MANILVA START OF A NEW YEAR.

1st/2nd/3rd JANUARY 2012.

NEW YEARS DAY;

Well after a little lie in we then watched the New Years Day concert from Vienna; the concerts have been held at the ‘ Grobler Saal’ ( Large Hall ) of the ‘Musikerein ’in Vienna since 1939; the ‘ Vienna Philharmonic ’was joined by dancers from the ‘ Vienna State Opera Ballet ’and this year the ‘ Vienna Boys Choir ’The guest conductor was Mariss Jensons, the concert consists of Waltzes, Polkas and Marches,mainly from the ‘Strauss ’family and of course finishes with the ‘ Radetzky March ’ during which the audience claps along under the conductor’s wry direction ! The pictures below only give you a small idea of the setting, it is now broadcast to an estimated audience of 50 million in 73 countries, since 1980 the flowers that decorate the hall have been a gift of the city of Sanremo in Italy.

We then had our first visitor of the new year; our friend Gillian who lives just below the village in a house on the Monte Vinas estate, called to wish us ' Happy New Year 'We had a couple of drinks,the hair of the dog,and caught up with her news,her daughter Jessica has just returned to England so we have asked her to join us for dinner on Wednesday.

We then got our Sunday Roast on the go; Mano and Anna where again able to join us so we called it our ‘Boxing Day ’lunch. We decorated the table and got the crackers out and soon had the Topside of Beef ( Rib of Beef for another day) in the oven, cooked pink, Yorkshire Puddings and finger licking Gravy ready. Brenda’s vegetables for the day were Cauliflower and Broccoli Florets in Cheese sauce, Glazed Carrot Batons, Cabbage with Alselgas,Garden Peas and Parsnip Chips which were very tasty along with Baby New Potatoes which she skinned after cooking and finally my Goose fat Roasted Potatoes; I carved and served the Beef cold as it was just right, Pink no blood,tender,succulent and tasty,Mano brought a fine Rioja which went just right with the meal. For sweet we had Fresh Strawberries, followed by Mince Pies and a glass or two of Reserva Madeira ! A “ Helluva “ night was had by all !!

On Monday we had an at home day to catch up; we then watched on the BBCIPlayer ‘ Saturday Morning Kitchen ’ and then just before lunch ‘ Absolutely Fabulous ’which was again a one off special and was very funny. We watched the Jools Holland ‘ Hootenanny ’ programme from New Years Eve which was terrific with some great singers belting out his sort of music and after a cold Roast Beef supper we watched another Xmas film on TVE1 in English, the “ Godfather 11 ”with Al Pacino.

Today, Tuesday it is another glorious day down here on the Costa del Sol; we have been for a walk with dog and called in at the butchers and picked up some Pork Cutlets for tonight and some Braising steak for dinner tomorrow when we have a guest joining us for the first time,Gillian,which we are looking forward to welcoming to our house, she dropped off some Whole Cloves yesterday, which we have not been able to find so the next thing on the menu to look for will be Honey Glazed Roast Gammon, which is a Brenda favorite that she has been asking for, for ages ! Parsley Sauce as well, of course and Baby Broad Beans !!

PS; Tonight the big game over in England is Manchester City v Liverpool - watch this space ! Liverpool lost 3-0 to City !!


Cracker of the day;

What do you call a row of men waiting for a haircut ? A barbercue !



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