A STILL VERY DAMP & CLOUDY SUNNY MANILVA ON SATURDAY.

SATURDAY 26^th / NOVEMBER 2016.

We had a good long lie in this morning until the gas bottle delivery called, we are back to the heavy steal ones, there was none of the new lightweight plastic ones on the lorry! It was then time for our normal Saturday morning breakfast ‘ Smoked Bacon & Fried Eggs ( still not Campo!) with buttered toast and mugs of steaming tea, to set us up for the day ahead.

Yesterday afternoon the rains arrived in force, is has not stopped since, at one time in the early evening we had a cloud burst, it’s still raining now, our neighbour Andres, two doors down, in ‘Bodega Andaluz’ posted a video of the ‘ River’ running down our street, is some of the steep streets in the village the houses have stone parapets outsides their front doors to divert the water away, it’s only possible in the wider streets, our is too narrow!

One ‘ bonus’ is that it’s good for the plants, see below, one of the streets next to ours, but our wall plants have taken a bashing!

The forecast for the rest of the weekend is not looking good, with more of the same, we have yet to find out what is in store for us next week, the ‘ Atlantic’ front is still hanging over the region, watch this space.

See below a overcast & cloudy ‘ Puerto Duquesa’ this morning.

 And the beach down in Sabinillas.

We have had a menu planning meeting and have re-arranged the weekend menus; this evening we are having ‘ Steak Diane’ with all the trimmings, then for tomorrow night supper, with Gillian, it’s going to now be ‘ Pan-Seared Medallions of Pork Fillet’ with a selection of vegetables & a potato dish, we are collecting Gillian from the ‘Bus Station’ over in Marbella tomorrow lunchtime.

It’s a busy sports weekend; over in Abu Dhabi at the Grand Prix  ( the final one) Lewis Hamilton was fastest in practise, the race will decide who is the ‘ World Champion’ – him or his teammate Rosberg?! This afternoon there is more ‘International Rugby Union’ with all the four national teams playing, over at Newbury & Newcastle it’s the ‘National Hunt Racing’ on Channel 4; meanwhile in the ‘ Premiere League’ Burnley welcome their near neighbours Manchester City, Liverpool are at home to Sunderland & Everton travel down to Southampton tomorrow; in ‘ La Liga’ over here Real Madrid are at home to Sporting Gijon and Barcelona go to Real Sociedad on Sunday.

PS; Lewis Hamilton has just taken the pole position.

Last night after supper we settled down to watch ‘ Rick Stein’s Long Weekend’ as he headed to Cadiz, our favourite city in the region, he ate Grilled Mackerel & Boquerones ( White Anchovies in Oil) – Churros with hot Chocolate, Tuna Sashimi, all the time drinking chilled ‘Manzanilla’ from ‘Sanlucar de Barramenda’ – then a ‘ Pecado Frito’ with Anchovies, Squid & Dogfish, next he tasted various ‘Tapas’ stews with Chickpeas, Chorizo, Cazon & Tuna.

Next he visited one of our favourite restaurants in Cadiz ‘ La Marea’ for the ‘ Arroz Verde ‘ – a white Paella with Parsley, drinking a very good ‘Galician Albariño ’ -  he then ate in Sanlucar de Barramenda ‘ Patatas Aliñadas’ ( local boiled potatoes with tinned marinated Tuna!) – boiled ‘Langostinos’ and of course the classic ‘ Tortillas de Camarones ‘ – live baby Shrimp Fritters, which we first tasted at ‘ La Marea’ and then in the main square of Sanlucar de Barramenda, where we introduced the dish to David & Jane!

Finally he made his version of the classic  dish ‘ Huevos a la Flamenco’ made with Onions, Red Peppers, Tomatoes, Serrano Ham, Chorizo, Peas and Smoked Paprika – finished by baking it in the oven topped with ‘ Campo Eggs’!!

Later we caught ‘ QI’ with the new host Sandi Toksvig, she has taken over from Stephen Fry, she is very good and is an excellent replacement, finally we watched  ‘ Would I Lie to You?’ hosted by Rob Brydon.

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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