Sofas and flowers

Our sofa finally arrived. Was a bit worried about the charcoal colour, but I actually really like it.

Went to the flower arranging class with my mother-in-law yesterday, and really enjoyed it, everyone was so creative! Looking forward to the next one.

It Karl's aunts birthday tomorrow, but we are having her bday dinner tonight, and I promised her a victoria sponge cake, so I better get on with it, still need to do my hair :(

Anniversary weekend away

On Friday, the eight of us headed to the Rep of Ireland to a place called Dundalk, where Christina is from. Half of us stayed in a hotel (compliments of groupon!) and the other half stayed at Christina's parents place on Friday night. We went out for dinner to a place called the Windsor, and did our Secret Santa draw, with Barry dressed as Santa!! I don't have pics on my camera but Barry has some on his, so will upload them another time. Needless to say we had quite a late night, and only surfaced at around 10am. We left for Newgrange at about 11am, and the journey which should have taken us half an hour, took us 2 hours! Thats what happens when you leave the gps at home! :( We passed the time by having a few competitions along the way tho. Christina, Mark, Barry and Harps in one car and Karl, Jimmy, Fionnuala and I  in the other, and  both cars had to write down the names of all the counties in ireland, and the other one was to name all the states in the US. there was some fierce competition, but thankfully, we tied, otherwise there would have been some kind of revolt. The Grahams are a competitive bunch!


Newgrange is pretty amazing, since it was built 5000 years ago. whats weird about this site is that archaeologists are not sure why they were built, and only few human remains were found in them. There are also several of these types of structures all over Europe. Whats amazing is that the roof box was constructed so that on the days of winter solstice, it aligns with the rising sun, which illuminates the whole dome for 17 minutes. How people so long ago, with little equipment managed to construct this thing is incredible! Especially considering that their lifespan was approximately 25 yrs! There are also interesting drawings on the stones, and there are many different interpretations.

After Newgrange, we stopped off to get things for dinner and we all headed for Christina's parents place, as we all stayed there on Saturday night. We made dinner, watched x-factor, played cranium, and had a little bit more wine, and laughed til it hurt! I think we were all burnt out from the night before though, and were in bed before midnight.

After breakfast and the handing over of gifts for our anniversary, Harpinder, Barry, Jimmy and Finn headed for Belfast and Karl and I left for Portmarnock at around midday. It was about an hours drive from Dundalk and its beautiful! The hotel is also a golf estate, and the view from our bedroom window was the first tee!

After dropping off our bags at the hotel, we headed out for a walk on the promenade. Despite the sunshine, it was pretty chilly, but it didn't seem to bother anyone, people were out with their baby strollers, dogs, and toddlers, and some even ventured into the Irish Sea!!! I love this sleepy seaside town. It reminds me so much of Cape Town.

After the walk, we showered and changed and got ready for our dinner at the greedy goose. its was a 5 course meal! But they cheated as tea/coffee was also included as a meal, but the food was AMAZING! I had a prawn and shrimp platter, lamb hotpot, and duck in phyllo pastry and ended it with raspberry and white chocolate and raspberry sorbet. Karl had deep fried mozzarella sticks with tomota jam, a pork platter and a beef rib dish and dessert was chocolate parfait with butterscotch and hot chocolate. It was the perfect ending to our first wedding anniversary.

We got home yesterday afternoon, and Karl went with me to the forest to collect acorns and small twigs for my next project. I am starting a flower arranging course with my mother-in-law on Thursdays, and we are making xmas wreaths, so we collected a few bits yesterday. We are also having a very early Xmas dinner on 10 December, because the fiances and girlfriends are going to spend this xmas with their families this year, so we decided to have a big formal xmas party with everyone where we exchange our secret santa gifts etc. Just another excuse to eat and dress up really! Everybody is bringing a dish etc, so I'm trying to co-ordinate that at the moment. Thats about all from my side at the moment. xx

Mince and mechanics

My car is due for a road worthy early December, and Karl and I decided to do some work on it on Saturday. He came home with parts and put me to work. It was actually fun, but I quit halfway, because my hands were getting sore. We basically had to remove both front wheels and remove the front suspension (I think?)

After my half day as a mechanic, I went back to the kitchen and made some.nce rotis. Its actually surprisingly easy to make.

After our busy day we got ready and went over to a friends place to have chinese and watch x-factor. Jo-anne has just gotten two kittens, called pip and squeak, they are adorable, and even though I'm not a cat person, my heart melted a bit when I saw them!

Well, we finally have a landline and internet at the house, so I'm connected. Been running around, soing all the admin that comes along with moving, and getting there slowly but surely. Really looking forward to the weekend, all the kids are going away to Dundalk. We are going to some neo-lithic burial ground thats pretty famous in the South, so ROADTRIP!! We got a groupon deal for the hotel, and on Saturday night we'll stay with Christina's parents. Its out first anniversary on Sunday, so Kalr has taken Monday off work and has booked us into a hotel somewhere in the south near the coast! Really looking forward to it!!!! :) Been invited for dinner at the in-laws tonight, so I've decided to bake something. Might try a victoria sponge or something like that. Will post pics as soon as I can.

How about them apples!

