UPDATE:  There are a few tickets left for the Amovate Christmas Party to achieve 80 people sitting down for the meal and enjoy the party….either contact Dave Ogborn or Steve Baker or mail info@amovate.com

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We’re sorry to bring this up as you sit sunning yourselves by your pool or on the beach at Monte Clerigo, Arrifana or Armoreira, but at the time of writing Christmas Day is just 10 weeks away.

In fact you can get into the Christmas spirit just seven weeks from now, when Amovate holds its annual Christmas Dinner at the Restaurante Fonte do Vale on Saturday 10^th December, starting at 7pm.

Numbers are limited to just 80 people to ensure everyone is seated comfortably, so it’s imperative that those of you wishing to attend book your tickets early.

The cost of the tickets is €18 for Amovate members and €20 for non-members. And don’t forget that, just like every other day, there is a 10% discount on drinks at the Fonte for members of Amovate on production of their membership card.

The menu is shown below, with options for each course.

And we would please ask you to let us know your choices for each course when buying your tickets, to allow the kitchen staff to prepare the correct number of dishes and help make for an efficient service throughout the evening to the benefit of diners.

Throughout the evening the entertainment will be provided by the beautiful and very talented singer, Ilza Van Zenten, who wowed the guests when she starred at our 2013 Christmas dinner, which you may recall was held in the marquee at the Hotel Vale Da Telha.

Ilza began working as a professional singer in 1999 and has sung in top resorts all over the Algarve, including the Four Seasons, Tivoli Hotels, Vila Vita, Vila Lara, Martinhal, Holiday Inn and many more.

She adapts her style to suit the audience and the occasion, and moves effortlessly between standards, rock, pop, country, soul, blues and show songs.

Ilze’s extensive songlist includes covers of the biggest hits originally recorded by performers like Abba, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones Nena, Leona Lewis, Mariah Carey, Frank Sinatra, Don McLean, Robbie Williams, John Denver, Nat King Cole, Beyoncé, Credence Clearwater Revival, the Gypsy Kings, Christina Aguilera, Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, Queen, Van Morrison, Liza Minelli, Micheal Bublé, Frankie Valli, Ella Fitzgerald, Patsy Cline, Barbra Streisand, Martha and the Vandellas, Elton John, Crystal Gayle, Alicia Keys, The Carpenters, Diana Ross & Lionel Ritchie, Fleetwood Mac, Peggy Lee, Jerry Lee Lewis, Take That, Witney Houston, Gloria Gaynor, John Lennon, Stevie Wonder, Lenny Kravitz, Edith Piaf, Barry White, Roberta Flack, Chris de Burgh, Mary Wells, Celine Dion, Tina Turner, Amy Winehouse, Aretha Franklin, Status Quo, Doris Day, Adele, Cher, Dusty Springfield, Tammy Wynette, The Shirelles, The Supremes, Westlife, James Taylor, Carly Simon and many, many others.

Her repertoire also includes songs from musicals, like Grease, Evita, Phantom Of The Opera, Cats, Cabaret, Jesus Christ Superstar and others. So there is something there for everyone.

Ilza always delivers on a high level of entertainment and the Fonte always delivers on a high level of food. So, what are you waiting for—it is building up to be another wonderful night, so book your tickets now.

You can reserve yours by contacting…. Amovate Committee Members, Dave Ogborn, Steve Scott, Ian Bedford & Steve Baker or emailing info@amovate.com 

The Christmas Party menu is as follows:

ON ARRIVAL

A welcome drink of typical Portuguese champagne

STARTER

Prawn Cocktail or Melon and Ham

MAIN COURSE

Roast Turkey with stuffing or Roast Pork with apple sauce

(Both with roast potatoes, two types of vegetables and gravy)

DESSERT

Trifle or Christmas Pudding and Cream.

Oktoberfest On Vale Da Telha

By Matt D’Arcy

It may only be an imitation of the real thing—but Vale Da Telha’s own Oktoberfest will be anything but a pale imitation!

As you all know, Oktoberfest is the world’s largest Volksfest (beer festival).

Held annually in Munich, Bavaria, Germany, it is a 16- to 18-day folk festival running from mid or late September to the first weekend in October, with more than 6 million people from around the world attending the event every year.

We have to admit the Amovate Oktoberfest at the Restaurante Fonte do Vale on the Pines Roundabout will be on a slightly smaller scale!

First of all it will take place on only one night, and, unfortunately, it will be limited to just 100 people because of the pressures on space.

But we think those 100 lucky revellers will be in for a great time, feasting, singing, dancing—and, of course, drinking—just as we all did the last time we had a similar Bavarian-themed evening at the Fonte, back on March 15^th 2009.

We have posted some pictures here to remind you of the amazing evening hosted by those Master Chefs Hans and Angela Merth along with Melanie and Steve Baker.

And once more, as a guarantee of a wonderful evening, these two great couples are again joining with Amovate to host another fantastic Bavarian-style night.

Hans, a first-class dental technician, is also a first class cook with a professional kitchen to match. He told me once that if reincarnation was a fact, he would want to come back as a chef, and his mastery of German cooking in particular (especially his preparation of meat dishes) would qualify him to do that at the highest level.

Angela, too, is a wonderful cook, working with Hans to provide all the trimmings and you can see the results of their culinary arts in the photographs. Those of us lucky enough to have been there can still recall the taste of that delightful cooking.

And, of course, Melanie really does live up to her name of Baker, and she will be complementing the Merths with her own culinary skills.

The 3-course Bavarian meal Hans, Angela and Melanie are preparing for the Amovate Oktoberfest will comprise:

• Brown bread / White sausage,           
• Pretzel,
• Meat Loaf
• Pork in Sauce,
• Sauerkraut,
• Mashed potato with nutmeg,
• Apple Strudel

And this is all for princely sum of €10 per ticket!

We are also expecting to be able to provide SB German beer for you to buy and enjoy, and, to enhance the Bavarian mood of the evening, sound and light expert Steve will be entertaining us via his sophisticated audiovisual equipment with traditional Bavarian music.

And there will then be a 70s and 80s disco afterwards.

Just to confirm:

Amovate Oktoberfest to take place at the Restaurante Fonte do Vale on Saturday October 15^th from 7pm.

Tickets are €10 each, including the 3-course meal, and can be obtained from Ian Bedford, Steve Scott and David Ogborn from the Amovate committee and also from the Restaurante Fonte do Vale itself.

Prost! und Zum Wohl!