A ' CRISP' & SUNNY MANILVA ON MONDAY. " XMAS EVE - NOCHEBUENA "

MONDAY 24th/ DECEMBER 2018.  “ CHRISTMAS EVE  - NOCHEBUENA  “

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We had a little lie in this morning, ‘ Chico’ spent the night on the duvet, at the foot of the bed and ‘ Charlie stayed downstairs on the settees, after a quick freshen up Brenda took the dogs out for their first walk of the day, around the bottom of the village,  I was on the breakfast rota, so we had to start the ‘ Christmas Celebrations ‘ off in the right direction ‘ Toasted Crispy Smoked Bacon Butties ‘ – smothered in ‘ HP ‘ Brown sauce – open on brown for Brenda, with mugs of hot, strong ‘ PG’ Tips Tea!

I then got the ‘Xmas Turkey’ ( 5 kilos)  on to roast; the ‘ Crown of Turkey ‘ which is filled with butter under the skin, along with a Leg & Thigh and assorted bones & giblets, it’s seasoned and then placed in the roasting-tray on a bed of hot ‘ Trivets’ - chopped Onions, Garlic, Carrots, Leeks, Celery, Acelgas, Turnips, Parsnips & Broccoli & Cauliflower Stalks, Sea Salt & Black Pepper, with a dash of Tomato Frito, Lea & Perrins & Tabasco and Vegetable Oil, sealed in Tin-Foil, then left to roast, later I will baste it, cover again, then re-baste after covering the ‘ Crown’ with Smoked Bacon Rashers, with no Tin-Foil’ to finish ‘ Roasting’!  I will then make a classic ‘ Giblet Pan Gravy ‘ from the residual juices & bones, with a flour roux, a rich ‘ Meat & Vegetable ‘ stock, seasoned and finished with ‘Crosse & Blackwell Gravy Browning’ to colour!



See below; 

At the moment the sun is just breaking through, yesterday evening and this morning, we had another spectacular ‘ Red Sunset & Sunrise’ -  there is a light breeze blowing so by lunchtime it will be 19 degs+ - overnight down to 11/12 degs, partly cloudy at times, on ‘ Christmas Day & Boxing Day’ we are in for more of the same, so it will be a ‘ Sunny Manilva’ at Xmas! The rest of the week and over the weekend is going a little cooler, down to 16/17 degs, with patchy clouds and the threat of the ‘ wet-stuff’ returning for the ‘ New Years Eve’ celebrations, watch this space.

Just a very quick update on yesterday’s football; sadly Everton lost to Tottenham Hotspur 2-6! Our dear friend ‘ Big Bri’ – a ‘ life-long’ “ Blue “  and his daughter Meya, over from Sweden, were at ‘Goodison Park’ to see the game!!  Oh dear !!




At lunchtime on our walk with the dogs we ended up sat outside ' Bar Castillo' for a nice cool drink, watching the World go by in a calm & sunny Manilva.

This evening for our supper we are having ‘ Grilled Pork Steaks’ with a selection of leftover Vegetables and Baby New Potatoes in their Skins, the rest of the ‘ Roast Loin of Pork’ – which was very tasty & juicy, we are using for sandwiches at lunchtimes!

The rest of the day and evening we will settle down in front of the TV – ‘ Darby & Joan ‘ – sat on the settee – holding hands!  A proverbial phrase for a married couple content to share a quiet life of mutual devotion, so it says!!

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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A STILL OVERCAST SUNNY MANILVA ON SATURDAY;

SATURDAY 14^th/ NOVEMBER 2015.

No lie in as planned this morning as we were rudely awoken by the sound of six workmen on the site, at 8-00 am, with the sound of knocking,scraping, shouting with loud music in the background! I went out and complained to the foreman but they laughed at me  and told me to go away!! They are not allowed to work on a Saturday and the last time it happened there was only one man and he stopped, but this time they had the confidence to carry on with numbers on their side!! I’ve sent a complaint to our solicitor!!

