The Wanderer Returns!

I have just been reading the comments from my last post as well as catching up on a lot of unread emails and feel rather bad. An explanation is sorely needed now. Back in November our computer hard drive broke. Joules decided to fix it himself and promptly ordered the wrong part from the UK. When he realised this he immediately emailed them to change the order. Three days later when the company finally responded it was too late as the part had already been posted. As the postage cost more than the part there was no point in returning it so we now have a spare hard drive at home! By the time Joules tracked down the missing part and fixed the computer I had been through my cold turkey regarding missing blogging, this was quite short as I had my new toy to keep me occupied (a birthday present). Then in the run up to Christmas I was busy with school activities, hockey night out, carol services, Wednesday tennis girls night out, scout trips, book club night out, making Christmas cards, PA night out, making Christmas presents, girlfriends night out, making mincemeat and truffles, searching for Christmas presents, spending two hours queueing so Mollie got what she wanted and looking for the right pair of shoes to go with my new red dress!

The most depressing thing about the hard drive breaking was that I lost all my settings, my blogroll, firefox, addresses and my PA files. There is a huge number of man hours needed to set everything back up and I just haven't had the time and therefore just stayed away. Luckily Joules managed to save most of our photographs which was my main concern but everything else was lost. So guess what my new year resolution will be? To set up a new blogroll and try and find all the information from my missing files.

So if anyone is still reading me...I hope you had a lovely, peaceful Christmas and I look forward to catching up with you all soon.

Happy New Year

Here's wishing you all a very Happy New Year, may it be healthy, fun, prosperous and full of happiness.

P.S. Hope you don't feel like this in the morning!!!

A surprise visitor

There is no ice rink in Ireland so when a temporary ice rink was set up in Smithfields five years ago it was with great excitment we booked our tickets. Mollie was five, Dillon eight and Ben a baby who was left with his Granny. Both Mollie and Dillon were good at rollerblading so found ice skating easy and although it had been 15 years since I'd been it all came back and we had great fun whizzing around the ice. Since then it has become a Christmas tradition to go ice skating at one of the small temporary rinks set up either in Ireland or England and every year I tell my children about the fun I had at the big permanent ice rink in Bristol as a child and promise to bring them one day.

This year I decided was the year to bring them. Ben hasn't ever wanted to ice skate but recently learnt to rollerblade so I thought he might try this year. I found out the times, packed the bag and was about to have a quick lunch before we left when the doorbell went. It was my uncle and his granddaughter come to visit and as I only see him twice a year and he's my only uncle I made the decision to postpone the ice skating. We had a laugh with Uncle David and he's promised to host another summer bbq, last years was great fun. I ended up in a pool with all my clothes on!

Of course Dillon and Mollie haven't forgotten the promise to take them ice skating so we will have to do that another day.

Merry Christmas

I hope Father Christmas was good to you all.

I wish everyone a very merry Christmas.

Eat, drink and be happy.

A Song to Travel To (sung to Jingle Bells tune)

Aeroplane, aeroplane flying all the way,
Oh what fun it is to fly to Bristol airport today.

Oh
Fog and mist, fog and mist I hope you go away
We all have a plane to catch, to see my Mum today.

Swooshing through the sky
In an aerlingus jet plane
Through the clouds we fly
Praying all the way
For no turbulence
A safe landing we want
Oh what fun it is to fly to see our family now.

Oh
Aeroplane, aeroplane flying all the way,
Oh what fun it is to fly to Bristol airport today.

Oh
Fog and mist, fog and mist I hope you go away
We all have a plane to catch, to see my Mum today.

10 Things not to do on December 22nd

1) Agree to take eldest son shopping in town.

2) Agree to take eldest son's two friends into town as well.

3) Bring youngest two children into town.

4) Forget to bring everyone's money.

5) Take youngest son to a shop that sells PlayStation games, then watch him sulk when he can't buy one.

6) Agree to take eldest son (plus others) to Dundrum Shopping centre on way home.

7) Allow daughter to slam her thumb in car door.

