Extra special Birthdays

Happy 60th birthday Mom!! I wish I could have been there with you, I hope you have had an absolutely fabulous day we are all thinking of you more than usual today - Love you!!!

AND... Happy Birthday to my aunt Dorothy - yep my mom's twin sister, another very special person who I think of often. Have a great day!! Love you!!!!

YIPPEE

Nothing like a good excuse to party...my friend Tracy celebrates her _ _ birthday on Sunday so I have decided that a partyjie (party) is in order. In true SA style we shall have a good "ole" braai (bbq) at our place to make sure she has a blast, kaprioskas, margarita and perhaps a strawberry dacquari or two shall be on the menu.
I will have to make my chocolate cake...(well Nigella Lawson's if truth be told) any excuse will do as it is probably THE best chocolate cake EVER...must be my skill in the kitchen...watch this blog for the post on the flopped cake after that comment!!!
Of course this means that my leisurely Saturday morning will now be spen flying around the supermarkets, luckily a pleasant experience first thing in the morning as most of the Irish are still hugging their pillows!!! Roll on Sunday!!!

Illegal aliens

Saturday then....drove from the north of the Netherlands down to the south to Marianne's home town Kerkrade. Convoy did not last but we had given Molly to Mariannes folks, luckily she speaks Dutch...Jess went in their car with Eric and it was agreed that we would meet for lunch. We should have known from past experience that this would not happen. When we called and asked Jess where they were she told us the road she was on...Marianne was confused so we consulted the map and discovered that they were in Germany....sans passports...OOPS. Jess was not as surprising in her reaction this time, she was livid. They ended up arriving an hour and a half after us after truning poor Molly off and getting lost. My daughter was NOT impressed. The good news is that while she was tearing her hair out we were enjoying a traditional lunch, I got to try krokets, something a friend had suggested I taste (nice but rich, not sure I would eat it again) and Marianne ordered Frikkadel Special which I tasted too. Kirstin also decided to try a traditional meal and had pasteijie (spelling?) with chicken and mushrooms covered in cheese sauce. She absolutely loved every mouthful. She tried the frikkadel and kroket too, adventurous palette, made me so proud!!!
On Saturday evening we went to marianne's sister for her birthday and I got to try the apple pie thaat the region is famous for. I also tasted a cake made with rice pudding type filling, will have to find out what it was called and a yoghurt apple cake - all of it was good.
We went back to the hotel put the kids to bed, left Jess and Kirstin in charge for a couple of hours and headed off to see the night life of Kerkrade. Mmmmmmmm, sadly there was none, we had a drink in a very quiet pub, but Marianne knew the owner so it was worth it for her to have a chat and after that we headed towards the market square...it was actually eerily quiet, nobody walking the streets and a handful of people in the pubs, at least we did not have to wait too long for our drinks!!! We managed to stay out until midnight so that we could see Marianne's birthday in and then headed back to the hotel, I think we would have had a better party with more people if we had just stayed in our hotel room with the kids!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESSICA!!!

Wow - 15 years. They have been 15 memorable years with so much joy. Looking back to the days we used to have to try and restrain you to get you into your car seat and then you used to unclip the belt and I would have to pull over and fight all over again...thought I would go mad!!! Now you are a fully grown young woman who makes us very proud, and remarkably so far no teenage madness, few arguments, a slammed door here and there and fighting with your sister, I think so far I am having it very easy....compared to what I put my poor mom through!!!
Thank you for 15 remarkable years of learning and loving, I have not regretted a minute!
Looking forward to the next 15, I am sure there will be some tough times up ahead - you would not be a normal teenager if you didn't contribute to a few grey hairs - and we will learn together through all the ups and downs that may come our way. We love you!!!!!!

ONE SLEEP....

The bags are packed and weighed and all come in UNDER the weight limit which is marvelous - and that is THREE GIRLS!!!
We have even done the online check in so a lot less stress at the airport which is very necessary when travelling with children.
I had a pedicure today, ended up going for the pink AGAIN, I get such a summery feeling when I see that colour on my feet...next time I will do my best to break the mould and choose a different colour. Of course I had to pop in to a couple of friends, luckily Carla lives across the road from the salon which makes it very easy...and Rose lives nearby and took a stroll, well actually I think she ran...up to the coffee shop for half a cappuccino, sadly she could not finish it as she is so in demand she was meeting another friend for lunch...oh and then ANOTHER mate for coffee - go Rose(!!!) and thanks to all of you who called wishing me a good holiday...it is so great to know I will be missed!!!!!
Jess celebrates her 15th birthday tomorrow so we took her out for dinner to a place called Tribecca in Ranelagh - food was superb, I had a salad with avocado, artichoke hearts, feta cheese, peppers and mixed salad leaves - it was so good I did not even have to season it! Kirstin had a pile of nachos which looked worth salivating over, Jess had a burger, which she gave top marks for and Malcolm had a divine angel hair pasta with tomato, chili, garlic and bacon - successful meal out for all! The girls then attacked a chocolate brownie and a Hot Fudge sundae, they shared both desserts as neither could make up their mind. Now I am home enjoying a glass of wine and doing my second last post before I leave...I will have to do ONE more tomorrow! For now I am being pulled away to play a board game...so duty calls.

