We had planned a tapas tea for Viv’s 60th birthday on the Sunday but our chum Mark, who sailed in last night said he was off to Rugeley on Sunday – to find a vet for his poorly dog, Layla. So we moved the “party” to Saturday – bottles of Cava (added to by Mark, cheers mate!) nicely chilled, we set about making all the food.
Mark, who has been a chef (along with most of everything else it seems) and won a competition for creating a tapas dish “Oriente” – sauteed, chopped mushrooms with a mild curry spice, onions, garlic, lentils, mango chutney & mayonnaise! He also brought a dish of steamed asparagus topped with parmesan – nice chap to know eh?
Boat dressed (inside) with all the flags and the 60 stuff, saved from Steve’s birthday do in Mojacar.
Most of the afternoon was spent cooking & preparing the ickle banquet: simple green salad, Lucia’s Sicilian salad, big tortilla, hummus & dips, Viv’s extremely pokey almagrote (red cheese, loadsa of garlic, chilli and oil all pounded together), ciabbata, papas bravas, cheeses, chorizo, olives – plus Mark’s excellent contributions . . . washed down with Co-op Cava (excellent), then Campo Viejo Reserva Rioja . . and most of it went!!
The birthday girl
Steve’s Mum bought Viv some handsome titanium earrings . . . classy
Viv even had her hair done on Saturday. Then Sunday night – back on the Cava – this one was bought in Mojacar and kept, yes, hard to believe, kept all this time for Viv’s birthday!! Simple Cajun chicken & salad tonight.
We dug out the Scooby-Do candle and musical candle on a shop-bought orange drizzle cake . . . the candle sounded like it was on its last legs
Sad to see Mark go but his dog is a tad unwell. He’s the off up to Manchester, so I doubt we’ll see him again this year. Cheers Mate.
