A NOW RATHER WINDY AND SUNNY MANILVA ON SATURDAY.

SATURDAY 29^th/ FEBRUARY 2020.   “ LEAP YEAR/DAY “ !

We all had a nice lie in this morning, ‘Chico & Lolo’ as usual slept all night, after a quick freshen up we took them out for their first walk of the day around the bottom of the village, when we returned I had for breakfast Brenda’s world famous  ‘ Campo Poached Eggs on Toast ‘ – Scrambled for herself, with mugs of hot/strong Tea, to set us up for the day ahead.

See Below;

In ‘ Doggy World Heaven’ next week ‘ Chico’ is due to be picked up next Friday, after his nearly 4 week holiday, ‘Lolo’ will be with us until later in the month ( mid March) – little ‘Miss Bella’ is not with us next week, the following week she is back on Monday/Tuesday & Wednesday. Sadly over the past week we have had to turn down having ‘ Scooby’ - one of our regulars, back with us for week and also, from the past   ‘Reina with her new girlfriend, little ‘Miss Daisy’ – also for week ! Watch this space.

This morning on our walk it was very hot in the sunshine, but with a cooling/stiff breeze blowing down from the mountains behind the village ( Poinente) as the next/new, wet & windy ‘ Atlantic’ front blows in, the tail-end of ‘Storm Jorge’ that is hitting the UK this weekend. The sky is clear and blue so by lunchtime it’s still forecast to reach 19/20 degs+ - overnight down to 11/12 degs, tomorrow staying the same, with the chance of the ‘ Wet-Stuff’ – next week is now looking rather unsettled, with sunny patches, a stiff breeze and patchy ‘ Rain’ at times, hovering in the high ‘ teens’ – by next Tuesday up to 21 degs+ - going warm & sunny, sadly next weekend a little cooler as the wind stiffens, watch this space.

On the sports front this weekend; over in the ‘ Premiere League’ Liverpool travel down the M6/1 to play Watford and Everton welcome Manchester Utd on Sunday, down at Wembley, also on Sunday it’s the final of the ‘ EFL Carabao’ Cup’ as Aston Villa play Manchester City. Over here in ‘La Liga’ tomorrow in Madrid it’s the ‘ El Classico’ as Real Madrid welcome Barcelona – a ‘ must-win’ game for both team – as the fight to win ‘La Liga’!

The ‘National Hunt Racing’ this afternoon is from Doncaster.

See below a couple of pictures taken this morning, in a still rather overcast day, of the “ HMS Prince of Wales “ berthed at the Pier Head in Liverpool.

And now with a Blue sky!

                                                                                             " Captain Darren Huston "

For our supper this evening we are having a large ‘ Grilled Rib of Beef’ – on the bone, cooked on a very hot griddle-plate ‘ Med-Rare’ – then left to rest, before taking it off the bone and slicing into fingers ‘ French’ style, garnished with seared Asparagus Spears, Button Mushroom & Shallots, accompanied with a classic ‘ Bearnasie’ sauce and served with Whole ‘ French’ Baby Green Beans and of course triple-cooked ‘ Frits’

Tomorrow we are celebrating “ St. David’s Day “ in style; the ‘ Welsh Standard’ with be flying outside, as we prepare our ‘Welsh Banquet Supper’ when Leah, Ryan, who comes from Abergele in North Wales, and their son Deemy, along with little ‘ Miss Bella’ join us for supper. Watch this space.

This evening after supper will as usual settle down to channel hop to find something to watch.

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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A ' FRESH' AND SUNNY MANILVA ON SATURDAY.

SATURDAY 8^th/ FEBRUARY 2020.

I was up first this morning and after a quick freshen up I shot off on my travels down to Sabinillas, for our weekly shopping, I was first into ‘ Mercadona’ and beat the rush, I then called into the ‘ English Bookshop’ for the local newspapers, before coming back up the hill, through the vine fields to unload back at the house.

As usual on a Saturday morning Brenda had prepared her famous ‘ Campo’ Poached Eggs on Toast – Scrambled for herself, with mugs of hot/strong tea, to sort us out for the day and weekend ahead.

This morning the sun was out first thing and the sky is clearing and now cloudless, there is a stiff breeze, so by lunchtime it’s due to reach 18/19 degs+ - overnight down to 10/11 degs, with sunshine for the rest of the day, just the small chance of some of the ‘ Wet-Stuff’ a little later, tomorrow is going to be dry, settled & sunny, next week it’s going warmer each day, up to 20/21 degs+ at times, with a few patchy clouds and a lighter breeze keeping it ‘ fresh’ on the shady side of the street, hovering in the mid/high ‘ teens’ – watch this space.

