A MILD & SUNNY MANILVA ON FRIDAY AT THE START OF THE WEEKEND.

FRIDAY 17^th / MARCH 2017     “ ST PATRICK'S DAY “

We were both up early this morning and after ‘Reina’ arrived for the day I took ‘TJ’ out for his first walk of the day, he’s being collected this afternoon,  we managed a quick cup of tea & toast, as the workmen arrived back to finish the job on the drains, they have rebuilt the drain walls and put a new larger pipe into the system, they have also replaced the new inspection cover and resealed it with silicon, job done, fingers crossed, watch this space.

I popped along to the Chemists in Call Mar for some of my prescription tablets and also got some cash out of the local Bank machine, I’m  now out & about on my travels tomorrow morning for the weekly shopping down in Sabinillas.

It’s started a little grey & overcast but the sun is attempting to break through, the wind has dropped, it’s now fresh and a little warmer and by this afternoon it’s due to reach 20 degs, again, over the weekend it’s back to normal for the time of the year, warm & sunny, next week is also looking settled with just the threat of some of the wet stuff by the weekend, watch this space.

At lunchtime it’s the draw for the next round of the ‘ Champions & Europa League’ – this afternoon we will be watching the racing from the ‘ Cheltenham Festival ’ with the ‘Gold Cup’ the main race, yesterday the Irish jockey Ruby Walsh & the trainer Willy Mullins won 4 races, the first time this happened, on the same day, at the festival.

This evening for our supper we are having ‘Fillets of Hake ‘ deep-fried in a ‘ Cruzcampo Batter’ with Homemade ‘ Tartar ‘ sauce on the side with lots of Lemon Wedges, Mushy Green Peas and of course twice-cooked ‘ Chips’ On Saturday evening its ‘ Steak Night’ with all the trimmings and then on Sunday I’m making my famous ‘ Smoked Chicken & Three Green Bean Risotto ‘

We are having one of our ‘ Quiz Nights’ as we catch ‘ Countdown, Pointless, Egg Heads, University Challenge & Only Connect ‘ – later we will try and find a good film to watch, we can’t wait for our ‘Fiber-Optic’ connection to be installed and then the new ‘Black Box’ giving us a lot more choice, watch this space.

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

...

HOT AND SUNNY MANILVA ON SATURDAY;

SATURDAY 15^th/ MARCH 2014.

Up as normal this morning and after breakfast I shot up to the office and have just managed to go on-line and I ‘am watching on the smaller PC BBC TV 1 – the’ Breakfast Show’ before ‘Saturday Morning Kitchen’ - Meanwhile downstairs in the prep-kitchen the assistant/vegetable chef is preparing the ingredients for my special/famous ‘ Ensaladilla Rusa’ which I will make later after I collect the marinated local Lamb from the butchers for tomorrow nights supper!

We had a nice walk with the dog as we called into the butchers at lunchtime in the hot sunshine on a beautiful day in sunny Manilva.See the picture above of the new passage way as they are laying the flag stones.Brenda is out on the roof terrace for the first time this year as the afternoon sunshine moves round!Meanwhile I watched a great film " Road to Perdition" from 2002 with Tom Hanks,Paul Newman,Daniel Craig,Jude Law and the young actor Tyler Hoechlin - one not to be missed at any cost! 

On the sports front over in Melbourne at the ‘Australian Grand Prix’ Lewis Hamilton has taken the pole position and Vettel did not get past Q2 – result! Watching the highlights on 'Antenna 3' Over in England the early kick off is the Hull v Manchester City game, watching the match at the moment on my 'IT' Sports channel on the large PC -final result Hull 0 - City 2 -  then later Everton welcome Cardiff –who they beat 2-1 -  on Sunday the ‘Match of the Day’ is when Manchester Utd.welcome Liverpool – come on the ‘Reds’- “ You Never Walk Alone! !!  Here in ‘La Liga’ its Malaga v Real Madrid today and then tomorrow Barcelona welcome Osasuna.