It’s a little overcast to start this morning but no doubt it will clear up by lunchtime, the forecast for tomorrow is looking good and next week its going to get, at the moment, even better.

We are having an at home day today catching up the chores, Brenda has some washing hanging out and I’m up in the office catching up on the WWW, including the terrible news from Paris.

For our supper this evening we are having ‘Entrecote Steak’ cooked on a very hot griddle plate ‘ Med-Rare’ with sautéed Baby Mushrooms, finely sliced Green Beans and twice-cooked ‘Frits’ Last night after going down to the studio in Castillo de la Duquesa,  on the way home I picked up from the fish & chip shop ‘ Marlows’ for a change, two large portions of ‘Deep Fried Haddock’ with proper ‘ Chips & Mushy Peas’ which we ate still in the paper!!

Andrew welcomed me to the ‘Castle Radio FM 89.2’ studio and I found myself on air ‘live’ introducing myself  to the listening public for the first time! I stayed for the whole show and watched and learned as Andrew was ‘Flying’ the deck by twisting the knobs, sliding and jumping between the three screens that you can see in the picture below!

I’ve sent him this morning, after discussing with him, my final playlist and have re-written my script! So its fingers crossed for tomorrow and my first live broadcast of my ‘Sunday Morning Classic Session’ I’m hopeful that I will get asked back to become a regular presenter and If so I’m going to have a sign that lights up to say “ ON AIR “ when I’m in the office/studio broadcasting from home!!

No League football this weekend over in the UK and here as its International Football; The Grand Prix of Brazil is on Sunday so will Hamilton remember to turn up as he’s been celebrating over the last week in Monaco!

After supper last night we watched some English TV as Rick Stein reached Istanbul, Michael Portillo was in Greece on his railway travels and finally a little bit of ‘ Children in Need’ with somebody called ‘Grimmy’ ( not very good!) presenting the show in place of Sir Terry Wogan who is ill.

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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A WARM AND SUNNY MANILVA ON WEDNESDAY " NOCHEBUENA " " XMAS EVE 2014

WEDNESDAY 24^th/ DECEMBER 2014.  XMAS EVE – NOCHEBUENA.

We all had a nice lie in this morning after a good night sleep, ‘Renia’ in her duvet across the foot of the bed and ‘Scruffy’ in his house by the side of the bed, we then took them both out for their first walk of the day and called into the butchers to pay for our ‘Rib of Beef’ for Boxing Day which he’s hanging in his cold room until Friday morning when I will pick it up!

‘Reina’ is being picked up at lunchtime and of course ‘Scruffy’ is with us until Sunday evening; ‘Chispa’ has just joined us this morning and all three of the dogs are currently causing chaos around the house as Brenda is trying to mop!

It’s a glorious morning here in sunny Manilva with a clear blue sky and the sun already out, it’s very mild and the temperatures later will reach 20/21degs! More of the same to come onto next week!!

Last night we had a surprise visitor as Brian called in just as we were about to start our supper so he ended up joining us, we had a good old gossip and catch up with all his news, he’s working all over Xmas, by choice (Triple Pay!) and is then going to England on New Years Eve for a weeks holiday at his parents in Runcorn where his daughter Meya, from Sweden is staying for two weeks, she flew in yesterday. I was so nice to see our dear friend and see him in a relaxed and happy state of mind and looking good – all the very best for 2015 ‘Big Bri’!!

So we have a quiet day at home today just taking things easy and relaxing, Brenda is hanging the washing out at the moment up on the roof terrace as it’s a good drying day – so she tells me! A pre- Xmas drink or two is called for later to get us into the festive spirit – literally!

This evening for our supper we are having ‘ Pie & Chips’- small Pork Pies that we bought from Iceland with twice-cooked Frits and my finger licking Gravy on the side, something simple before we hit the full Xmas menus over the next few days! Watch this space.

Later we will then find something to watch as we channel hop ( me!)

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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