Yesterday evening Kevin & Caroline picked us up and went along to Torreguadiaro, along the coast, towards Sotogrande, for a drink and chat, before supper, we called into the main and very popular Spanish ‘ Restaurante  El Trasmallo de Agustino’ – on the sea front, it has excellent ‘ Tapas’ and a well-respected restaurant, with professional staff, it’s on the list for another visit.

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We then carried on to ‘La Finca Thai Fusion ‘ where I had booked a nice corner table in the top of the restaurant, I chilled bottle of an excellent ‘ Cava Rosado Pinot Noir’ helped us toast the ‘ Birthday Boy’ – Kevin, we ordered to start a small selection of ‘Thai’ starters, all excellent, as you can see in the pictures below.

We choose various dishes from the menu, all of which came with a very small ‘ mound’ of plain rice, sadly to say it was not very good, the ‘Prawns’ ( just a few) in our two dishs were small & overcooked, the sauces were watery and overall we were not impressed, my ‘Fried Rice’ was not ‘ Fried’ and very Garlicy !  All the dishes were overpriced and some of our drinks, very expensive to say the least ( Bacardi & Coke 9 Euros!)  Thanks to Kevin & Caroline for a very nice catch up and great company, we will return your ‘ Supper’ when you are next over in May! Watch this space.

On the sports front this weekend; over in the ‘ Premiere League’ Everton are at home to Crystal Palace and Manchester City welcome West Ham, over here in ‘La Liga’ Real Madrid travel to Osasuna and Barcelona are in Saville to play Real Betis. The ‘ Guinness Six Nations’ Rugby Union is Ireland v Wales, over in Dublin and Scotland welcome England in the classic ‘Calcutta Cup’ match in Edinburgh, tomorrow, in Paris, France welcome Italy. The ‘ National Hunt Racing’ this afternoon is from Newbury.

For our supper this evening we are having ‘ Grilled Fillet Steaks’ – cooked on a very hot griddle-plate ‘ Med-Rare’ – then left to rest, garnished with seared Asparagus Spears & Button Mushrooms, served with whole Baby ‘ French’ Green Beans and triple-cooked ‘Frits’ – on the side Dijon Mustard and a classic ‘Bearnaise’ sauce. Tomorrow evening, for a change, I’m making my now famous  “ Smoked Chicken & Three Green Bean Risotto “

At lunchtime our friend Lee is calling in to hopefully reset the ‘ IPTV’ system and sort out our Online TV etc! Watch this space.

                                                   The ' IPTV' system is back on, thanks Lee  ! 

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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A ' FRESH' & SUNNY MANILVA ON SATURDAY.

SATURDAY 14^th/ DECEMBER 2019.

Just a little lie in this morning as ‘Nacho’ was being dropped off for the day, he’s grown up and is a lovely gentle boy, next week in ‘Doggy World Heaven’ we have little ‘Miss Bella’ with us for four days, from ‘Monday/Thursday, on next Saturday ‘Pucci’ is joining us for her two-week ‘Xmas/New Year’ holiday, then next Sunday ‘ Chico’ is back with us for his week’s ‘Xmas ‘holiday, watch this space.

We then freshened up before our regular Saturday morning breakfast, of Brenda’s famous, perfect  ‘Campo’ Poached Eggs on Toast, Boiled for her, with Brown Toast fingers, with mugs of hot/strong tea, to set us up for the day ahead!

I then retired to the office/studio upstairs to first go on the ‘WWW’ to check out all the news etc, there was a nice ‘Facebook’ message/news-update, from Sandra & Bill over in Everett, Ontario, Canada, Sandra has had more treatment for her vertigo and is a lot better, they are getting ready for Christmas, all the family are joining them on ‘Xmas Eve/Xmas Day’ - so we have arranged a ‘ Skype’ video link up with them.

At the same time there was a live call/message on the ‘Facebook’ video link up, from Lyn, over in Melbourne, she had managed to get online, so we had a nice chat/catch-up’ with her, she looked very tired, but was her normal cheerful self, she managed to take the phone/camera into to see Jack, in his special bed, he looked remarkably well, as we spoke to him, Annette & Debs are joining her on Christmas Day, so we are going to catch them with a – ‘link-up’! Lyn has not been able to get out much, for her ‘Xmas’ cards etc, so she is sending all her love to all the family, via ‘Facebook’ this year!!  

Overnight the breeze has dropped a little, so this morning the sun has broken through and the sky is clearing and blue, with just a few patchy clouds hanging around, it’s still very ‘ crisp & fresh’ with sunshine, by lunchtime it’s due to reach 17 degs+ - staying the same tomorrow.

Sadly from Monday, onwards, there is a new, very cold, wet & windy ‘ Atlantic’ front hitting us! We are in for a very prolonged wet and windy week, dropping down to 11/12 degs by Tuesday, down to 8/9 degs at night time, on Friday the winds are getting up to ‘ Gale-Force’ – with lots of moderate to heavy ‘RAIN’!!

