A GREY & OVERCAST SUNNY MANILVA ON MONDAY AT THE START OF A WET WEEK.

MONDAY 16^th/ DECEMBER 2019.

I was up very early this morning to see little ‘ Miss Bella’ back with us for the day, she’s with us for next four days, she, as usual. shot upstairs onto our bed, were we all had a little further lie in, on Saturday ‘Pucci’ arrives for her two-week ‘ Xmas/New Year’ holiday, then next Sunday ‘ Chico’ is back with us for his week’s holiday over ‘Xmas’!

After freshening up as I was on the breakfast rota I had my favourite ‘ Toasted Crispy Smoked Bacon Butty’ – smothered in ‘ HP ‘ Brown sauce – open on brown for Brenda, with sliced Baby Mushrooms seared in the Bacon juices with a knob of Butter, some of which made it into my ‘ Butty’! Mugs of hot/strong ‘PG’ Tips Tea helped to wash them down, at the start of another ‘ Helluva’ week down here on the ‘Costa Del Sol ‘ – sadly a little wet and cold this week!

Overnight the breeze had stiffened so this morning it was a little cooler, the sky is still grey & overcast, with lots of dark rain clouds hanging around, as the new cold, wet and windy ‘ Atlantic’ front hits us, by this lunchtime the ‘ Wet-stuff’ is due to hit us, the temperatures are down to 14 degs´- overnight as low as 8/9 degs, the rest of the week is looking, on all the forecasts, cold, hovering in the low ‘Teens’ with moderate to heavy ‘RAIN’ all the time! By Friday we will have ‘ Gale-Force’ winds, on Sunday and into the start of the ‘ Xmas’ week, it’s settling down, with a little sunshine and the temperatures back up to 18/19 degs+ - sadly ‘Christmas Day & Boxing Day’ are at the moment not looking very settled, watch this space.

This week we are going to shoot across to Estepona, one morning, as I need to call into my Barber, Manuel, for the ‘ Full- Works’ – at the same time Brenda needs some essential cosmetics, on Friday, despite the weather ( Rain storms and gale-force winds) I will be out on my travels for our main ‘Weekly/Xmas’ shopping! – Finally a week today I will go down to the ‘English Butchers’ in the Puerto de la Duquesa Marina, to collect our Turkey etc, as we will be preparing our ‘ Christmas Day Feast’ on Tuesday the 24^th – ‘ Xmas Eve ‘ Watch this space.

Just a quick update on the football results from over the weekend; Liverpool won 2-0 and Everton drew 1-1 with Manchester Utd, Manchester City totally outplayed Arsenal and won 0-3 – over here in ‘La Liga Barcelona could only manage a 2-2 draw and Real Madrid also drew 1-1 – with a very lucky equalizer in the 95th minute!

Over in Everett, Ontario, Canada, over the weekend, on Sunday, Sandra & Bill had a ‘ Roast Beef ‘ lunch, as you can see below, with a rather nice bottle of a ‘ Cotes du Rhone Reserve’ – one of our old favourites!

For our supper this evening we are having ‘ Escalope’s of Chicken Breast ‘ – coated in breadcrumbs from the local bakery – shallow fried in Vegetable Oil, until crisp & golden, with lots of Lemon Wedges, finished ‘ Holstein’ style – garnished with Anchovy Fillets & Capers, topped with a ‘ Campo’ Fried Egg! Served on a bed of ‘ Spaghetti Milanese’ ( sliced Smoked Ham) surrounded with a pool of Tomato salsa, with finally sliced ‘ French ‘ Green Beans.

On Tuesday it’s going to be Homemade ‘Burgers’ of choice, with triple-cooked ‘ Stringfellows’ – I’m making a ‘ Chicken & Mushroom Tarragon Casserole’ on Wednesday, Thursday is still TBC, on Friday it will be a ‘ Fish n ‘Chip Supper’ and as usual on Saturday, our ‘Steak Night’ – next Sunday is still TBC, as we are coming up to a very busy ‘Xmas Week’ of ‘ Roasting’! Watch this space.

