A VERY CRISP & SUNNY MANILVA ON THURSDAY;

THURSDAY 14^th / JANUARY 2016.

I was up early this morning to welcome ‘Reina’ here for the day, we then all went back to bed under our duvets for a little lie in; overnight we had the coldest night so far, 7 degs, and this morning its very crisp but clear with the sun due later when it will reach 17/19 degs, over the next few day and the weekend its more of the same and even getting a little warmer by Sunday!

After our regular breakfast we organized our shopping list for tomorrow morning, I then went down to our local butchers for tonight’s supper ‘Chicken Wings’  which I grill and serve them with a Mixed salad and a Baked Potato, I also bought some very nice thin-sliced ‘Calves Liver’ to go away for another day and also some ‘Hamburgers’ that he has just made ( Beef & Pork )

NEWSFLASH; BRENDA’S ‘ HEART’ RESULTS!

As we walked into the ‘Heart Consultants’ office over in the ‘Costa Del Sol’ Hospital past Marbella his first words were ‘ Good News, Brenda’s ‘heart’ is fine, no problems and everything back to normal’!! The results of all her tests, scans etc are fine, her rhythms are back to normal and her heart is also back to normal size, all the valves are fine and her ventricles are working as normal, he then checked her over and put her on the test machines/ ultra-scan; he was very happy and said that she should have a yearly check up and keep taking the tablets, there all working! A great ‘RESULT’

So on the way back over we first called into the large shopping Mall behind Marbella ‘La Cañada’for some make up essentials, we then went through Estepona to our favourite hotel, where David & Jane are staying in a couple of weeks, the “ H10 **** Estepona Princess’ and had a nice glass of chilled Cava to celebrate!

We then decided to give the ‘staff’ the night off and carried on down to Duquesa Marina for a spot of supper; we had a look around and then I remembered seeing some good write ups on ‘La Traviata’ which we have not been too, its above the main part of the port away from the ‘hoi polloi’!

We were welcomed by the owner ‘Roberto’ ( 20 years in the marina)  into the warm restaurant looking over the marina with a very large ‘summer’ terrace and started with two glasses of ‘Kir Royal’ on the house! Its essentially an international menu for ‘English’ locals/regulars and the holiday business, he has very attentive staff who give very prompt and quick service; I had a very nice ‘plated ’Prawn Cocktail with large/ firm Prawns, for our main course Brenda had for a change a sliced ‘Breast of ‘Pink Duck’ in a Port Wine glaze with ‘aldante’ vegetables and a side order of ‘Sauteed Potato chunks with Onion’ – the Duck was very tender and tasty, for my main course I had, guess what? – a ‘Char-Grilled Entrecote Steak’ topped with Garlic Butter, which was succulent and very tasty and of course some ‘Frits’ – the only disappointment of the evening, not fresh or crisp! Oh and yes we had the hottest plates we have ever had in Spain! Brenda had a glass of the house ‘Sauvignon Blanc’ followed by the excellent house ‘Rioja’ while on I was on a very large Bacardi & Coke! The coffee was on the ‘house’! 

We shall return in the not too distant future. I took some picture with my Mobile phone as I did not have the camera with us, sadly they are not very good, see below!

  

At lunch time we went up to 'Bar Rojas' for some Tapas/Pincho; it was hot and sunny with no breeze so where able to sit outside in the warm sunshine and watch the world go by, we had our regular drinks along with some nice new Tapas, the new young couple looked after us and the prices are still 'local'!! We shall return.

On one of the local Estepona TV stations the other day it showed an interview with a local Spanish ‘Restaurateur’ Jose from the ‘Le Menorah’ who we met when we first arrived down here on the Costa Del Sol’ all those year ago, I gave him a pair of my  silver ‘shirt suspenders’ as his shirt sleeves were always too low! He was still wearing them on the show! – result – its one of my pet hates . I once sent Tony Blair a pair as his shirt sleeves where always showing too much cuff! He did no reply!! I still wear mine to this day, I had them on we went out last Friday for lunch, I still have a ‘Gold’ pair for special occasions as well as my regular ones!!

PS; We have just received our first Post Card for 2016 ! Its from New York - Times Square - thanks to Lee & Daniela!! Keep them coming!!

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

..