On the final day of the ‘Six Nations Rugby’ England travel to Italy, Wales welcome Scotland and Ireland travel to Paris to play France – either England,Ireland or France are in with a chance to win the ‘Crown’ – depending on the results! Watch out later. I've also been watching the game over in Rome as England won 11 -52 - they are 8 points behind Ireland so if the Irish win in Paris later they are the champions!Wales beat the Scots 51-3 

France 20 - IRELAND 22 -  SO THEY HAVE WON THE CHAMPIONSHIP !! That man Jonny Sexton scored a try,kicked and missed goals and was carried off after being knocked out !! 

Tonight for supper we are having ‘Steak a la Plancha’- the steak is trimmed and seasoned with salt and freshly ground Black Pepper then thrown on the griddle and cooked pink – turning the steak over once then rested! Finely sliced Green Beans and Sautéed Mushrooms and Onions with twice-cooked chips with my steak topped with a fried Campo Egg and Brenda’s with deep-fried Garlic buds – on the side ‘Bearnaise’ sauce!

Last night we watched another Jason Statham  film – all action and I still can’t follow what he is saying!

Thought for the Day; See above.

..

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

" TWICKENHAM " ENGLAND THIS AFTERNOON;

OVERCAST AND COOL IN SUNNY MANILVA ON SATURDAY;

SATURDAY 8^th/ FEBRUARY 2014.

We had a nice long lie in this morning after some early starts during the week; the forecast today is not as good as we are getting once again the tail end of the Atlantic storms hitting the UK. We can’t complain as the rest of Spain especially along the Atlantic coast has been hit very badly with lots of damage just like in England during this week.

After our tea, toast and Banana I’ am back up in the office to try and get on-line to watch BBC TV1s ‘Saturday Morning Kitchen’ live, in the last couple of days the new satellite has come on-line and so most of Spain has now lost all BBC TV and at any moment ITV as well on their normal TV channels on their TVs!

My system using ‘Film On’ on the PCs is one of the ways that you are supposed to be able to still get them, it was forecast nearly a year ago that this was going to happen, it has worked up to last week when I couldn’t manage to get on-line, last night I just about was able to watch ‘New Tricks’ only to find out that it was not the new series but a repeat! So this morning I’ve tried again but at the moment with no luck! Watch this space. At this moment as I’ am typing the Blog I’ am also watching ‘SMK!’ – just!!

Today it’s a big sports day over here and in England with Football and Rugby taking the main lead; last nights opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Sochi was spectacular to say the least! The ‘Match of the Day’ is Liverpool v Arsenal followed by Norwich V Manchester City, Everton are at Spurs on Sunday; over here Real Madrid welcome Villarreal and Barcelona are at Seville.

At the moment after 20 mins Liverpool are WINNING 4-0 !!!! Final score 5-1 ! City could only draw 0-0 whilst Chelsea won 3-0 and go top of the Premier League!

In the ‘Six Nations Rugby’ the big game of the day is up at Murrayfield in the ‘Calcutta Cup’ when Scotland welcome England. David has gone up to watch the game but Jane has a bad back so is not with him, the pitch is waterlogged and so it going to be ‘Mud-bath!’ Meanwhile Wales go to Dublin to play Ireland.

Ireland beat Wales 26 -3 with 'Sexton!' scoring 4 penalties; England won 0-20 on a pitch that David says 'You would not plant Turnips on!!'

This evening we are going to the ‘Inauguration’ opening service at ‘ Iglesia Santa Ana’ church after the refurbishment when the entire village will be there. Some pictures later.See above with the Bishop of Malaga,the new local priest and  'Padre Manolo' the,much loved previous priest and the village dignitary's.

Afterwards for supper we are having our regular Saturday night ‘Steak a la Plancha’ with sautéed Mushrooms and Onions, finely sliced Green Beans, twice cooked chips and ‘Béarnaise’ sauce on the side – mine topped with a soft-fried Campo Egg and Brenda’s with deep-fried Garlic buds!

Last night we found a good film to watch “ 12 Rounds” from 2009 – it’s an all-action American thriller that takes place in New Orleans; it stars John Cena as the cop,Aidan Gillen as the ‘Baddie’ the love interest is played by Ashly Scott – lots of action and mayhem!

Thought for the Day; See above.

..