8) Watch blood gushing from said thumb as you wait for the first aider.

9) Get stuck in traffic.

10) Have no dinner ready when you get home.

Christmas Party #5

Yes this is my last Christmas party post, I'm exhausted and need to go to bed for a week!

Last night my book club had our Christmas dinner, we went to Rasam in Glasthule which I had heard glowing reports of but had never been. For the starters we had a couple of platters two with seafood and one without. I tried a few things, I found the lamb very hot but the prawn and squid were very good. Unfortunately I can't remember the names of the food I ate and I was on water all night! For my main course I had a monkfish dish, I checked that it was mild before I ordered. By the time it arrived I was starving as we had gone out quite late. It was the most delicious dish, the monkfish was cooked to perfection and just melted in my mouth and the sauce it was served in complemented it perfectly yet was not too spicy for me. This was followed by lots of chat and another late night!

Over the last week I have turned down invitations to two other parties, there's only so much partying a girl can do! This is so not the norm for me. I'm really looking forward to going to my Mum's for Christmas and having a rest!

Christmas Party #3 and #4

Yesterday was a very busy day. The morning saw Ben and Mollie perform in a nativity play. Ben was a shepperd and Mollie read. Joules drove to Donnard to collect Dillon from a hostel weekend away with the scouts. We had a hour to get changed and pack bags before heading to my in-laws for our Christmas celebrations, (we are travelling to the UK for Christmas so this was the only day Joules' family would all be together).

We arrived at Marie's and were greeted with a glass of mulled wine and lots of oohs and ahhs over the Christmas tree. This was followed by more mulled wine then it was lunch time. Marie had followed a new recipe from the Aga cook book, a fruit and chicken curry that could be cooked in one pan and feed over 10 people. It was very good and most people had seconds. This was followed by a trifle.

Then with seven very excited grandchildren it was time for the presents to be given out. All the children were very lucky and given lovely presents but my favourite was the presents my in-laws gave my children. Dillon was given a donkey, Mollie a goat and Ben six chickens. Now if you read my post aftermath of a storm you know my garden is no place for these animals. Luckily these animals are given to families in developing countries, they weren't coming home in my boot. These gifts were purchased through Concern and make a great gift.

At 6pm my friend Kathy collected me and off we went with Sally and Niamh to The Stillorgan Park Hotel for our girls night Christmas party where we were later joined by Ruth and Lisa. The evening started with (more) mulled wine then dinner (average hotel food), wine and vodka and music from Johnnie Be Good. After their set Johnnie Be Good transformed into an Abba lookalike band and performed an Abba set. It was great fun and I knew the words to all the songs and danced for hours. Alas the evening ended very early for Sally and myself. Kathy went to bed (three of us had booked a room to stay the night) and the other girls got a taxi home. Sally and I retired to the residents lounge and were very disappointed to find no one there (except three serving staff). We asked them was there a local nightclub open but being a Sunday night the answer was no. We managed to entertain ourselves with a few more drinks and lots of chat before retiring to bed at 4am. Awoke today at 11.10am feeling (surprisingly) great. I think the copious amounts of water I drank and the lie in helped on that front. Mind you I'll be glad to hit the sack tonight!

Christmas Party #2

Last night I was invited to dinner at Siobhan's house. Every Wednesday 12 of us play tennis and retire to the bar afterwards for a drink and a gossip. Siobhan invited all 12 of us plus two girls who regularly sub for drinks, dinner and fun. The evening started off with a couple of glasses of fizz with nibbles including smoked salmon on brown bread, vegetables and dips and crackers and bread served with the most delicious pate. Mary, who brought the pate, was accosted by most of us wanting the recipe and had to admit that she had bought it in Cavistons, a local deli.

Next we sat down to a delicious dinner of chicken pieces cooked in a spicy sauce, jacket potatoes and steamed vegetables. This was followed by yummy desserts of chocolate roulade or (or in my case and) individual meringues with chocolate. This was all washed down with a never ending supply of wine.

