A VERY HOT & SUNNY MANILVA ON TUESDAY;

TUESDAY 19^th/ JULY 2016.

I was up early this morning to welcome ‘Reina’ back with us for the day, she shot upstairs onto her duvet and then settled down, we all had a nice lie in before a late breakfast, the front door bell went, it was ‘ Daniela’ – she had broken down in her car just outside ‘La Linea de la Concepecion’ on her into work in Gibraltar, she called the brake-down service and the ‘ Grua’ arrived and took her to the garage back in Estepona, they dropped her back in the village, she then walked up to our house to collect ‘Reina’ I then took them back to their house in Duquesa Village through the country lanes, ‘Reina’ is back with us tomorrow for the day.

Its another hot one today but the light sea breeze is making it very pleasant, in fact we are the coolest spot in the whole of Spain, the rest of the country is in the high 30s/mid 40s, over the next couple of days its more of the same before getting hotter over the weekend.See the picture below of the 'River Conwy ' in North Wales taken this lunchtime from the 'Quay Hotel & Spa' in Deganwy.

I then carried on with making this evenings supper ‘ Chicken, Mushroom & Tarragon Casserole’ which we are having with a selection of Green Vegetables and Parsley new Potatoes. I toss the diced Chicken in seasoned flour and then lightly sauté in the pan, the sauce is made by sweating off diced, Onions & Garlic, Leeks, Celery, Carrots, Red & Yellow Peppers and Baby Mushrooms with diced Smoked Bacon, the secret ingredients and lots of Tarragon, a good slug of White Wine ( thanks Brenda !) is added before a strong Chicken & Vegetable Stock to simmer, the Chicken is then added and left to cook of under the very able supervision of the ‘ Second Chef’ who skims and readjusts the seasoning  to taste! The consistency will be adjusted this evening when I re-heat the Casserole along with some Double Cream ( Optional!) and chopped Parsley.

Today is a ‘ Rest Day ‘ in the “ Tour De France “ in Berne, it is well earned and needed as tomorrow they go into and up the ‘ Alps’ and are there for the next four days before the race finishes  on the ‘ Champs-Elysees’ in Paris on Sunday.

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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