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Sep 21 2011

Am I raising food snobs?

Posted by WiseMóna

48 Comments

in Kids

A word of caution before you scroll down to read. This blog post is a ‘Móna on her soapbox’ kind of blog post so if you are not in the mood to listen to me blather on about trying to change the way people eat and feed their kids, now is the time to bail. Before you look at all the photos.

Rory Belle – aged 3

Yes. To answer my own question. I am raising food snobs. I know it, you know, and hopefully lots of people using Google as their search engine seeking information on ‘food’ or ‘snobs’ will know it very soon.

This is the risk we take every day as we expose the children to all things food and fun.

So, how does a parent then deal with a child who has been chastised for having smelly sandwiches? Well that one is easy. You chastise the child even further and tell them it is their own fault for bringing a tuna and hard boiled egg sandwich for lunch.

Making peace with her dinner…

Ok. No. Maybe you do not chastise the child. That seems a little harsh. Try explaining to the child that a lot of children today do not get exposed to food like tuna (?) or eggs (?) and they are a little clueless when it comes to what real food tastes like because they are fed a diet of chicken nuggets and pizza.

OK – stop right there. Never. Ever. Ever say things like this to your child because your child will deffinelty go to school the next day and say ‘My Mum said you were de-sensitive and have no idea what real food tastes like’ and then you will have to leave the country, again, for fear of an Irish Mammies retaliation.

Ham & egg sandwich

But, isn’t it a little bit true? Aren’t there a whole bunch of lunch boxes out there with the same stodgy white bread and ham we all ate when we were kids? Aren’t parents strapped for time and money now, more than ever, so the quick and cheap method of throwing a lunch together happens all the more frequently as opposed to the healthy and nutritious option.

Waiting with baited breath for this to come out of the oven

I decided the best approach for our daughter, in dealing with her lunch time companion, was to let her deal with it herself. I told her that this was something she could handle by herself, in her own way. To remember to keep cool and explain her lunch choices to her dining companions and all would be fine.

Easy peasy. Chop chop!

Hearing “Mom, where’s your fancy chopping knife’ was not what I thought I would hear next.

She decided to make one of her favourite lunches, bring it to school, and offer to share it with her friend.

What's in your lunchbox?

Egg salad with gremolata. For those of you that have never tried gremolata it is easy.

Raw garlic and parsley chopped, mixed with olive, oil, salt and pepper. Dip your bread in it. Lovely. Rory likes to make her egg salad with this, because she doesn’t care for mayonnaise, like her Mama.

Our salad queen. Rory Belle.

Because my kids are all adopted and fostered, there are always going to be those moments where I wonder how different would it have been if she had my genes.

Then, there are moments like this, when I realise that it is possible that environment has a lot to do with the way you shape a child.

Rory made the choice to educate the palate of a picky child. After being chastised for bring in a smelly sandwich to school, she decided to do exactly what I would have done. Bring in something smellier.

The apple has not fallen far from the tree at all.

Those are all the WiseWords I have for today,

WiseMóna

Jul 10 2011

Caramel Popcorn Balls

Posted by WiseMóna

14 Comments

in Kids

How do you keep ten kids — under the age of ten — occupied for a weekend. Ah, you don’t. They keep you occupied for the weekend!

Air popped corn

The house started to fill up close to lunchtime. Littler ones weaved in and out of larger ones leg space and larger ones wrangled their ways out of littler ones ways.

Ferocious appetites of all ten children silenced the house for all of ten seconds. No time for seconds. Outside. Play. Squeal. Run. Bikes. Animals. Fun. With the understanding that the only reason they could come back in was to use the toilet or ‘if there was blood’.

Tuna Salad makes for a vanishing lunch

Some of the (smarter) grown ups took of to visit friends and babies, others needed to have a little rest before we started getting into dinner mode and the remaining hard core units decided to crack open a few beers and come up with a cracking dessert for the children, who let’s face it, just do not have enough sugar in their lives.

The Chef is addicted to Poppycock. Now, you cannot get Poppycock on the island so I have managed to break him of this habit because he just cannot buy it anymore.

