MANILVA OVER THE WEEKEND.

THURSDAY/FRIDAY/SATURDAY/SUNDAY 15th/18th MARCH 2012.

Well the weather forecast for the next few days and into next week is good, more of the same with sun and clear skies; the last five months – October/February – have been the driest and sunniest in the last thirty years, we have only have had two days of rain and this weekend it reached 24 degs in Sunny Manilva ! But it is ‘Semana Santa’ week coming up at the end of the month when the record in the past for the Easter religious processions is not good so we are not there yet !! We met Anna outside Bar Rojas on Thursday morning and sat and had a coffee in the warm sun, later Brenda was up in her favourite spot ,the roof terrace, reading her latest book as I was updating the blog.In the evening it was the second leg matches in the ‘ UEFA Europa League – Manchester Utd. went out to Athletico Bilbao,who played brilliantly and Manchester City went out also to Sporting Lisbon but at least put up a fight.

On Friday morning we went down to Sabinillas in the car, they will be missing us at the bus stop, to do the shopping and pick up the papers; later we went for our walk with Cheta and once again bumped into Mano and Anna, this time by Bar Rojas so we took in the sunshine and caught up with all the news. In the afternoon I watched the racing from Cheltenham, it was the ‘ Gold Cup ’with Kato Star going for a third win – sadly she was pulled up after spraining a muscle at the water jump, ‘ Synchronised ’ ridden by A.P McCoy won, his second win in the Gold Cup, the trainer was Jonjo O’Neil, his first win in the Gold Cup and the owner was J.P. McManus the legendary Irish gambler with his first win ! In the evening for dinner we had Pan Fried Fillet of Hake, the fishmonger suggested filleting the fish rather than cutting it into steaks as per normal, and I floured it and finished it in foaming Lemon Butter which we had with Garden Peas and Square Chips, earlier in the day Brenda suggested that it would be nice with a Tomato sauce on the side so I set to and made a rich Tomato sauce with local Tomatoes,Onions,Garlic and Sweet Pimento powder and of course the secret ingredients ( Sugar,Vinagar and Tabasco ) but with one difference, this time I used a Blender for the first time which suddenly Brenda had remembered we had hidden away ! It was a Wedding Present with a ‘ Rosemary Conley ’ juicer/blender that we have never had the chance to use ! You split the works in two and attach the blender, it worked perfectly and I then adjusted the consistency with ‘ Harina Fino de Maiz ’which we found the other day to replace our Cornflower – and yes it is all right to use Cornflower and Arrowroot – James Martin on ‘ Saturday Morning Kitchen ’this weekend was cooking with it !! It was a delicious supper and we have used the Tomato sauce since with Pasta and Courgettes !

We walked down to the sports complex on Saturday morning after our breakfast and I took the pictures below of the Seven-a-Side Football and the Basketball. At lunchtime it was the Quarter Finals of the FA Cup, Everton could only manage a 1-1 draw with Sunderland so it’s replay next week. Then it was the big one “ The Six Nations Rugby ”Scotland got the wooden spoon after loosing to Italy and all the other teams; next it was Wales v France at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff with Wales going for the ‘ Grand Slam ’their third in seven years ! It was a “ Helluva ”game and Wales played really well and beat the French 16-9 and won the Grand Slam ( all five teams beaten ) and at the same time avenged their defeat in the World Cup by the French ! Brenda came down in her Bikini from the roof terrace to watch the celebrations. In Cardiff there was over 250,000 people crammed into the city which then went mad ! Later England beat Ireland at Twickenham when they overwhelmed the Irish pack and won 30-9.For dinner we had Steak and Chips with all the trimmings and then settled down to watch a little TV.

Yesterday, Sunday was a glorious day as we went for our walk; it was hot and not a breeze in sight as we sat outside Bar Rojas,Mano and Anna joined us for a drink and later we had the Paella for lunch. Before our walk I had entered a competition in the ‘ Sur in English ’Each week there is a picture of a iconic building somewhere in the world which you have to give the name of and which city it is in ! This week the picture with the clue – was of an iconic shipping company headquarters in one of the great ports of the UK. It was of course Liverpool and the Pier Head but they were wrong with the clue as the building shown was the ‘ Mersey Docks and Harbour Board Building’ know locally as the ‘ Dock Office ’ not the ‘ Cunard Building’ which is next to it !! So I have sent a long e-mail and the pictures above showing “ The Three Graces ” with the ‘Royal Liver Building ’ with the two mythical Liver Birds on the clock towers where my father worked for the ‘ Royal Liver Friendly Society’ for many years ! I also sent pictures of the old trams called the ‘ Green Goddesses ’ which we used to go onto town on and also the famous ‘ Overhead Railway ’ which was the first electrically operated overhead railway in the world which we caught from Seaforth.Another binding memory was seeing for the first time in the docks what was at the time the worlds largest floating crane ‘ Mammoth ’ Great childhood memories of Liverpool back in the 1950s !
In the afternoon I watched Liverpool beat Stoke in the FA Cup 2-1 and set up a possible semi final place against Everton at ‘ Anfield South ’ ( Wembley ) if they can beat Sunderland in the replay ! Big Bri watch out !! Torres scored two goals for Chelsea as they beat Leicester 5-2 in the over match whilst Manchester Utd.in the Premier League beat Wolves 0-5 ! In the evening for supper we had Lamb Cutlets Roasted on Boulangere Potatoes with all the usual vegetables served with Fresh Mint sauce. Here in Spain Barcelona won with a Messi wonder goal but Real Madrid could only draw at home with good old Malaga 1-1. We then watched the late film “ Misson Impossible 111 with Tom Cruise being Tom Cruise !


Thought for the Day;


One is never old to unlearn bad habits.



..






.