ManicMammy’s Blog

Last night we headed along to the Curious Wines New Zealand Wine Tasting night which was held in the Ambassador Hotel in Cork. I didn’t really know what to expect, but lets face it  an evening of wine and good company, how tough was that going to be to enjoy?

What transpired was a most excellent night. Eleven wines were tasted: 1 rosé, 8 whites and a couple of reds. Joyce Austin was the host and wine guide for the night and she did a brilliant job. Very entertaining and informative with tales of the winemakers, grapes, wine descriptions and the region. Additional photos placed around the room made me want to pack up immediately and emigrate there.

I really liked the fact that many of the wines were tasted in pairs. For most people its too much of an extravagance to open multiple bottles of wine at a time just to compare and contrast which ones you prefer but unless you do so, its quite difficult to spot the sometimes subtle differences. For this reason alone, a night like this is a great idea. For a very small cost, you have access to a range of wines to taste and see what suits your palate and pocket best.

My favourites of the night were definitely the pair of Rieslings. The first was a Waipara Springs Riesling 2007 and the second was Greenhough Dry Riesling 2007. I really enjoyed both but the Greenhough definitely won the race by a nose. Will definitely be purchasing both again.

The surprise of the night for my die hard Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc husband was that when presented with the wines blind, he liked both the Sauvignon Blancs: Tussock from Nelson and the more complex, fuller bodied  Waipara Springs offering. Both Pinot Gris wines were quickly quaffed and appreciated too. The Coney Piccolo 2008 being my favourite of the two.

Chardonnay has never been a favourite grape of ours, but both wines tasted were at the lighter unoaked end of the spectrum and so definitely suited us.

The evening ended with superbly with a pair of  Pinot Noirs. I really enjoyed both the Waipara Springs Premo 2007 and Bilancia 2006.

We both had a great night. It was light hearted, good fun and we all learned something more about the wine aswell. Its a night that suits a wide range of wine drinker: from casual tippler to seasoned professional.  Would heartily recommend attendance at the next one.  I have my suspicions that the curious wine tasting nights will go from strength to strength so you may have to book your place early.  Congrats to all involved.

Here’s a  link to a short qik video snippet taken on the night:

Curious Wines Tasting with Joyce Austin

On the last trip to Cavan, a couple of weeks ago I decided to stop in Ballinahown. It was possibly a bit foolhardy of me that I decided that the best place for myself and 4 of my kids to eat lunch would be in its Craft Cafe.

Its located in the centre of the village and there’s plenty of parking at the side and to the rear of the building. The paintings, sculptures, jewellery, ceramics and other crafts are displayed adjacent to coffee tables downstairs and there is a separate display room upstairs. The kids were fascinated with all the pieces of art and crafts. It was tough at times to get them to remember not to touch anything but it also kept them occupied whilst we waited for lunch to arrive.

The kids had chicken and mozzarella paninis with apple juice whilst I ordered a chilli chicken ciabatta roll and a latte.

The food was delicious, the portions generous, the service was very friendly and efficient. As far as I recall the bill for the 5 of us came to approximately €30 which I thought was very  reasonable for the standard of food and the good service.

Will definitely be popping in there on the next Bandon to Cavan trip.

They have a blog too.

We headed to Deasy’s in Ring last night for an early celebration of Conor’s birthday which is mid week next week. It had been a while since our last visit which we had enjoyed so we were both looking forward to it.

We arrived at 7pm and luckily managed to get a parking spot right outside the bar/restaurant. The road is quite narrow so parking can be problematic. During our meal there, I saw many people being dropped off by local taxi which is probably a good idea and eliminates the parking hassle. The location is fabulous, great views across the bay.

I ordered goats cheese salad starter which I’m always a smidge partial to. Conor opted for fish spring roll with a dipping sauce. Service was very friendly, efficient and the meal was paced really well. No rushing and plenty of time to savour each dish. The starters were accompanied with some delicious bread. My salad was one of the nicest I’ve eaten in quite a while. I really enjoyed it and Conor was impressed with his fish too.

For mains, I opted for John Dory and Brill fillets. These came accompanied with roasted sweet potatoes and a fabulous beetroot and caper relish. It was delicious. Conor’s hake and pilaf rice didnt last too long on his plate either. Side dishes of vegetables and boiled baby potatoes were superfluous as we had plenty to eat on the main dishes.

The dessert menu had 5 or so choices on it but as I was rather sated at this stage and none of them really grabbed me, I just opted for a double espresso. Conor’s orange blossom pannacotta with rhubarb looked gorgeous though.

There was a good winelist and we choose a Steininger Gruner Veltlinger Kabinett 2007 which went really well with our food.

Overall we had a really enjoyable meal out. The atmosphere was really good, the place was very busy for early on a Saturday evening with families, couples and larger groups of diners. The menu wasn’t too extensive but I think this is a good idea. They mainly concentrate on white fish dishes, but I noted a vegetarian option and steak for those adverse to seafood.

