Clarification

I thought I should admit that what I was referring to in a previous post as "Irish Mother's Day" is just the standard Mother's Day celebrated in March, rather than May as in the US. Mother's Day is celebrated in March in most of Europe, I think. It isn't, as I wouldn't blame you for assuming, a holiday for IRISH mothers. (or, Irish mammies, as shown in the picture.) Although that would be a fine thing, wouldn't it? In case you were not aware, Irish mothers are a separate breed from other mothers. Irish moms (or, mums. or mammies for that matter) will do things like steal their son's girlfriend's makeup (so that the girlfriend will be on her back foot, not necessarily because she wants it for herself), be offended by Jane's Addiction album covers, and rear sons who do not know how to operate washing machines, dishwashers, or vacuum cleaners.

If you are dating an Irish man, ladies, this could make you run for the hills - but don't worry, if you can produce one healthy breathing grandchild, you actually supplant your husband on the hierarchy and you will have your grapes peeled for you.

Watch out for your new Clarins moisturiser though.

oh, honey

I am currently in "health limbo", a vaguely ominous state. The baby had gastroenteritis on Monday, throwing up all over me copiously three times in the process. I had to change my entire outfit, including underwear - it was that bad. Also, at the best of times, the child does things like try to eat my nose. I'm like a petri dish of his germs. So I am going around now just WAITING to get sick. I've felt a bit miserable for days, as if about to get the flu. Headache, achiness, vague nausea...you get the picture.

Soooo, I have been plying myself with echinacea and high-strength Manuka honey. Have you heard of the latter? Apparently this is nature's latest gift to our health and well-being. It cures pretty much everything, including acne and burns, so I mix it into my daughter's cereal every day and use it to make green tea more palatable. After some Googling I learned that it can treat gastroenteritis as well! Holy smokes!... But, the key word here is Treat - i.e. not Prevent. Dang. But I have hope. I am also currently trying to meditate the gastroenteritis away every night. (Bet you didn't know that was possible, either.)

Irish Mother's Day

...was today. I got: coffee and a banana in bed and a very large brunch made by my husband consisting of: huge spinach omelette, toast, doughnuts, orange juice and champagne. I was pretty full, I can tell ya. In the afternoon I took my little girl on a rare outing without the baby to meet her granny for tea and cake in Harvey Nichols' cafe and a poke around the shopping mall. There were a lot of moms with screaming youngsters in the mall, but there wasn't much evidence of moms being taken out to lunch as far as I could see. Weirdly, yesterday was St. Patrick's Day, which is a pretty big deal around here (this being Ireland.) We even have a 3 day weekend for it. I suspect the integrity of Mother's Day may be eroded by the mad Paddy's Day festivities occurring just before it. Lunch with your mom isn't really what you want to do the day after you've been drunk and reeling in the streets...

Well. In fairness I have never bothered to go to the parade, or anything else connected with the day. For one thing, like magic, spring always turns back into Arctic winter during St. Patrick's Day (it snowed today). For another, when are parades really worth it? You can watch em on TV if you're that interested. For the party crowd though, I'd say there's a lot of craic in the pubs and nightclubs on the night. All week long on Dublin talk radio, people were going on about it being "an excuse for drinking" and bemoaning Ireland's place at the top of the leader boards for binge drinking. Especially female binge drinking. Apparently it's just my generation that started drinking pints of Guinness (we used to only be allowed a little glass) and some people are still shocked by that.

I don't drink Guinness too often myself. Every time someone gets pregnant though, a friend will certainly buy her a glass of it - apparently doctors admonished the generation before us to be sure and drink a bottle of Guinness a day. I think this could have been a marketing ploy by Guinness to ensure a whole generation of people would be born with a taste for the black stuff..

spoiled?

or, spoilt? Can a child be spoilt, or just egg custard?

Yes, this discussion has been coming for some time, but it appears that my 4 year old is really now officially spoiled(t). It is very hard to impress her; and she now makes day-to-day things difficult, as she deems it a huge chore to a) take a bath! b) eat a meal! or c) put away her shoes! It is really making life less enjoyable around here. Lately I've been concerned that the 9 month old arrival of her brother has been affecting her badly and I should give her extra tlc - and the net result is that she is ever more demanding. You can't please her. (for long.) What used to be a huge treat - i.e. an ice cream sundae - lasts as long as it takes her to eat it. It depresses me.

Do I need to go backward and stop allowing such things for a while? Maybe I should read the next range of child raising books. I'm not looking for reassurance here - as in, 'it's just a phase', as I have given up that ghost - but if you have any advice I'd gladly hear it.

Lemon-roasted chicken

Just a quick detour from mom central to share my latest culinary excitement: lemon-roasted chicken. I first tried this when I had a few leftovers from a lemon tart I baked for my mother-in-law's 59th birthday; had chicken - had loads of lemons - stuffed chicken with cut lemon halves and handful of parsley, and prepared a rub of lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and lemon peel. It was so good I had to try it again - and sure enough, I think I have cracked roasting chickens. The neat thing is, despite all that citrus, the chicken does not really taste lemony. It just tastes moist, and really good. Even the gravy comes out brilliantly. All you get is a slight tartness, which really works with the chicken. I have a funny feeling this may be something that everybody who cooks already knows?

I'm nowhere near as thorough as one man's ceiling about food things, but I enjoy reading that blog so much that I reckoned I'd share the lemon chicken concept. If you still eat chicken that is. The horrors of chicken farming could scare a lot of people, including me. I try to buy chicken responsibly, looking for organic or at least free range. I hear that these classifications can be dodgy too, though - but that's another blog to be writing...

great buns

Finally, someone had the sense to import food coloring PENS to Ireland - with quasi-appetizing results at my house.

K was ready to eat them, anyway.

end of weekend

so, it's Sunday night I am in end of weekend mode. I'm tired. Having to cook three meals a day for three different palates (baby, 4 year old and husband) is tiring in itself, not to mention all the other things that go on when there is no school!...

We went over to a bachelor pal of my husband's for dinner, which was an adventure - the baby got really dirty from crawling on the floor, and we had a curious dinner of chicken, rice and potatoes cooked by the new girlfriend. She said they were up late and got up only an hour before they had us to dinner. Mm-hm. They also served technicolor cheese for a final course.

In fairness, I ate it all, with gusto. Sod the lack of vegetables.