Sleepless in Dublin

I can't sleep. It is 12h30 and I was lying in my bed overheating with thoughts buzzing around in my head. This always seems to be the case after hockey practice on a Wednesday but tonight is the worst. After the fitness regime we got put through I imagined myself collapsing into my bed and passing out in minutes, but no...there I lie thinking...oh I must blog about our new eating program! Mmm odd. Of course now you are dying to know what I am talking about aren't you? Well even if you are not I am going to tell you anyway, in the vain hope that I get tired!
Kirstin has decided she is a vegetarian, after spending a week in August on a dairy farm and milking cows and feeding calves the thought of a juicy steak, or any other meat for that matter, makes her feel rather queasy. So humour her I have and last night I prepared a lovely dish of quinoa with broccoli, corn, spring onions, roasted red and yellow peppers with a tomato pesto stirred through, very delicious, perhaps it is a good thing for the entire family that she has turned her back on meat! Tonight was bruschetta and then a chickpea salad - salad courtesy of the fridge at SuperValu I must confess. Oh and to complicate things she will not eat fish either. This has been going on a little longer, she saw a show on fishing and was horrified to see how many poor dolphins became casualties in the nets and so swore off anything from the sea too. I am thinking vegetable lasagne for tomorrow, recipe anyone?
Okay, I am still not tired, this is not good. Tomorrow night I am meeting a few girlfriends and we are going out, there is a new movie aptly titled Women that we are all going to see and then a glass of wine and a chat should round things off rather nicely, except that at this rate I will not make the 20h20 show never mind the glass of wine afterwards! Having said that Malcolm has now done the kids school lunches a couple of times so perhaps a sleep in is not entirely out of the question!
Oh...one more thing! I am so excited I have figured out how to schedule a blog post (will NOT confess as to how easy it is to do...mmm) for a specific date and have got what I think is a great Friday song all racked up and ready..it will be posted on Friday morning at 07h00 - how AWESOME is that!!! Perhaps working and blogging will work out after all. Ha Ha!!!!

No Blue Monday

Howth from Dublin side

We woke up to yet another cloudy day, but Google weather was predicting no rain. After lolling about at home, setting up Kirstin's blog, skyping my baby sis and visiting all my favourite blogs we ventured out and headed for the Dart station in Monkstown for a day (well afternoon - had wasted the morning on the computer)in Howth. There is a great cliff walk that I have been dying to try and it was a perfect day - not too hot and no rain!!!
We had to drag the kids along - they find the couch and TV more appealing than a day with the folks (sharp intake of breath due to disbelief here please) so we offered them a meal out as a reward for playing mountain goats with us. The walk was absolutely what the doctor ordered, a great bit of exercise with breathtaking scenery and horrible smelling plants, but they were so pretty that we soon got used to the smell.

View from Howth looking towards Bray

I had visions of a fish and chip dinner on the grass next to the harbour but sadly our children had much more formal plans so I had to ignore my salivating every time I saw a white box of Beschoff fish and chips, made worse by the smell of vinegar which made me want it even more! Worst of all the restaurants were all filled to capacity so we had to endure an extra hour on the train before we could get food into our grumbling bellies...the scrambled egg on toast at 11h00 was very well digested by the time we had finished our walk!
The kids had selected REAL Gourmet Burger in Dun Loughrie for their gastronomic pleasure but the wait time was an hour and so I found myself very happily ordering from the Cafe Mao menu - my usual, roasted pumpkin spring rolls and Asian Greens in a soy and oyster sauce. Malcolm ordered his favourite too, Nasi Gooring and after much deliberation the kids settled on Chicken Satay (Kirstin) and Yellow curry (Jess). They rounded it off with the most divine smelling chocolate puddings which I later discovered tasted even better than the smells that had been attacking my nasal passages...but I did not succumb as I was ready to explode having already sampled every one's food and eaten my own! I have not forgotten about my fish and chips on the grass dream though, so perhaps we will take George and Murray there while they are staying with us...weather permitting of course!

Gastranomique...

Our last day...started off grey and overcast, but you guessed it....cleared again for another day of fun and sun. We had decided that we had better experience an authentic French restaurant and that lunch would be a good option so after enjoying the morning pottering around, lying in the sun and all the usual good things we set off at 12h45 for La Marmite in Mansle.

We got French menus but when the proprietor heard that we were English he whipped out some English menus for us and we were all relieved not to have to go through the menu with the French/English dictionary in hand...especially as we had cleverly left it lying on the dining room table at home.

