Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Monday, August 29, 2011
MANILVA THIS WEEKEND.
SATURDAY/SUNDAY 27th/ 28th/ AUGUST 2011.
After breakfast on Saturday morning it was a catching up with the housekeeping day, meanwhile I caught up with Facebook, E-mails and the blog; my only problem is that the channel on which I watch most of the sport,MYP2P has gone off line so I am limited in what I can see. I can follow the Vuelta on its page with a live coverage to EuroSport in English and the Grand Prix from Spa on a La Sexta TV channel but sadly no
On Sunday lunchtime we went up to Bar Rojas and had the Paella as it finished cooking, they were busy with Spanish holiday makers and everybody had the Paella; Antonio, our neighbour, who is 88 in a months time, joined us and on the next table under the Sonbrajo there was a couple from La Inea who we got chatting to in Spanish and English,Paco and Susanna, he has a gents clothes shop ‘ Ramos Camisera’ in La Inea,which is the border town with Gibraltar and she used to be a housekeeper in a Holiday Inn. We enjoyed their company as we took in the sights and sounds of sunny Manilva. I watched the Grand Prix and Vuelta as Brenda went up on the roof terrace to read and sunbathe; as we were having our evening cocktails on the terrace the front door bell which we have on the terrace went, it was Mano and Anna; we had not seen Mano for quite a while and the drinks fridge was stocked with Cruz Campo’s ! We caught up with all the news and gossip before they left, they had already eaten or they would have joined us for supper. In the morning I had made a dish of Boulangere Potatoes which was in the oven, we bought a pack on Spanish Lamb Chops ‘Chuletas de Cordero’ and I pan fried them off and popped them on top of the Potatoes to finish in the oven, Brenda’s vegetables of local Carrots, whole Green crisp Beans and Spinach made it a meal to make the mouth water with the Rioja helping ! The pictures below show the Wine Press starting to take shape-more to follow.
PS; Breaking News - A Englishman has just taken over the lead in the Vuelta ! Chris Froome did a sensational ride in the Time Trial around and into the center of the university town of Salamanca and has just put on the Red jersey,Bradly Wiggins is third overall after not doing as well as expected in TT- they both ride for Team Sky.
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‘ V- DAY ’ is counting down – 4 days to the start !!
Thought for the Day;
When you’re work speaks for itself, don’t interrupt.
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Saturday, August 27, 2011
MANILVA START OF THE WEEKEND.
THURSAY/FRIDAY 25th/26th/ AUGUST 2011.
On Thursday morning after our tea and toast I got on with getting our dinner on the way; Braised Steak with Onions and Mushrooms, I sauté off the sliced Onions and then the steak in seasoned flour before making the sauce, diced Carrots, Swede, Celery, Leek, Onion, whole Baby Mushrooms and Green Beans make up the rich braising sauce along with a slug of Red wine and a good Beef and Vegetable stock together with all the ‘Sexton’ secret herbs and spices! Brenda’s now famous Cabbage with Alselgas and New local Potatoes help it along as it came out of the oven after cooking for two hours – you could get the aromas up on the roof terrace! Later in the evening we watched the final episode of ‘The Tudors’ He died! Luckily I had read up on the succession so we were able to follow the history update on Edward VI, Mary Queen of Scots and Elizabeth 1st and all the religious intrigue !
All week the council has been putting up the canopy along Calle Mar as you can see in the pictures that I have added below; we did the shopping on Friday morning and as we got back Cheta came bashing in, she is in a right mess and needs a shampoo and groom after her short holiday in the country! The weather continues to be hot and sunny but it has gone a little cooler at night thankfully; for supper we had Prawns a la Plancha and then watched a good film. Later in the evening all this week and last I’ve been watching the ‘ Heineken Jazzaldia ’festival from San Sebastian which was recorded back in July; the stage is set up in a spectacular plaza in the old town which is surrounded by high granite cliffs which form a natural amphitheatre with houses with balconies on them. The weather at the time was horrendous with heavy rain so the audience all wear white plastic macks with hoods; the festival was opened by BB King which they have not shown yet, over the last few nights it has been modern jazz which does nothing for me ! Suddenly on Thursday evening the mood changed for the better; I didn’t catch the start of the concert so did not know who the lady singer was at first, dressed in a Black Leather cat suit with wild blonde hair she was cross between Blondie and Suzy Quatro ! The music was raw Rock and Blues and she had a fantastic mature voice as she belted out the songs with a together backing band featuring a Harmonica player, it was only when she spoke with a Brooklyn accent that I realized that it was Cyndi Lauper ( Girls just want to have fun ) A great concert and I really enjoyed the music ! Last night it was the turn of Jools Holland favourite; Mavis Staples the legendary rhythm and blues gospel singer – wow !
