MANILVA START OF THE WEEK.

MONDAY/TUESDAY/WEDNESDAY 17th/18th/19th/ SEPTEMBER 2012. .. On Monday morning I was up bright and early as I had an appointment with our doctor at the surgery; I was renewing my prescriptions for another year, as he says if everything is OK- keep taking the tablets! I also checked that my next six month appointment with the consultant in January is all arranged at the Costa Del Sol Hospital over in Marbella to check out the old Prostrate! Brenda is coming into the home strait getting ready for the arrival of her sisters on Thursday – the menus and agenda are planned and the house cleaning is nearly finished – their welcome picture in the bedroom is in place in the frame ! In the evening for supper we had Pork Cutlets with some more of the Boulangere Potatoes before settling down to catch up with news on TVE. .. Tuesday morning was a little overast, as forecast, as we for a change caught the bus down to Sabinillas to do a little retail shopping; we called into our bank, stopped at the English bookshop to order the Box-Set of ‘ 50 Shades of Grey ’for my birthday present – Brenda is also looking forward to reading the trilogy later ! At the same time we picked up some books to read this week, we then called into ‘Super Sol ’for some English essentials,i.e.Sarsons Vinegar, Heinz Tomato Ketchup,etc.and from their excellent cake counter two Strawberry Tarts for out afternoon tea ! The next stop was at the stationery shop for some files before we had a coffee in the square and caught the bus back up to the village. In the afternoon I watched the UCI Road Race World Championship from Holland – it was the ladies Time Trial – sadly Emma Pooley only finished fourth. .. For supper we had Calves Liver that Brenda had picked up from our lady butcher as our regular butcher did not have any, she had sliced it very thin as requested and I floured and pan fried it, pink, in foaming butter, with it we had crisp Smoked Bacon, English pork Sausages (Well cooked) assorted vegetables and the last of the Boulangere Potatoes! It was delicious, melted in the mouth and was very tasty – we were drooling by the end! Later we watched a rather gory new version of ‘Spartacus ’which is on at the moment in a new TV series. .. Today we are having an at home day and taking things easy; the hire car is being dropped off in the morning, we taking Anna over to the border as she wants to into Gibraltar for the day, Brenda will cross over and meet the sisters and we are then going to stop in La Linea for a coffee and Tapas. PS; The hire car people called at lunchtime and said could we help them ? They wanted to pick us up in the village and take us over via Marbella to pick up the car in Cancelada ! The weather was very good and it gave us a nice drive and an extra half day ! One other bonus was that Cheta was able to come with us,she loves going out in a car,in fact she would not stay in the back with Brenda,she had to come and sit and stand on my knee in the front ! .. Thought for the Day; .. I may not be there yet, but I’m closer than I was yesterday. … ….

MANILVA TODAY.

FRIDAY 27th JULY 2012.

This morning we were up bright and early after all the excitement of last night; I jumped on the bus, eventually, as at my first attempt it did not appear and shot down to Sabinillas to pick up the papers and when I got back we went for a walk with Cheta down to the local market in the village for some flower’s, the work is progressing on the underground car park at new Plaza Pozo del Rey as you can see in the pictures above. We picked up our Steak for dinner on Saturday and I then went on the WWW to catch up with the news; over in Cheshire in Northwich it is David and Jane’s first wedding anniversary today, “Congratulations” to you both – we know that you will have a “Helluva “Day. See the picture above. In our e-mails there were some very nice comments and pictures from Norway, the people we met the other night up at Bar Rojas, Anette, Emilia and Odd Bjorn have set us as promised some pictures and also some very nice comments about our short time with them – thank you all and we will reply to them shortly – the pictures are also above.