Suddenly the lights went out and Vivienne emerged with a plate holding a snow covered Christmas tree with a sparkler on top. It was beautiful. When the light came on we could see that it was constructed from plain chocolate. It was delicious to break bits off to nibble with our coffee (or tea).

Today I decided to recreate the tree to bring to my parents-in-law tomorrow as we are having our Christmas lunch there because we will be away for Christmas. Vivienne made her tree from melted dark chocolate mixed with nuts and raisins. As there will be lots of children at lunch tomorrow I decided to make some branches with dark chocolate, nuts and raisins and some branches purely from milk chocolate. I don't have any sparklers so stuck a star on top. I melted the chocolate in the microwave, I used 250g of both milk and plain. I stirred in a handful of nuts and a handful of raisins into the dark chocolate. Using a teaspoon I dribbled the chocolate into the branch shapes making lots of different sizes. I allowed the chocolate to set a little then added more chocolate to make the branches thicker. Once the branches had set I melted some more chocolate to 'glue' each branch together. I finished the tree off by sifting some icing sugar over it.
Simple but effective.

A Tale of Neglect

I'm finally starting to feel organised for Christmas. This is the first year ever when I haven't had any wrapped presents to put under the tree on the day we put it up, (that was 12 days ago)! Poor Ben was getting very worried about the lack of presents under the tree, even though they are for family and friends I think he thought it meant no presents for him.

So I bought all the gifts downstairs and started to wrap. I realised Ben was due to be dropped home so I prepared his lunch and continued to wrap. As the children like to write the labels I was busy making mental notes of what I'd wrapped in each parel and laid them out so I would remember. Suddenly I realised Ben should have been dropped home and rang my friend to check all was OK. I got no answer. As I put the phone down Ben's teacher rang to see was I picking Ben up. Did he not go with Sarah I asked, 'why didn't you go with Sarah' teacher asked Ben, 'he's shrugging his shoulders' teacher told me. 'I'm so sorry' I said, 'I'll be there in five minutes', knowing it would be more like ten as I live two miles away from the school.

I ran to the drawer just inside the front door where I always put my keys when I come in.

No keys.

I ran to the breakfast bar where I always put my keys if I don't put them in the drawer.

No keys.

I ran upstairs to my jacket where I must have left my keys as they weren't in the other two places.

No keys.

I checked the bathroom as I had used it just after coming home.

No Keys.

Start to feel a bit worried, trying to remember all I had done since returning home.

Retrace my steps and check drawer, breakfast bar, jacket, bathroom, bedroom, dining table and front door (I have been known to leave the key in the lock once).

No Keys.

Start to feel quite panicky as I wonder whether someone took the keys from the door and was waiting for me to leave the house so they could rob the house and get away in my car.

Slowly and methodically check all the places the keys could possibly be in case I missed them in my anxiety.

No keys.

Was about to ring the school to explain predicament and ask if they could keep Ben and send him home on the school bus with Mollie.

Put my hand down on a calender on top of drawer and felt keys.

Jumped in car now very late and got to school to find Ben nonplussed about my being late and teacher not bothered as I apologised profusely for the mix up over the collection and for taking so long to collect Ben after the phone call. If fact she suggested I could have left him to come home with Mollie.

Friend rang to apologise for forgetting to tell me she couldn't collect him that day as Sarah was going to play with a friend. I was relieved because I thought I'd forgotten that she'd told me she couldn't collect him.

Back to the presents, there is one under the tree, the rest are still waiting for their labels. The question is will I remember what is in each wrapped parcel or will my auntie be getting a baby rattle and the baby some scented bath oil!

Christmas 2005

Today I got my last Christmas present from the year 2005.

Wow, did you read right or did I make a mistake?

You read right!

