Mariella Beth Layhe

A big congrats to our dear friends, Clare and Simon Layhe on the birth of your beautiful daughter, Mariella Beth Layhe.

I am very proud of you friend, 40 hours of labour! Cherish every single moment with her.
Love you guys
xx

Gifts from home

I just want to send a special "derricashon" out to the most wonderful friends in the world. Robyn, Wendy and Melissa, thank you so much for the gifts you sent with my mother. Your thoughtfulness and kindness is greatly appreciated and I LOVE YOU GUYS!! 

Karl's favourite chocolate

my favourite madeira IN THE WORLD

rooibos lip balm

circular knitting needles to make a snood

the ONLY brush in the world that gives my hair the right flick

Mine and hubbys FAV vice

and even a prezzie for Cassie.

 Dublin is about a  2.5 hour drive from where we live and after I dropped Karl off at work, I set off to the airport to fetch my mom. I was quite emotional, even on the drive to Dublin I teared up just knowing that I would see my mom soon! Doesn't matter how old you are, your mom is still and will always be your mom. I haven't seen her in 8 months, and needless to say I sobbed, unashamedly might I add, at the airport when she FINALLY appeared. Mom fell asleep at 9pm last night, and its noon and she's still in bed. Might go wake her up soon and see if she's ok. We have lots planned. Today is a gorgeous day, the sun is shining and its relatively warm. Think we'll take Cassie and go for a drive along the shore and maybe even an ice-cream :) 


Cassie update: She's doing well, and growing quickly. After a week, she only cries for the first 10 minutes after we put her to bed, and then sleeps all night long, so we have made lots of progress.

not a happy pup after her shot and being microchipped - she travels well though, always falls asleep in the car

she seems to like to sleep under things...

fast asleep on her back

playing with her daddy before he went to work this morning

Thank you for my new toy Auntie Robs, Uncle Andel and Zac

the collie coming out in her - this is her favourite spot to 'sheep-watch'

Barry's birthday and 1st place

I have been baking since Thursday! What a crazy weekend. I started Barry's birthday cake on Friday, and I encountered MANY technical challenges. I decided to decorated the cube in dark chocolate ganache, and dyed it black (took 4 bottles of black to colour it). what I should've done was use white chocolate and colour it. Also, someone suggested freezing the cake before putting on the ganache, so when the cake thawed, all the squares started to fall off. AND the cake you see wasn't the original cake, but the off cuts. had many heart-stopping moments with this one, but I learnt alot in the process. Its not perfect, but it was delicious :)

Then of course there was more cake drama in the car when we swerved to avoid a dog (Bless Karl's heart!) and because the squares kept slipping! But we got it there in one piece, even if it wasn't perfect! Barry thought he was meeting Harps for a nice, quiet, romantic dinner, but instead he got all 7 of us! We went to Christina's and Mark's after for cocktails and a boardgame called smartass - loads of fun!

birthday boy

On Friday night I decided to test a red velvet cupcake recipe for a cupcake competition my MIL entered me for. The first batch flopped because Sinead's scale was wonky and we didn't put in enough flour (thats my story and i'm sticking to it!). So after an afternoon of horse-riding lessons, failed cupcakes and a dinner of ribs and burgers with Karl, Sinead and Hugh. I rushed home to find a new recipe and tried again. They came out perfectly!

I went for a pink, silver, white and creamish(?!) theme for the competition.

And.... i won!!!! :D

doesn't that look like a military medal? lol! just saying...

Then yesterday, even though I was as sick as a dog, my boss's partner asked me (and paid me) to bake him a cake for today (his birthday). 

lemon drizzle cake and coffee and walnut cupcakes for my boss

So now I am all-baked out until Friday, when i have another birthday cake (on order!) to bake and decorate.

This really wasn't intended as a baking blog, but it seems to be turning into one. i will try add some more diversity over the next few weeks... promise.

