A VERY HOT & SUNNY MANILVA ON THURSDAY.

THURSDAY 21^st / JUNE 2018.   “ SUMMER SOLSTICE “ 

We all had a nice lie in this morning, ‘Paddy’ slept all night on the bed and then the floor before joining us for his first cuddle of the day. After freshening up we went out for our first walk of the day around the bottom of the village, ‘ Paddy’ leads the way, as he now knows his ‘spots’!

When we returned we had our usual ‘ Weetabix’ fresh fruit, toast & tea, as we were putting together the shopping list for tomorrow morning when I’m out on my travels down to Sabinillas for our weekly shopping.

This morning, after another hot night, the sun was out earlier and the sky was already bright blue, there was no breeze, so it was a lot hotter, as we set off, by lunchtime it’s due to reach 26/27 degs+ - the rest of the week and over the weekend we are in for more of the same, next week is definitely going to be a ‘ hot-one’ – it’s showing on all of the four weather forecasts that I follow, hovering in the highs 20s, low 30s, as the week goes on! Watch this space.

See below the deserted beach down in Sabinillas this morning before the holiday crowds hit us!

This evening for our supper we are having ‘ Omelettes of Choice ‘ – made with three ‘ local ‘ Campo’ Eggs, seasoned with Salt & White Pepper, then beaten, just before they go in the hot ‘ Omelette’ Pan, which has been ‘ sealed’ with Vegetable Oil, then a knob of butter tossed in, I toss the beaten Eggs in, then leave them to cook a little, before shaking the pan rigorously, at the same time stirring with a large fork, then turned into the side, open, the ‘filling’ then placed in, and the Omelette closed & shaped, the most important part in turning the Omelette out, onto a warm plate, so as the finished filling is under the Omelette, I then ‘ shape’ the Omelette with a piece of dry kitchen roll to perfect the traditional ‘ torpedo’ shape!  



See below;  


" Cheese Omelette " 

" Mushroom Omelette " 

As shown, many years ago ( 55+ ) by an ex ‘ J.Lyons & Co ‘ Cornerhouse’s “ Head Chef “ – Paul Bruchet – an old Liverpool family of Chefs! Brenda has requested her favourite 2 cheese’s( grated Cheddar & Parmesan) and I’m having sliced/cooked Mushrooms, served with finely sliced French Green Beans and of course twice-cooked ‘ Frits’- again!

See below a picture taken this morning of the famous Liverpool waterfront, just before sunrise.

This afternoon/evening we will be watching ‘ Royal Ascot’ on ‘ Ladies Day’ – many years ago Brenda went down with three girlfriends’- they ended up in the ‘ Champagne Bar ‘ – for all of the day, and still can’t remember a thing!! We will also be catching today’s matches at the ‘World Cup Football’ over in Russia, as well as the Tennis in the UK.

We are having an ‘ at home day’ today, taking things easy as tomorrow we have a ‘ Helluva’ Day planned for Brenda’s 75^th Birthday celebrations, starting with a nice glass of chilled Cava with ‘Scrambled Eggs’( Campo) with Smoked Salmon for our breakfast, when I return from the weekly shopping, then at lunchtime, before we go out for a light ‘ Tapas’ lunch at ‘ Bar Castillo’ – we are expecting a pre-arranged ‘ Skype’ video call from Sandra & Bill over in Everett, Ontario, Canada, before they go off to work! In the evening I have booked at table at our old favourite ‘ Venta Garcia ‘ for supper – on the way we will call into the ‘ Casares Golf Club’ for a pre-supper ‘ Cocktail’! Watch this space.

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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A VERY COLD & WET SUNNY MANILVA ON TUESDAY. " BOXING DAY "

TUESDAY 26^th/ DECEMBER 2017.   “ BOXING DAY 2017 “

We had a little lie in this morning before taking ‘ Charlie’ out for his first walk of the day, as we set off it was dry & overcast but we got caught in the rain on the way home, ‘ Charlie’ loves being out in the wet stuff as he ‘s a ‘ Spanish Water Dog’! He’s due to be collected tomorrow lunchtime, ‘Reina’ is back with us in ‘ Doggy World Heaven’ tomorrow morning and is then with us on Thursday/Friday as well as New Years Eve.

When we returned I treated us to ‘ Crispy Smoked Bacon Butties’ smothered in ‘HP Brown’ sauce, open on Brown for Brenda, with mugs of strong, steaming tea.

