Food, food and more food

How bad am I at getting things on this blog? I have no excuses- our computer and broadband is fully functional, I've had loads of things going on, still taking pictures... just lazy I suppose. I have been rather busy, but not THAT busy.

Afraid this post will just be text - I don't have my camera at work with me today.

Ollie and I (well I) hosted a dinner party at the end of September. I went all out- house looked beautiful and spotless, I got a new dress and wore killer heals, my hair was done, nails done, makeup... I tried a bunch of new recipes and really challenged myself. Instead of starters, I did loads of posh canapés: smoked salmon, creme fraiche and chives on wheaten crackers; parma ham wrapped puff pastry sticks; baked brie with apricot jam and wheaten crackers all with sparkling wine on arrival. Main course was Fillet of Pork stuffed with homemade sage and onion stuffing, pommes fondant (mashed potatoes baked with cream and breadcrumbs), roasted carrot and parsnips and homemade apple sauce (I had baked seabass). And I made my first ever apple pie with shortcrust pastry (I didn't realise how easy pastry is to make!) Wine was flowing and we had tasty baileys and irish coffees to end the night.

We all watch this programme Come Dine with Me where 4 or 5 strangers host dinner parties and they each rate each other (scale of 1 to 10) with the highest scorer winning £1,000. Anyway, we got a bunch of texts from our dinner guests (Colin, Maire, Thomas and Nuala) saying I would have scored a 10! Everything was pretty tasty and I was completely exhausted at the end of the night.

I decided, following the dinner, that I would try to make something new each week. So far I've made Chicken & Vegetable Pie (with homemade shortcrust pastry), Steak and Onion Pie (again with the pastry), meringues, low fat apple strudel muffins (these were so tasty), banana muffins (these were beautiful), homemade macaroni & cheese (sorry Kraft Mac & Cheese, but our relationship is officially over) and Vanilla Buttercream cupcakes with buttercream frosting. I can't believe I used to do the whole Betty Crocker 'out of a box' thing... such a cheat (and the proper homemade stuff is a million times tastier)!

I'm going to continue with my experiments and each week try out new recipes and maybe invent my own! Can't wait to bake Liam's birthday cake.

Watch this space for pictures of some of my creations!

Sunny days...

We were blessed with beautiful weather this past weekend. It was our little taste of summer. That's one of the hardest things about living in Ireland- the weather. It has gotten worse in the 8 years I've lived here and shows no real sign of improving. May and June are generally nice, but July and August are always a washout.
So we put the housework on hold and ran out to enjoy the glorious sunshine. I had Liam in about 5 different outfits trying to get a few uses out of shorts he's only been able to wear once or twice. Here he is enjoying the sunshine out the front.

After Liam awoke from his nap we headed to Lady Dixon park. It's only a short drive from our house. Boy was it busy! We stayed in the playground for about 20 minutes because it was too hectic and there are so many lovely areas to explore. Here's Liam enjoying a 'poke'... wee cone with vanilla ice cream. He had more on his clothes than in his mouth.

Lady Dixon park is huge and known for its Rose Gardens. We explored some of the well maintained gardens and stopped for a picture here and there...There are big huge trees and lovely frog filled ponds. Couldn't resist a good photo opportunity high in the trees.Liam was all about walking everywhere. He wanted to walk up high and down low and sideways and upside down. Thankfully Daddy was on hand to escort... We were all officially exhausted at the end of the day and Liam slept until 8:30 on Sunday morning (good for me since I was on 'early shift').

On Sunday we pottered around the house getting floors and windows and clothes all cleaned. In the afternoon we headed over to Great Aunt Annies house for a run about her garden and to see our old cat Cleo. Liam was on form that day. Running around and exerting more of his independence. Did I mention his new favourite word is no? That and sausage. I forgot my camera so these are off the iphone. Looking super cute... Getting ready to mow the lawn...

He ran around the front and side and back gardens getting all tuckered out. He was doing loads of singing and dancing and eating and talking back. I made beef stew for the boys on Saturday night (for use on Sunday). Not exactly the most appropriate food for the warm weather, but whatever! He really enjoyed it, had a lovely bath and went right to bed. He certainly got a lot of activity this weekend!