We decided to splash out and go for one of the 3 course options and Malcolm and I both opted for the prawns on a bed of fennel accompanied by a cream sauce to start, I had rack of lamb with thyme for mains (with carrots, green bean bundle, cauliflower and chips/frittes) and Malcolm opted for a fillet with peppercorn sauce (with same accompaniments as me). After lunch we were given a side plate of dressed mixed leaves and a cheese board with a selection of cheeses which was utterly divine, we did not have a lot of cheese and I have never eaten it that way before but I certainly plan on eating it that way again! The cheese board is passed around from table to table which I thought was great and took delight in handing it over to the owner when I saw that one of the other tables had just been served their salad! Then we still got to choose dessert, cremé caramel for Malcolm and mine was....well I know it as floating islands, a soft meringue floating on a kind of cremé anglaise. We drank a bottle of rosé wine with our meal and I pleasant buzz settled on me as I sat day dreaming and marvelling at the blue of the sky and the fabulous surroundings.

The pictures are in sort of black and white because the natural colour on the photograph is not great - all the reflection of the umbrella did not take to well in the pictures...I had to add one of the red umbrellas, blue sky and green trees, unfortunately the picture does not actually do it justice but anyway...

In case you are all wondering...the kids went for the children's menu option...tomato salad to start, hamburger and frittes/chips followed by ice cream - for €7 each!!!

After lunch we headed home and once our food had settled went for a walk and spent the rest of the afternoon chatting and sipping wine.

Dinner was easy - left overs or anything that takes your fancy as we still had a fair bit in the fridge - people arriving after us should be well fed!

Wednesday

Yes, you may get jealous here...woke up to a glorious day AGAIN, getting a little tiring now, but how can I NOT mention it?

We started off with our usual coffee and then headed off in a new direction on our walk. We ended up going along a very quiet road and had the misfortune of an assault on our olfactory senses by the most foul smelling fertilizer ever - well I hope it was fertilizer! The walks are decidedly pleasant under normal circumstances, sunflower, wheat and maize fields abound in the area we were based.

We got home and had some breakfast and then I did my daily ritual of donning my polka dot bikini and heading for the sun lounger with my book for about an hour. Then it was back to the shower and off to Dixieland for lunch and we hoped that the chateau would be open for visitors. The menu at Dixieland was unexciting but we decided that we liked the setting and settled for one of the few options they presented to us and then spent a pleasant 40 minutes waiting for our lunch and enjoying the pleasant surroundings. After lunch we chatted to the waiter and discovered that the chateau was not open to visitors so we walked around the town for a while before heading home again. The afternoon was spent playing badminton, Malcolm and I had a great game and a good bit of exercise too.

Dinner was easy...I found a hand held blender, abused the ratatoiulle from the previous evening, added creme fraiche and served it over tomato, basil and mozzarella tortellini - delicious! Quaffing of more wine followed and a pleasant evening of Rummikub rounded the evening off.

To market to market

We woke up to yet another absolutely awesome day, the sky was an unbelievable blue and not one fluffy cloud in sight. We had our ritual coffee on the patio and then got ready to go to the market in Mansle - our only planned activity of the day.

We purchased some strawberries and raspberries and then with all the wonderful vegetables avaiable I was inspired to make rattatouille (spelling?) and so spent an unbelievable €6.46 on our dinner! If only there were markets like that in Dublin, we would eat like kings. We also walked into a 'boucher' and after surveying the many different cuts of meat decided that the easiest option were the beef kebabs, pointing at them and holding up 4 fingers was definitely the easiest way to go!

After that we did some more exploring and discovered a lovely place to sit and have a coffee and as kirstin was hungry we surveyed the menu and decided that jambon frommage would be a cheese sandwich/roll. What arrived to our surprise was half a baguette with ham, which was delicious but we were fairly sure that frommage is cheese? Turns out that jambon is ham, but I am still at a loss as to the where the frommage was.

Mansle:

We also stopped in at the bolangerie again and got a baguette as Jess was desperate to prepare her favourite meal - bruschetta, this time I had managed to get together all the necessary ingredients after we finally visited a grocery store for the rest of our supplies.