Here in Spain it’s not a ‘ Bank Holiday’ so all the bars and shops are open, the contract workmen are back along ‘Calle Mar’ putting the service/ water pipes and drains in, at night the street has temporary flood lights as they took down all the lamp posts, on ‘Xmas Eve’ the Council workmen took down the large Xmas Tree, on the ‘Plaza de la Vendimia’ as it was giving electrical problems and put up a new one, watch out for the pictures when I get the camera/computer problem fixed!

As I came up to the office/studio to catch up with the WWW and then type & post the Blog, the ‘ Skype’ video alarm went off, it was Jack & Lyn over in a very hot & sunny  Melbourne calling to wish us a ‘ Happy Christmas ‘ They are both very well and in high spirits, especially because the system is working again, after being fixed the other day, they also were able to make contact with Norah & Jenny, for the first time, last night, on the Facebook Messenger Video!

This evening we have arranged to call Sandra & Bill over in Everett, Ontario, Canada at 8-00pm our time, 2-00pm over in Canada, for a Christmas catch up/chat as Sandra has all the family with her, she was working up to and including ‘ Xmas Day’ – hopefully they will all make it, as they have had their first heavy snow of the winter, the roads should be clear as Bill is in ‘ charge’ of the snow ploughs!! Watch this space.

Speaking of the weather, over here today it’s cold, grey & overcast with rain, not very pleasant, to say the least, very unseasonal, with a light breeze also, tomorrow is looking the same, then for the rest of the week and over the weekend into the New Year it’s back to normal for the time of the year, the sun is back and sky will be clear, hovering on the 17/18degs+! Watch this space.

For our supper this evening we have changed the planned menu, the Loin of Pork’ has been put away, for another day, as we are having more of the excellent ‘ Roast Turkey’ with all the trimmings, it was very moist & full of flavour, we also have a selection of vegetables & potatoes to use, which we will top up with some extras, I think a ‘ Turkey Curry’ could be on the menu soon!

This afternoon it’s a big sports day over in the UK; in the ‘Premier League’ Liverpool welcome Swansea and Everton go down the M6 to play West Brom, then tomorrow Manchester City travel up/across to play Newcastle Utd. We will be watching the ‘National Hunt Racing’ from Kempton Park as its the ‘ King George VI Chase ‘

Last night after our ‘ Christmas Day ‘ supper, sorry the table settings etc and pictures of the food didn’t appear, due to a problem with the camera/computer system, we settled down to watch the TV, nothing in particular, as the Xmas programmes are mainly old films, for children!

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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A VERY WARN & SUNNY MANILVA ON FRIDAY AT THE START OF THE WEEKEND;

FRIDAY 18th/ SEPTEMBER 2015.

We were up early again this morning and after a quick breakfast we shot down to Sabinillas for our weekly shopping+ to cover us for two weeks! After calling in to the bank we stopped at the 'English Bookshop' for the weekly newspapers, next it was into 'Mercadona' for our main shop before going along to the 'Bella Vista' site to check out the availability, no problems at this time of the year and its on the low season rate - all we need now is for Tim & Thea to arrive by next Wednesday!

The sky is blue and the sun was out early, its another perfect day down here on the 'Costa Del Sol' The breeze has dropped and by lunchtime it will reach 29 degs, over the weekend its getting hotter and fingers crossed for next week.

After unpacking back at the house we sorted our selves our for the weekend ahead, this evening for our supper we are having 'Goujons of Hake Fillet' in a 'Cruzecampo Beer Batter' with Mushy Peas,twice-cooked 'Frits' and some homemade 'Tartar Sauce' on the side with lots of Lemon Wedges! I bought two very nice Fillet Steaks for tomorrow nights " Tournedos Rossni" and we have a large 'Leg of New Zealand Lamb' for our roast on Sunday!    See below 'Fridays' Fish Supper!

                                                                       
                                                                           For Josie !

Mano called in at lunchtime so we had a good gossip and chat about all the local news in the village. His sons wife Ana has a new business - see below; she does ironing as well!!

We then went up to 'Bar Rojas' for a cool drink and had a nice surprise as the new cook had produced a fine and different 'Tapas' display; we tried her 'Flamenquines' - they were rather special with thick sliced Ham and not greasy! Then on the 'house' we sampled the ' Croquettes Pollo' which were very tasty and finally my favourite 'Empanades Argentian' made with  a savory Minced Beef - DELECTABLE! - we shall return.

Over in England this evening its the opening ceremony of the " Rugby Union World Cup" then its the first game when the hosts England welcome Fiji- only 48 more matches to the final!

