Birthday weekend part 1

Wow, what a weekend! I’m exhausted and at work and wish I was in bed. Friday night turned into Saturday morning. We went to pick up Sinead and Hugh, and then went over to the boy’s boss’s boss’s house for a pizza before our night out. After pizza we headed out to Belfast, to The Duke of York. Its a really big pub, and is very unusual.

The party was called a 70^th, because Hugh turned 30 and his colleague turned 40, so they just decided to have one big party.

After meeting everyone, Sinead and I headed up stairs for a bit of dancing and then joined the rest of them a bit late. We even had springboks .

 So anyway, after an awesome night out, we finally arrived home at 4am! Yes, 4am. I slept for 4 hours and got up at 8am to start a crazy day of baking. By Saturday evening, I was fed up! Harpinder was a great help and tidied up behind me and just generally kept me sane. The cake did turn out really good, despite some technical difficulties and the fact that the top 2 layers were too heavy for the light chocolate sponge at the bottom, did my best to cover it up with decor though!

Had to make a small cake for Christina, who is gluten-intolerant.

We had quite a spread: scones, quiche, cake, cupcakes, cheese and crackers etc.

I thought I had made too much food, but after the 20 or so people spend yesterday afternoon grazing, there really wasn’t much left. I invited everyone over fo tea and cake at about 3pm yesterday, an the last of them left at around 8pm.

opening gifts

 Got some really cool gifts, including these beautiful tulips!

I had a quick bath and got things ready for today, and then we headed down the road with Harps and Barry to have dinner and watch our Sunday night South African show, Wild at Heart. Been awake since 4am, probably a sugar high!

Really had a good weekend!

xx

weekend activities

Spent the morning cleaning the house. We have another busy weekend, but its my birthday weekend, so I am looking forward to it! Waiting for a friend, Sinead, to arrive for lunch. Made some pasta, YUM!
Then tonight we are going out in Belfast for Sinead's husband's birthday party. He works with Karl. We are going to the Duke of York.

Tomorrow I am baking. Gonna try a 3-tiered topsy-turvy cake and it might be a bit of a technical challenge, will post pics. 1 tier is choc fudge, another one is lemon and the last one is coffee and walnut. Everyone is coming over for cake on Sunday afternoon, so gonna be spending all of tomorrow baking: cake, cupcakes, scones and maybe some bread...

Also found these in our front garden

I wonder what they are....

pancakes and an AWESOME birthday gift

I know its pancake Tuesday tomorrow, but we were trying out recipes for my mother-in-law to make for work. So we made these babies yesterday. I have decided to participate in Lent activities this year by refraining from eating chocolate and drinking sugary tea (except on my birthday!). 

I also got my birthday present (from my hubby) early (yesterday) and will be spending the morning (from 9am – 1pm) at the Galgorm Spa, where I will be forced to suffer 2 hours of the thermal spa*; a 60 minute  Mineral Mud Serail and a 60 minute Hot Stone Back Massage, followed by a delicious 2 course lunch with Fionnuala.

I am convinced spending my birthday this way will somehow ease the pain of turning 31 this year :)

*The Thermal Spa offers you the chance to experience the ancient rituals of bathing in cold, cool, warm and hot environments to aid detoxification, purification and relaxation. The infinity hydrotherapy pool contains massage jets to ease away tensions while the heated cabins provide varying degrees of heat and humidity aimed at targeting different parts of your body including your respiratory and circulatory systems, your muscles and your skin. An invigorating rub with ice from our ice fountain will truly awaken the senses while a spell in our experience shower will prepare your skin for further treatments or maybe a relaxing soak in our outdoor hot-tub.

Coastal walk

I woke up this morning and looked out the window and it was a beautiful day (7.5 degrees!) and I decided, very last minute, that I would go on a 20km walk with my mother-in-law and her walking group. We left home at around 10am (so basically 30 mins after I woke up) and drove to the Giant's Causeway. The walk from the casueway to Dunsevrick Castle is 10 kms each way, and because we got there a bit later than expected, the group decided to walk one way, instead of a return trip. Was I relieved! The walk was breath-taking. Walked on top of the cliffs and had an awesome photo opportunity.

