A WARM & SUNNY MANILVA ON WEDNESDAY;

WEDNESDAY 28/th OCTOBER 2015.

We had a nice long lie in this morning as it was quiet to start in the village, no deliveries and the workmen on the site were working at the far end inside; we then had our usual breakfast before sorting out the day ahead, Brenda has put the washing on as its a good drying day and I made a large pan of my famous ‘ Lob Scouse’ for tonight’s supper.

The sun is out and the blue sky is back, there is no breeze and by lunchtime it will be warm, back to normal, the rest of the week is even getting better and over the weekend we have more of the same.It should reach 23/24 degs during the day and at nights its still 16/17 degs!

My ‘Scouse’ is made to my dear mother’s old recipe: Diced Onions, Carrots, Celery,Turnips, Leek, all sweated off with a good dash of ‘Lea & Perrins and Heinz Tomato Ketchup’! The diced stewing Beef is dusted in seasoned flour and browned off before adding it to the pan, then a strong Beef & Vegetable stock is added along with the cubed Potatoes, lots of seasoning and left on a low light under the Second Chef’s ( Brenda ) supervision! Then this evening I will check the consistency and if necessary add some more cooked cubed Potatoes; with it we are having the traditional Red Beetroot and Cabbage! See below; Not mine just a 'Taster'!!

As ‘Scruffy’ is with us on Friday we are going down to Sabinillas for our weekly shopping tomorrow morning, on the way we are calling at the surgery to arrange an appointment for our yearly ‘Gripe’ ( Flu )  jabs/injections.

Here in Spain the government has just called a General Election for the middle of December; we don’t have a vote but are still interested in the outcome as this time the usual two party system is now, with the launch of two more anti-austerity/ anti-monarchy parties, at the last local and regional election made it more interesting! Watch this space.

Next week its the start of our monthly Pension’s cycle, at the moment the ‘Euro’ is creeping back up slowly but we will still be down over 100 ‘Euros’ on the month! I’m blaming the ‘Chinese’ still!!

This evening after our supper we will settle down to find something to watch on our new multi system.

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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A WARM & SUNNY MANILVA ON SUNDAY " INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE WOMEN "

SUNDAY 8^th/ MARCH 2015.          “ INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE WOMEN ”

We had a nice lie in this morning, our last until next weekend, as no doubt we will be awoken by the workmen as they carry on with the demolition of the old walls adjoining our house!

The sun is out and the sky is bright blue and we are looking forward to another glorious day here in sunny Manilva; the forecast for the week ahead is looking good, it’s getting warmer and the light breeze is dropping by Wednesday.

After breakfast we had our weekly planning meeting; on Monday lunchtime we are going across to Estepona to chase up our bank for the second re-fund,again,then we are going to check out the English Computer shop, when we find it! A quick call into the ‘Carrefour Hypermarket’ for something for supper and then along the coast to the hospital past Marbella for Brenda’s appointment for her ‘Heart Ultra Sound Scan’ and then to arrange an appointment with her Heart Consultant ASAP.

In ‘Doggy World Heaven’ ‘Reina’ is here on Tuesday & Thursday and ‘Scruffy’ on Wednesday; our weekly shopping next week is on Friday the 13^th! – when we are also going to Iceland in Sotogrande. Over next weekend we are going to try and get together with Joyce for a good catch up.

At lunchtime we went for a walk with 'Chispa' In Calle Mar it was the regular Sunday 'Children's Fun Day' with all sorts of different activities and also 'Pets Day' We ended up at Bar Rojas sat under the Sonbrajo in the hot sunshine for a cool drink and some of Lumys 'Paella' as you can see in the picture above with 'Chispa' in her Red Bandana!!

On the menu front we are finding something in the Hypermarket for Monday evenings supper, on Tuesday its going to be Pork Chops from our local butcher in the village and then on Wednesday the ‘Dish of the Week’ is “ Chicken & Mushroom Tarragon Casserole” Thursday is find something in the fridge day before Friday’s ‘Fish Dish’ which this week is going to be a ‘Seafood Risotto’

At lunchtime today Barcelona won 6-1 with Messi scoring his 24th hat trick,taking them top of 'La Liga' after Real Madrid lost 1-0 yesterday!

This evening for supper we are having ‘Braised Lamb Shanks in Minted Gravy’ with Crushed Baby Carrots & Baby Turnips, Diamond cut Green Beans & ‘Rissole’ Potatoes, small new potatoes cooked in their skins and then tossed in foaming Parsley butter!

The reason that ‘Charlie’ is back with us at the end of May for a week is that Brian & Jan are going home to Liverpool to see family and friends but it also happen that it’s the 175^th anniversary of the old original ” Cunard Steamship Company” and the three current great Queens liners ‘Victoria, Mary 2 and Elizabeth’ are coming into the River Mersey at the Pier Head in front of the iconic 100 years old ‘Cunard Building’ next to the ‘Port of Liverpool Building’ and of course the even more famous ‘Liver Building’ on May 25^th!!

The Pier Head and the three great buildings are now part of the “ World Heritage Maritime Mercantile City” See the pictures below;

After supper we will catch up with all the news, sport and weather details before finding some thing to watch

See below a picture taken yesterday morning of the ‘Bay of Llandudno’ and the Victorian promenade taken by our old friend and customer Nigel Roberts, the newsagent.

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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