Just call me Martha!

After our decadent weekend in the fancy schmancy hotel, THIS weekend was it's polar opposite. The yin to last week's yang, if you like. Actually, now I think about it, polar just about nails the weather - I mean snow, FFS? It's almost Easter!! It's just so wrong AND we're supposed to be caravilla bound in a few days. Although looking outside now I feel quite faint just thinking about it...and not in a good 'Can't wait for the holidays' kinda way, a 'What the hell was I thinking? Is there any way out of it?' sorta way. Yikes!

 Anyway where was I? Ah yes, the weekend. Well, I channeled a smidgen of Martha Stewart with a pinch of Mary Berry, and I before I knew it I was rustling up chicken broccoli bakes (one for dinner, one for the freezer), vegetable soup AND the piece de resistance -my very first lemon drizzle cake. Who's the mammy!? If I'd had The Archers on, the transformation would have been complete.

To be fair though, this time it WASN'T Lady Mary who inspired me to dust off my Kenwood, it was in fact my fellow blogger Sarah Miles, who writes the fabulous blog Hello Wall, and if that wasn't enough, she pens the award winning foodie blog 'What would Nigella do?' as well. (Honestly, some people! If I didn't love her, I'd hate her.)

Despite the fact that it wasn't Lady Mary's recipe for Lemon Drizzle Cake, (it's her Bake Off chum Paul Hollywood's), she made it look so easy and the pictures were so yummy that I was dying to give it a whirl. Also, it just so happens that the Mothership is very partial to a slice of lemon cake, so I made two - one for us, and one for Herself-and they were both hoovered up in no time at all- okay, mostly by my greedy offspring, but even so.

Tah-dah!

Now, before you examine MY less than stellar pictures, and then compare them unfavourably to Sarah's (I KNOW you're going to-don't deny it), I've a couple of disclaimers. First of all, I'd no actual real life lemon, waxed or otherwise, on the premises, and it was so Baltic outside there was NO WAY I was going out specially, so I just used lemon juice instead. And hey, there's lemon curd in there too, so I reasoned, what's a bit of lemon zest between friends?
Secondly, I baked them in too big a tin- which means they look as if they'd been sat on but they hadn't....not on my watch anyway. (Note to self- you clearly CAN'T gauge the tin size just by looking, so just bloody measure it.)

Later on that evening, carried away with all this domestication, and heady with my baking success (yes I AM deeming it that), I cracked open the Villa Maria and my new Cath Kidston knitting set.....but tragically that all ended in  tears.... but there's another story for another day.
Happy Monday peeps and chin up, Lents nearly over, Emma  xxx

PS Final Call!!! Tomorrow is the very last day that you can vote in the MAD Blog Awards 2013- I'm a finalist in the Family Life category and I'm shamelessly hoping you'll consider taking a wee minute and voting for me- I'd be so grateful. (If you have already-thank you so much!)


PPS-I've joined up with Sarah Miles at Hello Wall today-go on over and take a peek at the rest! 

Quite a Week!

This week's a biggie- Lent on Wednesday, then Valentine's Day on Thursday, like oil and water, and REALLY bad timing when you think about it. I mean, say for example, that you're considering giving up chocolate for Lent. Well, strictly speaking, you'll have to wait till the 'wearing of the green' to pop those truffles! Or what if you're (re)taking the pledge for the duration? Better put that champagne on ice and treat yourself to a nice long Shloer instead-what a bummer!  And, as it happens, an entirely hypothetical situation for me as neither champers nor truffles have made an appearance around these parts since sometime in the last millennium! I'm just feeling your pain, you see...cos I'm all heart! (Geddit!?)

 Thankfully, I've given it all some serious thought, and I'm afraid that the only way around this tricky situation is to
a) come to the obvious realization that truffles and champagne do not,  in fact, fall into the categories of chocolate, and alcohol respectively- rather they are both gourmet foods, and therefore exempt.  Or alternatively, and perhaps more attractively, you could
b) begin Lent on Friday instead...or better still, why not wait till Monday? Let's face it, starting Lent on a weekend is arguably self abuse, AND as an added bonus, you'll also have a week less to do! A win win either way, I'd say, and no problem at all, peeps, just glad I could help.

