A VERY WARM & SUNNY MANILVA ON FRIDAY AT THE START OF THE WEEKEND;

FRIDAY 20^th/ NOVEMBER 2015.

I was up at the crack of dawn and shot across to Estepona to our old bank to transfer our two accounts and then close them, only one problem, it needed Brenda also as they are joint accounts and she had to sign all the documents! This meant that I had to come back to Manilva and collect her , no problem as its the most gorgeous day down here on the ‘Costa Del Sol’ and the drive over and back ( twice!) was spectacular, to say the least, the Mediterranean was calm, the sun was out and the sky was blue, there is no breeze and its getting warmer by the hour, 25 degs!! Over the weekend it now looks like we will just miss the rain but its going colder up to Monday.

As we came out of the bank in Estepona we called into the new “ Honore Bouulangerie “ for a coffee ( excellent ) & tea, Brenda has the most succulent ‘Croque Monsieur’ and I had tostado, everything is served on slate boards and the tea comes in a pot on to top of a large matching cup! We also bought some of their fresh pastries that are made on site in the bakery that is all glass and on show!

On the way back we stopped in Sabinillas and called into our new bank to activate the Debit cards, the transfers have not appeared yet so we will keep our fingers crossed for later; last night Daneila helped me log on to our new online banking service as its all in Spanish and I’m up to about 95% with the documents! At the same time she downloaded the latest ‘You Tube’ & Spotify’ to my apps so as I’m ready for my radio show, if I get asked back, this will help when the studio is set up on my new system up in the office! Then Lee checked out all my settings and updated my security scans etc! Thanks to both of them for their kind attention.

We are going back down to Sabinillas tomorrow morning for our weekly shopping, we did pick up the local newspapers from the ‘English Bookshop’ while we were out, Brenda took ‘Barney’ out for his first walk of the day before I picked her up, and at lunchtime we are going along to ‘Bar Castillo’ for an al fresco Tapas lunch with him; he’s being collected this evening and is then back with us for two weeks over Xmas. ‘Chispa’ arrived just as we came back up to the house and is playing around my feet as I’m typing the Blog.

For our supper this evening we are having ‘ Goujons of Hake Fillet’ made with fresh local breadcrumbs, with Mushy Peas, diced ‘Frits’ and of course my homemade Tartar sauce; See below; we will the settle down to watch some English TV as normal on a Friday, also Brenda is now able to watch the Tennis in the afternoon from the ’02 Areana’ as both Nadel and Federer progress to the semi finals.

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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CRISP AND WARM IN SUNNY MANILVA ON SUNDAY;

SUNDAY 23^rd/ FEBRUARY 2014.

Today it’s still bright and warm with just a little breeze as forecast with the temperature reaching 19 degs by lunchtime; after breakfast we got tonight’s roast on the go, ‘Roast Loin Of Pork’ with glazed ‘Fuji’ Apple slices, a savory Mixed herb stuffing and of course my famous finger-licking pan gravy, from the vegetable department we are having Broccoli and Cauliflower florets in a three-cheese sauce, glazed Carrot batons, Cabbage with Acelgas,Garden Peas, new potatoes and finally my traditional roast potatoes cooked in today’s Pork fat !

To start we have some of our local thinly sliced Chorizo, and two of my famous ‘Tapas’ starters – Diced cooked English Pork sausage ‘A la Savoy’ – marinated in Worcestershire sauce and my even more famous ‘ Ensaladilla Rusa’ – my version of the classic ‘Russian Salad’ which has diced Potato, baby Carrots,Peas,Tuna,chopped boiled Egg and cooked Red Pimento – all seasoned and tossed in Mayonnaise ! Josie had made some of her Chocolate Ice Cream  for dessert !

The Chocolate Ice Cream was to die for - thank's Josie; we also enjoyed talking to you especially about 'Art' - Josie full title is " Lecturer in Critical and Contextual Studies - Fine Art " ( Retired!) - I managed to keep my end up until I forgot the birth place of " Picasso " - Malaga ! - The 'Professor' soon reminded me !!