PS. Our architect (yes, we have an architect - lol!) has drawn up a very rough outline of what we want for the house. We have to put up a temporary fence around the property for when the planners come around to ok everything, so this weekend I'll be learning a different skill: putting up sheep fences! I am really turning into a country wife!

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 :)

Mini-break

At 5:15am on Wednesday morning, my alarm awoke me quite rudely! I had a plane to catch. Rushed around getting the last minute things packed, had breakfast, and Karl drove me to the airport. I landed in Newcastle at 9:20am and was met by Clare and her hubby, Simon. We headed into Newcastle for a day of exploring. Newcastle is pretty, and we spent some time in the Baltic museum and had something to eat there.

see the seagulls in their nests - just outside the Baltic

 We went to one of the biggest malls in the UK, the Metrocentre, to watch Men in Black 3 at the IMAX in 3D. It was awesome and funny (especially when Clare literally ducked in the cinema!). I think we were all exhausted after all the action in the movie, and we headed home (about an hour long drive from Newcastle). We decided to braai for supper and Simon made delicious lamb burgers and Clare and I made a milktart (it had too much cinnamon in it though)

After dinner, we sat around and chatted (and ate milktart) and finally called it a night. I slept like a baby after being awake since 5:15am.

On Thursday, we had a pretty slow start to the day, but finally headed out to York. York is supposed to be a very beatiful place, and Phil lived there for most of his time when he was in the UK. It was nice to stroll along. There was still a festive buzz in the air. Lots of street performers and crowds, and of course tourists. We stopped off at a market in Kings Square (I think!?) and had delicious springbok burgers from a SA stall.

Clare enjoying her burger

I loved York, and can see why people rave about it. I look forward to visiting again, with my husband. I was in bed and asleep at 9:15pm, because I had to wake up at 5:20 the next morning to catch 5 trains to the Bellis-Jones'.

I woke up feeling fine actually, probably because I slept for about 8 hours. My first train was at 6:15am and I finally pulled into Chester train station at 12:40, exhausted. But it was so nice to see Martheanne and Jenny, and to finally meet my goddaughter, Keira Lilly. 

Ryan and Rox with their babies

Friday night was spent catching up with all the Bellis-Jones' and the Burton family, and I finally got to meet Jaden. He is the sweetest little boy ever, so lovable and he has the cutest smile. 

balancing act :D

On Saturday, after a bit of a lie in, I decided to get Keira's cake sorted. It was actually alot of fun, even though my back really hurt after bending down all day. Side note: Joanne and I are starting a 3 month cake decorating course in Ballymena in September, we are really looking forward to it!

On Saturday evening, Martin's brother and his family arrived and we all went out for dinner. I had a delicious streak in a blue cheese sauce and a glass or 3 of red wine. When we got home, I whipped out my famous pub quiz and we had a really good evening.

Keira and I all dressed up and ready to go out for dinner. 

We all got out of bed at around 6am on Sunday morning to prepare the food for the christneing that day, We prepared sandwiches and cold meats and salads etc. We thought we would be running around all morning, but by 9:30am, all the preparations had been completed. All we had to do was sit around and wait til noon when the hall was ready. So I disappeared to put Keira, and myself apparently, to sleep.

 

 Martheanne and I set out the food in the hall, and she decorated it, and then we headed off to the chapel for Keira's christening, followed by a buffet lunch with about 80 adults and 30 children.

Beautiful Keira Lilly

I miss them all already.

I think we left that hall at around 7pm or so and headed home. We sat around and chatted about Oranjemund and old times, and people we havent heard from or about in a long time, and we also had a few (too many) cosmopolitans. I had such a good time with the BJs, it was a slice of home for me, and I think I needed that desperately. They all headed off to the Lake District yesterday after they dropped me off at the airport. They tried to convince me to go with them, but I reminded them that I have a job AND a husband to get back to. 

I'm just relaxing and taking it easy today. Reading, unpacking and eating :D. I'm feeling refreshed and happy. Its back to work tomorrow, and I have a deadline for the end of June that I don't think I'll meet, but I'll try anyway.