WARM AND NOW SUNNY MANILVA ON WEDNESDAY;

WEDNESDAY 19^th/ MARCH 2014.

After our breakfast this morning we showered and freshened ourselves up before we went for a walk with the dog around the village; today here in Spain its ‘ Dia De Padre -Father’s Day’ so all the old ladies of the village have been busy in the cemetery with their flower vases as you can see in the pictures above.

The weather today is a little overcast at the moment with the sun braking through later, its still 22degs and the forecast for the next few days up to the weekend is OK; this evening for supper we are having flattened ‘Breast of Chicken’ pan-fried in foaming Lime butter with a dash of Balsamic vinegar, finely sliced Green Beans and dry-sautéed thick-cut Baked potato – simple but nice!

Last night we watched the football on TVE1 - “UEFA Champions League” as Real Madrid and Chelsea both went into the quarter final draw, tonight its Manchester Utds last chance to progress and win something?!  Later we watched a very gory science fiction horror film called “ The Thing !’ from 2011 – you have to watch it just to see “ The Thing !!” I can’t print what Brenda thought about it only to say the it started with ‘C’ and ended with ‘P’!!

Now back to my holiday adventures with my Dad & Mum back in the 1950s; you will see where my culinary taste came from as we traveled around Europe always on trains; it started when I was 5/6 when we went to Ostend in Belgium, I found a ‘Frits’ stall down by the harbor and started my love of them and all potato dishes from then! Also I ate fresh fish, Sole,Hake,and Bass etc for the first time.

We then went to Holland the next year when I was 7 and I soon found out about ‘Frits and Mayo’ in Amsterdam, while there I had my first exotic meal in an ‘Indonesian’ restaurant when we had a “ Rijsttafel’ – lots of courses in small potions of all sorts of food! The following year we went to Spain and stayed in Barcelona, at the age of 8 I went to the famous bullring and of course I had my first ‘Paella’

The following year as I said the other day it was Germany, we stayed in different towns as we moved around, I had the famous ‘Goulash’ and at another restaurant my first steak “ RumpSteak ” topped with a fried Egg! On my 10^th birthday we were in Switzerland staying in Interlaken where I learned about the famous “ Swiss Potato Rosti ”

Austria was next on the list as stayed in Salzburg – I can taste to this day my very first “ Wiener Schnitzel ” which correctly should be deep-fried in Breadcrumbs and served with lots of Lemon wedges, Chicken, Pork or my favorite Veal are all used! Then at the age of 12 I was in the still communist state of Yugoslavia under the rule of ‘Marshall Tito’ visiting the city of ‘Ljubljana’ – my only memory of the food was ‘Dumplings!’

Lastly at the age of 13 we traveled to Northern Italy to the lake district and stayed in an hotel at the side of ‘Lago Maggiore’ and visited the famous lakes of ‘Como,Garda and Lugano’ – you have already guessed that my love of ‘Risotto’ started then – and lasts to this day!

So you now can understand why we eat what we eat now !!

Thought for the Day; See above.

..

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

SUNNY MANILVA AT THE START OF THE WEEK

MONDAY 3^rd/ JUNE 2013.

We had a nice relaxing lie in this morning as the week started again in a very hot and sunny Manilva; after our tea and toast we went for a walk with Chispa down the village past the new ‘Plaza Vendemia’ – they have started to build a permanent ‘Uvas’ ( Grapes ) crushing pit, which makes sense as they build and then knock down the one by us every year! See the pictures above, also at the same time they are re-furbishing the ‘Wine Centre Museum’ – more pictures to follow.

We have just washed the car which is parked in our little square behind our house; it takes no time or effort as  it dry’s before you can rub it in today heat! Brenda is ‘Pottering’ as usual and I’ am up in the office catching up on the WWW.

This weeks plans start tomorrow when Brenda is going down on the bus to Sabinillas to go to her hairdressers for the full-works, ready for the ‘Big Week’ of the year! Then on Thursday she is at the surgery,early,for her tests and in the afternoon we are dropping our friend Gillian off at the bus station over in Marbella as she is flying back to the Isle of Wight from Malaga.

We have two new ‘Patterson’s’ to start reading this week so Brenda will be up on the roof terrace every day; this morning I have refreshed last nights Hotpot for tonight – It was very tasty and the Lamb fell off the bone and was succulent! With it we had finely shredded pickled Beetroot and Garden Peas – The menu’s for the rest of the week are starting to take shape; Minute steak and Chips on Tuesday, Calves Liver with Smoked Bacon, Sausage and sauté Onions on Wednesday, then on Thursday ‘ Escalopes of Pork Milanese; I’ am making some more of my stock tomato salsa to go into the Spaghetti and the Pork Loin, sliced thin comes from our butcher, fresh Breadcrumbs and lots of Lemon wedges to finish off the dish – our mouths are watering allready! 

Tonight after supper we will catch a film to watch on TV.

Thought for the Day; See above.

..

.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

MANILVA ON SUNDAY

SUNDAY 28^th/ APRIL 2013.

We had a nice long lie in on Sunday morning before we got the day on the go; after our tea and toast we started on our roast, sadly not Rib of Beef as we can only dream of it as the price is too restrictive at the moment due to the Euro v the Pound! Another day – say la vie!! We roasted a nice Loin of Pork and I made a savory Herb Stuffing and the finger coating Pan-Gravy later; Brenda’s vegetables were Cauliflower and Broccoli florets with my now famous ‘Three’ Cheese sauce, Cabbage with Alselgas,sweet Baby Carrots and Garden Peas for me! We had some nice minted New Potatoes and I roasted in Goose fat crisp half sliced baby Roast Potatoes. We have not heard from Mano and Anna and they have not called in to pick up their papers so it was just the two old aged pensioners sat down to dinner!