A lazy afternoon followed, I lay in the sun and read my book and Jess fed me her divine bruschetta and we even added an avocado to some of the mix for something a little different - bliss. After that it was a cold shower and then a late afternoon glass of wine and a long chat with Malcolm while the kids tried to catch some fish and played more badminton. I went inside and prepared my planned dinner and a fruit salad and then the kids challenged me to a game of badminton, mom vs kids ensued and I was victorious. Kirstin told me that as a parent i should have let them win, that is something a good mom would do...I told her that a BETTER mom teaches her kids that they cannot win all the time and that losing isn't so bad....What can I say....sometimes I really like to WIN.

Bastille Day

I woke later than usual, Jess had taken it upon herself to close the shutters outside our bedroom window so my usual alarm clock, the light did not stand a chance. Malcolm and I started the day off energetically and went for a walk/run for an hour choosing a different route and discovering another village. I do not think that you can walk in any direction from our cottage for more than 2 km's without stumbling upon a village!
I had bought crepes on our first grocery trip and brought them out for breakfast on Bastille Day, the kids took great delight in eating them with all manner of sweet toppings...what the heck we are on holiday!
After breakfast I took advantage of the loungers on the patio and the sun and grabbed a book and got lazy. The kids went off on the boat again and after being a lizard for a little over an hour I got called up to the badminton court for another round of shuttlecock whacking.
At 13h00 we decided to head for Ruffec, a town 10 km's away to find a spot for lunch and to get a few things we had discovered were necessities...like mosquito spray and water.
We discovered a ghost town upon arrival and drove around marvelling at the quietness of the place. There was only ONE open restaurant and so we decided to drive to a bigger town, Angouléme 30 km's away. Again we were greeted by deathly quiet streets, it was so bizarre. We did manage to find a small convenience store and bought some water and candles, the only things on our list we could get hold of but it was still progress! We also found a boulangerie that was open and bought a boulle and a baguette, the baguette we could not resist ripping pieces off of it as we walked down the eerily quiet streets.
We did not see any open restaurants and so we headed BACK to Ruffec where we knew at least one place had been open, only to discover that he was closing, and we thought the French were ruled by their gastranomic habits. We were also very quickly learning that it is very frustrating not being able to communicate and that French lessons would be a top priority if we ever plan another trip to France - or take along somebody else who CAN speak French...free holiday anyone?
On our way home I remembered reading that there was a restaurant/pub called Dixieland in Verteuil with an English speaking owner so we dicided to make one last effort at actually eating out and headed in that direction.

Wow! There is a magnificent chateau there, which may date as far back as 1080 sitting atop the village its glinting turrets keeping a watchful eye over the town.

When we got to Dixieland they were closing...story of our day...but the friendly Englihman insisted that he would stay open and we could have a drink in the beer garden around the back. When we got to the beer garden at the back we were treated to a view of one of the turrets towering above us.

We had one drink, felt too bad to linger and then headed home for sustenance - another great evening for a bbq so it was salad making for me and lighting a fire for Malcolm while the kids honed their badminton skills.

Sunday

We awoke to a spectacular day in Pitou Charente and headed for the kettle and coffee and then out to the porch and the chairs to soak up the early morning sun and watch the river lazily flowing by...ahhh peace.
After a breakfast of smoked salmon and baguettes - yes odd I know but I had been hankering after salmon...(need the oils to keep the brain functioning) we all climbed aboard the little green boat and went for a ride with Jess at the helm, okay then - the OARS. She used to do rowing in S.A. and has certainly not lost her touch, her confidence and handling of the boat is impressive. Of course I could not resist having a go myself and I was not too bad although my facial expressions apparently made for a good laugh and the kids spent most of my rowing time in stitches. Kirstin was delighted at getting a few candid pictures but I got to them and managed to oblierate them - thank goodness.

Enjoying being rowed around...

At about noon we got back to the cottage and I prepared bruschetta with a twist for lunch. i ahd no basil, olive oil or garlic so I used a jar of pesto with the tomaoes and onions and it actually turned out pretty well.
After lunch Malcolm and I donned our walking shoes and headed off to explore the village of Chenon and beyond. Chenon is literally a few homes, not sure if it even qualifies as a village because there is not one single shop there. The walk was lovely though and we vowed to have many more during our week long stay.
When we got back to the house the kids were playing badminton and they managed to cajole us into joining them for a game, the joys of older kids!!!
When in France do as the Italians do....pasta on the menu for dinner! I made spaghetti bolognaise as it is so easy and always provides left overs for another day. The kids went for another boat ride, took the fishing rods and tried to catch some fish, it was absolutley awesome to see them making the best of their surroundings, besides meal times I do not think they se a foot in the house!

