A DRY AND SUNNY MANILVA, AT THE MOMENT, ON SUNDAY.

SUNDAY 22^nd/ APRIL 2018.

We had a little lie in this morning before Brenda took ‘ Nelly’ out for her first walk of the day, I meanwhile got this evenings ‘ Roast ‘ on the go; ‘Nelly’ has slept all night on the sofa, she is very quiet and is eating a little more, as she settles in, when they returned she had her ‘ Weetabix’ as we had our toast & tea.

On Monday morning little princess ‘ Reina’ is joining us here in ‘ Doggy World Heaven’ as well as on Tuesday, no ‘ Chispa’ as she’s still on ‘ lock-down’! Jan has just rung and booked ' Charlie' in with us for the first week in May, he's also joining us, as usual over Xmas, if not before! 

We then prepared this evenings supper ‘ Roast Local Chicken’ – I first portioned the Chicken, by taking off the Legs & Thighs and Wings, I then seasoned the Chicken with Sea Salt & Lemon Juice’ – it’s then roasted in a hot oven, resting on a bed of assorted ‘Trivets’ - basting all the time, after taking it out of the oven I then made my famous ‘ finger-licking’ Pan Gravy – using the roasting juices, seasoned flour and de-glazing the pan with a strong Chicken & Vegetable stock, I adjust the taste & colour ( Crosse & Blackwell Gravy Browning!)

The savoury ‘ Mixed Herb’ Stuffing then went in the oven, meanwhile the ‘ Vegetable Chef’ has gone mad, again, Broccoli & Cauliflower Florets in a three Cheese sauce, Creamed Leeks, Crushed  Baby Carrots & Turnips, Baby Brussels Sprouts & Garden Peas, as well as her famous ‘ Mashed Potato’ (left-over trimmings from the Pont Neuf!) and not forgetting the local, sliced, Boiled Potatoes, for my famous ‘ Goose-Fat Roast Potatoes’ – to go in the oven this evening!

This morning has started dry & sunny with a light breeze, by lunchtime it will be 18/19 degs+ but still with the threat of ‘ April Showers’  still in the air, next week we are in for more of the same, one day sunny, the next wet, and so on, hovering on the 21/22 degs+ mark, normal for the time of the year, by next weekend, fingers crossed, it’s forecast to be dry, warm & sunny, when we are out & about playing, watch this space.

We have just come off the ‘ Skype’ landline as we caught up with Jack & Lyn, over in Melbourne, as the first of his family parties has just finished, he was in bed, but we had a quick chat with Lyn and have arranged to call then on the ‘ Skype’ video on Tuesday morning, midnight here in Spain on Monday, as it’s his actual 90^th Birthday!

See a small selection of pictures below, with Jack’s side of the family, as well as Lyn’s – Jeff & Annette, from Brisbane, stayed with the folks and cooked the ‘ Spaghetti Marinara’ the other night and this morning for breakfast treated them to ‘Eggs Benedict’!

Just a quick update on the sports results; Barcelona hammered Sevilla 5-0 and produced a masterclass, as they won the ‘Copa Del Rey’ final for the fourth successive season! Liverpool gave away a 2 goal lead, to the bottom team( relegated)  in the ‘Premier League’ – West Brom and drew 2-2!! “ Jim Farrel “ ( the name of the horse!)  won the ‘ Scottish Grand National’ at Ayr, in a photo-finish, and Mo Farah has just come in 3^rd in his first race at the ‘London Marathon’ and broke the British record!

Last night after supper we settled down to watch the next two, back to back episodes of the excellent Belgium political crime/thriller “ Salamander: Blood Diamonds  “ in French & Flemish, with sub-titles, as the main Detective was suspended, was involved in a car chase/crash that seriously injured his fellow Detective, found the missing high-class ‘ Madam’ and helped her disappear, discovered a missing photo, started investigating the ‘Investment Bank’ behind the conspiracy, as the Belgium Prime Minister set the nasty spies after him! Finally his step-daughter and her friend have accepted a lift from a young villain, who is working for the baddies, watch this space.

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

...

A WARM & SUNNY MANILVA ON SUNDAY;

SUNDAY 31^st/ JANUARY 2016.

Another nice long lie in this morning as the village is very quiet, we then had a cup of tea and toast before getting the Sunday ‘Roast’ on the go; “ Roast Leg of New Zealand Lamb “ studded with Garlic & Rosemary,  with a large dish of my famous ‘Boulangere Potatoes’ to go in the oven this evening, we are having Crushed Carrot & Turnips, Cauliflower & Broccoli Florets in a three Cheese sauce and Garden Peas – lots of Mint Sauce and of course my finger licking Pan Gravy! See below the ‘Roast Leg of Lamb’ as it was ‘resting’!

We are having one of our nice relaxing days at home taking things easy and just doing nothing, for the rest of the day, because we can! This morning the sun was out early and the sky is now blue, there is no breeze so its another fine day here in sunny Manilva with the temperature reaching 20 degs by lunchtime, we have more of the same at the start of next week.

There are no plans for next week ,so far, we will pop down one day to get our passport photos taken and then call into the ‘English Bookshop’ where the owner Steve will sort them all out and arrange for the new ones to be delivered to our house. On Monday evening we both have an appointment down at the surgery in the evening to see the Chiropodist and ‘Reina’ this week is with us for five days from Monday to Friday, no doubt ‘Chispa’ will be in and out to play with her, she came crashing in earlier this morning.

Sad news about ‘Sir Terry Wogan’ this morning as he died after a short illness with the dreaded Cancer, he was very nice to us both , especially Brenda,  when we met him at a opening/function in Rhyl many years ago during the early days of our time at the ‘Hotel Seventy Degrees’ in Colwyn Bay.

On the sports front yesterday the Horse Racing from Cheltenham & Doncaster, on Channel 4,  was very exciting and showed lots of the horse that will be the ‘stars’ at the ‘Cheltenham festival’ in six weeks time; Liverpool played terribly and could only draw 0-0 with West Ham, Manchester City had an impressive win 0-4 at Aston Villa and Barcelona beat Atl.Madrid 2-1

.

The late film was “ 127 Hours “ from 2010, in the true story about a real-life ‘canyoneer’ who became trapped in the isolated in the  ‘Blue John Canyon’ in Utah and has to survive by amputating his trapped arm to escape, he is fitted with a prosthesis and later starts a family and still too this day continues with his hobby! He is played by ‘James Franco’ It was nominated for many awards including ‘Best Actor’

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

..