One would like to think that would be enough to stop him, but of course, it is not. He always finds a way to get what he wants.

I do not remember where this recipe came from. The internet somewhere? Maybe even a compilation of three or four recipes. All I remember about it is that it is (a) excellent (b) very messy and (c) addictive. Good luck. Our support group meets weekly on Wednesdays to discuss our addictions.

Wise Cracking Candied Corn

10 cups of freshly popped popcorn (Kelkin natural)
1 cup of sugar in the raw
6 Tbsp butter
¼ cup of golden syrup (corn syrup)
¼ tsp. salt
½ tsp. baking soda
4 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp cayenne pepper
2 cups of mixed nuts, toasted. We used cashews, almonds and pecans.
A few Tbsp water

Before you get started, it is best to not make this a kid-friendly project. The caramel gets too hot (dangerously so) for the kids to be involved. It is so much better if you make them some regular popcorn and let them snack on it outside and they will be none the wiser of your your efforts till after dinner and the squeals of glee will be worth all the secrecy.

Method madness

Toast the nuts in the oven on a high heat. This will not take long. Do not forget about them as they (esp. the pecans) burn easily.

Cashews, Pecans, Almonds. Use whatever you like.

Assemble all your ingredients. This moves along at a wicked fast pace once you get cracking so be ready!

My brother. Carefully assembling the ingredients.

You will need a large pot for making the caramel. You can also use this to mix the popcorn in later. Caramel is a bitch to clean up. You will thank me for this tip.

Place the brown sugar, golden syrup, butter, salt, and 2 tablespoons of water in the large pot and whisk all ingredients together until simmering on a medium heat.

A mountain of popped corn

Continue to simmer, whisking often, until the mixture reads 250°F on a candy thermometer, about 3 to 4 minutes.

All toasted and smashed up a bit with a rolling pin.

If you are like us, and do not have a candy thermometer, then get familiar with the term ‘hard crack’ and ‘soft crack’. I know some of you readers out there are letting your mind be trawled through the gutter. This is food porn people. Keep it clean!

As the caramel is simmering, get a cup of cold water. Allow a few drops of the caramel to drip lazily from the stirring spoon into the cup of water and give it a few seconds to sink to the bottom of the cup. Try to fish it out with your fingers. If it is soft and slimy it is not ready. If it is hard to touch, eat it, and if it sticks to your teeth – voila, caramel is ready. This is how old the Chef is. He was around before candy thermometers were invented. Fact.

What is 'hard crack'?

In order to get through the rest of the steps you need to move fast. Put down the beer and use both hands.

Remove the pan from the heat, and whisk in the cayenne, vanilla and baking soda. Immediately pour popcorn (in batches) into pot with the caramel sauce and start to mix. We used a silicone spatula. Try to spread it out as evenly as possible.

A gooey mess……finger-licking good.

Now, add all the nuts and then pour out on to a parchment lined baking sheet. You can leave it to cool now and eat it once it has hardened. If you are lazy that is.

What you should really do is make an extra effort for a better (longer lasting) batch.

Bake the whole mess for an hour. Every 15 minutes open the oven and give it a stir. This helps coat the popcorn better.

When you remove it from the oven, you need to let it cool for at least a half hour and then you can break it up and start eating it. OR before it has had a chance to cool, you can grease your palms with butter and make cute little (controlled sugar for kids) popcorn balls that everyone is going to want to eat.

A very tasty treat….

This keeps well in cute mason jars or old biscuit tins for a few weeks.

That is a big fat lie. There usually is none left by the end of the evening.

The most beautiful loaves for our supper…….French Dip Divine.

I know that this photo of bread does not belong in this blog post, but it was just so gorgeous and got almost no attention yesterday when it popped out of the oven because the popcorn stole all the attention. So, I am just giving it a few minutes of fame right here on the blog. It might have been his best loaf ever.

Right now there are ten hungry kids crazy for coco-pops and a gracious granny waiting at the ready to take them all to mass so I must run, but you seriously need to give this a try!

Those are all the WiseWords I have for today.