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!!!

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.

Kirstinism...

Today was E's 5th birthday party/tea. D and R invited a whole lot of us over for tea, cake and many savoury nibbles. The kids and I went along, Malcolm had a cricket match so he was enjoying the fab day we are having...AGAIN... C made an astonishingly large chocolate cake fit for a princess and we all sang and wished ate and chatted.
C is getting rather broody and was telling us how she would like 2 boys, I then started mumbling about the fact that I am very happy with my 2 girls but every now and then a little desire for a boy creeps into my thoughts. C, D and R are of course very gung ho about that particular idea, but I explained that this is not going to happen unless I find another father for my child...to which Kirstin pipes up: "Yes I secretly pray every night that Daddy's grows back." Well J almost needed the Heimlich, C was crying D and R were bent double and my stomach muscles ached... I hope they all realised that K was only talking about THE SNIP...

Hamburgers fit for a....family

The weather is fantastic - stunning, unbelievably sunny and blue so we just HAVE to have a hamburger bbq this evening before I go out. I made these about a month ago, had a little sulk when Malcolm was not really inspired to do the fire, in fairness to him when my lip hit the kitchen floor he did say he WOULD if I REALLY wanted him to, but if you know me it was too late by then, damage had been done...
ANYHOOOO... I grilled the hamburgers, they were delicious but just not the same.... *sigh*
Now the weather is marvelous and I am making them again and M already knows that when he gets home he has to light a fire - clear up any misconceptions early on in the day, and things are grand. Now as Jess, the hamburger QUEEN proclaimed my burgers to be the best in Dublin....and I was running against Real gourmet AND Joburger here, I decided to share my
recipe...


500g lean ground beef
1 slice bread crumbed
1 egg beaten
Milk to make a nice sauce (yuk) about 80ml I GUESS
1 - 2 cloves crushed/grated garlic - depends on taste (leave out if you do not like garlic - NO WAY!!!)
a good size handful of basil chopped finely
1 small onion finely chopped.
75 ml freshly grated Parmagiano (spelling...)

Mix the mince with the garlic,basil, onion and parmesan.
Beat the egg, and mix in the bread crumbs and milk and allow to soak.
Add to the rest of the ingredients, shape into patties and allow to rest for at least an hour, well maybe not quite an hour..Feel free to correct me anyone out there...
BBQ over hot coals basting with equal quantities of butter and tomato sauce/ketchup mixed together if you are so inclined..You should be because it makes it even better!!!
For an extra special treat CAREFULLY toast the buns on the bbq before serving...YUM.

* This makes 4 decent patties - nobody will be able to fit in seconds...if they can they are just being greedy...

DONIMATOR...

Back to the awesome weekend then....Friday night. Climbed ino bed with my latest acquisition, This Charming man, and settled down for an enjoyable hour.....okay okay yes it is the latest book by Marian Keyes, but hubby was downstairs watching TV - I thought that this was a much more exciting start to my latest post...

So I here my man's voice booming on the phone -I am not sure he actually knows HOW to talk quietly...I deduce from the conversation that his brother Donovan - Dono - is on his way for a visit...cool. I fall asleep before he comes upstairs and so am not able to interrogate him about said conversation.

Saturday morning first words out of my mouth..."So, when is Dono arriving?"

Malc's tries to tell me that Dono is not popping in for a visit but I explain my UNINTENTIONAL eavesdropping of the night before. Sadly it was meant to be a surprise for me and the girls - I explained to Malcolm that in order to keep a surprise, talking quietly on the phone is a prerequisite...luckily the girls were fast asleep so at least for them it our Monday morning visitor would be a surprise.

On Sunday there was a gathering at Wanderers in Ballsbridge for all Southern African folk in Ireland. We had heard bad reviews about the previous years fiasco but safety in numbers (10 0f us) made us all brave and we decided to give it a try. Mmmmm an hour later after trying to shout above the distorted music, watching an extraordinary amount of lighter fluid being added to the bbq's and very dodgy looking braai packs, 10 people were jumping into cars and heading off to the nearest shop to buy meat and drink - rendezvous - our place, as quick as possible. I got stuck in the kitchen making salads but of course I had all the women folk in the kitchen with me, chatting away while I showed them all what a messy cook I am! To make matters worse I buckled under the pleas for milk tart and had to make that too!!!

