" RESTAURANTE BAR SARDINA ' IN " ALHAURIN EL GRANDE " ON SATURDAY;

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" ALHAURIN EL GRANDE " & ' RESTAURANTE BAR SARDINA ' ON SATURDAY;

SATURDAY 3^rd/ JUNE 2017.

We were up and out on our travels after a quick cup of tea, it was already very hot, we then went along the coast road past a sparkling Mediterranean towards Marbella, we then headed up the twisting spectacular road past Ojen & Monda, up to the turning at the top of the Sierra’s for ‘Alhaurin El Grande ‘ – we then hit a ‘ Guardia Civil ‘ check point taking us off the main road up a slip road, there had been a serious accident ahead and the Ambulance Helicopter had just landed.

We eventually arrived outside the town at the ‘ Venta La Chovas ‘ for breakfast before Joyce ‘ Baby’ came along. Brenda had the traditional ‘Tostada Con Tomate ‘ – toast rubbed with a Garlic Clove & Olive Oil then spread with a  grated Tomato Salsa, I had, youv’e already guessed, ‘Campo’ Fried Eggs with excellent Middle Bacon Rashers’ and lots of crusty bread, two glasses of the very fine fresh Orange juice on the side!

We left our car in the car park and headed off into the town with Joyce in her car, we had a little tour to remind us of the all the local attractions, the various churches are rather special, we ended up in the old part of the town at the “ Restaurante Bar Sardina “ one of Joyce’s favourites, it’s celebrating being in the hands of the same family for a hundred years! 

We sat outside in the shade with a cool drink, it reached by the late afternoon 33 degs, we decided to stay there for our lunch, the old restaurant is air conditioned, Brenda had to start a very nice ‘ Pincha de Gambas, Joyce had the Prawns in Creamed Spinach and I had a very large Salad of  a warm Chicken a la Plancha with a light creamed  ‘Korma Curry’ sauce.

For our main we all had grilled fish, Brenda had the Sea Bass, Joyce the Bream and I had my favourite Sole, sadly the ‘ Frits’ were frozen, all the fish were excellent, a rather nice bottle of the House  ‘Rouda ‘ Blanco helped! We had a good old and long catch up with all our news and at the same time put the World to rights, there was a lively ‘Birthday’ party in the restaurant, meanwhile around the town we saw two large weddings, with Horses & Carriages, and especially at this time of the year, very many Family  ‘Conmunion’ parties, all dressed to kill!

We then went to a local Venta, outside the town, for a cool drink and a breath of fresh air before returning the same bar for our last drink of the day, the Juventus v Real Madrid game was on the TV, when Real Madrid scored their first goal the bar went ‘CRAZY ‘! When Juventus equalised there was not a sound!!  

It was then time to head back to sunny Manilva, as we were leaving there was the most spectacular red sunset over the mountains, when we came back to the village one of neighbours moved his car to let us back into our space in the small square, thanks Diego!

We had left at half-time in the match so when I enquired up at ‘Bar Rojas ‘ it was then 1-4 for Real Madid, so the cars started arriving back along Calle Mar, blowing their horns and waving flags, we decided to stay in the late cool air for a night- cap after a ‘ Helluva’ day, they carried on coming for next hour so we ended up having a late supper of ‘Campo’ Fried Eggs ( from Lumy’s hens!) with Susanna’s excellent fresh ‘Frits’ cooked in Olive Oil! The perfect end to the day!!

See above the picture Blog from yesterday.

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THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM A VERY HOT & SUNNY MANILVA;

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A VERY HOT & SUNNY MANILVA ON SUNDAY.

SUNDAY 4^th / JUNE 2017. 

We had a nice lie in this morning after all the excitement of yesterday, we were up just before the church bells started calling the faithful, after freshening up we had breakfast, fresh Orange Juice, ‘Crispy Smoked Bacon Butties’ & mugs of hot tea. We are taking things for the day, catching up with the chores and then relaxing, doing nothing, because we can!