WiseMóna

Jun 19 2011

Will he make a good Daddy?

Posted by WiseMóna

11 Comments

in Kids

Little 'Love' carrots from the garden

Have you met the man of your dreams? Have you been schackled to the sink, barefoot and pregnant, and now find yourself staring out the window asking yourself this question?

Did it ever cross your mind during the rush of first loves fury, through those hours, days and weeks of dating desires, that he may not even want kids?

Were you forced to talk it out in ‘pre-cana’ class? Did you lay your cards on the table before you, well, got laid? Did you review if (or when) there would be children in your lives. Did you discuss who would work and earn money or who would stay home to ~~be the slave~~ parent and spend all said hard earned money?

Were you all that organised? Kudos to you.

I am still just winging it.

He told me he wanted kids that first night I got him drunk. He’s older than me (by a million years) and was already feeling his paternal clock ticking loudly. I liked the idea of having a few little crumb catchers but was certainly in no hurry to start a family. We had dogs. It was enough responsibility.

Poppy seed loaf ready to bake

Of all the questions I had, and I had many, the one question that neveh eveh popped into my mind, was whether or not he would be a good Dad.

He had some pretty shitty role models. His childhood was far from idyllic. He was open (but solemn) about how he had been raised. Maybe because of this, I felt he would know what ‘not to do’. I don’t know.

I just knew.

When I woke up this morning, I wanted, more than anything to write a funny blog post ripping him to pieces for all his goofball ways. I wanted to write up a saucy recipe, and take a few snappy shots and weave in and out of words, the love I have for this man, who is now ‘Daddy’ to a growing brood of children who call us ‘Mom & Dad’.

But words avoided me all day. I could not pull a syllable from the sky to save my life.

The last batch of spring carrots. All blanched and bundled in the freezer.

From the minute he got up this morning he has catered to the needs of his children (and increasingly high maintenance Wife) all day long.

“Daddy, will you make us pancakes please”. Yes.

“Daddy will you take us to the village market please”. Yes.

Daddy this and Daddy that, all day long. He should have been all Daddied out. He should have wanted to take a break and kick back and enjoy the day of ‘rest’ he has earned.

Instead, it was just like any other Sunday. He did some gardening, because the weeds were taking over. He baked sandwich loaves for the week because the kids prefer his bread for their lunches.

Butter glazed egg bread rolls

And when it was time for tea this evening he made my favourite dinner to celebrate his day.

What do you get a guy who already has it all? How do you let him know that he is everything you hoped for, and more?

Granny made a Chocolate Swissroll for the Chef.

Well, my Mum decided to ~~kiss-ass~~ be a real doting mother-in-law and made him a gorgeous chocolate swissroll. That was the icing on his cake today. Plates licked clean.

I, on the other hand just got him something shiny and red.

And just to keep it real for all you foodie-folks who might be thinking ‘aw, what a nice present’, the life of being married to a ~~royal-pain-in-the-high-maintenance-egotistical-ass~~ Chef is not all fun and frolics. The first thing out of his mouth was ‘you know, honey, this is not the commercial Kitchenaid and I will probably burn out the motor on this one in a year’.

For the love of God. You just cannot please everyone!

Those are all the WiseWords I have for today.

WiseMóna

Apr 27 2011

What to do with left-over Easter Eggs

Posted by WiseMóna

4 Comments

in Kids

As a mother, I am amazed daily at the creativeness of my children. Our daughter (age 7) is a bona-fide chocoholic like her father and has figured out how to plant a chocolate seed in her Dad’s brain and has only to wait a matter of seconds before he caters to her every whim. I cannot wait till she is a teenager.

Although we did not buy ONE Easter egg this year for the kids, we were inundated by the kindness of neighbours and friends. When all added up we had 29 Easter Eggs. A little excessive dontcha think? We donated half their bounty to the Children’s unit at the hospital here in Galway. We then tried to give a few more away to our Easter dinner guests and still, we were left with, eh, leftovers?

So, daughter dear thought it time to dig out her Daddy’s recipe for fudge. He makes it at work (weekly) but never brings it home because I do not eat chocolate and it is just too rich for the kids.

