A NOW WARM & SUNNY MANILVA ON THURSDAY.

THURSDAY 19^th/ SEPTEMBER 2019.

We were up early this morning as Brenda was going down on the local bus to Sabinillas, as she has an appointment with her hairdresser, Annie, for a shampoo, cut & style, After freshening up we grabbed our light breakfast before she shot off to catch the bus, I then retired to the office/studio to go on the ‘WWW’ to catch up with all the news etc, before typing/posting today’s Blog.

In ‘ Doggy World Heaven ‘ today, ‘ Scruffy’ is back with us for a sleep-over, this evening, he will be picked up later on Friday afternoon, just as ‘ Chico’ is arriving for his mini-break until next Wednesday morning, no doubt ‘ Chispa’ will be calling in all the time to see her friends and us!

It’s started a little grey & overcast this morning, the sun is attempting to break through, there is just a light breeze, so the sky will clear later with a few clouds hanging around, by lunchtime it’s forecast to reach 27 degs+ - over the weekend, from tomorrow, it’s looking a little unsettled, no change in the breeze, but going a little cooler, with the chance of patchy rain & mist, at times, next week is now looking dry, warm & sunny, with patchy clouds, still with a light breeze, hovering in the mid to high 20s, ( 29 degs+ on Thursday) - overnight going a little cooler, down to 17/18 degs.

The long range forecast for the week the folks arrive here, down on the ‘ Costa Del Sol’ – from Canada, on the 29^th September is also looking dry, warm and settled, hovering in the low/mid 20s, a pleasant 17/18 degs during the night, just about right for the time of the year, watch this space.

“ Countdown 11 Days “

     Does she still have the uniform?!                                                                                                                                                                      

When we were catching up with Tim& Thea, the other day on the ‘ Skype’ video, we talked about the ‘ good-old-days’ back in the 70s/80s and our time at the ‘ Hotel Seventy Degrees ‘ – with many happy memories of all the customers, friends and staff, that we still keep in touch with today, through the Blog and Facebook, we have just realized that we have not heard from Terry & Alma, old customers & friends, for a while, who now live in Northern France, outside Caen, they read the Blog, all the time and ‘E-Mail’ us with comments, hope all is well?! 


See below; 

See below two rather special, rare, Pudding Wines, the current vintages of ‘ Chateau d’Yquem &  Chateau Ygrec ‘ ( very expensive)  that we used to serve, in half-bottles, to discerning clients, Terry & Alma loved their fine wines and drank many fine Bordeaux & Burgundy classics over the years!

Over in Liverpool, on the River Mersey, the cruise liner the " Amedea " has just arrived again and berthed at The Pier Head' for the day.





See below;

For our supper this evening we are having the same as last night, the menu’s from Friday and over the weekend are still TBC, watch this space.

After supper last night we caught the final episode of “ Deep Water “ as the three housewives in Windemere, each made mistakes, all life-changing, regarding their children & husbands, which lead to unpredictable consequences. One pieced her marriage back together, one made it up with her young daughter and then one had her web of lies exposed and was taken away by the police! Watch it to find out who!

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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A EXTREMELY HOT & SUNNY MANILVA ON FRIDAY AT THE START OF ANOTHER FESTIVAL WEEKEND.

FRIDAY 2^nd/ AUGUST 2019.

I was up early this morning and after a quick freshen up I shot off on my travels, down to Sabinillas for the weekly shopping, I called into ‘ ItZabar’ for my usual toast & tea ,before ‘ Mercadona’ opened, which was ‘ Mega’ busy, I then stopped at the ‘ English Bookshop’ for the local English newspapers, before dropping down to the far-end of the promenade to the local market, for our fresh flowers and some wall plants, before finally calling into ‘ Super Sol’ for our English essentials.

