A WARM & SUNNY MANILVA ON FRIDAY AT THE START OF A ' HELLUVA' WEEKEND.

FRIDAY 11^th/ MAY 2018.

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, through the ever growing vine fields, lots of green bushes on the old black ground vines. Meanwhile back at the house, after a little lie in, Brenda took ‘ Chico’ for his first walk of the day, he slept all night, on his own, in his bed, he’s already missing his mate ‘ Charlie’ as we are! He’ being collected in the morning, we then have a ‘doggy-free’ weekend, next week little princess ‘ Reina’ is back with us on Monday/Wednesday.

After a toast & tea in ‘itZabar’ I did our main shop in ‘ Mercadona’ – I then walked along to the ‘ English Bookshop’ for the local newspapers and a birthday card, before going along to the local market, at the far end of the promenade for the fresh flowers & wall plants, on the way back I called into ‘ Super Sol’ for the English essentials, before shooting back up the hill to the house to un-load.

Yesterday morning over at the Pier Head in Liverpool, on a ' grey' day the ' Viking Sun' was berthed.

This morning has started a lot brighter, the sun was out early and the clouds have cleared, there is just a very light breeze so it’s rather pleasant, to be out & about, in the warm sunshine, by lunchtime it’s forecast to rise to 22 degs+ - tomorrow getting warmer, as well as on Sunday, when we are out & about on the ‘ Costa Del Sol’  - next week is now forecast to be hot & sunny, with none of the ‘ wet-stuff’ – hovering, at times on the 24/25 degs+ mark, overnight 15/16 degs! Watch this space.


Sabinillas beach this afternoon!

Yesterday, early evening, when we were out for a walk with ‘ Chico’ - we for a change walked along the ‘ El Paseo de la Pedreta’ – the old, lower circular/by-pass road, by the side of the village, overlooking the valley and the mountains including the ‘ Sierra Bermeja’ The Council have just improved the pavement and built four new concrete/green wood seats overlooking the view, they have been painted white and a local artist, Jose Tirado, has decorated the back of them with native motifs of grapes & vines etc, see below!

For our supper this evening we are having ‘Pan-Seared Fillets of Hake’ lightly dusted in seasoned flour, then cooked ‘ A La Meuniere’ style ( Brown Butter, chopped Parsley & Lemon Juice) with Garden Peas & Broccoli Florets and Parsley New Potatoes, on Saturday evening we are having ‘ Minute Steak’ using Entrecotes, trimmed & flattened, seasoned and smeared with ‘Dijon’ Mustard, cooked on a very hot griddle-plate ‘Rare’ – garnished with Seared Button Mushrooms & Asparagus Spears and of course twice-cooked ‘ Frits’

All before we hit the new ‘ Hot- Spot’- “ Bar Ebano – Bri’s Bar’ to catch ‘ Billy Boy Miskimmins’ on his ‘ Lee Osker’ Harmonica, with his five-piece band, as “ Manilva Rocks “ !

On Sunday its’ the ‘  Head Chef & Staff ‘ day off, we are meeting our dear friend Joyce ‘ Baby’ and going for our ‘ Roast Lunch’ in ‘ Castillo de la Duquesa’ to ‘La Taberna 2 ‘ – where Carlos will look after us.

At lunchtime as we went for a walk with the dog, the 'Mobile Fishmonger' was outside, so I bought some small ' Dab Soles & Baby Shrimps' ( for Tortallitas Camerones ) - both fresh & local from this morning's fishing, for another day, he also gave us ' on the house' a small bag of fresh local 'Caracoles' - we ended up at the small 'Dress Shop' at the top of ' Calle Iglesia' where Brenda had spotted something yesterday when she was out, she now has a new top & slacks (Red!) for Sunday!

We then made our way back along ' Calle Mar' as the 'Contractors' workmen were outside the Town Hall and at the top of our street in front of  'Pilars' -our neighbours house! 


See below; 

This afternoon we will be watching/channel hopping the ‘Spanish Grand Prix’ practise from Barcelona, the ‘Flat Horse Racing’ from Chester and the next stage of the ‘ Giro d’Italia’ as it reaches Italy!

After supper this evening we are going to settle down and watch, the new series of “ The Bridge “ – the ‘Scandinavian ‘ crime drama, we have not seen the previous series so we are going to read-up on it so as we are able to follow the story line/plot! Watch this space.

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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A VERY WARM & SUNNY MANILVA ON FRIDAY AT THE START OF THE ' VENDIMIA WINE FESTIVAL WEEKEND.

FRIDAY 1^ST/ SEPTEMBER 2017.