Then she got everything ready for him and even set the camera up on the tripod for me. So, most of the credit due here is to the seven-year old chocolate addict.

Ronnie’s Fudge

(Small batch recipe. We multiplied this by 4)

4 tbsp unsalted butter (we used salted)

3 cups marshmallows

1 cup of sugar

1/2 cup heavy/double cream

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

12 ounces chocolate (best semi-sweet valrhona/callebeaut)

Melt the butter, cream and sugar in a large pot.

Add the marshmallows and keep stirring until they melt in. Do not let this mixture burn.

Add in your chocolate(s). We melted down all our Easter eggs and also used dark (Callebaut) chocolate chips. Add your vanilla too.

Once you add in the chocolate(s) you need to really start stirring the mix well.

Use a balloon whisk to incorporate it well.

Once you have an even colour all round then take it off the heat.

Either grease a sheet pan really well or use a non-stick baking sheet that is ‘too big’ for your sheet pan. This will stick like glue to the pan if you are not careful.

Spread it out evenly in the pan and put it in to the fridge to cool for one hour or more if you can wait that long.

Do the dishes. Do not argue with anyone that might have made the huge mess.

Slice the fudge into long slender rows and chop into bite size pieces. Wrap the rest of it (long rows) in butcher paper or parchment paper and freeze it. It will keep for forever in the freezer or until the kids find it.

Now go find those Easter eggs and get busy!

WiseMóna

Nov 15 2010

Is it really too early to start the festivities?

Posted by WiseMóna

2 Comments

in Gingerbread house recipe, Kids

I am pretty sure it is too soon. I know that Thanksgiving has not even happened across the pond in America, and here I am pushing Gingerbread House ideas in to your kitchens in the hopes that a few of you will give it a whirl. I know this looks intimidating, but trust me, it is relatively easy to bake and make.

So, to get started, draw a template. We have used different ones over the years an if you just do a bit of digging around on the internet, you will find a gazillion different templates. If this is your first time, then keep it simple and make sure you are very accurate in your measuring.

Next – Make your Gingerbread on a Friday evening, and leave it to chill overnight.

Here is our recipe, and it really does taste YUMMY. It dries rock hard like gingernut/snap cookies and the kids fought over it last year, right down to the last crumb.

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Gingerbread House

6 cups of cream/all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp baking powder

4 tsp ground ginger

4 tsp ground cinnamon

1 ½ tsp ground cloves

1 tsp finely ground black pepper

1 cup dark brown (moist) sugar

1 ½ tsp salt

1 ½ cups of treacle (or molasses)

2 large eggs

1 cup unsalted butter

Directions

Sieve together the flour, baking soda and baking powder.

In a separate bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar until fluffy.

Mix in spices and salt, then beat in eggs and treacle. Use an electric mixer.

Add your flour mixture and mix on low speed until it is mixed in well.

Divide the mix into three parts. Wrap in cling film and chill for at least one hour.

This is imperative. The gluten needs to rest before rolling it out and it is easier to work with a

‘cold’ dough as it holds its shape better. We chilled ours overnight.

Heat your oven to 240 degrees celsius.

Roll out the dough (on a floured surface) to 1/8 inch thick.

Cut into desired shape. Place your dough shapes on un-greased baking sheets.

Chill gain until firm. (At least 15 mins)

Bake until Gingerbread is firm in the center but NOT dark around the edges. (15 – 20 mins).

(Sometimes, when one should be ‘watching’ the Gingerbread, one might get distracted

and even forget that this is in the oven. It is possible that the GIngerbread might even burn.

Fear not, if this happens. Once it is fully baked, you can take it out of the oven and scrape it off

before any husbands might see it, or smell it. Amazingly, it still tastes good! Or, so I have heard)

Whilst you are waiting for this to bake, start sorting thorough your candy stash and figure out

what you need to get for your decorating the next day.

Remember, candy canes, and red and green M&M’s are a must, but if you are creative, and I know you all are,

you do what we do and use up all that left over halloween candy!