Back at the house Brenda took ‘ Chico’ out for his first walk of the day, before it gets too hot, he’s settled in very well, as usual, yesterday evening when we came back from our supper at ‘ Bar Castillo’ he shot up stairs and went to bed, under our bed on the marble floor, and slept there all night, he goes up when he’s ready! This afternoon ‘ Scruffy’ is back with us for few hours, little princess ‘Reina’ is now joining us for her sleep-over tomorrow lunchtime, ‘Chispa’ will be calling in & out as usual to see all her friends!

Last night was the hottest so far, we didn’t get much sleep we were very hot and ‘ sweating’ a lot, we put towels on the pillows and sheets, to help a little, with, off course with the fans on, the sun was out first thing this morning and the sky is clear and blue, with just a very slight breeze, so by lunchtime it’s going to reach 32 degs+ - overnight hovering on the 22 degs mark, tomorrow is going to be the same, for the ‘ Noche del Embrujo – Night of Enchancement ’ –  which the ‘ Council & Contractors’ workmen are preparing, five stages, new decorations and lighting systems etc, more bits on Saturday, then on Sunday it’s going a little hotter, all of next week it’s in the low 30s, up to 35 degs+ on Wednesday and by next Saturday 36 degs+ - watch this space.

Over the past couple of days two boats have tied up at ‘Raynes Quarry’ at Llanddulas in North Wales, for their cargo of crushed stone, first the ‘ Peru  ‘ and then ‘ Amadelis Amethist’ -  which you can see before and after loading!

Before;

And after!

On Wednesday evening we watched the next ‘ Remarkable Places to Eat ‘ as Michel Roux Jr, first went to the World famous ‘ La Tour D’Argent’ in Paris, resting a little bit on it’s ‘ Laurels’ after loosing two ‘Michelin’ stars, now down to one only! He had the classic ‘Canard a la Presse’ which has been on the menu since the 19^th century! ( 130 Euros per head!) The ‘ Duck’ waiter carved the whole ‘herb’ infused Roasted Duck, taking off the Legs for second course later, he then slices the breast, no skin, then presses the Duck carcass, bones and skin, in the ‘Silver Duck Press’ the juices are then thickened and flavoured to taste, with Cognac/Madeira etc, later the Duck Leg came back, as very modern version of ‘ Confit of Duck!  The guest receives a ‘ Postcard’ with the birds serial number, now well over a million! The ‘Wine List’ has over 15,000, wines on offer, and is nearly a foot thick! The cellars are guarded around the clock and the ‘ Head Sommelier’ is English!

See below a ‘ Silver Duck Press’  - the Restaurant on the top floor of the building and a ‘ Postcard’

Many years ago, back in the mid 60s I was shown how to serve the same dish, in the Restaurant of the ‘ Stork Hotel’- by the ‘ Maitre ‘d’hotel’ - Mr Oliver, and in other famous Restaurant’s around the North West, the whole Duck was carved at the table, with the Legs going off to become a plain  ‘ Confit of Duck’ later, the breast was carved ‘ skin on’ - a lot harder to keep the slice just right, with a thin topping of ‘ crisp duck skin’!  I was shown how to do it by my Uncle, a ‘ Master Carver’ – along with many other carving skills, of Beef, Joints on the bone,  Legs of Lamb,  Whole Turkey, Ham Joints, Suckling Pigs, as well as Smoked Salmon on the board!  Then the crushed Duck juices were made into a ‘Jus Roti’ style sauce, not thickened!

See below the ‘ Stork Hotel’ in it’s ‘ Hey Day’!

This evening we are going back along to ‘ Bar Castillo ‘ to take in the fresh air and sit outside for a nice cool drink and a light ‘Tapas’ supper, again!

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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A ' CRISP' & SUNNY MANILVA ON THURSDAY.

THURSDAY 5^th/ APRIL 2018.