Tonight it is the turn on the ‘ Manilva Brass Band ’on the stage for their concert; I will pop up and take some pictures but we are not going to see it as we are joining the other billon people of the global TV audience to watch the spectacular opening of the 2012 Olympic Games from the new stadium in south London ! The gates have just opened and the ‘ Queens ’ Bentley and ‘ David Beckham’s ’are ready and waiting !! Come on England show them how to put on a show ! The Olympic Torch is nearly there, it is on a spectacular Barge at the moment ( Who is going to light the Olympic Flame ? ) Sir Chris Hoy,one of my hero’s is carrying the Union Jack !! All will be revealed later – watch this space after you have watched it yourselves !!

We are having for supper this evening a ‘ Sea Food Platter ’ consisting of very large shelled Prawns cooked in Lemon Butter, shallow fried whole Langoustines in Breadcrumbs, you eat them whole a bit like soft shell Crabs in the USA ! Cold Crab with Marie Rose Sauce and a seafood ‘ Vinaigrette ’ which I made earlier of Mussels,Octopus,Crab Claws, Baby Prawns and a little diced Red Pepper for colour ! Plenty of Lemon and Lime wedges are called for !


Thought for the Day;


The difference between a smart man and a wise man; a smart man knows what to say, a wise man knows whether or not to say it.



..


.

MANILVA THIS WEEKEND.

SATURDAY/SUNDAY 27^th/ 28^th/ AUGUST 2011.

After breakfast on Saturday morning it was a catching up with the housekeeping day, meanwhile I caught up with Facebook, E-mails and the blog; my only problem is that the channel on which I watch most of the sport,MYP2P has gone off line so I am limited in what I can see. I can follow the Vuelta on its page with a live coverage to EuroSport in English and the Grand Prix from Spa on a La Sexta TV channel but sadly no Rugby, England beat Ireland in Dublin and put in a good performance in their last friendly match before the World Cup in New Zealand. Sadly no Football so I missed Liverpool beating Bolton 3-1 on Saturday then on Sunday Manchester City won at Spurs 5-1 and went top of the Premier League above Liverpool only to see Manchester Utd take the top spot an hour later, on goal difference, when they totally humiliated the Arsenal 8-2 in the match of the day! On Sunday evening I saw all the goals on theTDP sports channel along with Real Madrid winning 6-0 at Real Zaragoza as the Spanish Liga finally started after the strike. In the evening we had steak and salad for supper before watching a film.

On Sunday lunchtime we went up to Bar Rojas and had the Paella as it finished cooking, they were busy with Spanish holiday makers and everybody had the Paella; Antonio, our neighbour, who is 88 in a months time, joined us and on the next table under the Sonbrajo there was a couple from La Inea who we got chatting to in Spanish and English,Paco and Susanna, he has a gents clothes shop ‘ Ramos Camisera’ in La Inea,which is the border town with Gibraltar and she used to be a housekeeper in a Holiday Inn. We enjoyed their company as we took in the sights and sounds of sunny Manilva. I watched the Grand Prix and Vuelta as Brenda went up on the roof terrace to read and sunbathe; as we were having our evening cocktails on the terrace the front door bell which we have on the terrace went, it was Mano and Anna; we had not seen Mano for quite a while and the drinks fridge was stocked with Cruz Campo’s ! We caught up with all the news and gossip before they left, they had already eaten or they would have joined us for supper. In the morning I had made a dish of Boulangere Potatoes which was in the oven, we bought a pack on Spanish Lamb Chops ‘Chuletas de Cordero’ and I pan fried them off and popped them on top of the Potatoes to finish in the oven, Brenda’s vegetables of local Carrots, whole Green crisp Beans and Spinach made it a meal to make the mouth water with the Rioja helping ! The pictures below show the Wine Press starting to take shape-more to follow.

PS; Breaking News - A Englishman has just taken over the lead in the Vuelta ! Chris Froome did a sensational ride in the Time Trial around and into the center of the university town of Salamanca and has just put on the Red jersey,Bradly Wiggins is third overall after not doing as well as expected in TT- they both ride for Team Sky.

.

‘ V- DAY ’ is counting down – 4 days to the start !!

Thought for the Day;

When you’re work speaks for itself, don’t interrupt.

..

.

PAMPLONA TODAY.