A VERT HOT & SUNNY MANILVA ON SUNDAY.

SUNDAY 13^th/ MAY 2018.

We had a nice lie in this morning before having a very quiet time, slowly getting ready to go out for lunch, for our breakfast, to set us up for the day we had ‘ Toasted English Pork Sausage Butties’ – open on Brown, as usual for Brenda, smothered in ‘ HP ‘ Sauce, with mugs of strong tea.

We then made our way down to the ‘Council’ underground car-park and collected the car to go across to outside Puerto Banus to meet up with Joyce ‘Baby’ at 1-30 pm on the roundabout by the ‘La Sala Restaurant’  -as she was coming down from Alhaurin el Grande in her friends borrowed car.

By lunchtime it was already very hot & sunny, the sky was bright blue and there was just a very light breeze, perfect for the time of the year, by this afternoon it was into the mid 20s, the hottest day of the year, so far, next week is looking warm & sunny, hovering on the 21/22 degs+ mark, except on Thursday when it’s forecast to be cloudy, cooler & wet?! The rest of the week and over next weekend is then back to normal, with sunshine and warmer weather, watch this space.

As we set off along the coast road past Estepona, the ‘Mediterranean’ was sparkling in the lunchtime sunshine, we waited for 15 minutes before calling Joyce on Brenda’s mobile, mine was not working, she is normally not late, she had left a message/call on my mobile, at around 1-00 pm, to say that she had broken down, up in the hills behind Marbella and was waiting for her friends to come and help her!!  So sadly she could not make our ‘ Sunday Roast Lunch’ to have a good chat and catch up, we are ringing her later to see if we can meet up again before she goes back to Chester, watch this space.

We then came back along the coast road to a very warm & sunny ‘Castillo de la Duquesa’ to ‘La Taberan 2 ‘ where Carlos greeted us warmly and brought our cool drinks along as we selected from the menu, Brenda had the ‘ Cod Fishcake’ to start and I had the ‘ Salmon Surprise ‘ salad, Brenda ordered the ‘Roast Lamb’ and I had the ‘Roast Beef’ with a selection of vegetables, as you can see below;

For dessert I had the Homemade ( lady owners)  “ Bakewell Tart “ – a Shortcrust pastry shell between layers of Raspberry Jam, Frangipane and a topping of Flaked Almond, served with Whipped Cream, Fresh Rasperries & Vanilla Ice Cream – it’s delicious, very tempting, so much so that I started to eat it before I took a picture, sorry!

We then headed back up to the hills for our first ‘ Siesta ‘ of this year, this evening we are channel hopping to find something to watch.

Over the past day or so we have been in touch with the families over in Australia & Canada’ on Facebook etc, as it’s their ‘Mother’s Day ‘ today, it was the ‘Spanish’ one last Sunday and the ‘English’ one earlier in March! So to all the ‘ Mother’s’ –  wherever you are - “ Happy Mother’s Day “ !! 

NB; Tomorrow’s ‘Blog’ will also be posted later as we are out in the morning, going across to ‘Fuengirola’ to meet up with our friend Julie and her family, watch this space.

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM SUNNY MANILVA;

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A NOW WARM & SUNNY MANILVA ON ' ROCK N'ROLL ' SATURDAY ! " NURSES DAY "

SATURDAY 12^th/ MAY 2018.

We managed a little lie in this morning before it was time to take ‘ Chico’ out for his first walk of the day, he slept all night in his bed, he was picked up by his Dad, Lee, just after we returned, we will miss him and are looking forward to next time he is with us here in ‘ Doggy World Heaven’ ‘ Chispa’ has been in this morning but has missed all friends, no doubt she will come back later to see us! Little princess ‘ Reina’ is back next week on Monday/Wednesday, otherwise at the moment we are ‘ doggy-free’ for the week!  

