MANILVA ON BRENDA'S BIRTHDAY.

THURSDAY/FRIDAY 21st/22nd/ JUNE 2012.

No need to say more about the weather – sunny and hot – so there! We did our weekend shopping on Thursday morning this week ahead of the celebrations on Friday; Cheta is in and out as normal in the morning and evening as it cools down – she follows Brenda everywhere and comes and visit’s me in the office as well ! On Thursday evening we went out for an early fish and chip supper down past Sabinillas as you can see in the pictures below, the Haddock was sweet and delicious as we sat and took in the view across past the Castle of Duquesa and the ‘ Chef ’ – ‘ Me ! ’ had the second of his three nights off! As we got back to the house the football was just starting after a ‘Football – Free’ Wednesday evening! Portugal beat the Czech’s 1-0 in the first of the Quarter Final games. The last picture below shows the ‘ Sims ’clan with their proud dad Peter ,taken by Barbara of Jake on his way to his graduation to the senior school and the girls Megan and Leah all dressed up for the final day of school dance concerts ! They are then off for 12 weeks!

I started the morning by playing, very loud, Stevie Wonder singing ‘ Happy Birthday ’ to get the ‘ Birthday Girl’ off to a good start !
We then had a lazy morning on Friday as we showered and got ourselves dressed up for lunch out; we started with a nice glass of ‘Spanish Kir Royal ’to set us up for the day, we then called into the Casares Golf Club’ for a very friendly drink sat out on the terrace in the shade. We then made our way up to “Venta Garcia” where ‘Jesus ’made us very welcome in his usual and distinctive manner! We had the best window seat in the house over looking the view down the valley with just a little breeze keeping us cool on another very hot day, the hottest so far, down here in sunny Manilva ! We went on the ‘ Menu Del Dia ’which is very good value for three courses with coffee and started with a rather nice Smoked Salmon Salad with a very aromatic dressing, for her main course Brenda had the pan-fried ‘ Dorada – Sea Bream ’and I had the Blade of Oven Roasted Lamb, they are served ( unusual for down here ) with a Julienne of fresh Vegetables and ‘ Soft ’ fried and very tasty Patatas Fritas ! Both excellent as we ordered a ‘ Cordieau Pinot Noir Rosado ’which at this time of the year ( Any time in fact ! ) goes down very nicely ! For our sweet Brenda had the Gin and Tonic Sorbet and I had the ‘ House ‘ Crème Caramel – afterwards they sang “ Happy Birthday ” with a candle in the middle of a selection of the sweets of the day – followed by a drink on the house, Brenda had a nice Brandy and I had the recommended House Liquor – ‘ Chilled Firewater ’and to finish a Coffee Cortado ! A memorable lunch out in a great atmosphere, the pictures above show ‘ Venta Garcia ’ at its best along with the food ! We came back and had a ‘ Siesta ’ and then had our usual cocktails up on the roof terrace before setting out to the music concert on the Plaza outside the Music School – it started late as usual and so ended even later, the pictures at the top above give you a little idea of the concert which ended at 1-00am with Isobel belting out all our favorite songs.They are a little out of focus as I forgot to re-charge the battery ! We then came back to the house in a cool night breeze which had come in across the ‘ Strait’s ’from Africa ! Heinz Baked Beans on toast finished of a “ Helluva ” birthday !!

PS; While we were out Germany beat Greece 4-2.

Thought for the Day;

My strength is the strength of ten because my heart is pure.


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