‘Reina’ is due back with us on Monday morning, for her usual five days, next week, no doubt ‘ Chispa’ will be in & out as normal. Brenda has an appointment  down at the surgery with the nurse, first thing in the morning, for her blood tests etc, I will see our Doctor, Natalia, on Wednesday morning, before her appointments, for a quick check-up/review, on Friday morning I will be out on my travels down in Sabinillas for the weekly shopping. No other plans at the moment, watch this space!

The sun was out early and the sky is blue and there is just a little breeze, making it rather pleasant, it’s due to reach 27 degs this afternoon, next week is getting even better, 29/30 degs – 17/19 during the night, last night there was a spectacular red sunset over the village, see below.

For our supper this evening we are having ‘ Grilled Fillet Steaks ‘ cooked on a very hot griddle plate ‘ Med-Rare ‘ – then left to rest, garnished with seared Aspargus Spears, Button Mushrooms & deep-fried Onion Rings, whole  Green Beans and of course twice-cooked ‘ Chips’ –  ‘Bearnaise’ sauce on the side.

Just a quick update on last night’s result as brilliant Real Madrid defeated Juventus to retain the ‘ Champions League ‘ 1-4 at the ‘Millennium Stadium ‘ in Cardiff. Real were unstoppable, Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice. The village went ‘ MAD ‘ !

See above the Blog & pictures of our travels out & about in a very hot ‘ Alhaurin El Grande with our dear friend Joyce ‘ Baby ‘ yesterday.

PS;  On ‘ Castle Radio FM 89.2 & Online on the ‘ WWW’ at the moment the “ Pete Black Retro Road Show “ request show is back on air ‘Live’ from his studio in ‘Puerto de la Duquesa ‘ He has just played for ‘ Sir ‘ Malcolm & ‘ Lady’ Brenda – “ Shine on Me ‘ by Dan Auerbach, a ‘ Helluva ‘ track!!

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM A VERY HOT & SUNNY MANILVA;

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

FRIDAY 2^nd JUNE 2017    “ NATIONAL FISH AND CHIP DAY “

I was up early this morning to see ‘ Reina’ back with us for the day, she’s being collected this evening by Daniela after she flies in from the ‘UK’- she’s back with us in ‘ Doggy Word Heaven’ for her normal five days from Monday ( Reina not Daniela!) ‘Chispa’ has been in & out all morning.

I then shot out on my travels down through the vine fields, growing more by the day, to Sabinillas, for the weekly shopping, I had a quick toast & tea in a local Bar ( Itzabar ) before the main shop in ‘ Mercadona’ – I then called into the ‘ English Bookshop ‘ for the local English newspapers, next I stopped at the ‘ Stationery Shop’ for some special glue to re-post the large wall map’s of Australia & Europe on the office/studio wall.

I then carried on to the local market at the far end of the promenade for the fresh flowers and wall plants, I then made my way back to ‘Puerto de la Duquesa’ to drop off the lounge curtains at the ‘ Dry Cleaners’ – it turned out that they can be washed, a lot cheaper!

Finally I stopped at the garage to top up the car with petrol, the garage man also checked the tyre pressure, oil & water, ready for our day out with our dear friend Joyce ‘ Baby’ up in ‘ Alhaurin el Grande’ tomorrow.

I then carried up back up the hill to the village to un-load back at the house, all the streets are full with cars, the local Police were out in force, giving out parking tickets and in some cases towing away, the underground car park closure is causing traffic chaos! I was lucky as our space in the small square next to the ‘Mayor’s’ house was not taken, it’s out of sight.

The sun was out early this morning and sky was clear & bright blue, there is no breeze so by the time I as was down in Sabinillas it was already very hot & sunny, the forecast for the weekend is for more of the same, reaching 31/32 degs, next week is also going to be very hot & sunny, hotter during the night, watch this space.

As you can see above it’s ‘ National Fish and Chip Day’ over in the ‘UK’ so for our supper this evening we are having ‘Fillets of Hake in Cruzcampo Batter ‘ with Mushy Peas and twice-cooked ‘ Chips’ –  Homemade ‘Tartar’ sauce on the side with lots of Lemon Wedges.