We then had our breakfast, Brenda produced her famous ‘ Campo Poached Eggs on Toast’ – Boiled for her with toast fingers, with mugs of strong tea.

See below;  " PERFECT "

  

We are taking things easy today as we are going out, later this evening, after supper,to the new ‘Bar Ebano – Bri’s Bar ’ at the bottom of the village by the roundabout, to the ‘live gig’ featuring “ Billy Boy Miskimmin’s “ on his ‘ Lee Osker’ Harmonica, with a 5 piece band, we will no doubt be the ‘ Oldest Rockers’ in town, dancing the night away!

See below;

In the past he’s played, in the latter years, with ‘ The Yardbirds’( Keith Relf ) and ‘ None Below Zero ‘ ( Mark Feltham) – both great harmonica players, I have played both bands, in the past, on my live Radio Show on ‘ Castle Radio FM 89.2’

I was first introduced to Harmonica players by seeing ‘ Sonny Boy Williamson’ ( Mighty Long Time ) as he toured the ‘UK’ back in the early 60s, my favourite ‘British’ Harmonica player is Paul Jones, ex ‘ Manfred Mann’ and then with ‘The Blues Band ‘ – the Album ‘ The Official Blues Band Bootleg Album’ was played to death! ( Flat Foot Sam)  A couple of years ago he played with ‘Joe Bonamassa’ at the Royal Albert Hall.( Your Funeral My Trial) – check out these tracks and more!!

This morning, as we were out, the sun was attempting to break through, as usual, it’s a little grey & overcast, with a light breeze, but by lunchtime it will be warm & sunny, hovering on the 24 degs+ mark, tomorrow it’s going to be the same and then at the start of next week we are in for a settled week of dry, sunny weather, in the low 20s, watch this space.

We are having an early supper this evening, ‘ Minute Steak’ using Entrecotes, trimmed & flattened, seasoned and smeared in ‘ Dijon’ Mustard, cooked on a very hot griddle-plate ‘ Rare’ – garnished with just Button Mushrooms, and of course twice-cooked ‘ Frits’

On the sports front this weekend; over in the ‘Premier League ‘ on Sunday it’s the last day of the season as Liverpool welcome Brighton and Everton travel down the ‘ M6/1’ to play West Ham, meanwhile Manchester City have the long journey down to play Southampton. Over here in ‘ La Liga’ Real Madrid welcome Celta Vigo and Barcelona travel to Levante on Sunday, back in Barcelona it’s the ‘ Spanish Grand Prix’ on Sunday. The ‘ Giro d’Italia’ reaches Stage 8, over 209 kms to a mountain top finish.

Last night we settled down to watch the first episode of the 4^th series of “ The Bridge “ – as the ‘ Nordic’ noir-thriller returned, things are still rotten in Denmark and pretty bleak in Sweden ( with sub-titles!) The main lady detective is in prison, wrongly accused of killing her mother! It all started with the most graphically brutal murder of a lady official, by stoning her to death under the bridge! An investigating journalist’s twin-brother disappeared, after trying to trace a homosexual who is mixed up in the case, the main detective is still dreaming of his missing children and at the end, as the lady detective was being let out of prison she was stabbed with a knife and left in a pool of blood?! Watch this space.

NB; Tomorrow 'Blog' will be posted later after we return from our ' Sunday Roast Lunch ' with our dear friend Joyce ' Baby' ! 

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM A VERY SUNNY MANILVA;

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

FRIDAY 11^th/ MAY 2018.

I was up early this morning and after a quick freshen-up I shot off on my travels down to Sabinillas for the weekly shopping, through the ever growing vine fields, lots of green bushes on the old black ground vines. Meanwhile back at the house, after a little lie in, Brenda took ‘ Chico’ for his first walk of the day, he slept all night, on his own, in his bed, he’s already missing his mate ‘ Charlie’ as we are! He’ being collected in the morning, we then have a ‘doggy-free’ weekend, next week little princess ‘ Reina’ is back with us on Monday/Wednesday.