Yesterday evening we went around to Josie’s apartment in the street below us at 7-00pm for a glass of Cava before catching the ‘Carnival’ parade later at 8-00pm – luckily just as we were out on her back balcony Brenda heard the band ,they were one hour early not one hour late as usual! I rushed back up through the village and just about caught up with the parade in Calle Mar as you can see in the pictures above! One of the pictures is thanks to Josie on her mobile and the one of the two spectacular ‘Samba’ dancers is thanks to Gary of the ‘Resident’ newspaper – I was dancing with them and the my camera was shaking !! What a life !!

After getting the supper ready we went for a walk with the dog,Mano called on the mobile and asked us to go down to the hotel to see him. we have not seen him for over two weeks as he is working every day as Carlos, his son is in hospital with Pneumonia, Anna has been ‘Ill’ in bed since she came back from her ‘Jolly’ in England two weeks ago and his daughter Sally Ann is also not well ! He and our friend Andy are ‘Carrying’ the hotel!!

So we picked the car up and went up to the hotel as Mano wanted us to see the new set up with the bar and restaurant; Victor Hugo our dentist has moved his ‘Bodega La Espanola’ into the hotel and has taken over the franchise- see the pictures above – he has built his BBQ in the kitchen, set up the bar and bodega furniture in the restaurant and is open for business – good luck to him and his wife, as it happens I have made an appointment for Monday morning to get my teeth cleaned and checked as he is still the village dentist during the week!

Last night after our supper we watched the late film “ Street Kings” from 2008 – an action/crime drama based in Los Angeles about corruption in the police force, it stars Keanu Reeves, Forest Whitaker, Hugh Laurie and Chris Evans – watch it to find out who are the baddies and who are the goodies!

PS; Liverpool have just beaten Swansea 4-3 in one ‘Helluva’ game!

Thought for Day; See above.

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SUNNY MANILVA ON FRIDAY MORNING

CASA OLIMPIA.

Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday 19th/20th/21st October 2009.

Monday 19th.

We had to get up bright and early as I had an appointment at the surgery, in Manilva, with our doctor for a check up; he gave me the once over and updated my records, my blood pressure is under control as is the Diabetes level, I’ve just got to keep taking the tablets ,for now. He then diagnosed a trapped nerve and muscle damage in the back of my shoulder and gave me a prescription for a course of tablets to relieve the pain and help with the discomfort,which it has! I then called into check the house and collect any mail before going to the chemists in the main street,the bank in Estepona and also some shopping at the large hypermarket for things we can’t get around here.On the way back I picked up some Braising steak from the English butchers and Pork Cutlets from the Spanish butcher before heading back to Tarifa.On checking for e-mails etc. we noticed that one of our friends has come onto Facebook,welcome Joyce at long last! In the evening we had Turkey breast flattened and cooked with Balsamic vinegar with Brenda’s green vegetables and new potatoes.

Tuesday 20th.

The garden people arrived in the morning and are working on the pine hedges all around the outside of the property which have not been seen to in years, at the same time Juan fixed the leak under the sink in the kitchen which had got bad over the weekend. During the day I got the Braised steak on the go with lots of vegetables inc. Carrots,Celery.Beans.Mushrooms and sauté Onions which we had later for dinner with Brenda’s mashed potatoe!Over the last couple of weeks we have been watching on BBC2 the very interesting series “ Wainwrights Walks” and “ Railway Walks ” introduced by Julia Bradbury and later I watched the first of the electric proms featuring Robbie Williams who was excellent and all the reviews in the papers and on the television the next day said the same !

Wednesday 21st October, Result Day.