I'll be honest though, I'm not a MASSIVE fan of Valentine's Day. It just all seems a bit contrived, and I can think of nothing more boringly predictable, than getting engaged/married on Valentine's Day. Yawn. Don't misunderstand, I LOVE getting flowers from Loverboy (on that blue moon), but I also love to buy them  myself, for us all to enjoy. If truth be told, I'd actually be annoyed if he bought flowers on February 14th, (especially red roses- double yawn), because they're SO bloody overpriced! Spend the same amount two days later, Lover, and get me twice as much! (He's totally grasped the concept of the first part of that statement, ....I'm still working on the second).


 Contrarily, I WOULD be hurt if I didn't get a card- I'm not quite sure why! Maybe it's a throwback from NEVER getting any in school, as in NEVER EVER EVER, and enduring the annual humiliation of watching others slowly remove them from their school bag one by one, then smugly arrange them on their desk like badges of honour! (Bitter? Moi?)

Now don't get me wrong, I'm ALL for the big, grand, romantic gestures..... and the wee, small, much less grand ones too.... but not especially on Valentine's Day. A little originality please!  How about a surprise bouquet on a wet Tuesday in April? Or breakfast in bed on a blustery Sunday in October? Or a champagne beach picnic at the Caravilla in July? (Ya listening, sweetie?) Something that shows your love just because...and not 'just because' either.

When I was at the MAD Awards in London in September, (Whoops, did I just drop something? Because DO feel free to nominate me again this year...top of the page...thanks babes), I met the wonderful Lucy who writes the fab blog Lulastic and the Hippyshake. On her blog yesterday she wrote a post about thoughtful, original, romantic FREE Valentine's gifts and I LOVED them...(especially the last two....in case a certain person's reading.....just sayin'.)
 Happy Monday! Emmax

  I've joined up with Sarah Miles at Hello Wall today for the Monday Club-go on over and take a peek at the rest! 

Every Picture tells a Story!

Hello dearest peeps, and what have we here on this bright, cold November day? Well, bless my soul, it's a candid little shot of me writing a blog post, surrounded by all my dearest children, who are clearly hanging on my every word while peeking lovingly over my shoulder, just so. How touching! How heartwarming! How........... far fetched and utterly untrue! 

But hey, that's show biz for you, because this is one of the photos that Cliff, the crumpet eating Irish News photographer took when he was here nearly a month ago. Yes, you did read that right, A MONTH AGO! It's been so long now that friends and family have actually stopped asking me when I'm going to be in there, because they've obviously assumed, naturally enough, that,
a) I'm so boring that The Irish News decided AFTER interviewing me and taking photos- 'Thanks, but no thanks love', or 
 b) I'm obviously delusional and made the entire story up. (Although, in my defense, if I WERE to 
make it up,  I'd definitely have plumped for a slightly more glamorous Hello or Grazia interview instead.)

Either way though, it's a lose- lose for me, so last week, I took the bull by the horns and feeling COMPLETELY wick,  rang the number Crumpet Cliff had given me to get copies of the photos he'd taken. I spoke to the lovely man himself, and not only did he send me the photos, but he reassured me that I would indeed make it into the paper before 2012 is out. 
I asked him straight out too. 'Cliff', I said, 'I'm a big girl AND an unfit mother to boot, if it's been put into the old circular file, just tell me. I can take it!'

'Absolutely not', he insisted. Apparently, it's scheduled to be in the weekend Features section, which always has a backlog, so it's often months before an article appears. Oh my goodness! The relief that I wouldn't have to pretend that I'd dreamt the entire thing, like Pam in Dallas was huge, (HUGE, I tell you!), so I assured Cliff he was welcome here for buttered crumpets anytime. 


But back to the photo- even though it may look like a relaxed, chilled moment, nothing could be further from the truth. This was the last photo taken, so nerves were frayed, noses were running and clean clothes were steadily getting covered in jam. Poor Cliff must've taken 50 shots before he got this one- when he did eventually manage to get everyone looking at the Ipad, Rory decided it was the key moment to pick his nose, or Luke the ideal opportunity to squeal and wriggle off my knee, or Cormac, the perfect time to graciously share a 'silent but deadly' with all of us. Ah, good times....

Thank God for Mr Tumble!

So, as it was, the only way to keep Luke on my knee was to put Cbeebies on the iPad, so in the photo we're actually all deeply engrossed in Mr Tumble's cheeky antics! 