Last year Sam very kindly gave me a voucher for Avocoa Handweavers. I love this shop and there are always lots of lovely things to tempt me but I decided to buy some clothes. Their clothes are out of my usual budget so when their sale was on I went looking for a bargain but found none. I kept the voucher as it has no use by date with plans to look again in the summer sale. Nothing took my fancy in the summer but I found myself buying some small kitchen utensils the odd time. I had €20 remaining and was delighted to find this set of cake trays on sale for €19.95 today as I had fallen in love with a beautiful glass cake dish in New York in June and really regret not buying it, (I didn't think it would travel well).

The Scent of Christmas

One of my favourite foods at Christmas time is mince pies. I have loved them since I was a child and always felt fortunate that my sister, Sam hated them with a real passion because it meant all the more for me. Every year I make mince pies but have to admit that I'd cheat with ready made pastry and mincemeat from a jar. Since Sam's wonderful birthday present I no longer buy pastry as my Kitchen Aid makes it beautifully. I felt this pastry deserved homemade mincemeat so I got out my trusted Good Housekeeping Cookery Encyclopedia and made mincemeat. I added rum to the ingredients as the recipe had no alcohol and I omitted the almonds. I made nine jars and was longing to taste the mincemeat but you have to leave it to mature for two weeks.

At last on Saturday the two weeks was up. I was a bit disappointed with the first batch, OK I admit it, I made them on Friday and felt the flavour was rather bland. Sundays batch was much better and todays mincemeat smelt delicious as soon as I removed the lid and tasted even better. Next year I know to leave the mincemeat to mature longer, ie make it in early November. Somehow I suspect I'll be making another batch a lot sooner as Dillon seems to have inherited my mince pie obsession.

It's probably a bit late for this year but here's the recipe if you're interested.

1 lb currants
1 lb sultanas
1 lb raisins
1 lb chopped mixed peel
1 lb cooking apples, peeled and finely chopped
1 lb dark, soft, brown sugar
8 oz shredded vegetable suet
1 teasp ground nutmeg
1 teasp ground cinnamon
Grated rind and juice of 2 lemons

I added generous splashes rum (at least 6 tablespoons)

Mix all ingredients well in large bowl.
Cover and leave to stand for 2 days.
Stir well and put into jars.
Allow to mature for at least 2 weeks before using.

Christmas School Tour

Today was Ben's school outing and I was asked by Ben's teacher to help with supervision. Lucky me, a trip to the theatre. We went to The Mill Theatre in Dundrum to see Santa and the Present Pirates. All the children had been warned to be at school nice and early as the buses were coming at 9am. My first job was to ensure that all the children went to the toilet and washed their hands so there would be no emergencies on the bus. Next job was to see if the buses had arrived, 9am saw no sign of them (luckily for the child that arrived late), 9.05am still no sign. 9.10am hurray here's a bus.

Three classes were going on this trip and there was great excitement as the children walked out to the buses, I mean bus. Oh dear, a problem. The bus takes 53 people we have 82. So the bus driver rings the other bus, he's lost then our drivers credit runs out. Half the children get on the bus the rest are left standing in the cold. Bus driver rings back and is guided to the school. Second bus arrives 9.20am.

At 9.30am everyone is on a bus and strapped in so off we go. Our bus diver gets us to Dundrum in 15 minutes and then expertly parks in a tiny place that I thought was too small for a bus. No sign of the other bus. We were the first school into the theatre and were seated right at the front but still no sign of the children who travelled in the other bus (Ben included). Finally they turned up, apparently bus driver number two had dropped them off in the wrong place and they had had to walk through a shopping centre, down escalators and across a plaza to get to the theatre.

The show was great fun and just perfect for the children. The bad pirates stole all of Santa's presents on Christmas Eve. So Santa, Poogle (the elf), Twinkle (the fairy) and Myrtle (the mermaid) travelled to the Caribbean to rescue the presents. Some of the children were afraid of the pirates so I had a little boy on my lap for the show, he was still able to shout very loud and join in with all the fun. All ended well, Santa got his presents back, Poogle was brave and defeated the pirates, Twinkle found her magic, Myrtle and Poogle fell in love and the Pirates became good and helped Santa deliver the presents.

Deck The Halls......

Guess what we did today?