The day was glorious, the sun was shining, the temperature was ALMOST at 20....in JHB we would all have been wearing sweaters, here in Dublin we were running around in our summer finest! We wrapped things up at around 23h00, it really had been a great day.

Monday and I was trying to clean up from the night before, hung around in my pj's and waved Malc's off, the kids thought he was off to a cricket match but he was actually going to fetch Don from the airport. I managed to get the house half way respectable, no way I was spending the whole day cleaning, we had a VISITOR and fabulous weather AGAIN!!!

Dono snuck in the back door and surprised the girls, they were absolutely thrilled to see the one and only Uncle Don!

Malcolm did actually have a cricket match so he left us to go and "throw" balls and hopefully hit a few too. Jess had arranged to meet some of her school friends at the fun fair in Leopardstown at 15h00 so we decided to go off to REAL Gourmet Burger in Dun Loaghrie for the best burger in Dublin that we have found so far before dropping Jess off. Sadly it was closed - some air conditioning problem so we headed over to Gastro Pub instead. We spotted a table which was in the sun and then discovered that they do not serve food outside!!! I found this mind boggling, to have to sit inside on such a sunny day when there was such an awesome table begging to be occupied was sacrilege.

After lunch we headed over to the fair and Jess met up with her friends and Don, Kirstin and I decided to attempt throwing balls into milk urns to win a stuffed toy. €6 and 12 balls later we abandoned the stupid milk urns for a darts game. Then we shuffled from the dart board...still empty handed to a horse racing, ball throwing game, once again we left sans toy. After all that the Ferris wheel looked like a bit of fun so we hopped into a swinging basket and off we went. Sadly the views were not as spectacular as I thought they would be, I guess having a fun fair next to the M50 ain't going to be too inspiring but we did get a good look at the racetrack. Kirstin desperately wanted to have a go at a roller coaster type ride so we found a Mickey mouse one and her and I clambered aboard. Donovan wisely stayed on Terra firma, it was a silly looking ride and he had already had his fair share of proper rides in Vegas! The ride was a laugh until we got spun around in a horrible jerky manner and I started feeling a little queasy, Kirstin told me she wanted to throw up and I ordered her not to. She thought that this was my clever way of controlling her heaving stomach...it was really a desperate attempt to avoid getting messy. Being the obedient (ha ha) child that she is she did manage to retain her lunch and I rewarded her by buying a photograph taken of us on the ride. She looks suitably horrified and I am calmly sitting there smiling, in reality I was trying to ensure my skirt did not provide any unnecessary distractions for anyone!

Donovan was determined to win a fluffy toy and so we returned to the milk urns, then we made a turn at the darts. He finally gave up and we all piled into the car and headed for home. We went down to the cricket grounds in Rathmines and watched the last few overs of Malcolms game and then had a drink in the bar. After that it was home to braai/bbq a few steaks and make a salad. we ended up eating at 22h00 - this light until 21h00 throws us a bit sometimes!!!

On tuesday Jess had school, shame Kirstin scored - she was still on her half term break! Jess desperately wanted to miss school but they are doing revision for exams and she ahs missed so much work so we had to deny the poor girl.

In the evening we caught the bus into Dublin and walked around St Stephen's Green, while standing on the bridge a swan came running across the water and Donovan managed to snap a fantastic shot...what a picture to wrap up the end of a LONG post!!!