Whilst I’ am on about food we were very jealous this week when David and Jane with two friends went and stayed at the “Gleneagles” Hotel and dined at the eponymous restaurant ‘Andrew Fairlie at Gleneagles’ as part of David’s 50^th birthday celebrations; it has two ‘Michelin’ stars, has been voted as one of the world’s top ten best hotel restaurants and he was voted AA Chef’s Chef of the Year; Home Smoked Scottish Lobster with warm Lime and Herb Butter and Roast Fillet of Turbot, Seaweed Butter, Asparagus and Clam Veloute being two of his signature dishes that they tried! See the pictures above; proper food, no spheres, foams, chemistry or molecular cooking as David commented served by charming, professional and knowledgeable staff. Sublime!! 

At lunchtime we went for a late walk with the dog and stopped at Bar Rojas for a drink; we then had my Mint and Pea Frittata back at our house after showing Lumy the pictures, for her approval, as it is her recipe! And ‘Yes’ she did !! We then caught up with all the sport and then watched the afternoon film classic “ The Yards ”from 2000 which is set in the commuter rail yards in New York City, hence the title; Mark Wahlberg, the award winning Joaquin Phoenix,Charlize Theron who I did not recognize with short hair, James Caan and Faye Dunaway in the true story based on a corruption scandal of the 80s.

In the early evening Brenda picked the dog up with her bed as she was staying with us for the night as Isobel was not well and was staying at her daughters and going to see the doctor in the morning;she is no problem and we love having her to stay!

After our roast dinner for two sat at our fully laid table,as usual we settled down to watch the late film on TVE1; “ The Inside Man ”from 2006 also based in New York, it is a bank robbery with a difference! A ‘Spike Lee’ film starring Denzel Washington as the cop, Clive Owen as the robber, William Defoe miscast as a uniformed police chief, Christopher Plummer as the bank owner with a past and the ever watchable Jodie Foster as a mysterious  ‘Fixer’ Watch it to find out !!

Thoughts for the Day; in pictures for a change !

..

.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

MANILVA THIS WEEK.

WEDNESDAY/THURSDAY/FRIDAY 3^rd/4^th/5^th  OCTOBER 2012.

After all the excitement of the previous evening Wednesday was an at home day; the sun was out and the forecast for the rest of the week and over the weekend is more of the same and getting hotter. In the morning I made a Chicken Curry to the ‘ Sexton ’secret recipe using diced Breast, Leg and Thigh, Brenda put her ‘ Famous ’ Basmati rice on to soak and then cooked it at the same time. Jane has booked her flight into Gibraltar, she is coming in on the early evening flight from Manchester on Friday the 2^nd November and goes back on the lunchtime flight on Monday 5^th – short but sweet – we are really looking forward to seeing her and catching up with all the news, especially about the ever expanding ‘ New Moon Pub Company ’and her own little, at the moment ‘ Empire ’! We are planning the weekend already  watch this space. On our walk with the dog I took the pictures of the ongoing work on the roof of the new underground car park that you can see below. we can’t at the moment make out what the Yellow Boxes are for – we are making enquiries! In the evening after our cocktails up on the roof terrace, we are still able to get out for the last of the evening sunshine, we settled down after our Curry supper and caught up with the news.

On Thursday morning after breakfast we went for a long walk around the village and ended up at Bar Rojas; As we were sat under the Sonbrajo Barbara came long with her father and mother in law who have been visiting and so they sat and had some Tapas – I had been in the kitchen chatting to Lumy and noticed that she had some Petit Pois Peas cooking on the stove in a little stock with some chopped Onions – she said that she was making a ‘ Tortilla  Guisante ’ – no Potatoes – it was delicious, we all had some and I ended up taking home the last two portions ! The picture below shows it and also the excellent ‘ Carne deTomate ’which had also just been made at the same time. Simple freshly cooked food – you can’t beat it ! In the evening after supper we settled down to watch a new, made in America TV, series called “ Person of Interest ” with Jim Caviezel as the ex-CIA agent who is recruited by a mysterious billionaire played by Michael Emerson  to prevent violent crime in New York City, watch it as it is rather unusual, I won’t say more ! I have also been watching over the last couple of weeks another TV series from America – “ Spartacus; Blood and Sand, ”  It stars a British actor John Hannah as the owner of the brutal Gladiator school, the part of Spartacus is now played by Liam McIntyre as the first actor in the part tragically died, of cancer, as he was making the first series. It is very gory and explicit and the language is very ‘ Roman ’i.e. Dirty ! There are more episodes to come in the current series and then it’s “ Spartacus; Gods of the Arena ” and “ Spartacus; Vengeance ” You will either like it or hate it – just like ‘ Bovril ! ’

Friday morning we shot down to Sabinillas first thing to go to the bank, supermarket and the English book shop for the papers; when we got back we then walked the dog down to the local market in the village for some flowers. Anna called in at lunchtime for a catch up on our news after our night out on Tuesday; for dinner we had ‘Posh ’ fish fingers, chips and peas – I bought some Fillets of Hake from the excellent fish counter in Mercadona and cut them into strips and floured, egg washed and bread crumbed ( fresh from the Bakery ) them; after shallow frying in vegetable oil we had them with crisp square chips and garden Peas along with a freshly made ‘ Tartar ’sauce that I made in the morning ! Friday night is ‘ Fish Night ’ !!

Thought's for the Day;

Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.    Many hands make light work.

…

.