bigfoodiemama

Just after I started this blog 9 years ago on October 29th, I headed to my bed, my waters broke and right about now my second son arrived into the world, kicking and screaming....which he continued to do for about 2 and a half years. Last night he slept from 10.00 pm until 8.30 this morning....phew ! I am older, wiser ?? a bit less energetic but happy with my lot. We have had a lovely Bank Holiday weekend which involved a very good Italian ( dinner not lover ! ) in Rosso Carpaccio, where I lovingly gazed at GASP , listening to the strains of romantic music over an excellent Quatro Stagioni. The complimentary Limoncello brought me back to sunny days in Sorrento and Verona and I thoroughly enjoyed our rare date night. Of course, we spoke about the two boys and boring middle aged topics but at least we were alone to do so without FIFA 19 or Fortnite in the background. We headed to a 60th and enjoyed a few drinks with relatives and locals, the birthday boy ecstatic that his long awaited r

Well, in the two and a half months since I last wrote a blog ALOT has happened...I got to experience some of life's ups and downs, transitions and traditions. Thankfully, after my Bad Day I have been well enough to survive all that was thrown in my direction and for that am very grateful. Eldest son moved to start secondary school at the end of August and the " helicopter" parent that I might just show signs of, found this to be quite a big event. I realised I was holding my breath in his first few weeks, was uptight about our new routines and commutes and didn't actually exhale until about 3 weeks in when I realised he was happy out , unfazed by the whole thing and we had easily slipped into our new habits...phew ! At the end of September, having exhaled, I delightedly took off to Carcassonne with the Blonde, No Longer Single, the Financial Advisor and the Queen of Baking for 3 days of giggles, rest, relaxation, food and wine. It was a perfect tonic and reminded us

Yesterday, I should have listened to every bone in my Bank Holiday body and stayed in bed. Monday 6th August was my Friday 13th. I awoke, stiff sore and pissed off. I got out of bed and headed up to the sitting room where the 3 men in my life were slouched, surrounded by remnants of the previous nights snacks and already bickering over what to watch on the television...my images of one TV and a happy family disintegrating before me. I realised I was slightly hormonally challenged so sat outside with the cats muttering insanely to myself as I consumed my first Costa Tassimo coffee of the day. I must have appeared slightly demented when I gave out about the state of the sitting room as when I requested a second coffee my eldest son swiftly presented me with one adding (under his nearly teenager breath) that it was decaff as I had enough caffeine into my system. His father eyed him incredulously , his son being totally unaware of the imminent danger and advised him NEVER to give me decaff

Last Friday night i headed I headed to the cinema with BMM and The Mad One to see Mamma Mia..Here we go again. There is no need for a spoiler alert as the trailer gives away anything I might mention so it's safe to keep reading ! Going to the cinema with the Mad One is a 5D experience. It is literally an assault on all your senses which is hilarious, as the moment she sat down in Screen 2, she commented on how loud everyone else was chatting through the ads and movie previews. This gave me hope that I might have a peaceful evening ahead...wrong ! I sat back with my 3 scoops of Maud's ice cream relaxed into my plush seat delighted to be seeing a movie which was not a cartoon. About 1.2 seconds later it started...The Mad One leaned over toward my seat until her bare upper arm was resting against mine. She giggled out loud, in the knowledge ( 47 years of knowledge) that I absolutely hate the brush of anyone's bare flesh....well anyone not married to me or whom I have not giv

GASP and I will be 15 years married next week, so, in my opinion ( the only one which counts, of course) we could do with spicing things up a bit. GASP is a man for routine, content with what is familiar and happy out with a simple life, with no need for surprises or excitement.He's happy with repeating the same thing every week but I, however, am slightly more demanding ( understatement !). I bore easily, love trying new things and routine does not excite me. I therefore suggested to GASP that we needed to take a look at what we get up to together late in the evening. We have reached a comfortable routine, which I have enjoyed for the past few years and it has satisfied both of us, but I need more. I need to try something new. GASP suggested things were fine jut the way they were because HE was perfectly happy with the state of play, but I protested !! I needed a little frizzon of excitement, something to look forward to, something to do together, which we would both want more of

The Foodie in me had a real treat the other night. No Longer Single kindly invited GASP and I over to attend the Boyne Valley Series event being held in Sage and Stone. We decided that this constituted a perfect date night as it involved food and other people to talk to, as The Blonde, Victor Meldrew and the Financial Advisor were also due to be in attendance. We arrived to find Mixologist Mick out in the sunshine whipping up Negroni's so the Blonde and I happily took one and found ourselves to be quite merry after that one potent little drinkie. The Duracell Bunny was also in attendance , proving herself as always, to be a lady who can put a smile on your face without even trying. We headed into the restaurant to the strains of beautiful Irish music and sat down for what proved to be an absolute feast of local produce. Boy oh boy did we eat like Royal County Kings ! Our starter of Hugh Maguire's smoked Black Pudding with elderberry dressed salad and a large crouton was simply