We were both up early this morning and after a quick freshen up and a mug of tea, we set off down to Sabinillas for Brenda’s appointment with our Doctor, Natalia, for her six month review/check up, her blood pressure readings etc are fine, her Heart rate is a little out, so she’s going for an ‘ ECG’ on Monday lunchtime and then back to see Natalia in a week’s time, in the meantime she has prescribed a new tablet to help control the problem, all her other prescriptions have been updated, for another year, she is also chasing up the ‘ Costa Del Sol Hospital’ for Brenda’s new appointment with the ‘Cardiology’ Consultant, which we have been waiting for since Xmas?! Watch this space.

After dropping Brenda off at the main ‘ Medical Centre’ I walked along to the new ‘Irish Bar ‘ – “ McGuinness “ to try their ‘ Breakfast Bap ‘ – I had Sausage, Bacon & Fried Egg, you choose three ingredients from a large selection, on a soft Bap, with a mug of strong ‘ Irish’ tea! Very nice, as I sat in the sunshine taking in the view! I then joined Brenda back at the surgery, before coming back up to the house.

The sun is back, again, today, in sunny Manilva, but not for long, as the forecast for the next few days is back to grey clouds, overcast and rain! The overall temperature is hovering on the 19/ 20 degs+ mark for now, next week is not looking much better, with sunny spells followed by the wet stuff returning, with ‘April Showers’ all week, watch this space.

See below a picture of Chester, taken this morning by our old friend/customer Nigel Roberts, the ‘Newsagent’ from Llandudno.

Last night on the ‘ Facebook’ messenger we had a new friends request, after checking I realized that it was the daughter, Heidi, of some of our oldest friends in the Hotel business, Horst & Sylvia Schanz, Horst was from Germany and Sylvia was local girl from Ellesmere Port on the Wirral, I first met them back in 1961, when I was just 16!

I had just started ‘ Catering College’ in Liverpool and went to work on the weekends at the ‘ White Lion Royal Hotel’ in Bala, North Wales, where Horst was the, tall, commanding, Headwaiter and Sylvia was a ‘Red Head’ - who never stopped laughing,full of joy, waitress, Horst always wore Black Tails and stiff White Collars! 

The Manager, another old friend, Ron Astle, used to pick up 2/3students from Liverpool and take us back to the Hotel in his ‘Simca’ Rally Car! – to work in the Kitchens/Restaurant, we soon became friends and they took me out to the local bars in the village ( I was still underage!) for my first drink, I was introduced to ‘ Bacardi & Coca Cola’ by Sylvia, which to this day is still my drink!



See below a picture of the ' White Lion Royal Hotel ' in Bala, North Wales.

During the next two years I worked there in the Kitchens, most weekends, as we also as students went out as Banqueting Staff, to the ‘Grand Hotels’ in Liverpool, Southport, Manchester & Buxton, at the same time! My first full-time job was a ‘Junior Chef de Partie’ at the hotel, after leaving College, then all the staff moved with Ron Astle to the ‘ Station Hotel’ in Stafford, Horst & Sylvia, the Head Chef, the Receptionist, who by then was my girlfriend and finally me! During the next few years we all moved on, Horst & Sylvia to an Hotel outside Chester and I went to the ‘ Stork Hotel in Liverpool, we kept in touch over the years after they were married, then when I met Brenda they became friends with her also and came to our engagement party at my mother’s house in Aintree! 

They also visited us at the ‘ Hotel Seventy Degrees’ in Colwyn Bay, the last time we saw them was when we went for an interview, down in Ipswich, were they were running a Pub/Restaurant, in our ‘ -Silver Grey Porche 928s ‘ !

Sadly Horst passed away 18 months ago, so ‘Heidi’ was reminiscing with her Mum, when our names came into the conversation, we have made contact and are looking forward to speaking to them very soon, Very many ‘ Happy Memories & Times ‘ – watch this space.

Just a quick update on last night’s football result; Liverpool stunned Manchester City and won 3-0 in the first leg, as the outplayed them in the first half, of the Quarter Finals of the ‘Champions’ League.

For our supper this evening we are having our favourite ‘ Grilled Chicken Wings’ with finely sliced French Green Beans and a Baked Potato.

Thoughts for the Day;  See below.

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