Now to stick it all together. OK, before I give you this recipe, I know you can buy royal icing in a bag and ‘just add water’, so if you want to do that, go ahead. I just want you to know, that if you make your own you will have a lot more fun because it has an amazing taste and texture, and it is great to work with. There is going to be some finger licking going on. Also, if you do not get finished (like ours is not done yet!) then the icing/glue will stay in the fridge for a few days. Great stuff and you can dye it different colours too!

The Glue

3 egg whites

1lb powdered/icing sugar

A pinch of cream of tartar

5 drops lemon juice

Mix together and spoon into a piping bag with interchangeable pipping nozzles.

Ok. So, you are baked (well your gingerbread is, right?) and ready to go. Now, find some canned tomatoes or FULL coke/beer cans to use as props. Remember, as you start to assemble the four walls of your house, that once glued, you will not be able to move your house. SO, put it on a tray or cutting board that you will NOT NEED on Christmas Day to carve the Turkey. Otherwise, you might be getting a new cutting board in your Christmas stocking for forgetting that important fact.

You really need the emotional and physical support of a partner or friend for this part. Although you may end up doing nothing except ‘stand there and look pretty’ you are on hand incase the walls fall down around you. If you have taken care to measure your template carefully and then have cut out your dough according to the measurements, and you have baked everything on a nice FLAT baking sheet pan (not a wonky old warped one), then all will fit together like it is supposed to. If it is warped, you can wrap it in a warm damp tea towel, let it soften a little and wait till tomorrow to try again after it has dried and hardened.

Glue the interior wall joints and the exterior wall joints. Also run a nice thick line of the icing/glue around the exterior and interior base lines.

It is best if you wait for several hours before you try to ‘roof it’. We use a nice large roof, for the desired effect, and needed to prop it up on both sides with large coffee mugs to hold it in place for a few hours. The icing/glue mix is great though and we were able to start decorating much faster than expected. If you are planning on doing this project with your kids, it really is best to try to do these few steps when they are in bed. Less stress for everyone.

Now, let the fun begin. Of course, you need some REDs and GREENS. So, the large Christmas Peanut M & M’s are in the shops right now – go get some! Everything else we used was just leftover halloween sweets. We cut up a lot of stuff to get the look we were after, and we still have some work to go on it, because I have to get some RED licorice and a few other sweeties to finish it off.

Once you start decorating, it could take as little as a few hours to get it finished and ready for display, or it might take a little longer if you let ~~adult friends that have never had the experience~~ the kids dive in.

Either way, this is a very very inexpensive activity for the whole family to do together. Not to mention it will also be an awesome conversation piece for all your friends and family to see when they stop by to bring you tidings of good joy over the Holiday Season. Next weekend we are making Gingerbread people to use as decorations on the Christmas Tree – stay tuned.

It is just FORTY days till Christmas. The whole year has slipped by us in the blink of an eye. I think I have been fighting the Christmas Spirit for way too long now, mostly due to the fact, eleven years ago, that my Dad was buried Christmas Eve. I finally feel like that weight has lifted, and I think this is mostly due to the fact that our house is filled with screaming-kid-chaos and I no longer have time to dwell on my own misery, but have to put their happiness first.

There is a very cool Continental Christmas Market coming to Galway (starting this weekend!) for the next month and I hope lots of you will come to do your Christmas shopping here and stop in for some egg nog and tasty treats at our place when you are done!

Those are all the WiseWords I have for today as I have successfully managed to avoid at all costs another evening of homework and study for my pending exams!

WiseMóna

PS – if anyone wants the Gingerbread recipe emailed to them just email me here or find me on Facebook!

Aug 28 2010

Letting go of Bunny-Love n’ summer

Posted by WiseMóna

1 Comment

in Family life in Ireland, Kids

My lovely white duck Grace delivers me

a beautiful blue duck egg every morning.

Well, it is finally here. I have come to the end of a four month long hiatus from University life and ‘Móna-Mom and Móna-Wife’ have officially left the homestead and ‘Móna-Student’ (aka mean raving bitch) has returned to roost in the Wise Homestead for the next eight months.