We are having our ‘ Steak’ night on Sunday, I bought two very nice ‘ Fillet ‘ steaks this morning, next week’s ‘ Summer Menu’s’ will be planned on Monday.

At lunchtime we went up to ' Bar Castillo ' for a nice cool drink & some light 'Tapas' - sat in the hot sunshine as a little breeze made it very pleasant, Brenda had chilled fresh Gambas & I had my favourite ' Tortillitas de Camarones- Shrimp Fritter & Albondigas - Meatballs'


No sight or sound of the ‘ Moffatt’s’ – Tim & Thea, since their return to North Wales, Old Colwyn, we did speak to Tim on the ‘Skype’ video just after but no more sightings since then! We have sent Birthday cards to Ben and then Jo, who was due home for her teaching job in Madrid for a friend’s wedding, watch this space.

Yesterday afternoon we managed to get the main lounge and the house back to nearly normal, it was very hot and by the time we had finished we were ‘ Knackered ‘

After supper we settled down to watch the second episode on ‘BBC TV 2’ of the three-part series ‘ Paula’ – the police are determined to believe that the killing was suicide, Paula alcoholic brother was burned very badly in a fire, the killer is on the run, he can’t cope with the two warring women he lives with, the Detective ends up sleeping with ‘ Paula’ – then in a surprise ending she was attacked by the hooded killer and the Detective was badly beaten up as he tried to arrest him!

NB; No Blog tomorrow, watch out for all the news & pictures, on Sunday, from our travels up in ‘ Alhaurin el Grande’

Thought for the Day; See above.

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THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM A VERY SUNNY MANILVA;

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A VERY HOT & SUNNY MANILVA ON THURSDAY.

THURSDAY 1^st/ JUNE 2017.

To follow;

WEDNESDAY 31st/ MAY 2017.

As you can see we have been off-line for the day as the ‘ Painter/Decorator ‘ Pepe, arrived at 9-00am and commenced to strip out the office/studio, main bedroom & the bathroom, ready to scrape, treat and the re-decorate after all the damp & water damage, he has done a marvellous job, on the ceiling in the bathroom, all the bedroom and the office/studio, he is now downstairs ( Thursday ) doing the same to the main lounge.

At lunchtime I went down to the surgery for my appointment with the nurse for my 'ECG' - I had to wait for nearly an hour as a lady was rushed in, not looking very well, and put on the machine, 

We then kept out of the way, we ended up watching back-to back movies during the afternoon on the ‘ Kodi ‘ film channel “ John Wick, John Wick: Chapter2 “ – neo-noir action thrillers starring Keanu Reeves, as the retired hit-man and Ian McShane as the ‘ Manager’ – if action is what you like then theses two movies are a must watch!

This morning ‘ Reina ‘ was dropped off first thing by Lee, we then had ‘ Crispy Smoked Bacon Butties’ smothered in ‘ HP ‘Sauce with mugs of steaming tea to set us up for the day ahead, we then put the office/ studio and bedroom back together, cleaning & dusting, re-hanging etc, later we will have to sort out the main lounge, Mario,Jnr, is due in the afternoon for his  ‘English’ speaking lesson, we will go in the kitchen out of the way.

For our supper this evening we are having the rest of the ‘ Brochettes of Marinated Pork ‘ – which we had last night with ‘Basmati Rice’ - this time with twice-cooked ‘ Frits’ – my famous ‘ Tomato’ salsa on the side, I made them yesterday lunchtime, diced marinated Pork, slices of Onion, Red & Green Peppers, Smoked Bacon, Shallots & diced Mushrooms, then carefully cooked on a very hot griddle plate, turning them all the time!

The sun was out early, again this morning, the sky is bright blue and cloudless, there is a little breeze making it still very pleasant, overnight the temperatures are hovering on the 20 degs mark, and during the day reaching 26/27degs, over the weekend it’s going hotter, 29/30 degs just in time for our trip up to ‘ Alhaurin el Grande ‘ to see our dear friend Joyce’ Baby on Saturday, next week its getting hotter, watch this space.

Tomorrow morning I’m out on my travels down to Sabinillas for the weekly shopping.

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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