A girlie day in Dublin

Jessica is doing Romeo and Juliet in English this year and her teacher suggested that the kids make an effort to see the play at the theatre. As Malcolm was not too keen I decided to take the girls while he is in Florida. I called the Abbey and booked the tickets earlier this week for the Saturday matinee, which also happens to be the last day of the production –cutting it a bit fine!!!
We do not go into Dublin often enough so I planned to make it a great day out. We caught the bus, I love sitting upstairs and enjoy the view, luckily we catch the bus at the beginning of the route so the front seats upstairs are always available.
Once in town we popped into the theatre to collect the tickets, I was fairly sure I could find a decent spot to eat nearby too. Sadly this was not the case, there were a couple of pubs but I felt a bit strange going into a pub alone with the kids for lunch – just not the done thing in South Africa, I am sure I will have got over it by the time Jess is old enough to order her first pint!
I often see a place in Temple Bar could Eliza Blues and love the look of it so we decided to walk back to the Southside for lunch. The girls were impressed with the place I had chosen and after a long discussion they decided to share – Jess would order the burger, Kirstin the chicken and bacon wrap, I had been craving a steak and the sirloin on the menu seemed .like a good choice. The waitress was back within 5 minutes, very sorry but there are no burgers today, how the hell can a restaurant have no burgers???? I was annoyed, Jessica absolutely loves burgers, and if there is a burger on the menu you can rest assured that she will order it. She decided on the wrap. Our food arrived and we all tucked in, my medium rare steak was medium well and tasteless, my potatoes were barely cooked and sweet. Usually I send food back, but we had a time limit so I ate my bland meal quietly, the kids did enjoy their wraps and chips so all was not lost. Suffice to say I will not go back, The Shack in Temple Bar serves up very tasty fare and next time I do not know where to go that will be my fall back.
After lunch we speed walked/wobbled back to the theatre, I am fascinated at the pace of my youngest daughter, her legs are shorter than ours and she MOTORS, I had to jog to catch up! The play was okay, it was fairly basic, no new scenes or wardrobe changes really, Romeo wore jeans, a waist coat and a white T shirt and Juliet started in a cute pink dress but ended up in a pair of jeans too. I certainly did not feel cheated, the tickets were cheap so I guess the budget was very low, and Jess absolutely loved it. Kirstin got confused, but still thoroughly enjoyed being there and watching a live performance.
I often walk past a little café called León, there are quite a few of them in Dublin and their windows display an array of wicked desserts and cakes and the opportunity for tea and cake after the theatre with my girls in such a lovely setting could not be passed up.
The place was very busy when we arrived but we got the seat of the house – next to the fire and after a long cold walk it was just perfect! The girls ordered hot chocolates and the assortment of ice cream – I KNOW!!!! I opted for an apple and pear tart topped with cinnamon ice cream and a low fat (LOL – after the tart!!!) latté. We sat there all cosy and warm, our order took an age but it really did not matter, the setting was great and we enjoyed each others company and the ambience of the café. I tasted the kids ice cream – Haagen Dasz is better, I hate to say, but the hot chocolate was divine!
After tea I stopped in at a grocery store I had walked past and wanted to poke around in called Fallon & Byrne…. I had no idea that it was a bit of a tourist attraction. According to the lady behind the cheese counter people pop in just to se the place. They do have some wonderful things, EM would lurve it. I bought some parmigiano reggiano cheese – in fact Kirstin also bought her own little piece to nibble on for her bus trip home and I spotted fluff (melted marshmallow in a jar basically) too so I bought a jar of that for the kids to try. After wondering around checking all their goodies out for about 30 minutes we decided it was time to head home.
The kids loved the bus trip so much that they did not want to get the luas so we stood and waited at the bus stop for 25 minutes! While standing there we started chatting to this tiny lady, she really made me feel like a giant – if I sat and she stood we were about the same height!!! When the bus finally arrived we all got on and I headed upstairs, our new friend did not follow, in fact as we were heading up she had told Jess that she would not come upstairs. And so it was that the kids proceeded to nag me to go back downstairs. I felt a bit idiotic going back down and told the kids that it was a bit weird. They begged and pleaded and eventually Kirstin went to peak downstairs to see if there were seats next to Deena. She came back saying that yes there were, and how cute their new friend looked, so small on the seat of the bus, her bags next to her nearly as tall as she. I told them to go and sit downstairs but they wanted me to go down too. Eventually I caved in and feeling like an utter weirdo made my way back down.
The kids were sitting in the seat behind Deena, I slid in opposite them, she was reading a magazine oblivious to the two giggling girls behind her. They started chatting to me and she put her magazine away and turned to see us (Me feeling utterly stupid) sitting behind her. I told her the kids had decided that they wanted to keep her company. She was very pleased and so we all chatted…until she realised that she had missed her stop!!! Luckily it was only 1 further so she made a mad dash for the door wishing us all a Happy Easter and hope to see you again sometime over her shoulder.
Our stop was next and we wearily and happily walked home after a wonderful day out in Dublin.

1 potato, 2 potato 3 potato BLUE

I was watching the RTE news last week and they had a story on blue potatoes. They have brought some seeds to Ireland from Scotland and have a successful crop which is now availalbe at Superquinn. I bought a pack and baked them the other night. Tasty, very tasty.

