I was away chasing a Toyboy today and eating this:
For dessert my companions had Eton Mess, I reluctantly decided to sit and watch until the Chef suggested that he use Raspberry sorbet and meringue to make mine! :D I was happy!
Back tomorrow. Tonight I am talked out!
Not another Toyboy to talk about….
I mean the place we met for lunch on Saturday. There were nine of us in number and the craic and chat were mighty. The venue was new to both Elly and I and as we approached we were looking for the name Jim in the title. Not finding it we decided to venture indoors to explore. We did have a text to say they were gathered at a table in the back.
As we were about to make our entrance another lady was eyeing us up. I asked if she was here for the Blogger’s meet-up and she said “I thought I recognised you”! We quickly discovered she was Susan C and this was her first meet-up so we quickly headed indoors to make introductions.
Already gathered were Lily, Steph, Cathy. Marian, Lorna, & Marie, and Lily had thoughtfully arranged when reserving the table, to have wine, soft drinks and nibbles for us while introductions were made. It was a great beginning to a wonderful day.
Beginning centre front with Elly’s cardigan (she was behind the camera) and moving anti-clockwise we have: Lorna, Marie, Marian, Steph, SusanC, Cathy, Lily & GM.
We moved to the counter in batches to select our food and there was something to suit all food needs. The desserts were to die for and I looked, drooled and past by most of them until I found something without cream.
All the while the chat continued…..
We covered food & drink, cooking, baking & crafting, books & book clubs, keeping chickens & the problems with foxes, the weather and eating outdoors. Then there were holidays and honeymoons, arranging weddings, and travel. We touched on health before moving on to our common link of Blogs, blogging, blogging platforms and all things techie. The pros and cons of Twitter and Facebook were aired and debated. We all came away having learned something new
Now I wonder where we will have the next meet-up!
It was all Lily’s idea!
We were sitting in a relaxed group in the aftermath of the Irish Blog Awards 2010 in Galway. Our thoughts were drawn to the missing faces – Steph, Annb , Marian etc. So Lily wondered aloud about us all meeting up when the days were longer and perhaps the weather better.
‘Wondering aloud’ can be a dangerous exercise in the Irish Blog scene. Ideas quickly become set in concrete. A date was thrown down as a guide, none of us had a diary to hand. Well time has passed….. the suggested date is fast approaching
Our Bloggers Meet-Up is on Saturday 3rd July, in Jim’s Kitchen in Portlaoise, with a start time of 1pm. Please do come along if you can make it. Let’s see who are on the list so far…. Lily of course, Marian, Lorna, Marie, Elly and yours truly. I suggest you leave a comment Here so a check can be kept on numbers - you won’t all fit on my knee. ;) I am looking forward to hearing about all the craft work that Marian has put into her arrangements including the table runners, invitations, etc for her forthcoming wedding - twenty days later. I’ll being my new needlethreader and the needles just in case we have stitches to add.
Please pass the word about the meet-up. We have great craic and you will be sorry later if you miss the fun.
Now what will I wear? Wanders off planning mischief….!
I was busy yesterday, enjoying a day in the Big Smoke! Years ago Cities were often smoky places. Yesterday Belfast was bathed in glorious sunshine and perfect for sauntering. The journey was smooth and uneventful giving me time to mosey about for an hour before meeting ‘my date’.
It was a bonus to meet @zcott near the Victoria Centre and I suddenly realised how much I missed the Flickr group. I hope I managed to convince him to arrange with the lads for another photo-walk soon. Very soon!
My friend and I managed to reach the appointed spot at high noon and his suggestion for lunch was Deane’s. We walked and talked the short distance and were soon seated comfortably perusing the menu. We were the first of the diners to arrive and almost the last to leave, I couldn’t believe it was four O’clock when we stepped out onto into the afternoon sunshine once more. A lovely day and a break from the solitude of my life.
Good friends are goldust.
I went out to lunch with Chris last week. It turned out to be a bright dry day and we headed for Carrickfergus.
We were standing in County Antrim, looking across Belfast Lough to Co Down, with the Titanic Quarter over on the right with The cranes Samson & Goliath marking the spot of the old Belfast Shipyard. Following the path to the right we passed along the recently built apartments.
One floor up would be nice, just high enough to see the view.
We eat at The Windrose Bistro in the centre of the photo below.
The food was good but the service let them down BIG TIME. We sat outside on the deck enjoying the sights, sounds and fresh air. When our coffee cups were drained we wandered in the direction of the courtyard at Scotch Quarter and that is where I met Roger….
Roger! Did I not mention Roger?
Well I am tired typing so Roger will have to wait for another day…..
Grannymar is older than the flood!
Nooooooooooo! I’m not older than that flood; the one I am talking about was on Saturday, in Dublin.
According to the bible in Genesis Chapter 6 we are told that ‘Man’s sin was the cause of the flood’. So what caused the flood on Saturday? I was a good girl! 
I was down in Dublin for an innocent girly lunch. Look this is the evidence:
Now what could be any more innocent than that, I ask you? A group of bloggers, dishing the dirt gossiping stuffing our faces sharing some tasty food and a bottle of wine or three while chatting about the blog world. No sin there you would think.
