosts about what they had been eating his lips went numb, it turned out that he had just been given Blowfish ( Fugu ) In Japan the sushi chef undergoes years of training and must obtain a license in order to prepare blowfish; One such fish contains enough neurotoxin to kill 30 people, speed ,care and precision is needed as the Fugu is gutted and skinned while it ‘s still breathing !! Jeff is now covering Asia Pacific,based in Kuala Lumpur and at the end of this contract he would like to be based next in NewYork if his boss is reading this !

PS; Thanks Annette for the very nice comments in our guest book
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Thought for the Day;

You can’t go back; Go forward. Don’t Dream; Act !

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