Birthdays and stuff....

I have not even told you about my birthday…ages ago really, but anyhooo. I worked which was better than sitting at home I guess, and we did not go out for dinner because I had a hockey meeting,and as it was a week night and the girls had school I decided to save it for the weekend. I got a fantastic surprise when Lizette called from SA to wish me, we worked together at http://www.oldparks.co.za/ and became good friends so it was great to here from her.
So back to the hockey meeting...I went and drank lots of wine with the hockey ladies (good thing about birthdays - hubby dropped me off AND picked me up) and Wendy even baked me a DIVINE cake, with rhubarb in the middle of it, made with half flour and half ground almonds it was so very very yum and I was enormously touched by her efforts. I even got to blow out my candles!!!
I only got my present on the Monday after my birthday and we went out to lunch on the Sunday as a birthday treat, perhaps it is a good thing as I got to enjoy my birthday over a few days. The lunch was pretty cool, we went to the Gastro Pub and they do a school boy lunch on a Sunday, roast chicken and vegetables for 4 people, the whole chicken gets put down at your table and carving knife and fork are supplied for your slicing/hacking pleasure. We had roast potatoes, carrots, parsnips, butternut, peas, gravy AND stuffing all served in different dishes, the kind that granny always has on the table. It was well worth the €30 and I am sure we could have filled at least another 2 tummies with the left over’s.
Okay, I am getting to the present….my husband in all his wisdom (and lots of hints, nudges and flat out telling) got me a Garmin for my birthday, and not just any old talk out loud maps, but the PINK one, beautiful metallic pale pink. I have the freedom of the city now and I zip around without a care in the world. I have driven into Dublin, gone to City West, managed to take Kirstin to drama practice at a new destination all without getting the least bit worried about taking the wrong road. Of course taking the wrong road still happens, I mean what is turn left in 150 metres between friends, it really is so much further than I ever imagine but this is no problem for my clever friend, she just recalculates, sends me around some block or other and puts me back on track. Of course with all the road works it can be a tad frustrating when you get to a non-existent traffic circle expecting to take the third exit and find yourself faced with a highway off ramp. This is not a mere around the block correction but at least I know she will get me back on track somehow.
My girls also bought me some more Australian Women’s weekly cook books to add to my collection, I have a lot of replacement requirements after foolishly selling at least half of the evidence of my nasty little habit. They wisely chose healthy food option ones after carefully going through them to make sure that I would not be able to put a plate of something they considered foul and distasteful in front of them at dinnertime.

Moving along

And so we move swiftly along. It was a very busy weekend for me, spent the day shopping and cooking for Malcolm’s birthday dinner and cleaning up after myself. I considered leaving the mess for Sunday because it was Mother’s Day, but that would have been cruel. I do not think Malcolm embraced being 40 – it was a great time for reflection, but that is his make up, hopefully if I stay true to form mine will be one big party, but I guess it is a HUGE milestone and I will have to wait until I get there to see what it is like, and how many people I have befriended, at least I have a few years!
We were also made uncomfortably aware as to how alone we are over here and how out of sight out of mind seems to work. The telephone rang TWICE, the mobile announced a text message 4 or 5 times and that was it, now in SA, it did not stop all day. Bloody hell, it was depressing. At least Martin and Geraldine made a great big song and dance about it, the door bell went at 08h30 and I sleepily stumbled downstairs in my nightie and was greeted by a gold balloon topped baby bottle of Moet and a big blue card with heartfelt bellows of Happy Birthday being directed up the stairs, and they were on their way to Martin’s mums funeral!!!!
The dinner was fab, I made a saffron rice with prawns dish out of one of my favourite chefs, Bill Granger’s books, with a decadent salad of crisp parma ham, vine tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella and lots of olive oil. This was followed by an almond orange cake with vanilla cream.
Sunday was a lazy brunch day at a little coffee shop around the corner and just got lazier until I turned out some blueberry pancakes….for dinner!!! Ah Sundays, gotta love ‘em.

Birthday thoughts and more.

I have just done my October birthday list....why are there so few October babies? Perhaps it has something to do with the depression of January, all that money spent and a long ways to go before the first January pay check??? I wonder....
If any of my friends are not on there, or if I have the date wrong....oops! Please let me know via email or leave a comment on the blog or in the VISITORS book, it is there for a REASON...not just to take up space, I love getting little notes so stop depriving me!!!!! Ahhhhhh much better. And yes I will have some cheese with my wine.