I was up early this morning and saw ‘ Reina’ back with us for the day, next week she is back with us on Wednesday for three days, ‘ Charlie’ arrives on Thursday for his two week holiday with us, I then shot off on my travels down to Sabinillas for the weekly shopping, I had toast & tea in ‘ Itazabar ‘ and was first into ‘ Mercadona’ which was not as busy, the English holiday makers have gone home and the Spanish ‘Madrid- August’ hoards have also returned home!

I then collected the local newspapers from the ‘ English Bookshop’ before calling into the ‘ Chinese Bazaar ‘ for new bathroom goods, next on my travels I shot along to the far end of the promenade to the local market, for the fresh flowers & wall plants, finally on the way back up the hill I called into ‘ Super Sol ‘ for the English essentials, after unloading back at the house, as Calle Mar was still open, the Council workmen are finishing the staging etc in the ‘Plaza de la Vendimia’  I put the car away for the weekend.

As I was walking back up to the house the ‘ Movistar/Telefonica’ engineer was working on the main junction box, the next operation is to get the Fiber Optic cable down ‘Calle San Vicente’ to the junction box on our wall, yesterday afternoon they secured the main cables along the walls of all the houses in our street,  I will then arrange the new contract with ‘Movistar’ down in Sabinillas at their office, next week, watch this space.

This morning it’s warm & sunny, the sky is clear and there is just a very light breeze, by lunchtime it will be hotter, in the high 20s, the weekend is looking the same , getting hotter on Sunday, next week is warm & sunny hovering on the 30 degs mark, watch this space.

See above some pictures of the village of Parkgate on the Wirral, it’s situated on the coastline of the River Dee adjoining the salt marsh, in the old days, back in the 18^th century, it was a port when the Irish Sea used to crash over the sea wall.

See below a picture taken back in 1934!

We have been down there hundreds of times, to bars & restaurants, buying Shrimps, hand shelled by the old ladies, Fresh Lobster in the Lobster Grill' and ‘Nicholls’ Ice Cream Parlour ' taking friends children to the ‘ Mostyn House School ‘ – watching the Cricket, we even nearly bought ‘ The Boat House ‘ Bar & Restaurant at the far end of the promenade, we had a management contract on the ‘Pollards Inn’ in Willaston for 4/5 years, a couple of miles away, and of course the ‘ Bridge Inn’ in Port Sunlight is also on the Wirral Peninsula, I was first taken down to the village by my Dad, Tommy Sexton, on our bikes as a child.  Happy Days and Memories!

For our supper this evening we are having ‘ Goujons of Hake Fillet’ made with local breadcrumbs from the Bakery, with Homemade ‘Tartar’ sauce on the side, Mushy Peas and of course twice-cooked ‘ Chips’ Tomorrow morning I will be making the ‘Braised sliced Beef Steak ‘ in a rich Red Wine, Mushroom & Onion Sauce, to keep us going over the ‘ Vendimia Wine Festival weekend.

Yesterday in the ‘ Vuelta a Espana 17 ‘ Chris Froome crashed twice as his overall lead was cut, he fell on a downhill section after suffering mechanical problems just before, his teammates helped him get back to just 20 seconds behind his rivals, today’s Stage 13 is from Coin to Tomares over 197 kms over, a flat route with a sprint finish.

This afternoon the handyman , Juan, is coming back to finish the work on the downstairs bathroom, we are taking things easy today, building up our strength for the weekend ahead! The ‘ Amazon Fire TV Stick ‘ system is working again , it came back on yesterday lunchtime.

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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A VERY WARM & SUNNY MANILVA ON EASTER SATURDAY.

SATURDAY 15^{th /}  APRIL 2017.

We had a long lie in this morning, in fact we overslept, the village was very quiet and the church bells are not due to ring until lunchtime, Brenda produced her famous ‘ Campo’ Poached Eggs on Toast ‘ with mugs of hot steaming tea, we then sorted our weekend out.

No procession today, so we are taking things easy, last night we went up to ‘Bar Rojas’ and followed the two processions with the ladies of the village, in the band there are Fathers, Mothers, Sons & Daughters and neighbours, carrying the ‘Tronos’ are Fathers & Sons & neighbours from our street, the ladies in Black are friends, neighbours and family all from the village including the Mayors’ wife, see all the picture above, tomorrow lunchtime we are setting up shop at ‘Bar Castillo’ as the two final processions meet in front of the bar where they lift the ‘ Tronos- Tableu ‘ shoulder high and let off the Doves into the blue sky, watch this space.

We have another beautiful day here in sunny Manilva, the sun broke through early and the sky is blue, there is a slight breeze but it’s very pleasant and by lunchtime it will be warm, 28 degs, sadly tomorrow is looking fine but colder, down to 24 degs, at the moment, next week is settled, dry and cloudy and a little cooler, watch this space.

See below a ' Full Moon ' night over the Bay of Llandudno last night!