So how's our boy doing? Next check up won't be until his second birthday, but my scales are pretty accurate and he's topping them at around 32/33lbs. He's really tall, but won't stand still for a measurement. If I had to guess, I'd say he was around 34" maybe 35". He's starting to get too big for his US size 6 shoes and the 2Ts are getting a bit short. He is constantly talking... except for the first few minutes when he meets someone new. His vocabulary continues to expand and he is able to repeat most words we say. Yesterday our friends Conor and Siobhan were over and he said Conor to me. He has started calling his classmates and minders at daycare by their names. He doesn't say Liam. When you ask him what his name is he says 'me'. Two word phrases are coming along... 'daddy gone,' 'all done,' 'bye bye, see ya' are favorites. No 'I love you' yet, but we have time for that. He has a great appetite and is still sleeping like a dream. The only issues we are having are with his daily tantrums and saying 'no' to everything. This doesn't provide too much hassle as with gentle persuasion or simply ignoring the screaming and thowing himself on the floor he tends to stop/ listen. He's getting the 'blue steal' look down for photos. I'll have to take one of us doing our 'looks'. He's just so cute and adorable. Everyday we continue to be amazed at how quickly he learns. We have to keep buying 3yr+ toys and puzzles because he figures everything out so quickly. I bought a huge roll of paper from Ikea (he'll be getting an easle for his birthday) and some crayons to busy him while I'm tidying the kitchen or cooking lunch. He loves scribbling away.... have some pictures on my camera that I'll put up soon.

First Haircut

Liam had his first haircut on Saturday. It was getting so long and kept falling into his wee eyes. He was a good little boy flirting with all of the girls. We tried on the smock...
But he wasn't really having it. I had the juice box and 'In the Night Garden' books at the ready to help entertain him.
He started to get a little bothered after about 7 or 8 minutes, so I just asked Martina to leave the back. We'll maybe go back in a couple of weeks to get it trimmed a bit more. Thankfully we didn't cut off all of his curls and his hair has retained the waviness.
We went to little Patrick's christening on Sunday. Liam has been suffering with very sore teeth and spent most of the service being entertained outside by his daddy. He looked really cute and trendy in a new set of clothes I got him from Next.
Playing around with daddy...
He loved playing with the balloons all day.
Little Anya was in great form and as cute as ever...
I didn't get any nice photos of little Patrick or Oliver, but the day was lovely and so much fun for all of the kids!

Let's make some pizza

Some of my fondest memories as a child were when I would get to participate in making dinner or dessert. My mom would have fish or tacos or pancakes on the menu. My brother and I would gather in the kitchen and help mom make dinner. We'd each get to flour, egg and breadcrumb the fish. We'd get to create our own tacos with a variety of different ingredients. We were each official spoon and bowl lickers when it came to baking cakes and cookies. I loved this family time and think it's one of the reasons I enjoy cooking and baking so much.

Well tonight was my first interactive dinner night with Liam. I made some homemade pizza sauce at the weekend and Liam helped to assemble his mini pizzas. It wasn't a very adventurous pizza- simple Margarita, but we had a very fun time.

Getting the cheese on the mini pizzas...


'This bit of cheese looks a bit dirty mommy. We can't use it in the pizza. I'm gonna have to eat it!'
Let's give it a try...
Mmmmm... that's good pizza!
Maybe some homemade chicken or fish goujons next time...

Belfast Taste and Music Festival and Miscellaneous Pictures

We all went to the Belfast Taste and Music Festival on Saturday. As the name suggests it's about food and music. There were guest cooks from Chicago bringing tasty canolis, deep dish pizza and other yummy treats. The weather started off nice, but had an unfortunate 20 minute (ish) rain shower. We huddled under a golf umbrella to wait for the shower to pass. The rain didn't dampen the day... it's Belfast (aka rain city) afterall. Liam is a food monster and had a try of everything we did- beef, kangaroo (both eww!), prawns, squid and brownies. Liam enjoying some prawns...He would rather drink what we're drinking... thankfully Ollie wasn't having any beer that day! Only problem with Liam sharing my water is the backwash... ew!


We met up with some friends. Here's Stevie with his little cutie Anya (wearing her birthday present from us).

Anna and Nigel brought their new son Patrick and his big brother Oliver...
Liam was all about litle Patrick and kept giving him kisses and trying to wake him up from his slumber. I think he wants a little brother or sister!!
He also loved trying out everyone's buggy...
Getting a little annoyed with daddy... he was tired after an adventureous day. We explored the entire park that day. He's such a busy little bee!
He's some old ones. Until recently, Liam's been a little afraid of the rides at the supermarket. Here he is on his first ride with Bob the Builder.
And on the little plane...
My friend Eric was over from the states for a wedding in Newry. He came up to Belfast for the day and Liam and I went to the park. Here Liam is petting a little dog we met in the park- he loves dogs.

