bigfoodiemama

Where do I start.Truthfully preparations for last night started on Wednesday with exfoliation an shaving, followed by tanning on Thursday. Not just standard tanning, I actually put fake tan over every inch of my legs as opposed to the mid thigh piebald pony look I usually go for !The boys were dropped off by me to BMM's house at 6.15 and I arrived home to GASP dressing so I duly took to the shower. I got very excited when I realised that GASP was sitting on the edge of our bed looking into the ensuite at the good wife in the shower so I acted like I was in the Timotei ad. Unfortunately when I turned off the loud power shower, I realised that my husband of 7 years was actually listening to the sports news on our bedside radio !I clothed myself in a pretty summer dress with the required amount of tanned cleavage ( and a bit more!)At 7.15 I poured a glass of Sauvignon Blanc and sat down beside my husband as he watched....yes you guessed it...The A Team !Marital bliss. Off to Newly Sin

So, GASP has very kindly decided to go to Newly Singles for dinner on Friday night. It is getting even more exciting as I met her fir a picnic today and she was able to tell me that the Porn Star is coming ( excuse the pun !) as is the Baking Queen and the Teacher....the makings of an excellent night indeed. Now the porn star is a gentleman (?) friend of the Financial Advisors and has previously shown up for dinner wearing a t-shirt with this written on it "Amateur gynaecologist at your cervix". He also greeted the Ban Garda for the frist time with the words " you have magnifient breasts". He is therefore not backward at coming forward ( just can't help it !).He was at the Sage and Stone Food and Craft Fair on Saturday selling Art....non erotic Art !He was previously a member of the army, which I for one always found hard to believe as he wouldn't know a covert operation if it hit him on the crotch. He is now an art dealer/gallery owner and has some really l

Afternoon Tea at the Berkley in London. The scene… plush velvet sofas, subdued lighting, young, camp-as-a-row-of-tents waiters in white jackets, hostesses in Audrey Hepburn dresses, what seemed like half of Bahrain and upper class Americans as the other guests. The attendees… four 30-40 something female friends (plus two infants that two of them had to breastfeed on occasion, but we'll skim over that bit). The champagne… Laurent Perrier or Billecart-Salmon Rosé The teas… English Breakfast, Early Grey, Ceylon, Lapsang Souchong, Organic Assam, Vanila, Pear Caramel, White Peony, Camomile, Fresh Mint, Berkeley Blend, Wild Blossom and Berries, Chocolate Mint Truffle, African Amber. The savouries… Tiny mouthwatering explosions of flavour… Caviar and Cream Cheese, Duck in sesame seeds, crushed pea and crab cone, watermelon, chili and garlic soup, wild mushroom, smoked salmon, cucumber and cream cheese, beef and egg sandwiches (not all in one!). And… the pièce de la résistance… the cakes:

It's a well known fact that if you want your husband to do something, under no circumstances do you let him know that it is what you actually want to do.This weekend is our 7th wedding anniversary and BMM has very kindly offered to have the boys overnight. Now I usually drop heavily weighted hints in GASP's ear some weeks in advance of this event....usually the name of the restaurant I am hoping ( planning ) he will book. This year I decided to go with what GASP would like so suggested last week that we go to see "The A Team" movie....yes I know ! You see GASP, is a major fan of the original series, so I decided to be magnanimous for a change and go with what he would like...it kinda felt good. I even looked up the times of the film in the local paper. Now before I go any further, GASP had failed to commit to any plan....he never does. Today I received a text advising me that Newly Single was holding a dinner party in hers Friday night, for Preggers and her husband

I had a lengthy conversation about ice cream with someone at work today. I asked them ( in advance of my inflicting some pain on them) to imagine their favourite scene, in order that they would relax. She imagined she was on the beach in Bettystown on a sun bed with a huge ice cream cone. I was surprised admitting I would have had a glass of Sauvignon Blanc in my hand. She informed me that she rarly drank but her weakness in life was always ice cream. She particularly loved the old tubs of ice cream you used to get in the cinema, with the green bit in the bottom, you had to try to get with the supplied wooden paddle-shaped spoon. She reminisced about a local newsagent who, for a while, had the green syrup to pour over cones.Now although this woman is about 75, she admitted to loving "Ben and Jerry's " which surprised me, I opting for Carte D'Or and fantasising about trying the new Rum and Raisin, my favourite flavour. As a child and teenager I was loyal to the "B

The weather is responsible for an awful lot. Thanks to the dry hot spell in June followed by the recent torrential downpours and humidity, our vegetable garden has taken off. This evening the eldest son wanted to stroll outside to have a look at the veg, so off we went barefoot and found gorgeous fattening pods, full of petite delicious green peas. Every time I turned around eldest son had knicked another one, but I must admit I sampled a few ,myself, Dad tried some and gave our two toothed youngest son one..it took him a while but he managed to mush it up with a green grin. Even more exciting was when I pulled back the vast expanse of pumpkin plant to find our first baby pumpkin...ok so it is the size of a cherry tomato but it's a start. Eldest son advised me that "the chinese" cut eyes and mouths in theirs and put candles in and what were we going to do ? I came up with pumpkin pie, but all he wanted to know was what colour it would be when it was finished. Once I said