We will be having our 'Happy Hour' this afternoon after the workmen finish for the weekend,this morning there was a large delivery of old Spanish roof tiles, we can't see what has happened on the top floor but there must be some sort of roof going up?! Watch this space.

After supper this evening we will channel hop after the news and find a film to watch.

                                       
                                             " RED, ROSE OR WHITE " OR ALL THREE !

Thoughts for the Day; See above.


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SUNNY AND A VERY HOT MANILVA AT THE START OF VENDIMIA WEEKEND

FRIDAY30th/ AUGUST 2013.

We were out bright and early this morning to go down to Sabinillas for the shopping; we called into ‘Super Sol’ first for some English goods and stopped outside the wholesale Greengrocers as I went across to our bank for some cash from the cash-dispenser, it was not working so I went inside and told the cashier, she said it was so I went and tried again, no joy – after two more attempts I asked for cash from the cashier, she would not give me any as I did not have my passport, my driving license’s/Spanish Picture Pensioner pass were not sufficient !

They are a branch of our Bank in Estepona and I have used the Sabinillas branch for nearly six years, the Manager was not there and the regular cashier was on holiday! So I stormed out and went next door to the cash dispenser machine of ‘Banko Santander’ – it gave me my money but took my card!! When I went inside to find out why the only cashier on duty was busy with a couple who then went through five different transactions as the queue formed behind me and everybody including me got rather up-tight!! By then I had lost my patience and stormed out again! This is defiantly not my week!

I found Brenda and we then carried on to ‘Mercadona’ using her card! We picked up the papers and exchanged our ‘Patterson’s’ for two more; after unpacking Brenda went down to the local market for some fresh flowers and I went to our butchers for some Chicken legs and thighs to go with some breasts, all diced into the curry that I made later ready for the weekend; we have moved ‘Steak night’ to Monday so I picked up some steak as Monday is a local Bank Holiday after the ‘Vendimia’ in the village! Tonight we are having early supper of ‘Lubina’- Sea Bass fillets a la ‘Meuniere’ with Garden Peas and diced New Potatoes tossed in foaming Butter. We will the go up to Calle Mar to watch and listen to the ‘Fandango/ Flamenco’ concert on the bandstand in front of the Town Hall that they are building now!   VENDIMIA IS HERE !! We have just heard while we were out the Brenda's Dentist Victor is opening his Wine Bodega over the weekend so it will be our first 'Port of Call' when he does !

The concert was much better this year,the 'Flamenco Sur' dance troop and singer were excellent and the older man singing 'Fandango' went down with the crowd very well - see the pictures above which I have just posted at 2-45am on Saturday morning,the concert started at 10-00pm and is still going on now! When we came home we had a very late supper of 'Heinz Spaghetti' on toast - you can't beat it!!

At lunchtime we went for a short walk as its still very sunny and hot,not as predicted with Rain and storms,yesterday up in Granada,Jaen and Cordoba they had flash flooding and hailstones the size of Golf Balls!! As you can see in the pictures above the two stages are set,Bar Pedreta,Bar Rojas and Cafe Nacho are getting ready and down in the park they have fenced off the main part and are just putting up the new sign( Flood Lights?) and working very hard to get finished on the Wall Plaques.!!

SPORTS WEEKEND NEWS;

This afternoon I will be following stage 7 of the ‘Vuelta2013’as it leaves from Almendralejo the ‘Cava Capital’ of the ‘Ribera Del Guadiana’ region and crosses into Andalusia past Seville to the town of ‘Alcor’over 205kms. Tomorrow’s stage 8 is from Jerez de a Frontera to Estepona finishing up the ‘Alto de Pennas Blancas’ – the mountain behind the town! The Chech rider Zdenek Styber has just won stage 7 into Alcor outside Seville,Nibali is just holding onto the RED jersey by 3 seconds from Chris Horner!

Over in the ‘USA The Open Tennis’ is getting into the third/fourth rounds; back in England it’s the British Motor GP from Silverstone on Sunday.

The weekend football here is on Sunday when Barcelona travel to Valencia and Real Madrid are at home to Athletic Bilbao, over in the UK Manchester City are at home to Hull and Everton are down in Cardiff then on Sunday its Liverpool v Manchester Utd.

This evening as we were going out the 'UEFA SUPER CUP' was just kicking off over in Prague; Chelsea ( Mourinho) v Bayern Munich(Pep) Final score 2-2 after a wonder goal right at the start from Fernando Torres,after extra time it was a penalty shoot-out 5-4 to Bayern Munich!! Mourinho's comment was a classic " The better team lost" !!!!

Thought for the Day; See above.

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