I love the old Irish stones walls

the causeway is famous for these hexoganal rocks

I took at least 12867 steps today...

which translates into 10.29kms

Came home, had a cup of tea and a hot shower. Currently in my pjs in front of the fire, waiting for my well-deserved pizza ;)

In my day...

Yesterday was my first research field trip in Northern Ireland. We went to a Catholic Grammar School in the town of Lurgan. Lurgan is a very divided community, and has a reputation for violence, alcohol abuse and rioting. There is an invisible line down the centre of the town that divides up where the so –called Catholic and so-called Protestants live and hang out. This area is a poor area, and features in the news very often for various reasons. The aim of the study is to determine what the youth think can be done to improve the area, as well as what can be done to improve community relations between Catholic and Protestant youth. 

Anyway, my point is that I was horrified at what the girls were allowed to wear to school! In my day*, we weren’t allowed to wear nail polish, colourful earrings (several in one ear!), make-up, rings, loose hair and multi-coloured backpacks. They were also wearing all kinds of black pumps! Some girls looked like they were ready for a night out instead of going to school. And that’s one of the better schools in this country! I shudder to think what our kids will be allowed to do when they are of school-going age. Might just have to send them to school back home!

 *how old do I sound! ;)

and more cake!

On the way home from work today, my husband remembers that he has to take cake to work tomorrow to celebrate the end of his probation period! So as soon as we got home, I put him to work making dinner, and I made his cake. Luckily I had everything in my cupboards. Only just climbed into bed, and my feet hurt from wearing heels all day. Defo wearing my flat boots tomorrow for my first bit of fieldwork. And yes, the cake tastes as good as it looks ;)

Gluten-free weekend

Mark called us on Friday evening wanting to know what we were doing for dinner. I didn't even realise that they were coming to us on Friday eve, and panicked to get their cake done in time. Luckily it was ready when they arrived. We basically spent Friday evening in front of the fire, watching tv. On Saturday morning, Moira taught Christina and I how to make the St Brigid's cross.

Barry and Harpinder only arrived at around 6pm last night and then we had to get ready for the dinner. The ladies had pre-dinner cocktails :)

We arrived at the restaurant just after 8pm, and did the whole family photo thing

The waiter took his own sweet time to show us the specials menu, so Barry got up to give us the low down!

The in-laws are going on a cruise for Moira's 60th in May. They bought a package, all inclusive except for lunches and drinks, so we all put some cash together as a gift.

Add caption

 

We headed off to Johnny Joe's for a few drinks and some music. The music wasn't that great, so Harps took things into her own hands...

Christina HATES photographs! She's always trying to block my shot of her. This one came out pretty well though

I think we got home shortly after midnight. I attempted to take off my boots and failed! I had on a pair of socks, a pair of tights AND a large pair of woolly fleece socks on and shoved my feet into my boots, not thinking about how to take them off later. This is Karl trying to take them off for me..

Then came the cake-cutting ceremony practice round (Mark & Chris are getting married this New Years Eve)

Christina seriously at 6 slices of this cake last night. Since she can't eat gluten, its not that often she gets to eat cake, so she had more than her fair share of cake last night (and this morning for breakfast!)

Mark does this funny thing (if you beg him enough!) that he saw in Lethal Weapon. White bread brown bread in a South African accent. It was soooo funny that I dropped the camera (oops!) in this clip.

We all ended up sleeping at the in-laws last night. And needless to say we all slept quite late this morning. The rest of the day was spent sitting around, chatting, reading newspapers and watching Modern Family episodes. That was until Christina decided it was time to bake some more gluten free stuff! Christina made traditional Irish soda bread, which is delicious with butter and jam, especially when its hot off the gridle. 

And I tried these marble mini muffins out, also gluten free.  

Karl's granny is with us for the afternoon, and my mom-in-law jumped at the opportunity for another family pic (I look really fat in this photo because I'm squatting in a very uncomfortable position, and my shoulders are hunched so it looks like I have no neck. Well, thats my excuse anyway, and I'm sticking to it!)

Everyone has left now, and we are still at the in-laws place (its nice and warm). Sunday evening pizza is a bit of a tradition in this house. So after our pizza, we will head up the road to our own wee house. I need to gather all my things for my first day at my new job in the BIG CITY :)