Ok,so foodiemama or not there are days when you just want a McDonalds...yes, I've said it !I have been a fan of the big yellow M ever since it opened it's first store in Dublin and BMM and Fat Freddie took us for a treat.The first thing I ever ordered was a Fillet'O'Fish but mine was actually raw in the middle so had to be sent back...the only time I have ever sent anything back in McD's. From then on I ate the Big Mac meal religiously until the Mc Chicken Sandwich arrived and I quickly converted.When pregnant with eldest son I craved the strawberyy milkshake...well I declared it a craving but truthfully I just loved them. On both occasions I was in hopsital after childbirth GASP brought me in Mc'D's and I loved him for it !Whereever we are in the world we always visit Mc Donalds once, Paris, Barcelona,New York ( where there was a guy playing a grand piano!)Eldest son is a huge fan of the chicken mc nugget Happy Meal and today was no exception. After some sh

The picture accompanying this blog looks for all the world like a harmless bathroom scales but it is in fact the scariest new technological development to hit the planet. This bathroom scales has WiFi and as soon as you stand on it it tweets your weight to the world ! Yes it is connected automatically to Twitter, meaning to humiliate you into weight loss. Now I have stood in the queue at Weightwatchers,appreciating the distance between the top of the line and the scales, and the fact that non one needs to know your weight except you. Imagine stepping forward to the Twitter scales, knowing that instantaneously the whole world will know your weight....hell on Earth !Next thing you know your fridge door will be connected to the world wide web and will let everyone know if you opened it and what you took out, your bin will webcast its contents, your drinks cabinet will be connected to Skype !!!!!As a blogger I am aware that I share information readily but even I have secrets which will nev

Please cast your eye over the GAA jerseys above. Today in Croke Park aka GAA HQ, these, in their thousands, were the fashion items of the day.These jerseys are shiny and meant for sport so one would think that those choosing to wear them would consider this in advance of buying one....but no !Croke park was full of pudgy men and women in football jerseys....appalling !The shiny material just clings to spare tyres and adds inches to already wide hips. Do these people look in the mirror before leaving the house ? Those of us who are aware of our size would not be caught dead in a GAA jersey. Consider the fact that the camera adds ten pounds, and then consider just how large you would look on the big screen in front of 45,000 fans and you are in my headspace ! Fashion aside, today Meath played Louth in the Leinster ( provincial) final. Having waited 50 years for this opportunity Louth were ( against all predictions) the better team on the day but ,as can be the case in a game where one ma

It has come to my attention that I have woken on a few occasions recently with a pain in my face. On careful reflection and repeated analysis I have realised that this correlates directly with when I have consumed white wine...sauvignon blanc, pinot grigio, riesling et al. Now before you jump to conclusions, this is not a hangover as the pain is actually in my face, not my head and this occurance can be after just one glass. As all true scientists do.....I googled it, and realised that it is a known fact that white wine in particular can cause sinusitis ie. the pain in the face....I AM ALLERGIC TO WHITE WINE ! Disaster of epic proportions. The straw which broke the camels back. The point of no return. My favourite drink on Earth is white wine. I think about it, visualise it, imagine it, talk about it, buy it, open it and drink it. My favourite fantasy is a single drop of condensation sliding down the side of a large cold glass of Sauvignon Blanc. What is a 40 year old wino to do ? Do I

The Food Of Love What would you like for supper, Some steak, with chips and peas, Maybe, a nice brewed cuppa, Or me, with lips that please. You could have something spicy, Like a curry or sweet and sour, But these can be a bit spicy And not good, at this late hour. Perhaps a glass of beer, or shandy, Or a brandy to fill the gap, But, of course, that might make you randy, Hey! Have that as your nightcap! There's me, I'm sweet and slender, And tender like the steak, And if you put me in a blender, A fantastic meal, I'd make. There's food enough for your pleasure, So don't say you aren't well fed, When you start to realise I'm a treasure, You could have 'hot crumpet' in your bed! Ernestine Northover

In the last few days I have been exposed....in the purely culinary sense....to two great Irish favourites.The first I had in BMM's house for tea on Thursday, boiled bacon, cabbage, spuds and parsley sauce. It was fantastic. The cabbage was from our garden, which added to the excitement. This favourite of our family was always lunch on Saturdays and is demanded in advance of their return home by the Fit One and the Ambassadrice. I think the Fit One had it as her "last supper", the night before she got married. The parsley sauce is optional but adds luxury and I particularly like it on top of the new Queeens potatoes with a knob of butter...unctuous !In our house we used to "make a boat" out of this dinner, which meant chopping everything up, mashing it all together and shaping it into a boat shape before devouring it with relish.( eccentric but not mad !)On Thursday night I got to share the dinner not only with BMM but also YWML. This particular "handle"

So I am driving to worl, glance down and notice what I think is a 6 inch long blonde hair on my black trouser thigh. I pick it up thinking how blonde it is and then it happens....I realise it's GREY !I was somewhat paralysed by this realisation and it is a miracle I did not crash the car. I could not just ignore it or throw it away so I allowed it to rest back on my trouser leg as I continued my journey to work, glancing down every now and again to check that the colour hadn't changed....it didn't. As I parked, I paused for a moment before I threw it out onto the car park tarmac, just before changing the angle of the rear view mirror so that I could assess the rest of my head....well the bits I could see having contorted myself like I was having some kind of fit in the car !I realised that I would have to go to work even though I was in the midst of post traumatic stress. I mentioned to my colleagues my distressing find, only to find that non one had any sympathy, as they h