Will definitely return again soon.

Just back from another loud, fun, busy weekend with my inlaws in Rosslare. All had a brilliant time and thankfully the weather was great so plenty of running around outside and fabulous walks on the beach were had.

Over the weekend, the younger kids had loads of fun playing this game.

Its extremely straightforward and easy to play. 6 players can play at once. The easiest version is where the knickerbocker glory is assembled using the colour die. The 6 coloured fruit sections are filled as each player in turn rolls the die. The first to complete their icecream wins. Even the 2 year old could manage this with only a little assistance.

The game can also be played using the numbered die. The coloured fruit sections have also a specific number of fruit in them as can be seen from picture above.

Overall a really great fun game that is very portable and can be played by kids of all ages, I believe Nana and Grandad also had a few turns playing it. ;-)  With the added advantage of helping the younger kids learn their numbers and colours. Coolo.

Its widely available in most toy or craft shops for approximately €10.

As previously mentioned our kids love LEGO and therefore bits of it are everywhere throughout the house.  I had just used an ordinary plastic bin to store it all in and this was continually upended in order to find the “exact correct necessary” LEGO block when creating the latest masterpiece.

My back isn’t what it used to be and I was getting a smidge sick of bending down to pick up all the blocks so I was delighted when I discovered this box4blox for sale online.

Its a very simple but clever idea. Each coloured tray has a  grid which allows the smaller LEGO blocks pass through. Each tray’s grid is a different size. As a result of this filtering, the larger lego pieces remain in the top yellow layer, the next sized ones in the blue tray, the next ones in the red tray and the smallest ones are filtered to the bottom green tray. Like so:

The video here shows it in action. The kids love it. Its much easier to see and get at the lego they want, the lego is distributed out so there’s less squabbling over getting to it. All the lego is now in one place. The slot in the lid means its easy to drop in any stray blocks I come across.

The dimensions of a tray are 10 inches * 10 inches * 2.5 inches, so each tray holds a fair volume of LEGO. Though if over filled, the filtering down of the smaller blocks becomes less successful and alot more shaking of the overall container is required. At times the odd long, narrow blocks can become stuck but this is a very minor quibble.

Overall we are very happy with this container. It costs approximately $30 but unfortunately the shipping to Ireland is that cost again, so overall it cost me approx. €45. This is expensive so hopefully someone will decide to stock/sell them in Ireland soon to avoid this shipping charge.

Oscar, our 9 year old completed this course last Saturday. He is interested in food and cooking and is able to make himself basics like poached eggs on toast, omelettes, smoothies etc. He loves pizza so the thought of making his own from scratch appealed to him.

He arrived home after the course chuffed with himself armed with the above pizza, some biscuits and some biscuit dough. During the afternoon, the kids had made and eaten homemade burgers which he loved though he commented that he had overdone it on the pepper.

The pizza tasted great. I was delighted he had learned how to make the dough from scratch. This will definitely have to be repeated at home where each of our kids can add their own toppings. I sampled the biscuits the next day as one of my mother’s day pressies: delicious,  light and  crumbly.

Unfortunately on the day, there wasn’t time to make the Banana and Pineapple smoothies, so we’re hopefully going to do that recipe this weekend as Oscar also brought home a sheet with all the recipes and instructions on them.

He was slightly put out initially as he was the only boy doing the course. I was surprised at this. I thought there would be plenty of boys on the course after all aren’t a fair proportion of the world’s top chefs blokes?

Its a pity courses like this aren’t part of the primary school curriculum. It was a joy to see him delighted having learned more skills in the kitchen and having expanded his repertoire of healthy dishes he likes and is able to cook. Oisín is now asking whether he can attend the next one!

Last week I got to the stage where I had to buy new frying pans, the ones we had were totally worn, everything was sticking to them and it was driving me nuts. The thought of heading to a department store with kids and searching for suitable replacements didn’t fill me with joy so once the children had gone to bed I did an online search and came upon ShopCookware.ie. It appears to be the homewares online store of a Galway based shop.

The website is really easy to use. Plenty of choice of wellknown brands of pots, pans, cutlery, bakeware and more. Good offers and bargains to be had. I found what I needed without delay and ordered. Delivery is free for orders over €50.

The next day I got a phone call to say that one of the frying pans I had ordered was unfortunately out of stock and asked whether I’d like a full refund or a substitute. I opted to recieve a replacement of the same size and similiar quality, that is non-stick and dishwasher proof etc.

The following day the pans were delivered by courier. The replacement frying pan was actually one that was substantially more expensive than the one I had originally ordered but I had just been charged at the original price. I have to commend this  great customer service. The whole process was very efficient and much less hassle than I had anticipated.

I will definitely be using this website in future. Top marks.