This afternoon/evening we will catch up with all the ‘ Quiz Shows’ that we follow ‘ Countdown, Pointless, Tipping Point, Egg Heads, Only Connect & University Challenge’ – later watching a documentary on ‘Great Train Journeys’ across Ireland, last night it was on Scotland!

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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A ' CRISP' & SUNNY MANILVA ON MONDAY AT THE START OF THE WEEK.

MONDAY 18^th/ NOVEMBER 2019.

I was up very early this morning to see little ‘ Miss Bella’ back with us for the day, she’s also with us tomorrow, she shot upstairs and we then all had a nice, long, lie in.

After freshening up, as I was on the breakfast rota, I had a ‘ Toasted Crispy Smoked Bacon Butty’ – smothered in ‘ HP’ Brown sauce – open on brown for Brenda, with some sliced Baby Mushrooms sautéed in the Bacon Fat with a knob of Butter, some of which made it into my Butty! ‘Mugs of hot/strong ‘ PG’ Tips Tea helped to wash then down.

We then shot along to the local Bank, in ‘Calle Mar’ to pay the monthly Electricity & Water bills, the ‘ Council’ workmen are out putting up the poles along the street for the Xmas decorations.

We have another beautiful day down here on the ‘ Costa Del Sol’ - the sun was out early and the sky has cleared and is bright blue & cloudless, there is still a light & ‘ crisp’ breeze blowing in from the Mediterranean, but on the sunny-side of the street it’s just right, warm & sunny, by lunchtime it’s due to reach 15/16 degs+ - overnight still cool, at 9/10 degs, tomorrow is going to be the same, before the ‘ Wet-Stuff’ is due to hit us on Wednesday and for the next few days, up to and including Saturday, Sunday will be dry, next week is now looking more settled, as the breeze drops over the weekend, back up to 19/20 degs by next Wednesday, with sunshine and a few patchy clouds hanging around, as there will be a light breeze, hopefully keeping it dry, just about right for the time of the year, watch this space.

For our supper this evening we are having the ‘ Roast Top-Side of Beef’ – which is ‘Pink- no Blood’ – carved/sliced – we love ‘ Cold-Cuts’ of Roast Meats, with the rest of the ‘ Goose-Fat Roast Potatoes’ and all the leftover Vegetables, not forgetting a sauceboat of my famous‘ finger-licking Pan Gravy!



See below;

On Tuesday it’s going to be ‘Grilled Lambs Liver with Pork Sausages & Smoked Bacon, with a rich ‘ Red Wine Onion & Shallot Salsa, and Brenda’s famous ‘Mashed Potato’ - Wednesday we are having ‘ Grilled Gammon Steaks with ‘ Chips’ – on Thursday ‘ Pan- Seared Chicken Wings with Baked Potatoes, Friday will be ‘Fish Night’ and then on Saturday we will be back to our ‘ Steak Night’ – with ‘ Entrecote Steaks’ Sunday it still ‘TBC’ – Watch this space.

This afternoon/evening we will be catching up with all the ‘Quiz Shows’ that we follow; ‘ Countdown, Tipping Point, The Chase, Pointless, Only Connect & University Challenge’ – later channel-hopping to find a good film, last night we caught the first episode of “ The War of the Worlds ‘ – a new ‘BBC TV’  lavish adaptation ( the third) of the classic of the ‘H.G.Wells’  novel, as the ‘ Martians’ invade the World, based in & around London in the ‘Edwardian’ era ( 1905) – with Eleanor Tomlinson( Poldark) - as the lead ‘flame-haired’ character! The sets are lavish, it was filmed in and around ‘ Great Budworth’  in Cheshire, our friend Brian, lives in the next village and saw it being filmed!

PS; Brian helped me, last night, prepare all the ‘Online’ documents etc to arrange our new ‘Internet’ provider, ‘OliveNet’ – I just need one more copy of a document from ‘ Movistar’ – which I will chase up later this week, he’s then going to call in and finish the ‘E-Mail’ – so hopefully, by the start of December it will be all installed ( a Router & New Fiber Optic) – which is going to save us nearly 50%!

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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