Graduation

Five long years at Queen's University concluded with a wonderful graduation ceremony this afternoon. It was full of pomp and circumstance... I don't recall UMass' being that formal. I graduated with a Second Class, First Division Honours degree in Management and Business Studies. It basically means that I can get into a post graduate programme (even a PhD) without any GMATs. I'm looking into several programmes, but I think I'll take next year off and maybe take a patisserie course.

My team at work had organised a photographer to take pictures for our photo library and I was the primary model. I'll get my hands on some, hopefully, great pictures of the day. Until then, here are a few that we took...

US Trip

Sorry for the delay in getting pictures and commentary up... our laptop was dying and the slowness was too frustrating. It was almost 7 years old, so it was past its expiration date and we're happy to have gotten this many years out of it. Although tempted by an imac... they are so purty... we got a new toshiba.

So, yes, our trip back home. The 7 1/2 hour plane ride over went surprisingly well. The plane was only 70-ish percent full and we got the back two rows to ourselves. This meant we could take shifts entertaining Liam who is a busy bee these days. The weather was pretty miserable overall with only 5 days of dry weather. We just hung out the first couple of days. I found the time adjustment really difficult and was up most mornings before 5 am. Liam and Ollie acclimated straight away... jerks. The first friday we went up to northern New Jersey to visit with a childhood friend, Nicole. She has 2 adorable kids, the older is undergoing chemotherapy for cancer in his sinus cavity. He was so happy and kind and positive that you almost didn't notice his bald head and darkened eyes. Both Julian (8) and Kai (3) took to Liam like white on rice. They were hugging him and playing with toys and dancing around- it was really touching and made me very broody for another baby. I don't have any pictures of the day because I forgot my camera.

Ollie and I headed down to Philadelphia on Saturday for some adult time. We meet up with Lora, Mikey, Wayne, Annie and Kim. We ate at Reading terminal market and did a little pub crawl from 11th and Walnut down to 2nd and Market. It was so much fun catching up with everyone! That's the worst thing about living over here... I miss my buddies so much!

The next day my aunt hosted a bbq for us. Thankfully the weather cooperated and gave us sunshine and warm weather. A few friends from high school came over along with some cousins and family friends. We turned the sprinklers on outside and Liam loved getting wet. We had tons of food, drink and craic with everyone.

Liam looking super cute in his wee sunglasses.

We chilled on the Monday in preparation for our long journey on Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday afternoon we headed to upstate New York to stay over my Aunt's partner, Mark's, house and break up the journey. We headed for Amherst early the next day- wanted to show Ollie the first University I went to. It hadn't changed that much since I left over 10 years ago. We stopped into the town for some lunch and to stretch our legs after the 3 1/2 hour car ride. Here's Liam enjoying some pizza at Amherst Brewing Company. They do the best sweet potato fries.

A further 1 1/2 hours brought us to our final destination in Fitchburg. We had 2 rooms at the Marriot there- the rooms were a great size and lovely decor. Pretty nice quality considering it was a relatively cheap night rate. On Thursday I spent most of the day with Rachael and her other bridesmaids- sister Angela and friend Chrystal. We did our nails and had a tan before the rehersal and dinner. The weather was so awful- torrential rain and some localised flooding. We were really worried about the Friday- especially since Rach's wedding service was outside and the reception in a marquee. Thankfully the weather broke and it was sunny and warm.

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Rachael's hair- She added in an additional flower.

They had a bunch of really cute ideas at the wedding. Here's the 'candy bar'. They had chinese take away boxes saying 'life is sweet, thanks for sharing our special day' and a variety of candy. Tasty!

The cake was so yummy!
Rachael looked gorgeous and had a smile on her face all day.

You can see my dress here. It was really nice and I'll definitely be using it again!
Congratulations Rachael and Ian! We had such a wonderful time at your wedding- it was a brilliant day!

After Massachusetts, we tried to take it easy. We went out to Paoli to visit with Ollie's aunt and uncle. I also got to catch up with a very old friend and meet her family. She has 2 adorable kids and a beautiful house in Yardville. Nicole and I hadn't seen each other for about 10 years, but it was if only days had passed.

All in all it was a great trip. We needed another vacation once we got back home to Belfast! Next trip we might head south... get ready Fieldens!

I have some more pictures on another SD card, so I'll get some more up shortly.