Thought for the Day;
When you are unable to find tranquility within ourselves, it is useless to seek it elsewhere.
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Friday, August 26, 2011
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
MANILVA START OF THE WEEK.
MONDAY/TUESDAY/WEDNESDAY
Another hot week is forecast for sunny Manilva as we and the village start to prepare for the ‘ Vendimia ’ On Monday morning Brenda stared her cleaning schedule but the main problem is the Sahara Sand which at this time of the year gets in everywhere; the ‘ Levante ’ wind that brings it over from Africa, in the high atmosphere covers the houses, streets and cars ! Anna called in at lunchtime and stayed for a avocado salad before Ana-Mari dropped Fabio off with his new puppy ‘ Alf ’who is named after Anna’s dad who amongst many things was a boxer !! Fabio’s English is getting good as he spends time with Mano and Anna during the school holidays so we had a game of Poker Dice. I then arranged the hire car and booked the table for dinner on the Friday David and Jane arrive. In the evening we had cold Pork for supper and then watched a film.
On Tuesday Brenda carried on with getting ready for our guests next week; I made some ‘ Patatas Bravas ’fried potato cubes with a spicy Tomato sauce to go with our Pork Cutlets for dinner. Brenda knocks off in the afternoon and retires to the roof terrace to take in the sun and read, she is now going through them at a great rate and I have problems with supply and demand ! Meanwhile I have installed a good connection on the PC to watch,live,the ‘ Vuelta a Espana’ on Euro Sport in English; it is currently in the Sierra Nevada region above Malaga but sadly Mark Cavendish abandoned the race on stage four today, he had struggled in the very hot weather and is also exhausted after the Tour de France. He is now going to look to recuperate in time for the World Championship at the end of September in
Today the council have started on the preparations for the ‘Vendimai Festival ’next weekend; they are putting up the sun canopy along Calle Mar as you can see in the picture below and above and they have started to build the Grape crushing press in the lay-by in front of Bar Rojas,Paco who normally builds it has retired so a new man,Antonio,is doing it this year ! I will show the building as it goes up in a picture blog when it is complete !
Tonight we are having Entrecote steak with Baked Potato and salad for supper. Sadly there is no Spanish Liga football as the players are on strike over a fund for unpaid wages, it started last weekend for the first time in 27 years !
PS; I’ve noticed that a very old dear friend is following the blog so we would very much like to get in touch with her via Facebook,E-Mail or Skype video – Rose Heard !! Please make contact !! malcolm.sexton@googlemail.com
Thought for the Day;
Work saves us from three great evils; Boredom, Vice and Need.
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Tuesday, August 23, 2011
MANILVA THIS WEEKEND.
SATURDAY/SUNDAY 20th/
After a little lie in we sorted ourselves out for the weekend; Cheta has finally gone away on her holidays to the family Campo with Isobel so we are missing her charging in and out through the front door shutters every day, the weather is still hot and sunny and the forecast for this week is good – 11 days and counting to Vendimia! We have arranged a hire car for 7 days over the holiday so as we can do all our running around on the Wednesday, pick up Brian,Lilli,her Dad and his friend on Thursday from the Bus Station in Marbella, then David and Jane on Friday from Gibraltar ! We will then drop them all back on Monday and Tuesday on their return journeys! This is because David could not get a cheap deal as they crossed the border to La Linea, we used our regular chap from
Sunday morning I put a Loin of Pork into roast and Brenda got some vegetables and new Potatoes ready to have with it for dinner. We then smartened ourselves up and went up to Bar Rojas for a Tapas Paella lunch, no Paella as the bar was closed on Saturday as Manolo and Lumy had a family wedding to go to above Malaga so they had started late on Sunday ! We came back after our lunchtime snifter and for a change we had Scrambled Eggs and Smoked Salmon before retiring to our separate ways, Brenda to the roof terrace and me watching
Thought for the Day;
We touch other peoples lives simple by existing.
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Saturday, August 20, 2011
MANILVA START OF THE WEEKEND.