Read the label carefully to see where Sainsbury's import their pink ladies from! :)

 

Its been pretty horrible weather today. I have been stuck in bed with a bad sinus infection for the past few days :( Only really feeling better today. Need to get out of the house, so going to a friends house a bit later, and then movies and Chinese tomorrow. Not much else going on this side, just getting all the bits in place for Christmas. We are going away next weekend with the brothers and sisters in law and jimmy and Fionnuala for a couple of nights, and then Karl has booked the two of us into some hotel in the Rep of Ire for Sunday night as its our first anniversary. I can't believe how quickly the time has gone by! Who would've that a year ago that we'd be living in Northern Ireland and that I'd be freezing my toes off! lol! I do miss the beach though :( I don't think it will really feel like Christmas if its cold, thats the same thing Karl said about Christmas in South Africa (too warm to be Xmas!) lol! Looking forward to it though. My double Christmas cd has arrived, with original recordings of Franks Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Eartha Kitt, Nat King Cole etc, I'm going to play it until Karl's ears bleed! He's gonna be oh so sorry he bought it for me..... let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! :)

Success!

While trying to sort out last minute stuff on Friday morning before we moved in, I found this on our windowsill...

Apparently we now have a milkman! We can choose our delivery days and how much we want, and the orange juice was a welcome gift! So we get 2 litres delivered on a Friday and Monday morning now. Life in an-almost village is very quaint! A few hours later, I heard someone at the shed, and decided to investigate. By the time I got there, he was leaving, and getting into a truck that said coal and gas on it. So after he left, I went to the shed and discovered a big bag of coal, and a big bag of slack. I later found out that my father-in-law had ordered all of this in his efforts to keep my warm this winter, a kind of house-warming (pun!) gift. We also have ALOT of wood in the shed.

Saturday night was good fun. We managed to fit 14 and a half ppl into our lounge and had loads of fun! Played the UK equivalent of 30 seconds and might have had a little too much wine. We ordered pizza and chilled out in front of the fire. The girls were great and helped me clean up afterwards so I could have a lie in on Sunday morning. Forgot to take photos, but one of the girls did, and she said she would mail it to me tonight, so will put it up tomorrow. Got some really amazing gifts from plants, chocolates, candles, flowers, wine glasses and vases! Here are a few pics

these yankee candles are very popular here, and come in a range of colours, sizes and feagrances. i just about have one in every room! i love them, but they are pretty expensive

Yesterday's lunch was a success! I was SO nervous about the lamb! Got up and we started prepping things and decided to put the lamb in at about 11am. Karl and I ran around from 11am to 2pm yesterday afternoon, juggling all kinds of dishes and chores. But I am happy to say that it was a success! Although we were exhausted and collapsed into bed by 9pm last night. The menu was as follows: Cape Malay chicken curry and rice (made by my capable hubby), a 3kg leg of lamb and gravy and mint sauce, carrots, roast veggies, roast potatoes and buttered mushrooms (my mother-in-laws favourite). So while there were many dishes to keep warm, I fell inlove with the range yesterday, because you can place things on top of it with some foil, and it keeps it warm and ready to serve! For dessert we had strawberry cheesecake, and a new recipe I tried, a chocolate orange tart - delicious with ice-cream.

Entertainment buzz

We have a crazy weekend ahead of us. Tomorrow night is our first night in the house, and I'm probably going to make some sweet and sour chicken for dinner to celebrate. Saturday evening, we are having our house warming, and for some silly reason I volunteered to make a Sunday roast at our house on Sunday at 3pm. I bought a leg of lamb yesterday, and even though I don't have the foggiest notion about cooking lamb, I'm going to attempt it. I found an amazing slow-cooking lamb recipe with garlic and rosemary, and a red wine gravy. Going to serve roast potatoes, carrots and either green beans or creamed spinach with it, not sure yet, maybe even cauliflower and broc with cheese sauce. And then chocolate tart and ice cream for dessert. Karls mom and brother don't eat lamb though, so Karl is making a Cape Malay chicken curry for them (its out the packet from pick n pay when I was at home, so it shouldn't be too challenging for him!). So Friday we will cook for Friday. On Saturday, we will cook and bake for Saturday and the curry for Sunday, and Sunday I'll cook and bake for Sunday!!! Going to be an exciting weekend. The only thing that I'm worried about (aside from the lamb) is how to keep everything hot and serve them all at the same time. I;m one of those ppl who makes supper at 2pm and then just puts the food in the microvawe on a plate to heat it up for supper. I like to have everything prepared and ready to go, so this factor is stressing me out some. Waiting for the in-laws to wake up, so that I can shower and get ready to go to the shops for all my ingredients. Wish me luck! Will post picks on Monday (or maybe not if its burnt!!) lol!

Our House in the Glens (image heavy!)

Well, I was gonna wait until our new sofas arrived, but as its only being delivered at the end of the month, I decided to post these pics in the meantime. So for those of you I have been neglecting, here's the reason why: I have been decorating and cleaning. Here are the pics of my labour. Just a warning, there are a lot of pics in this post, so grab a cup of tea and enjoy!

front door

double doors to keep heat in

wipe your paws!

porch and shoe cupboard! stilol have to hang coat hook

as you come in front door

our room

ensuite

our BLUE ensuite

and shower

guest bedroom

my laundry room/dumping ground!

kitchen

breakfast nook just to left of kitchen

the range/aga which heats the kitchen and you can cook with it

gas and electric stove

yummy!

my 4 slice toaster! always wanted one

my purple colander

the hall

the PINK bathroom! still need to hang the mirror

the throws will have to do until our sofas arrive at the end of the month

view from lounge

view from kitchen

nosey neighbours!

tea bag holder

As you can see, the house is basically ready. patiently awaiting our visitors! the guest room is ready to be occupied!! :)