Try as I might I just could not get all four kids ‘clothed and booked’ for back-to-school blissfully. I had to get all worked up in a dither, run around at the last minute looking for books they will not use until November and buy a few extra shirts and ties for their uniforms just in-case they lost one. I am a martyr. I needed to put myself through all of this and make it seem like I was dying from stress so my Mother (hi Mum) and hubby (ha ha – like he will ever read something on the internet) would feel a little empathy towards me before I leave them to care for my children for what seems like an eternity.

I know I am not LEAVING per-se, but on September 6th when I return to the books I do step away from being the primary caregiver of everyone here at the homestead. The Chef has already stressed the *dislike* button a few times over the last few weeks because, quite frankly, he likes having a wife at home doing all the wifey jobs. And whilst we are all being frank, I LIKE being the wifey at home doing all the jobs.

He also knows that I live and die for my college classes. I am entering into second year of a four year degree course, with hopes to continue and get my Masters in Writing write after that, so it might seem a little endless this schedule of mine.

He is ready, with the helping hands and heart of my Mum, to take on the kids. He is waiting in the wings as we speak to get stuck in with drop off’s and pick ups and school bags and lunch boxes and most importantly (for me anyway) dinner and grocery shopping. I have done most of the cooking for the summer and although I do not hate cooking at all, I will be glad that I do not have to do anything but the dishes for the next several months.

On a sadder note (and I am trying to not let this get the better of me) we lost our little Bunny Bob last night. When I say ‘lost’ I do not mean he went missing, I mean he is dead.

He is a bit of an escape artist and being a dwarf bunny with seemingly very few bones he was able to dig and squeeze through unbelievably small openings. He also chewed like a trooper to get through whatever he wanted. After reinforcing (and reinforcing) his little home area several times over the last few months we lost the battle last night. When I awoke this morning I found his cold little body out back near the polytunnel. He was unmarked, so no foul play is suspected.

Of course breaking news like this to veterinarian-girl-in-waiting was not easy as she is rather attached to all our animals, and I hated that this was the news I had to give her a few days before school. However, she handled it as well as can be expected. Remains will be buried along side his brother Leo (who passed away the day we brought him home) later today. Donations of hugs can be delivered to Rory-Belle if you can figure out a way to do that via the internet.

Those are all the WiseWords I have for this morning as we brace ourselves for the back-to-school mayhem that awaits us on Monday!

WiseMóna

Apr 17 2010

Which came first the Chicken or the Duck?

Posted by WiseMóna

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in Kids

Being married to my husband is never dull. To be honest, as the years trickle into decades I find myself constantly wondering what the hell is going on behind those smiling eyes of my handsome Chef. There was never a doubt in my mind that he would make a good Dad. He is forever doing all those kind of creative projects that I hate doing.

One of the more recent projects we have been working is the new abode for all our feathered friends. To date we have only six…

‘The Simpsons’

Bart, Maggie and Lisa

Horny Henry (aptly named)

Henrietta and Grace

My husband likes animals. Other than having an allergy to cats he would fill the house with little furry creatures were he to have his way. We have an understanding that as long as it lives outdoors, he can have it. Needless to say these birds bring us endless hours of fun and a fresh supply of eggs.

The children love the hens and ducks. They spend a lot of time walking around the garden with one each under their arms, chatting away to them and helping them find big fat garden slugs.

I just sit back and take it all in.

To be happy and content with life is a very great place to be. How lucky are we!

Those are all the WiseWords I have for this sunny spring evening,

WiseMóna

Apr 10 2010

Family Fun at Dublin Zoo

Posted by WiseMóna

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in Family life in Ireland, Kids

Visit their website here!

Sometimes I feel like a sloth. Most likely, it is because I am consumed with student life instead of normal life and just try to keep my head buried in the books to stay afloat.

With Easter Break nearing an end here in Galway and everyone returning to work and school next week, the Chef and I decided to take a run up to the Dublin Zoo yesterday with the kids. Once again folks you will notice from the pictures how beautiful the weather in Ireland really is.