This morning we had to be up very early,again,to go across to the Costa del Sol hospital on the other side of Marbella as we had an appointment with the consultant for the results of my Prostate Biopsy,the very short outcome being that my test had proved negative !! We came out rather happy and then went for a champagne breakfast in the Don Carlos ***** hotel next door !!! On returning to Casa Olimpia we made all the phone calls to family and friend who have supported us over the last few weeks and posted messages on Facebook and Twitter ! In the evening we had Chicken curry for supper, we have been on comfort food for the last few days as the the weather has changed for the worse, with high winds and heavy rain, the first in six months but then it is back to normal on Friday with very hot and sunny temperatures forecast for the next seven days!

CASA OLIMPIA.

Tuesday/Wednesday 4th/5th August 2009.

Tuesday 4th.

It was grey, overcast and foggy to start, even the ships on the Strait were using their fog horns! Later it cleared up a little and by the late afternoon it was back to normal. The workmen after doing some work in the garden then moved in to the master bedroom and started to knock down some small walls and rip the floor up with a Jack Hammer ! We kept out of the way on the lower balcony as we had a snack lunch; in the early afternoon I prepared some Boulangere potatoes to have with our Lamb chops for our dinner with Brenda’s vegetables. Over the last two weeks as I have been on the road back and forwards to Estepona and Manilva I have seen that the polo ground at Sotogrande is looking very busy; it is hosting the Santa Maria Polo Club Tournament, the ground which is the finest in Europe, will have twenty teams comprising of a hundred players and more than a thousand horses taking part in the games over the month of August,Taittinger champagne are the main sponsors and as usual there are a smattering of Royals about! Later on in the evening we had a long chat with Chris over in London and we have agreed to come back on the 24th August to look after Joan,the dogs and cats and the villa so as we make the plans to take her over to her apartment in Docklands at the start of September before her passport expires.Watch this space,it could get exciting!

Wednesday 5th.

Today was another running around day as I had to go across to Estepona to the bank and them meet Mano and Juan in Manilva to hand over some further payments for the on going work; I then called at the surgery to pick up my my prescriptions and found that I could not get into the main street of the village due to roadwork’s so I had to go down to a chemists in Sabinillas only to find that I needed to go back to the surgery as there was some outstanding paper work in the file; it turned out that I will have to go for eye and feet tests due to the Diabetes! So I have made the appointments for this week at the health centre in Estepona.Tonight we are having flattened Breast of Chicken in a light citrus sauce with new potatoes on the balcony overlooking the pool! PS;
As we were sat on the balcony the phone went and it was Carolyn in Guadalmina asking us if we could look after their villa in the middle of August;it falls in the time when we are home from Casa Olimpia so we are going to go there for five days,The builders have stopped work for the month of August and they have had industrial cleaners in for two days so the villa is looking more like an home! Watch out for the first pictures of the refubishment!

MANILVA,DAY TWO.

Saturday 6th June 2009.

This morning after a little lie in the folks joined us for Scrambled Eggs with Smoked Pink Trout and fresh Orange juice to start the day off right ! After getting ready we took them for a tour of the village in the Fiat Panda and then called in to see Mano and Anna at their house to thank them for the welcome on Friday evening;we then called into Bar Rojas and introduced Jack and Lyn to Tapas and Frits with Rosado before we then headed down the coast towards Gibraltar and stopped at Sotogrande Marina as you can see in the picture below,the Lady Jane boat photo’s are especially for our dear friend in Chester who arranged and set us the map of Australia ! We then worked our selves back along the coast and called into Castillo de la Duquesa,the fishing village,Duquesa Marina,Estepona Marina and finally Laguna Beach were Brenda spotted the most magnificent Ferrari,and its French owner,as you can see ! As we arrived back the Motor Cycle Festival roared into the main street just as the bride and family set off to walk down to the church,which is a tradition in Manilva ! She got a very loud reception from the bikers ! The pictures below will give you a little idea of our day out. After getting back to the house to freshen up we then had our cocktails before heading out for dinner at one of our favorite restaurants,Alonso’s.We recommended to Jack and Lyn to have the John Dory in an Lemon butter sauce and it lived up to our expectations; after parking the car we finished off day two with more Carajillo’s in Bar Rojas.