After a toast & tea in ‘itZabar’ I did our main shop in ‘ Mercadona’ – I then walked along to the ‘ English Bookshop’ for the local newspapers and a birthday card, before going along to the local market, at the far end of the promenade for the fresh flowers & wall plants, on the way back I called into ‘ Super Sol’ for the English essentials, before shooting back up the hill to the house to un-load.

Yesterday morning over at the Pier Head in Liverpool, on a ' grey' day the ' Viking Sun' was berthed.

This morning has started a lot brighter, the sun was out early and the clouds have cleared, there is just a very light breeze so it’s rather pleasant, to be out & about, in the warm sunshine, by lunchtime it’s forecast to rise to 22 degs+ - tomorrow getting warmer, as well as on Sunday, when we are out & about on the ‘ Costa Del Sol’  - next week is now forecast to be hot & sunny, with none of the ‘ wet-stuff’ – hovering, at times on the 24/25 degs+ mark, overnight 15/16 degs! Watch this space.


Sabinillas beach this afternoon!

Yesterday, early evening, when we were out for a walk with ‘ Chico’ - we for a change walked along the ‘ El Paseo de la Pedreta’ – the old, lower circular/by-pass road, by the side of the village, overlooking the valley and the mountains including the ‘ Sierra Bermeja’ The Council have just improved the pavement and built four new concrete/green wood seats overlooking the view, they have been painted white and a local artist, Jose Tirado, has decorated the back of them with native motifs of grapes & vines etc, see below!

For our supper this evening we are having ‘Pan-Seared Fillets of Hake’ lightly dusted in seasoned flour, then cooked ‘ A La Meuniere’ style ( Brown Butter, chopped Parsley & Lemon Juice) with Garden Peas & Broccoli Florets and Parsley New Potatoes, on Saturday evening we are having ‘ Minute Steak’ using Entrecotes, trimmed & flattened, seasoned and smeared with ‘Dijon’ Mustard, cooked on a very hot griddle-plate ‘Rare’ – garnished with Seared Button Mushrooms & Asparagus Spears and of course twice-cooked ‘ Frits’

All before we hit the new ‘ Hot- Spot’- “ Bar Ebano – Bri’s Bar’ to catch ‘ Billy Boy Miskimmins’ on his ‘ Lee Osker’ Harmonica, with his five-piece band, as “ Manilva Rocks “ !

On Sunday its’ the ‘  Head Chef & Staff ‘ day off, we are meeting our dear friend Joyce ‘ Baby’ and going for our ‘ Roast Lunch’ in ‘ Castillo de la Duquesa’ to ‘La Taberna 2 ‘ – where Carlos will look after us.

At lunchtime as we went for a walk with the dog, the 'Mobile Fishmonger' was outside, so I bought some small ' Dab Soles & Baby Shrimps' ( for Tortallitas Camerones ) - both fresh & local from this morning's fishing, for another day, he also gave us ' on the house' a small bag of fresh local 'Caracoles' - we ended up at the small 'Dress Shop' at the top of ' Calle Iglesia' where Brenda had spotted something yesterday when she was out, she now has a new top & slacks (Red!) for Sunday!

We then made our way back along ' Calle Mar' as the 'Contractors' workmen were outside the Town Hall and at the top of our street in front of  'Pilars' -our neighbours house! 


See below; 

This afternoon we will be watching/channel hopping the ‘Spanish Grand Prix’ practise from Barcelona, the ‘Flat Horse Racing’ from Chester and the next stage of the ‘ Giro d’Italia’ as it reaches Italy!

After supper this evening we are going to settle down and watch, the new series of “ The Bridge “ – the ‘Scandinavian ‘ crime drama, we have not seen the previous series so we are going to read-up on it so as we are able to follow the story line/plot! Watch this space.

Thoughts for the Day;  See above.

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