Getting out the door and on the road can sometimes take a little longer than expected when you have a few kids. I had planned on being on the road at 7am to get to Dublin Zoo right at 9:30am when the zoo opened. To beat the heat of the day (yeah!) and the crowds. I knew that we were not the only family planning to use up that last ‘day’ of Easter holidays to the fullest. Sometimes things do not go according to plan. I dealt with it.

We have a new road that takes us all the way to Dublin in less than two hours. This may still seem like quite a haul just to go to the zoo – but Dublin used to be a 3 hour car ride away. With no traffic on the road we lined up for tickets at the Zoo gate at 9:45am. One hour and 45 minutes after leaving our home in Galway. No speeding tickets either!

Dublin Zoo is one of the oldest Zoo’s in the world. Opened in 1831 you can still see (above) the original entrance lodge which was built for just 30 Irish pounds back then. If you are interested in reading all about the history of Dublin Zoo then click here!

Situated in Phoenix Park in Dublin the Zoo occupies a hundred acres of land and is nicely laid out. The animals have an abundance of space to roam about and for the most part you do not feel like you are looking at caged animals. Considering the last time I was in Dublin Zoo was over twenty five years ago, I was rather impressed with the over all look and feel of the place. It reminded me a lot of the Zoo in Zurich.

In some cases, we got a little too close for (my) comfort with the larger animals. It did not seem to bother the kids at all. Thank God for protective glass!

For the kids, the mark of a good Zoo depends heavily on two things. (1) The Playground and how long they get to ‘play’ and (2) the availability of ice-cream, bottled water and toilets on every corner.

They do not look too miserable, so I would say Dublin Zoo scored an ‘alright’ from the terrible two!

Not to be outshone by his Children, the Chef likes to score the zoo’s he visits and he really liked this one. The vegetative growth in Phoenix park is quite spectacular and as Spring is in full bloom right now, it was like walking around in the botanical gardens.

More later on where we lunched in Dublin!

Those are all the WiseWords I have for today!

WiseMóna

Apr 4 2010

Wanna lick of that?

Posted by WiseMóna

4 Comments

in Kids

I do not like chocolate. To be honest, I do not like most things that are ‘sweet’. That has not, however, stopped my husband from trying to convert me to the dark side, for almost fifteen years now. Growing up, Easter was filled with mostly church-going business and the popular Cadburys Creme Egg. I actually hate those eggs. Nothing worse than tasting something so artificially created.

Thankfully, the kids have developed strange (but good) tastes for the sweeter side of life. As soon as Rory could walk, she used to sneak down to the (restaurant) kitchen and help herself to ‘breffuzz’.

Her ‘breffuzz’ consisted of a nice big slab of Ron’s bread pudding ladled with homemade caramel sauce or black magic dark chocolate cake smothered with chocolate fudge sauce. Control freak that I am, one would think that I would have ‘padlocked the fridge’ but I figured it was all homemade good-stuff, made by her Daddy, so it could not be too bad for her.

What I did not know is that I was enabling a chocolate monster. And although not genetically bound, she sooooooo takes after her Daddy.

You see, my handsome Chef is a confirmed chocaholic. We can call him a chocolate snob actually. He will not compromise and use shwag chocolate when he is creating a devine desert. When we lived in America he used a French chocolate called Valrhona. He used it for 25 years. When we moved closer to the source he started using another French chocolate called Callebaut. Apparently the French know what they are doing when it comes to Chocolate, wine and cheese!

So, what do you get a Chef for Easter when you know you are dealing with a chocolate snob??

Easy peasy lemon squeasy…

That’s right folks, he loves Snickers! But this little egg, my dear readers is no ordinary egg. This, has a complete snickers filling. Filled with nuts and caramel, this little egg (not easy to source) makes for one very happy Chef!

The kids are normal (thank God) when it comes to eating everything in sight, but have no love for the Easter Egg. They get excited about dyeing hard boiled eggs, hiding them, having an Easter egg hunt and then eating the eggs. At least there is no waste

These eggs below were dyed using red onion peelings.