THURSDAY/FRIDAY 18th/
This week it has been very hot and during the night the temperature doesn’t go below 30 degs! It means that you don’t get much sleep! On Thursday we had a day of pottering about the house catching up with the chores; meanwhile I was watching the Cricket from the Oval in London and setting up various web-pages to be able to follow the ‘Vuelta a Espana ’live, it starts in Benidorm on Saturday with a team time trial and this year it is loaded with six mountaintop finishes before it reaches Madrid on September 11 for the final sprint! In the evening for supper we had Grilled Minute Steak with salad for supper before we settled down to watch ‘The Tudors’ Henry V111 married his sixth wife, won a war in
Friday morning we shot down to Sabinillas for the shopping, called at the bank and English Bookshop, picked up some flowers from the market in the village and steaks from our butchers. Anna called in as we bring her a set of the English papers; we then went up to Bar Rojas for a drink and some Tapas. When we were shopping I spotted some very expensive looking large Argentinean Red Prawns on the small summer fish stall at Supersol, I bought six as a treat but they turned out to be not that dear so I got six more! We had them for supper, Brenda made some of her famous ‘ Marie Rose ’ dipping sauce and I cooked them ‘ A La Plancha ’ on a very hot griddle plate; I sprinkled them with Sea Salt and served then with lots of Lemon wedges ! They were delicious and we can’t wait to pick up some more!! Later I watched a live Jackson Browne concert which was very good as he was playing with a young band.
Thought for the Day;
If you want a thing done well, do it yourself – Napoleon.
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Thursday, August 18, 2011
MANILVA START OF THE WEEK.
MONDAY/TUESDAY/WEDNESDAY 15TH /16TH /17th AUGUST 2011.
After the weekend Monday in the village was very quiet as it was a bank holiday; the forecast for the week is sun, sun and more sun so we in our summertime regime, Brenda is also in her cleaning mode ready for our guests, David and Jane on their honeymoon ! 15 days and counting as Brian mentioned on a Facebook chat at lunchtime from
On Tuesday morning we went to the bank and chemists in Calle Mar and then called at the butchers for Pork Cutlets and Stewing steak; in the early evening I managed to get the connection going to watch the BBC I Player, we have started to watch ‘ Rick Stein in Spain ’which is very good and more interesting as we now know our way around the regions and also the dishes of Spain ! In the evening we had the Pork Cutlets pan fried in Lemon Butter with vegetables and local New Potatoes for dinner. We then watched the Arsenal match, they just won but will need to play better in the return tie in
Wednesday morning I went mad and made a Beef, Vegetable and Potato Stew – SCOUSE ! It has 11 different veg.and we had it for supper with local Beetroot and Cabbage with Alselgas. One of our neighbours,Antonio, dropped off two large bunches of local Grapes; they are from the 1st picking, which is a week behind schedule, they are Muscatel so they are sweet with no pips. After supper we watched the return clash in the Spanish Super cup; it did not kick off, in both senses of the word, until 11-00pm at the ‘Nou Camp ’in Barcelona, for most of the game it was great football as Barcelona beat Real Madrid 3-2 after the 2-2 draw in the first round, who else but Messi scored the winning goal, his second!
PS; I’ve just spoken to Mano on Skype,he is off today, this morning Derrick did a runner, he had also gone missing on Monday morning and the police found him at the start of the village, so this time Mano caught him at the same place, they think he is in love !
PPS; We have just spoken to Zoë and Graham over in Manchester and as were online on the Skype Video Annette in Kuala Lumpur made contact, she was cooking dinner for her daughter,Kate,who is over on holiday from Canada; we last saw her ten years ago in England so she has grown up to be a beautiful woman in that time! Jeff is away on business in
Thought for the Day;
To see what is right, and not to do it, is a want of courage or principal.
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Monday, August 15, 2011
MANILVA OVER THE WEEKEND.
SATURDAY/SUNDAY 13th/14t AUGUST 2011.
A little lie in on Saturday morning before our breakfast of Poached Eggs on Toast; the forecast is hot, reaching 39 degs.on Sunday! Brenda went on one of her cleaning missions so I retired to the office to catch up on the WWW. After freshing up we went up to Bar Rojas for our lunchtime snifter and to take in the tranquility of Manilva; when we got back Brenda went up on the roof terrace and I caught up with the days sport on the PC; first I watched the end of the Cricket, England annihilated, once again, India and went to the number one spot in world cricket, then I followed the Rugby at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff as Wales out played a pathetic display by England and won; I then logged onto the Liverpool v West Brom match, which was a draw but the new players in the Liverpool squad looked good. In the early evening we read our books,I’am into a crime novel by ‘ Nelson Demille ’which is very gripping and Brenda has just finished a ‘ Danielle Steel ’ For supper we had a plain grilled steak with Baked Potato and salad before settling down to watch a film on TV.