Of course I did gatecrash a party on Friday night. A Toyboy Birthday Party and I brought my Manager. She was supposed to keep an eye on me… instead of chatting up all MY toyboys. Every time I was busy hugging one of them she was chatting up another. We had a ball, didn’t we missus?
So back from the tangent once more…..,
I was at a girly lunch. Now rumours abound that I left with a Toyboy….. I’m saying nuttin! Them ’uns down in Dubland are a jealous bunch 
You could do nothing!
However I did end up in a Taxi going nowhere for two and a half hours. It cost €60 to travel 12.5 klms! The Toyboy came to the rescue and brought me home to his house.
Darragh and Niamh, thank you both for providing a bed, food, and an evening of fun. There is no way I would have managed without you.
Elly who was in Cork for the day on Saturday, had a similar journey from the airport driving through two feet of water on the M50. She and George collected me on Sunday and rescued my car from where I abandoned it the day before.
Now for further developments you will have to wait…..
Well of course you don’t, but bundles like these were a common sight in the outside Loo’s during the first quarter of the last century. Things have certainly changed since those far off days.
Moistened Toilet Tissues in a Tub are now the order of the day. E
very bathroom seems to have some. The sales blurb suggests we use them together with regular toilet paper to leave us feeling cleaner & fresher than ever before.
The claims made about them are:
soft
strong
enriched with Aloe Vera
flushable
dermatologically tested
“Brilliant” I hear you shout. “I couldn’t live without them!”
I have to admit I have a box in the house and one in the car.
But should we really flush them down the loo? Are they really Bio-degradable?
Are they really doing our tender skin a service?
Let me tell you a little story.
I was sitting in the hairdressers early one morning a few years ago, fidgeting patiently waiting for the Toyboy stylist to arrive and work his magic on my tender locks. The waiting area, like all Dentists and Doctor’s surgeries, had the usual bundle of tired well thumbed Ladies magazines to calm the frustration.
Picking one of these to while away the time it opened to a page of handy tips. Always willing to learn something new I read through the items on the page.
Steep dentures in water with Vinegar added to remove stains.
Add fabric Conditioner to a footbath to soften hard skin on the feet.
Use wet wipes as a quick stain remover.
This last one stuck in my mind and at some stage I had reason to try it. It worked! I tried it again several times and it always worked. I started on the outer side of the stain and worked to the centre. Now you know why I keep some wipes in the car.
Now it happened that on a bright June day I was hosting a lunch for an eminent gentleman and his good lady wife (both wearing collars backwards); to round off the numbers I had invited a couple of other folk as well. One lady wore not just her Sunday best, but her Very Best Outfit (VBO); anyone would think we were expecting Royalty! Lunch was to follow a church service of indeterminate length so I prepared a cold buffet. A dressed salmon was the centrepiece with colourful salads and accompaniments.
When all were gathered the hunger pangs were evident so without delay I sorted everyone with food while Jack saw to the drinks. The day was a cook’s delight, everyone seemed to be enjoying my efforts and helping themselves to more of this or that. Mrs VBO informed everyone how much she enjoyed baby beetroot as she tried to cut into one. The baby beet objected and jumped off the plate and hit her ample chest before rolling all the way down the front of her light turquoise Frank Usher dress before falling to the floor.
In her embarrassment she reached for her napkin to wipe the mark. I pleaded with her not to touch it and asked if she would accompany me to the bathroom. I used the moist wipes and the red stain vanished. We returned to the table and continued with the meal. No more was said about it so I phoned the next day to make sure there was no mark left by the wipes. She assured me that all was fine and there would be no need for dry cleaning.
On another occasion I was helping friends with preparations for another group lunch. My friends had recently moved to a new house and purchased a large dining table with a dozen chairs. The chair seats were upholstered in a winter white fabric. That day we had a rather crowded table with extra chairs added where possible. Several of the guests were elderly and some with unsteady hands.
When the guests were gone we set about clearing up the table and the room. I removed the chairs to vacuum under the table and horror of horrors one guest had dribbled the carrot & coriander soup! The evidence was plainly to be seen on one of the chairs. The hostess ran with the chair to the kitchen and was about to attack it with water. Once more I pleaded with her not to touch it. She did not have any wipes so I went to my car for my box. I worked on the stain which by this stage had a couple of hours to set. It took me some time but eventually I was pleased with the result. Again I phoned the next morning worried that I might have left a water type mark. “Grannymar” she said “Where did you put that chair? I have gone over each one and can’t tell which chair had the stain on it!”
Now hang in there, this is the last one and it is against me! Last November when I was staying with my Aunt in Dublin we were enjoying a bottle of Red – well they say the red wine is good for the heart! We adjourned to the lounge with the refilled glasses and honestly I don’t know what happened, but suddenly my hand was wet and the red wine was all over her peach velour sofa! My mind raced; two matching sofas and a chair to recover would make an expensive bottle of wine. I asked if she had wipes and to my relief she did. Once again the wipes did their work and removed the stain.
If the moist wipes work so well on all these stains, what do they do to our skin?