This year, after a little inspiration from one of my friends at University (Becca), I decided to source a few ‘oldies but goodies’ for their Easter baskets. When we were young (4 million years ago) and because we grew up in the country (ironically less than 5 miles from the metropolis of Galway) we had the luxury of ‘The Traveling Shop’. There were actually two traveling shops that came to our little village. One came on Tuesday evenings and the other came on Fridays at 12 noon. We were never home on Fridays at 12 noon due to school, but during the summer months we would time our internal clocks to the hum of the engine in that little red van.

Glass jars of sweets was really what these traveling shops were pushing under the guise of ‘fresh eggs’, ‘durty carrots’ and ‘warm milk from the neighbours cow’. (all true and real by the way). The shop van would borrow from Peter to pay Paul in a sense that if someone in the village had a few dozen eggs to sell, they could barter their way through the goodies in the traveling shop without a penny ever exchanging hands. (Back up a little, I may have exagerated when I said this was 4 million years ago – it was more like 20 yrs). What a great way to foster a sense of community and talk about knowing how many food miles your food has traveled!

We were never allowed buy too much crap. Strict mother blah blah blah. In a way, I am the same kind of mother. Everything in moderation etc. etc.

But occasionally and I suppose in a moment of weakness she would let us

‘buy at will’ and of course the choices we made were never healthy.

All fun and fizz using artificial colours, flavours and sweeteners…………….

Yucky yellow toffee-like sticky goo with lemon flavouring.

Excuse me while I vomit – right.

No, even I could go for one of these yellow chews this Easters eve!

The guilt would overtake us and we would cave to buying a few niceties for the mothership in the hopes that she would cave again soon and allow us those extra few pennies for junk sweeties.

So, after a very very long time of procrastinating over how much I do not like Chocolate, clever clogs Chef has found something that has finally tickled my fancy and lured to the dark side.

Enter Green & Blacks Organic Chocolate (http://www.greenandblacks.com/uk/home.html).

It’s all good folks, fair-trade chocolate. All dark and yummy. In case you missed the newsflash more studies are being done on chocolate’s positive health benefits, especially for the old ticker! The latest study released shows that even small amounts are great for overall heart health and reduces the risk of heart attacks and strokes. Chocolate, especially very dark chocolate, reduces blood pressure, increases elasticity of blood vessels and may reduce inflammation. So, not only has he convinced me to start eating (this yummy) chocolate, it appears there are added health benefits!

Everything in moderation folks! Do you need any further excuses?

I hope your Easter was fruitful and you are relaxing in front of a warm fire toasting your toes!

Those are all the WiseWords I have for this evening!

WiseMóna

Oct 13 2008

>Update on the Children

Posted by WiseMóna

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in Kids

> So, I am a sucker for the sky. I cannot get enough photos of the morning and evening skies around here. It stops me dead in my tracks sometimes.
The children are doing well. They are adjusting to the Irish way of life as easily as a duck to water. There is a lot of open spaces for them to roam free. Inside and outside the house. There is also a lot of talk about animals. Dogs, Cats, Horses…………………
Rory is letting her hair grow a little longer than normal. The jury is out on whether or not we like this as it is a lot more painful and tearful when we have to comb it, but cést la vie. One has to suffer to be beautiful and I suppose she is at that age where she needs to know this.
Jack! Well, does this picture not tell a thousand words? He is doing just swell. Really, he has turned out to be just hell on wheels. He is still the most loving and cuddliest thing and Granny’s very favourite phrase from Jack is ‘what about the hug and the kiss’ – he just will not let you leave without this show of affection. Ok, I will take the credit for that one!
Remarkably, more sunshine on our outing to one of my favourite places – Coole Park.
They really are at a great age now, because aside from all the times they kill each other, they are just hamming it up most of the time and having a great time playing together.

That, is all the WiseWords for today,

WiseMóna

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About Móna
I am a native Galway girl that seems to be drawn to professions that rhyme with 'err'. Writer, Mother, Restauranteur, Wedding Planner, Dishwasher, Grass cutter, Cocktail maker. I suppose you could say I am a well rounded entrepreneur.
You can find me here