On Sunday morning I popped a Chicken into roast to have cold for supper with waxy New Potatoes; Brenda’s sister rang from Birkenhead with some surprise news, her and Norah have spotted some cheap flights and are coming over for a week at the end of September, they are just going on holiday to Mallorca and had no plans to come and see us this year, until now! We went up to Bar Rojas for the Paella, which was very good; on Friday evening we had recommended it to Alison, who we met in the bar, she arrived with her two boys and they had Cheeseburgers and frits as she enjoyed the Paella; Alison likes her food so we had told her about ‘ Venta Garcia ’and the ‘ Hotel Hermitage ’on the road up to Casares above where she is staying, she went for lunch to the Venta on Saturday and had an excellent meal and then made her way up to the Hotel and got a complementary drink for her trouble ! Result!! In the evening after our supper we watched the ‘Super Cup ’ match between Real Madrid and
Thought for the Day;
All appears to change, when we change.
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Saturday, August 13, 2011
MANILVA FRIDAY NIGHTS FERIA QUEENS PARADE.
Well Nikita did call in and he has got the mouse working instead of the touch pad but the keyboard requires major surgery; he is going to take the PC away and update the Microsoft hardware, increase the memory, improve the Anti-Virus and open and clean the keyboard!
The Feria Queens Parade came along Calle Mar led by the ‘ Roman Chi Chi Pom Band ’in their new costumes and Ringo ( Paco ) in a clowns outfit ! Behind were all the animal characters and then the floats; each float has a Queen which are chosen in age categories, they are pulled by 4x4s and the music is loud and the atmosphere builds up as they throw streamers and confetti in large amounts ! At the end an army of street cleaners brush up in front of the machine. We were sat outside Bar Rojas under the Sonbrajo to take in the evening’s action, at lunchtime Anna had joined us and then Mano after work as we caught up with all the news and had some Tapas, Brenda had the ‘Russian Salad’ which Lumy had just made; all the Bars make it and each has its own version, Lumy’s is very creamy, others are more chunky! Just before the evening kicked off a English lady and her two sons,on holiday,were looking for somewhere to eat so we recommended Bar Rojas and the Gallo Frito and Patatas Fritas ! We then had a nice chat with Alison,Jasper and Findlay,who where from Nottingham,later we had supper as the bar filled up with families before they go down to the Fair Ground later; this year the Feria is only on for four days and is not as large as normal,on Sunday at midnight there is free concert with a large group which will go on till the wee small hours. Monday is a National Bank Holiday in
Thought for the Day;
Humility is no substitute for good personality.
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Friday, August 12, 2011
Thursday, August 11, 2011
MANILVA OVER THE LAST SIX DAYS.
SATURDAY/SUNDAY/MONDAY/TUESDAY/WEDNESDAY/THURSDAY 6th – 11th AUGUST 2011.
Just a short blog as I have some problems with the touch pad and keyboard on this PC; I’am waiting for our Russian friend Nikita to come and have a look at it, he is rather busy at the moment as his wife, Olga, gave birth to a beautiful daughter, Eva, last week ! He runs the IT café on Calle Mar and is open in the morning and evening. On Saturday morning we spoke to our very dear friends in
Thought for the Day;
Intellectuals solve problems; Geniuses prevent them.
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Monday, August 08, 2011
MANILVA FASHION SHOW.
Sunday was the hottest day of the year so far in more ways than one; The Flamenco Music and Fashion Show Extravaganza was one “ Helluva ” night to remember ! The poster didn’t give the full picture of the night’s event to follow; as the catwalk was set up along Calle Mar in front of the Town Hall the atmosphere built up as the village took its seat. First on was the ‘ Carlos Poveda ’Flamenco group, who soon got the crowd going, they were very professional and as dusk came down the fire candles were lit and the street lights went off. The Show was presented by Manilva TV and was arranged by the Tourism Department of the Council. The street was packed and all the seats take as the Fashion Show started with the young children followed by the senorita’s and then the senoras, all local from the village, their families gave them vocal support as well as clapping along to the loud music. The pictures below shows just a small part of the show which went on till
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