Monday, October 29, 2012

Petrifying Puff Pastries

It's not just about apples and nuts - Halloween, that is.  Actually, if you dared to give any child who calls to your door either of those for their swag bag, they would give you a pitying look and move onto your neighbour pretty sharpish.  For kids these days, it's all about the sweets or even money if they're lucky.  Rather than pander to their every whim, you can create a really simple dessert with just a few ingredients and make it look really special.

Friday, October 19, 2012

Somewhere Over The Rainbow

The first notes filled the air and everybody took a deep breath.  This wasn't a scene from The Wizard of Oz where Dorothy sings to Toto about a better place far far away.  We were in a crowded church saying goodbye to my cousin Ciara who died on Tuesday 3rd October.  I said my own personal goodbye to her a week earlier in hospital and told her I loved her millions and billions, amongst other things.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Parmesan and Thyme Crusted Pork

Picture this.  It's damp and miserable outside and you've spent an hour in rush-hour traffic after a busy day in work and you're starving.  The easy thing would be to reach for the phone and call a takeaway, right?  Wrong.  So wrong.  You can make this fantastic dinner in 15 minutes flat and be sitting down in front of the tellybox watching Corrie long before a takeaway arrives.  You'll probably have most of the ingredients already - breadcrumbs can be kept in the freezer so you always have them on hand.  The herbs come from a pot on my windowsill, cheese and eggs are usually in the fridge and the pork chops were lurking guiltily in the freezer looking for a good home.


Thursday, October 4, 2012

WINNERS Competition : WIN Martin & Paul's Surf 'n Turf

Listen up food lovers.  Hopefully by now you've recovered from the shock of seeing Martin & Paul's "Dip in the Nip" at the end of their TV series on RTE.  I'm still in counselling to be honest, but The Mammy enjoyed it tremendously...

With that in mind, Quadrille have given me not just one, but TWO copies of Martin & Paul's Surf 'n Turf.  I got my hands on a copy a few months ago and you can read what I thought about it here.   You might want to read it carefully, because the answer to the competition question is there.



Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Review : Have You Eaten?

Masterchef is the one show on television that will make me down tools, stick the phone on silent and basically hide away on the sofa for an hour.  I especially love the versions from Down Under because they totally revolutionised the tired old format and made the show even more exciting.  This is where Billy Law comes in. You see, Billy was one of the contestants on Season 3 of Masterchef Australia where he may not have won but he has written the most exquisite cookbook entitled "Have You Eaten?".  This is a very Irish saying which Mammies all over the country utter as soon as they hear your key in the lock, but Billy is Malaysian and apparently Malaysian Mammies are very like Irish Mammies and like to feed you.


Monday, October 1, 2012

Oops, We Did It Again

Eight years ago today, we got married.  It was truly the happiest day of my life standing in a teeny tiny church in the middle of Wicklow, completely surrounded by family and friends telling The Hubs that I loved him forever and a day.  We got married after seven years together and it seemed fitting that we mark our seventh wedding anniversary with something equally memorable.  I had been stashing money away on the sly for a couple of years for a special occasion and now was the time to break open the piggybank and spend it on a holiday to remember.  The destination had to be the US - it's where we spent our honeymoon and we have incredibly happy memories of walking around Central Park with Bob, the oldest tour guide in the world, sitting on the beach in Cape Cod covered in SPF 50 while the locals huddled up in jackets and scarves, and getting soaked on the Duck Tour in Boston.  We didn't want to replicate this trip - we wanted to make some new memories.