WINDY AND SUNNY MANILVA ON WEDNESDAY;

WEDNESDAY 26^th/ MARCH 2014.

Overnight the ‘Lavente’ wind has got up and it is causing the wet weather to hit us on Friday and Saturday off the Atlantic, such a shame but will just have to wrap up and plod on down here on the ‘Costa Del Sol’ on our trip to Cadiz cathedral and Puerto Santa Maria!’

So this morning after breakfast I’ve just made two pans of ‘Lancashire Hotpot’ to my own recipe; some have Kidneys and even Oysters in different parts of Lancashire but I just use Lamb Chops/Cutlets which I’ve marinated in a little Virgin Olive Oil & Tarragon before browning then off on the griddle, another recipe does not brown them before cooking!

I then build up the hot-pot with layers of hand cut sliced potatoes and Onions, the browned Lamb and sprinkle each later with diced Carrots, Celery, Leeks and Turnips; I season as it builds up and finally the top layer of very finely sliced potatoes is made into a pattern before adding a strong Vegetable and Meat stock – I then put knobs of butter across the top before cooking in the oven this evening!

We are just about to go for our walk with dogs around the village; Scruffy has settled in and goes into his posh bed when I tell him! He’s eating well but only sips a little water, which we gather from Adrian and Rose is normal; some pictures later of the finished new passage-way hopefully! He’s sat at my feet as I’ am typing the Blog.

Over in Manchester David & Paul are racing to get ready the “ Beef & Pudding Urban Pub & Kitchen ” open for business on Friday April 4^th with a "VIP" bash on the 24th April -  its starting to look rather special and the menu’s and the wine list are terrific – we wish Paul & David all the very best for their 5^th ‘ New Moon Pub Company’ enterprise! See the pictures below;

This evening after our ‘Hotpot Supper’ which we will have with lots of pickled red cabbage and Garden Peas; we will then catch up with the news and the latest weather forecasts before finding something to watch.

Last night over in the German 'Bundesliga' Pep Guardiola's Byern Munich won the title with 7 games to spare after winning 10 consecutive away games and being unbeaten in 52 matches! Next week they play Manchester Utd in the 'Champions League!! This evening in 'La Liga' it's Barcelona v Celta de Vigo, Sevilla v Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid v Granada - results later;

Barcelona won 3-0, Sevilla beat Real Madrid 2-1 and Atletico Madrid won 1-0 so they go top by 1 point from Barcelona! Oh yes - Liverpool won 1 -0 v Sunderland and go second in the Premiere League!! 

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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MANILVA ON SUNDAY

SUNDAY 5^TH/ MAY 2013

We awoke to the sunshine flooding in through the bedroom window; the forecast is looking good for the week and into the weekend.

I decided for a change to make a “Lancashire Hotpot” for supper, using the Spanish Lamb ‘Chueletas’ – I chopped them into pieces and browned them off, purists put them without colour into the Hotpot! Then I also added some sliced baby Carrots, diced Celery and sliced baby Leeks into each layer of sliced Potato and Onions; again the traditional recipe is very plain although in parts of Lancashire they add Kidneys or even Oysters!! I dug out our ‘Casolet’ pan and finished off my recipe with a Vegetable and Chicken stock and knob’s of Butter as you can see in the picture below the finished Hotpot looks rather inviting! We found a jar of shredded Beetroot in the local shop and I added some vinegar to help the pickling, Brenda kept herself simple in the vegetable department with mixed Baby Carrots and Garden Peas! The result was a very tasty Hotpot, full of flavor and the Lamb falling apart off the bone – another memorable meal!

At lunchtime after a walk around the village with the dog we ended up at Bar Rojas for some Tapas, Paella and drinks sat in the warm sunshine under the Sonbrajo; the Motor GP from Jerez was on the large screen TV in the bar and when we got back down to our house we caught the end of the race as Dani Pedrosa beat Marc Marquez and Jorge Lorenzo,Marquez barged past Lorenzo in the final corner to take second place and Rossi was fourth – it was then time to catch the Derby game over in England, I managed to get the ‘Sky Sports One HD’coverage as Liverpool and Everton drew, Everton had a goal disallowed that was perfectly OK – so Big Bri says over in Pori!

I then went onto ‘Eurosport HD’ and watched the excellent coverage of the second stage of the ‘Giro d’Italia’ The race had transferred on a ferry across the Bay of Naples to the beautiful island of Ischia for the Team Time Trial over a dangerous course of 17-4 kms. ‘Team Sky’ won to take control of the Pink jersey with Salvatore Puccio and Sir Bradley Wiggins second. Cavendish is now wearing the Red jersey as the points leader ! Monday’s stage three is a 222km ride down the beautiful ‘Amalfi’ coast fro Sorrento to Marina di Ascea. Back in England Chelsea beat Manchester Utd at Old Trafford 0-1while over here in the ‘Liga’ later Barcelona won 4-2 with Messi scoring two after he came on from the bench and Real won 4-1as Ronaldo scored two headers – back to normal then!

In the evening after supper we watched the main film on TVE1 – “ Iron Man ” from 2008 with Robert Downey Jnr in the title part and Gwyneth Paltrow as ‘Pepper Potts’ along with a unrecognizable Jeff Bridges as the baddie! This week was the Premier of the second ‘Iron Man’ film.

Thought for the Day;

Great changes are easier than small ones. 

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