Life has returned to relative normality after the Holy Communion and Confirmation, which were just lovely.They went off without a hitch and I was so proud of my two boys and a little emotional, as it seems like yesterday we had them christened. The week before the confirmation I managed to come down with a clatter of cold sores, a mouthful of mouth ulcers, sore ears and throat and a sinus infection....yeah...a bot rough ! It took herculean efforts to conceal said cold sores on the day of the confirmation but primer, foundation, concealer, more primer, concealer and loose powder did the trick. The Burmese Scot joined us for the weekend which was great, especially as she arrived bearing a bottle of Edinburgh Rhubarb and Ginger Gin.......divine !Her arrival led to my first suspicion that GASP was in fact having an affair. We had been away for a week in between the two big events ( yes I know...madness....but great!) and when I asked the " I always want to stay at home" GASP if

So the PTA asked for volunteers to clean the church today, it having recently been painted and the Holy Communion and Confirmation looming. As I have a child in both ceremonies, I thought I should offer an hour of my time, so after a morning watching Under 10 Gaelic and Soccer, I left the boys with GASP and headed up to the church. Only Mother Mary was present so I asked what she wanted me to do and she suggested I start with the windows. Thankfully she volunteered to take the stained glass while I took the clear panes of the entrances and Crying Room. Very soon The Galway Girl and Manolo Blahnik arrived and commenced the harder job of polishing the pews and hoovering underneath them. We got the chance to chat away and I asked then not to tell GASP that I had been spotted cleaning windows as I refused point blank to do so at home. I then went on to suggest that cleaning the church might be a form of confession in itself absolving one from one's previous sins. " Great" sa

So, after two weeks of begging GASP to whip it out, he finally reached into his shed and extracted the patio cleaner. Oh the excitement ! I had visions of our " outside room " ( you've some imagination Dermot Bannon !) resembling that rear of a Kardashian property ( unlike my own rear !) I had kind of prompted this positive response from GASP in a couple of ways. His new career as a football coach has seen 3 sets of jerseys come home this week for washing, without a squeak from me. I had taken the liberty, in the midst of a much welcome pause in my hormonal imbalances, to pre load favours ( ahem!) and this morning, as he woke one year older, he was greeted with a home made chocolate truffle cake and a small choir before I cooked a full Irish....I was on a winner. We happily went to eldest son's soccer game, they secured a win and we all arrived home, happy out in the spring sunshine.Just as I served the chocolate cake, I mentioned it might just be the perfect day to

So the youngest child is due to make his Holy Communion in 20 days time, unfortunately falling exactly 20 days before the Confirmation of the eldest boy...very bad planning on my part, and most unlike me. My slightly frazzled ( see previous blog) brain has had some difficulty in accepting this twist of religious fate ( or should that be faith?) and for some time the two dates have appeared large and looming my mind, as I try to ensure I have everything covered. Thanks to the kind words of a friend who also has Holy Communion I booked the all important bouncy castle over a year ago...the lady advised me I was her third call that day for a booking the following year ! The caterer has been booked...my Boeuf Stroganoff being rejected by the men in my life for the cheaper ( and far more common!) Chicken curry. In an effort to minimise financial ruin, I have been circumspect in relation to the clothing and both boys will wear something old, new, borrowed and blue and I will don the Lennon Co

So a few days before Lent began, we all came down with the bug known as the " 40 day cough" with symptoms of tiredness, shivers and a hacking cough. I entered an involuntary period of abstinence as I had had absolutely no interest in my BFF's Merlot and Montepulciano. Valentines Day and Pancake Tuesday fell on the same day, early in my recovery, so without consciously considering it, I realised I had given up alcohol for Lent. Facebook had bitten the dust in January, my own " Frexit" and I was enjoying the extra hours in my day, but was unsure how the whole Lent thing would play out teetotal.Turns out this was not really the best Lent to give up the booze....or was it ? Day 2 and my mother in law got admitted to hospital VERY unwell. This in itself would not lead to anyone drinking but might be a reason to imbibe when one is in regular close contact with ones in laws. Luckily, this is not the case with my in laws, so I managed to stay sober throughout her near

Today I attended the funeral of a truly great man, a humble, generous, compassionate, charitable, hard working, kind, wise lovely man. His funeral was a true celebration of the gifts he gave to the world. This is not a flippant expression as this man actually gave gifts across the world. His charitable donations went among other places to Uganda and Moldova and his kind acts saved people the world over. Most people won't know this man as unlike those who broadcast their achievements across the world today, he kept his activities to himself, gave without expecting recognition and sought no congratulations nor award. Thankfully he was recognised, rewarded and awarded for his immensely christian acts but his family are still only finding out how much he meant to how many, their hearts touched and warmed by the number of people who came from far and wide to share their grief, offer their condolences and pay homage to a great man, a great friend, a great father and grandfather, a great

January....what a month...every long dark broke day of it ! To add insult to injury it also brought the boys opticians appointments,the eldest's dental appointment, singing lesson payments and a new set of tyres....squeak ! The eldest is in his in last year in primary school so with delight the optician advised me that his next appointment would need to be a private one with him. That I could cope with until I took same child to his last public dental appointment. A very nice dentist advised me that he still had about 10 of his baby teeth and that he should have lost a few more by now . I advised him that I still possessed two baby teeth with no adult teeth behind them." Ahhh Hypodontia" he exclaimed and promptly referred the eldest for an x ray to establish whether or not the adult teeth were actually in his head. "It's no issue if he's only missing one or two, but any more than that and you're looking at bone grafts, surgery, implants....anything up to