bigfoodiemama

So there we were, myself, the FA and the blonde, celebrating the blonde's birthday with a Food and Wine Readers evening in One Pico. The Tattinger Brut Reserve reception was at 6.45 ( do bear in mind we had polished off a bottle of Bollinger in our hotel room beforehand !)We were "on form" and really looking forward to our 7 course meal in the Dublin Restaurant of the Year. We were seated next to the couple who have attended the most F+W evenings and things started off well with an Amuse Bouche of Saute Langoustine, sorrel risotto, summer truffle and peas.....tiny but divine ! The blonde agreed but we both agreed that a big bowl of it would have been great. By this stage the foodie beside the FA was advertising her two single sons and we were offering her the FA on a plate. The blonde was listening to the first of many stories from her husband whose nationality I will not divulge (but he had thrown a towel over his seat earlier in the day !)The starter of Fois Gras parfai

So, we're down in the Ferrycarrig Friday evening with the Mad One's son no. 1 who has his arm in plaster. He has already missed soccer camp and his twin sister has been to Paris so the plan is that he gets to swim with an inflatable splint over his plaster to keep it dry. The Mad One forgot to get it, so on Saturday morning the poor thing had to keep his arm above his head in the kids pool while his siblings splashed away ( but not near him !)The Mad One in a fit of love said she would drive into Wexford that afternoon to Mc Cauleys chemist ( as recommended by reception) to get him the splint. She also needed wipes and Neurofen and Fat Freddie asked for shaving foam. I suggested she thought of the word SWAN, Shaving foam, Wipes, Arm, Neurofen. This was a good idea but the Mad One in her pregnant state was not confident of remembering so she wrote them down on a piece of paper and set off to the chemist "just on the edge of town". Two hours later she returned, presente

OK so if you hate kids in hotels, have no kids and never planning on having kids, go back to Google ! One Grandfather, two sisters and six kids under 8...I know what you're thinking but it was bliss and I am totally chilled after two day at the Ferrycarrig Hotel. I'ver heard about it, read about it and now I have experienced the hotel which keeps winning "Family Hotel of the Year".There are lots of very good reasons. Their kids club is extraordinary, involving trips out, movie nights, country and western night, pyjama parties. It is open 10-1 and 4 - 11 every day for over fours and we had a job removing the children, even the Mad One's 8 year old twin girl who informed me the she is "more mature" since she visited the Ambassadrice in Paris earlier in the week !Fat Freddie, the Mad One and I spent most of the weeekend sat out on the deck looking at the water with just the two babies for company, who honoured us with snoozes. We swam, ate, played, swam, at

Boy am I glad to have reached 6.50 this Sunday evening. Finally I feel well, not fiully well of course, post hangover well, where you are still wrecked but the pain is gone. Last night saw the usual suspects partying in the Blonde and Victor's house. We christened their "indoor outdoor room" in style with vast quantites of Prosecco from those demon glasses they have which have a hollow stem !We arrived at 8.30 to find the porn star in conversation with Victor while the blonde tried , for the first of many times, to take her 6 inch heels from the gaps in the decking. The men were busy telling her she should just change her shoes, but her sister, gorgeous niece and I nodded in understanding when she replied she just had to wear them until everyone arrived.....it's a girl thing.The FA and Newly Single joined the party along with my old Geography teacher, who reminded me of the day I brought in the bullocks lungs, heart and liver to Biology class ( Fat Freddie was in the

Ok back to January. The Mad One and I went off on a 3 hour shopping jaunt to get a wedding outfit for her...I was there for ooh's aaah's and "no ways" with no intention of buying anything....you can tell the end of the story already ! Now Big Girls like us don't go to boutiques, we go to department stores, so we arrived in Shaws in Drogheda full of beans at 10.00 on a Monday morning. Straight to the Libra section we went and within 5 minutes I had bought a twin set and the most fantastic purple high collared rain mac !The mac cost 190 euro , an amount I would very rarely spend on myself but decided it was my maternity pay treat and loved it so much I felt no guilt. The coat was also there in Teal in the summer section and although I touched it, looked at it and circled around it, I resisted the temptation to buy both.The Mad One found a great dress for the Holy Communion in May and bought it even though I reminded her that every time she bought an outfit in advanc

http://www.castlemurray.com/site/index.aspx?ID=1 BMM has guests arriving over from the USA next week and they plan to do a tour of Ireland in a week.Only people from a place as big as America would contemplate going from Meath to Kilkenny,to Kinsale, To Kenmare, to Liscannor, to Galway, to Sligo and to Donegal and back to Meath in 7 days. What makes this even more of a feat is that the Americans ( the 3 of them) have an average age of 80 something....fantastic! The Babe in the Chanel Suit ( Bics)is one of the most amazing women I have ever met.She is a petite blonde dynamo and arrives over every couple of years loaded down with gifts for every one of the children in BMM's extended family....about 32 !It is impossible to beat her to a bill in a restaurant as she has usually sweet talked the Maitre D' before you even get to the table. She never had any children, which saddened her greatly and she would have made the most wonderful mother. When I last dropped her back at the airpo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikTxfIDYx6Q&playnext=1&videos=FWigsq_Wzho&feature=rec-LGOUT-exp_fresh%2Bdiv-1r-9-HM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOu2MYXjU74&feature=youtube_gdata Have discovered u tube ! This is due to eldest sons. Micheal Jackson obsession and wanting to see the video of "Beat It" .I googled "beat it u tube" and got the attached links among the clips. The eldest son was in histerics, as was I. His other love at the moment is Wake Me Up Before You Go Go by Wham, which gives me the opportunity to relive my youth while singing into a yellow and red microphone in the playroom.I remember going to see Wham! in the RDS with the Mad One. I was hopelessly in love with Andrew Ridgely, who wore tartan trousers with a matching long coat.....magic ! I reckoned fancying Andrew gave me more of a chance cause everyone fancied George. He never did contact me...another man who is walking around not realising how close he came...sigh. GASP knows exac

Right, it's 7.16 on a Saturday evening. GASP and eldest son are gone to a football game down the road ( not actually far enough away !), the baby is asleep in bed. I have just put a large proscuitto and mozarella pizza in the oven, I am drinking a cold beer, while watching the cookery channel......FANTASTIC!. I don't envy anyone getting dressed to go out, anyone at a party, anyone anywhere in fact...this is just lovely. The pizza was given to me last night by the FA after she, the blonde and I had shared a Friday night together. My text to her did say I would come round Friday night after doing the shopping and "would bring dinner" but she missed that section of the text and thought that I was most unsubtly suggesting it was time she cooked for us....as if I would ! She had bought pizza and had made a gorgeous Lambs Leaf and avacoado salad. We put the pizza aside ( she sent us home with one each)and polished off the salad wiht my Aruna Rogan Josh curry containing our

So today, GASP, I and the two offspring went to the zoo. This was the treat of the week due to it's expense ( even though the Duracell Bunny had kindly given us a card which would qualify us for a discount). Recession proof as always I lacked the picnic, ham sandwiches, crisps, homemade lemon cupcakes ( BUNS!) and a bottle of pop.We packed for all weather eventualities so the buggy looked like I was a street hawker by the time we had slung all the jackets on top of it and lathered on the sunscreen.An hour in the queue proved worthwhile as I got chatting to the woman ( who looked alot older than I am ) behind us, who had a four year old and 18 month old twins. Their "Phil and Ted" had got a puncture on the front wheel so the twins were enjoying a view of the sky as their father tried to keep the front wheel off the ground. The pucture repair kit which comes with this most fashionable baby vehicle was of course " at home" so they were depending on meeting another