These blue beauties (think gentian violet actually) have been sent in to bring back the potato!!! Apparently they are hoping that it will entice the little ones into eating more spuds. Can you think of anything more delightful than a plate of BLUE mash?? Oh yes, that would be blue chips. Funny enough the kids who got to try it thought that they would not like it when they saw blue mashed potato, once they tasted it they did give it the thumbs up...my guess is because it tasted like....potato. Anyway they are supposed to be pretty damn good for you, all that blue/purple colour giving you a nice little injection of those wonderful anti oxidants we are all looking for. This picture may be a bit misleading as the skins really are deep purple in colour.

Not stuffed and trussed but wined and brined

Yes I took a different stance on the old turkey this year, thanks to Nigella, I decided to brine the big bird! I had read the recipe earlier in the year and was rather intrigued but as the day drew closer I was not sure that this was the way to go. I had another look at the recipe on the morning of the 24th but decided that perhaps the safest option would be the traditional version as the ingredient list was extensive and my herb and spice collection sadly depleted after our move here.

Now in true ME style I only decided to go with this method a about 13h00 on 24 December after I had already been to a heaving SuperValu for supplies, without a list of the required ingredients (the brining idea only took hold as I stood in front of the spice selection at said supermarket) A LOT goes into the brine, salt (duh),oranges, mustard seeds, ginger, star anise, allspice berries (?), cinnamon sticks, pepper corns, caraway seeds and more. So of course I did not have at least 50% of the ingredients, including a bucket, I did say it was a BIG bird. I had managed to get some of the spices I needed but when Malcolm went to the shop I gave him the rest of the list, LONG list, he was slightly unamused...especially as did I mention...I had already been to the shops...so when I cut the orange that was called for in the recipe and discovered that it was a grapefruit I pointed out long sufferings mistake and hastily added that, as it was still a citrus fruit I would make do and added it to my brew. I also could not find star anise and nor could Malcolm and he really did try! So I adapted the recipe slightly again and used juniper berries instead of allspice berries (what are they???) just to make things even more interesting.

I happily mixed up my brew merrily adding a box of Maldon salt and 125g table salt as the recipe stated and put my turkey in its bucket feet first. Now Nigella enthuses about how she cannot stop herself from looking in on her lovely vision of a brining turkey, but let me say that this is not the case when using a cream plastic bucket! Of course fridge space is not an option so luckily we are in the Northern hemisphere and the turkey was sent outside and spent the night in the boot of my car, to ensure that the fox did not get our Christmas dinner before us.

I also made egg nog which is still sitting in my fridge as Malcolm has terrible sinus and is avoiding dairy at the moment, wonder whether they would make great snowballs as described in englishmums blog....

Then off I went with my neighbour Geraldine for mince pies and wine at a house 3 doors down, of course not REALLY 3 doors, only Irish 3 doors!!! While there we were all discussing our Christmas day feasts and one of the ladies had heard a huge debate on the radio about the correct cooking time for turkey and how Nigella Lawson had it all wrong in her book. So now my ground was feeling a little shaky underneath me as I was determined not to dry my turkey out, but nor did I want to serve it medium rare! AND I had elected to go the Nigella route....what if she did have it all wrong? Nigella reckoned I needed 2 hours 30 minutes, Marks & Spencer (very sensibly) put the cooking time on the weight label of the turkey which was 3 hours 50 minutes.
On Christmas day I decided to follow the recipe for allspice gravy as per Nigella's suggestion and while reading the recipe and I quote... "1 tablespoon maldon salt/ 1/2tablespoon table salt" Note the slash in that sentence...I paled, VISIBLY and my stomach quietly knotted as I turned back to my brine recipe....yes,
250g Maldon salt/
125g Table salt
The slash of course means either or but I did not see the slash when I made the brine because the ingredients were listed below each other and by now my feet first turkey had been happily marinading in the Dead Sea for 18 hours! I felt nauseous. I also knew that I would just have to carry on regardless and hope that we did not have jerkey turkey...
I also had the cooking times of the turkey to worry about, by now Christmas was not fun anymore and I no longer wanted to play "Nigella, Nigella".
Anyhow....I brought the turkey to room temperature and put it in the oven to roast and consoled myelf with the fact that with all the veggies, (cauliflower cheese, roast parsnips, caramelised cinammon carrots, brussels sprouts butternut and peas) garnish selection (sage and onion stuffing balls, chipolatas and bacon rolls *thanks Marks and Sparks*)and ham nobody would go hungry if the turkey was a disaster.