On all the forecast ( 3) that I follow the ‘Christmas’ week is looking, at the moment, dry & settled with sunshine – ‘Fingers Crossed ‘ Watch this space.

On the sports front this weekend; over in the ‘Premiere League’ Liverpool welcome Watford and Everton travel up the M56 to play Manchester Utd, tomorrow Manchester City will go down the M6/1 to play Arsenal, over here in ‘La Liga’ Barcelona travel to Real Sociedad and on Sunday Real Madrid are in Valencia, this afternoon the ‘ National Hunt Racing’ is from the home of the sport ‘ Cheltenham’

At lunchtime on our walk we ended up sat outside ' Bar Castillo ' in the very warm sunshine, with a bright blue sky, for a nice cool drink, with 'Nacho' as our feet!



See below;

Tonight for our supper we are having ‘ Grilled Fillet Steaks’ – cooked on a very hot griddle-plate ‘Med-Rare’ – pink no blood! – then left to rest, garnished with seared Asparagus Spears, Button Mushrooms & Banana Shallots, accompanied with whole Baby ‘ French’ Green Beans and triple-cooked ‘ Frits’ with a sauceboat of the classic ‘ Bearnaise’ sauce.

This evening we will be watching the final of ‘ Strictly Come Dancing ’ as we have our supper and then later catching the next gripping/exciting back to back episodes of ‘The Sinner ‘

PS; See below my 'Xmas ' presents requests from ' Santa Claus ' this year, either a Ferrari (Red) Lamborghini (Gold ) or Mercedes Benz (Black)  - " THANKS " !!! 

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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A VERY ' FRESH ' AND SUNNY MANILVA ON SATURDAY.

SATURDAY 9^th/ NOVEMBER 2019.

We had a well earned lie in this morning until the delivery man started ‘ sledging-down’ the pallets of goods to our local shop! We then freshened up before having our usual Saturday morning breakfast of Brenda’s famous ‘ Campo’ Poached Eggs on Toast – Boiled for her, with brown toast fingers, with mugs of strong/hot tea to start the weekend in the right direction!

We are in for another dry and settled day, the sun was out early and the sky is bright blue with a few patchy clouds hanging around, there is a light and cooling breeze blowing up from the Mediterranean, so by lunchtime it’s due to reach 18 degs+ - staying crisp & fresh in the shade, warm in the sunshine, overnight dropping down to 11/12 degs, duvet time! Tomorrow it’s the same but a little cooler, as the breeze stiffens, next week is now forecast to be unsettled, with patchy to moderate rain at times, sunshine with patchy clouds on other days, hovering in the high ‘ teens’ but going colder over next weekend, down to 14/15 degs, as the breeze picks up again, watch this space.

Tomorrow here in Spain it’s yet another ‘ General Election ‘ in all the 17 self-governing ‘ Provinces’ - as the governing party ‘ PSOE’ ( Labour) has not been able to form a coalition government, again, for the fourth time in the last year or so, it used to be a two-party system with the ‘PP’ ( Conservative) until a few years ago, when two more parties came on the scene, ‘ Podemos’ ( Anti-Austerity) & ‘ Cuidadamos’ ( Citizens) – now another party, based in Catalonia, has come on the scene ‘ VOX’ ( Far-Right) and is starting to take votes from the others! We don’t have the vote this time, only in the local elections, where all the same problems are happening, all over the country! Watch this space.

On the sports front this weekend; over in the ‘ Premiere League’ Everton travels down to play Southampton and then tomorrow it’s the ‘ Match of the Day ‘ as Liverpool welcome Manchester City! Over here in ‘La Liga’ Real Madrid are at Eiber & Barcelona are at home to Celta Vigo, both lowly teams! This afternoon the ‘ National Hunt Racing ‘ is from Wincanton & Aintree.

For our supper this evening we are having a large ‘ Chuelton de Terera . Rib of Beef ‘ – cooked on a very hot griddle-plate, ‘Med-Rare’ – then left to rest, before taking it off the bone and slicing it into fingers ‘ French’ style, garnished with seared Asparagus Spears & Button Mushrooms, with deep-fried Onion Rings ( Beer Batter ) – accompanied with the classic ‘ Bearnaise’ sauce, served with whole Baby ‘ French’ Green Beans and of course triple-cooked ‘ Frits’

After supper we will be settling down and watching the next exciting back-to-back, episodes of ‘ Spiral 7 ‘ – the French police/crime drama, based in Paris, as the various tales/plots come together, with the excellent ‘ Sub-Titles’ coming fast & furious!

PS; Don't forget to ' click-on' to all the pictures, to enlarge, and also go back to yesterday's Blog, as I add news/updates later in the day, see yesterday's about the new Doctor etc at the main ' Medical Centre'! 

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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