Moira's birthday weekend

Lying is SUCH hard work! It was my mother-in-law’s birthday yesterday, her 60^th. She has been insisting that she doesn’t want a party for months. And what did we do? We organised a surprise birthday party for her! On Friday night, 18 ladies went to one of her favourite restaurants, for a surprise birthday dinner. She actually cried when she walked into the place and saw us all sitting there.

the birthday girl!

We hoped that if she did think something was going on, the dinner would be the surprise and that would be that. We organised for my father-in-law to take her away for Saturday night, so after they left, we got to work. Harps and I started chopping veggies and chicken for the skewers, Mark installed the new dishwasher and Barry and Karl took over the skewers at one point, so the girls could bake. 

our handyman

our chefs

the baker

On Sunday morning, we woke up to no rain! Which is a miracle cos it rained NON-STOP on Friday and Saturday. So the boys set up the marquee (after much squabbling and in-fighting), and the girls did the set up. 

The surprise braai went so well. We had about 50 guests, and the last of them left at silly o’ clock this morning. At one point the men were singing Irish songs outside (drunken Irish songs!). So we are all shattered this morning. But it was good fun and the desserts were AMAZING!

mommy, can I have a beer too?

Next weekend is Barry’s birthday and I’m going to try and make him a rubik’s cube cake :)

Joanne's 30th birthday cake

I know I've been quiet these last few days. Struggling with homesickness at the moment. Still trying to re-adjust after Mel's visit. The packing and moving and unpacking didn't really help the situation much. Our bedroom is finally sorted, but the room upstairs is still a MESS! I need to get it sorted because Karl's friend is coming to visit for a few days next week and there is no space to move in that room. 

It was Joanne's 30th birthday party on Saturday, and I baked her a cake as her present. The theme was black and white, and so was her cake. I baked the cakes on Thursday, decorated them on Friday and then did the stacking and last bit of decorating on Saturday at the party. So this time around it wasn't so stressful! Here are the pics.

Bottom layer - carrot cake

Middle layer - chocolate fudge

top layer was lemon drizzle

more cake

Its a colleague's birthday today. So I'm in for work on a Friday :( But the good thing is that we are going for lunch (all on the company) and then we are going out for a few drinkies and some dinner this evening. So another big night out in the big city lights for this country girl! :)

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.

Happy birthday mom!!

Happy birthday to the greatest, most wonderful, most fantastic, out-of-this-world, most caring, most loving mother in the entire universe.

Love you!

Weekend away

The weekend at Ryan and Jens was just what I needed! We had such a good time. Arrived at about 6pm on Friday eve, just in time to see Ryan. He was off to his leaving/birthday do with colleagues in Liverpool. Karl and I opted out of that one because we knew the next eve would be a crazy one! Didn’t get to sleep late because of the rugby, and let me tell you, I’ve never seen Karl get so worked up EVER, let alone for the Ireland match on Saturday, it was funny to watch him squirm and shout! Ryan made us the most delicious chocolate croissants and bacon butties and we were set for a bit of shopping in Cheshire Oaks. Was looking for some drinks, and came across these cans, which I think are super-awesome and super-convenient!

Ryan's gift

cool photo icing cake

After an afternoon nap, we were ready to celebrate. Think there were eventually about 40 friends and family that arrived. It was a braai, and people were lounging about outside in short sleeves and skimpy dresses, while I had on 2 layers, boots, a scarf and my coat. And it wasn’t my imagination, because eventually Karl got up to get something warmer to wear too! Karl got these really yummy fat angus aberdeen burgers-AMAZING!

yummy Angus Aberdeen burger

Got to meet a lot of Ryan and Jen’s friends from Tenerife and saw all Jen’s family, including her brand new nephew :) There were three Karls there that night, including my Karl, and the weird thing is that they all spell their name with a K! Had to get a pic of them!

The 3 Karls

 Ryan got a shot gun as a gift, which I tried to stay well away from. You basically fill up the magazine with a shot of alcohol and then choose your victim. Jagermeister is not my friend, and after one shot I played dead! I'll stick to my G&T thanks!

Do I really have to? :(

Ryan, saying his prayers

I’m slowly but surely starting to get my things together to come back home. Need to find my suitcase though. All my visa paperwork has come through, so I have an appointment on 29 September to submit. Let’s hope its smooth sailing! 

My turn to cook tonight, gonna make Ina Paarman’s cottage pie :) and Karl has requested death by chocolate cupcakes, so that should keep me busy. Off to the gym and then shopping for my cook/bake-off :)

Blackberry Virgin

So yesterday we started the day with a visit to the Spa. We had the hydrotheray session. Outdoor jacuzzi, various hydro treatments and a 2 course lunch in our gowns to end the afternoon with.

The Graham gals

After that we celebrated the bride -to-be's birthday with a special kitchen tea at a friends place.

Fionnula (Bride's) birthday cake

We rushed home, via the bottle store, to the rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner. Had a pretty late night/morning.Can't find sulphide-free wine in this place, so bought a bottle of vodka, lime and soda instead :) No more red wine hangovers for me. After a bit of a lie-in this morning, we headed off to the nearest town and I finally got a BLACKBERRY! No idea how the thing works, but I'll figure it out eventually.

Karl's parents house is packed! There are 10 of us in a 3 bedroom house and we're sharing a room with Karl's brother and his girlfriend for the weekend so you can imagine how much fun it is. Its like we're kids again, giggling til the early hours! We're gonna sit around and play cranium tonight and try get an early night to be fresh for the wedding in the morning-we'll see how that goes!

Gonna need a holiday to recover from the wedding weekend.

The little bird Karl & Barry rescued today. It now lives in my father-in-laws garage