I went with Nigellas cooking times, I took the turkey out of the oven and did the knife in the thickest part trick and the juices were clear. I was still worried that after the required rest (the turkey was tired after all that time in the oven) we would carve and hit pink and by then all the veggies etc would be ready and I would be manically microwaving turkey...

And now I can say with authority that Nigella is right, Marks and Spencer wrong and my turkey was cooked through, maybe even ever so SLIGHTLY dry. The gravy was fabulous Nigella and the roast potatoes (par boiled 4 minutes add 2 T polenta and shake that pot! Add to very hot oil and roast about 60 minutes) perfection! Sadly I do not even have a picture of my slightly over bronzed bird and PERFECT potatoes to proudly display so you will have to do it all justice in your imaginations!
The wine flowed, the family were together and we stuffed ourselves instead of the turkey. Merry merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Koeksisters and milk tart

Now why is it that these 2 "food groups" were not a HUGE feature in my diet in South Africa and I have already made both? I will admit to indulging in koeksisters more regularly than milk tart but it certainly was not something I imagined myself making so soon! But make them I did and it actually was a request from South African friends so there!
I had invited Derrick and Rose around for homemade pizza on Friday night (this is where the milk tart please came from) and we were invited to another South African family for a braai on Saturday (the koeksisters please)
Now there were a few unforeseen problems with this mammoth task that I had set myself....Firstly I had dedicated the morning to clean the house (got that done!) and the afternoon to bake all manner of things:
Yeast pizza dough
Tomato base for pizzas
Yeast koeksister dough
Syrup for koeksisters
Pastry for milk tart
Filling for milk tart
The kitchen, well it was not very pretty to say the least, I did not have an inch of space on a single counter top....all my own fault mind, because as I am always saying....I am NOT the tidiest cook! So 2 different types of dough rising, a syrup to be made, dough to be plaited... aarrgghh and....I have to go and fetch Malcolm from work ($%^&*) nothing like cutting a chunk of about 70 - 80 minutes out of your day! Luckily I had decided to pre-bake the pizza bases with the tomato sauce and the milk tarts were done. I left Jessica to make the syrup and Kirstin to clean up behind me, and a fine job they both did. I got home again about 10 minutes ahead of the Rowes (luckily I had taken the casual evening approach) to a clean kitchen, boiled cooling syrup and lots more to be done. By now the koeksister dough had more than doubled so I knocked it down again and concentrated on grating cheese and slicing vegetable toppings for the pizzas. By now the dough was rising again, not sure that this is a good thing...so start plaiting for a while. Realise that this will have to wait so cover plaits and get back to pizza...
Well pizzas were fine, koeksisters were now plaited loaves...knock back down, plait again and quickly fry a few for Derrick and Rose. I decided that the rest could be done in the morning, I think yeast dough can go in the fridge overnight???? Bagged the dough made space in my tiny fridge and sat down to relax and watch the rugby. Of course as the dough was still warm it rose in my fridge again, bad bad bad for 2 reasons....do not think it is good for the dough to rise so many times and my fridge is too small. The syrup which I had placed in the fridge in an OPEN container had been knocked over by the rising dough, luckily it was still there, it had just been tipped to an angle, phew! Or so I thought....when I took the spring onions out of the vegetable crisper they were decidedly sticky OOPS! Now I have to clean the bloody fridge and fry 40 koeksisters...not to mention find the uniform shop to buy Kirstin some more shirts (that is for another post) and be at a braai at 14h30, okay so the cleaning of the fridge can wait!
After all that, the koeksisters were a bit tough, I guess the manhandling of the dough and all that rising contributed to this, I had omitted the cream of tartar when making the syrup as I did not have any, and what difference would that make right? But they were not awful and I guess if you have not had koeksisters in a long time they were bloody marvelous! Mmmmm Rose later googled the cream of tartar and it stops the sugar from crystallising, and I thought I had not boiled the syrup enough! I guess I will have to try again when I have a cold rainy afternoon stretched before me with nothing else to do! So Irene I still owe you some decent koeksisters....someday soon I promise.

Yummy yummy yummy I got love in my tummy...

On our first BIG shop at Dunnes supermarket Malcolm joyously discovered that Ben & Jerry's was on special and proceeded to buy all the flavours he could get his little paws on. Of course I did absolutely NOTHING to discourage the addition to my trolley!