Oh, and out of interest, any idea how Cliff cleverly got the screen to light up our faces like that? Well, insider knowledge alert!!! Because there's actually another flash hidden behind the iPad and a piece of white paper on it's screen, (which unfortunately restricted Luke's full appreciation of Mr Tumble so he kept pulling it off),  but still, how cool is that!? Don't say you don't learn stuff around here!
Have a good Monday my loveliesxxx


 
I've joined up with Sarah Miles at Hello Wall today-go on over and take a peek at the rest!

Monday, Monday!

September was a bit bonkers around here-there was the hen weekend, the  wedding, the  birth, the London trip, and that was all on top of the usual September ramp up  -a new academic year, classes, schools, settling in, extra curricular activities...so between one thing and another, I was definitely ready for a quiet weekend, so very ready!  And thankfully, for once we had no major plans or commitments,  just an easy weekend at home with the fam.

But as so often happens, it didn't work out quite like that .. don't get me wrong, still good, but just busy good. I spent Friday purging yet another wardrobe- mine this time (everyone else's is finally done-yay!), so now there's a humungous bag for charity, another one with for my sister to have a poke through, and a lovely tidy winter friendly wardrobe for me. (Hello, Oh lovely boots, how I've missed you! Au Revoir, open toes and sling backs, we'll meet again in the Spring!)

Saturday, after doing my walk, (my first this week- bold girl), I went to the Big Bus for my very first mammogram. Yes, you read that right. Its a (questionable) perk of being a lady of a certain age you see - my boobs are now deemed old enough to have their picture taken. 

The Big Bus

I'd been chatting with a couple of my friends who'd taken the plunge, so to speak,  and very aware that I'm woefully neglectful about giving the girls a once over once a month, I thought I'd treat them to the works. So I rang the wonderful Action Cancer in Belfast, and found out that by complete coincidence, the Big Bus was in my neck of the woods on Saturday afternoon, so it was as handy as popping out for the paper. If a little more revealing. ( It's a great service- the Big Bus offers mammograms and health checks and covers the whole north of Ireland, so there's no excuse not to go just because, like me, you live in the sticks.)

 The lovely radiographer kept me right-she explained everything and put me completely at my ease. Saying that, all sorts of inappropriate thoughts popped into my head, like 'Thank God for under wired bras!- in my case, they have their work cut out for them, and 'The lighting is soooo unflattering in here....or am I really that blue/ white colour? The radiographer reassured me that at this stage, she'd seen every shape, size and variety of boob there was to see, (I'm paraphrasing-she put it much more professionally than that), and therefore she was utterly unphased. 
The actual mammogram was a wee bit uncomfortable as the machine squashed the ladies a little, but definitely not sore and it was all over in a few minutes. Job done!
Then, it was off with our oldest three to visit my mum in hospital-she's okay-on the mend and thankfully nothing too serious. This was followed by a quick grocery shop and a trip to KFC for a Big Dipping' Bucket as a Saturday night treat for the kids ...and a 'no cooking' treat for moi!
 Except that when we got home and opened it - it was chipless! Not a single chip, just industrial amounts of chicken...and dip.  Well, quite understandably, there was a great deal of weeping and gnashing of teeth, but they eventually all settled for toast instead, and after a phone call to KFC, I even secured a complimentary bucket for next time, and suddenly life didn't seem so bad after all. 
 Sunday, we had Loverboy's family here for dinner- two sittings- seven children, then seven adults - a quick mop of the gravy off the table mats and we were good to go.
 I don't know about you, but I've found that it's easy to have good intentions about getting together, but then  weeks and months fly by and life gets busy and complicated and before you know it, it's Christmas again and where did the time go? So it was so lovely just to talk and catch up- we lingered over coffee and (kindly gifted) dessert and the kids played all afternoon. 
 Before we knew it,  it was 6 o'clock and we were straight into the Sunday bathtime/school lunches/uniform sorting and was  the weekend over already? Almost, but not quite- there was still Downton in bed with tea and chocolate to look forward to! All in all, a full productive, fun weekend...and anyway, sometimes quiet is soooooo overrated! 

I've joined up with the fab Sarah Miles at Hello Wall for the Monday Club-if you fancy it, you can take a peek at the others over there too!