For our supper this evening we are having one of my classic old dishes ‘ Steak Diane ‘ using ‘ French’ trimmed, flattened ‘Entrecote’ Steaks, seasoned and smeared in Dijon Mustard, pan-seared and then left to rest, I make the sauce with sliced Onions, Shallots & Mushrooms, Dijon Mustard, Red Wine & Beef stock, then flamed in Brandy before adding  the steaks back into the pan with the cream and chopped Parsley, whole Green Beans & twice-cooked ‘ Frits ‘ on the side; we have ordered the ‘ Roast Chicken’ from the local ‘ Rotisserie ‘ in Calle Mar for tomorrow night’s supper and then on ‘Easter Monday’ we are having the traditional  ‘Roast Lamb – Shoulder of New Zealand, South Island’ with of course ‘ Boulangere ‘ Potatoes and a large selection of Fresh Vegetables from Brenda!

We have just tried to contact Jack & Lyn over in Melbourne on the ‘ Skype video, with no luck, we rang them and are going to try later this evening before we go to bed, it’s  then early morning over in Australia! This year the ‘ Easter ‘ cards from the three sisters arrived very quickly, as did our ours to them, now that’s unusual for our local postal system!

On the sports front this weekend; the Horse Racing is from Haydock Park & Musselburgh, the Grand Prix is in Bahrain, the Track Cycling ‘World Championships’ are from Hong Kong, the Snooker World Championship starts at the Crucible in Sheffield, over in the ‘Premiere League’ Everton welcome Burnley, Manchester City travel down to Southampton, on Sunday Liverpool go down the M6 to West Brom, in the ‘ La Liga’ over here Barcelona welcome Real Sociedad and Real Madrid travel up to Sorting Gijon.

This evening we will channel hop and try and catch a film later.

Thoughts for the Day ; See above.

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A VERY WARM & SUNNY MOJACAR PLAYA & MOJACAR PUEBLO ON SATURDAY.

SATURDAY 8^th/ APRIL 2017.

We were up before dawn and set off on our travels up to Mojacar to the ‘ Moffatt’s’ – the brand new ‘ Citroen Picasso’ is rather special, very comfortable with all the gadjets including sat-nav, diesel, automatic & key-less, you just push the start button and off she goes!

See below;

We set off and picked up the toll-free ‘ Autovia del Mediterraneo’ just after Malaga, it’s a spectacular route along the coast past a sparkling Mediterranean, you go through over 100kms off the  ‘Poly Tunnels ‘ before and past Almeria, at times with the sun on them they look like lakes, three & half hours later at 10-30 am we were dropping down into Mojacar Playa.

We booked into our hotel ‘ Hotel Sal Marina’ which is on the beach front overlooking the sea, the only sound you hear during the night are the waves crashing onto the sandy beach, Mojacar Playa is spectacular, it’s a very long beach resort with bars, restaurants, hotels night clubs etc, it’s very lively, all the time, very popular at the height of summer, July & August especially, see below the view from out bedroom balcony of the hotel, it’s only two** but very clean, the bedroom with two double beds was large with a corridor entrance, the staff are very pleasant, the ‘ ‘Continental Breakfast’  was very good, large glasses of fresh Orange Juice, three sorts of toast, Spanish, English & French etc, the perfect bed & breakfast spot, it was so good that we decided to stay for another night!

Tim & Thea came down to meet us and we then set off back up ‘ Mojacar Pueblo’ which is about 3/4 kms behind, up on top of a mountain! Their camp-site is below the village in the valley, it’s very private, small and well kept with lots of long stays which have been there for many years, Tim & Thea have totally fallen in love with the place, the area and the lifestyle!

To get up to the village we drove up the large car park by the by the Health & Fitness Club’ ( they are members!) and you go up in a four story lift into the centre of the old village, its spectacular, to say the least, lots of bars, restaurants, shops, full of atmoshphere, rather special, we had a very nice three-course ‘Menu del Dia’ sat in a little square in the warm sunshine with a bright blue sky.

See the pictures above.

We then went back to the site for the rest of day, we had a good, long catch up with all their news, later for our supper Tim went on the ‘BBQ’ where he grilled to perfection  “ Pork Escalope’s, thin Spanish Sausages, a Rib of Beef on the bone and Fillet Steak “  Thea made a very nice Mixed salad and her famous ‘ Mashed’ Potato! – the taste of the BBQ was just right and all the meats where cooked to perfection, the Rib of Beef fell off the bone and was sliced ‘ French’ style into fingers!

It was then time for us to head back down to ‘Mojacar Playa’ where we ended up in a very busy and lively ‘ Fusion Tapas Bar’ on the beach in front of the hotel( see the second picture above) for a night-cap, on the large screen TV the football was live the Malaga, at the La Rosaleda’ ground as they welcomed Barcelona, sadly Barcelona lost 2-0!

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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