ManicMammy’s Blog

I started watching this series on channel 6 a couple of months ago. I’m definitely not a horror/gore fan but I do like sci-fi films and series every now and then. This has held my interest and I’m looking forward to the next episode.

It’s premise is the evolving of human genes giving some humans superhuman abilities. These vary from the ability to fly, time travel, see the future, superhuman strength, mind reading to the ability to heal oneself or others.

The quest then becomes one between good and evil. Which “hero” will use their powers for good or not. The main villain is Sylar who absorbs the power of whichever hero he murders. The hero, who paints the future, paints a post nuclear blast scene of New York and this then also becomes the focus. Can the good heroes stop this devastation, should it be stopped for the good of the rest of the world, is it inevitable?

An excellent escapism hour’s entertainment each week!

I first read this book over 20 years ago as a young adolescent and it had a deep impact on me. When I spotted it recently in my local library I decided to re-read it.

Its the story of David, a 12 year old, who has spent his life in a concentration camp in eastern Europe. It starts with him escaping, helped mysteriously by one of the guards. It details his journey through Europe to Denmark. How he deals initially with people, how he survives, how his outlook changes.

As a child, this book opened up a different world to me and made me realise how much I took for granted. It is easy to empathise with David, and although it was written in the early 60s, it is still a thought provoking book for today.

After just 2 years, the door on the old, piece of crap Hotpoint dishwasher broke. That appliance had been useless from day one with any particle of food blocking it and inhibiting its washing cycle so it was with joy that I dumped it and purchased a new one.

I opted for the Bosch Exxcel and for past 6 weeks have been using it. To date, it has worked out very well. It is very flexible. The top basket can be lowered slightly easily by pressing side levers, to accomodate taller glasses, mugs or raised when you are washing larger trays or plates on the lower basket.  The cutlery basket can be moved to various positions. There is a separate plastic rack above the upper basket to store sharp knives or other implements.

Some of the plate spikes can be raised or lowered depending on whether you want to wash plates, bowls or larger saucepans.

So far, I have just used the normal wash which is a 65 degree wash and this takes about 2 hours. There is a digital time indicator to show how long left the cycle has to go. There are 4 other types of cycle ranging from an intensive 70 degree wash to a 45 degree quick wash.

It also has features such as a time delay and half load facilities.

I have had no problems similar to those with the last dishwasher, thankfully. It cost €400 and has been worth it. Would recommend.

We’ve hit the weaning stage again in our house as the youngest is now 7 months old and so it’s pureé time! I initially had used ice cube trays for freezing homemade baby food, but that’s just messy and a pain in the neck to get the food out of the tray once its frozen.

These plastic disposable pots with lids are a much better alternative. They are re-usable as are sturdy enough to be cleaned after use. They come in various sizes with lids, and in quantities of 50 or 20, and make the process of bulking producing baby food and labelling much easier.

Easy to order and prompt delivery on the website or by post. Would definitely recommend.

I bought this scooter a couple of months ago as our son was getting frustrated watching his older brothers and sister whizzing up and down the road on their bikes and scooters.

It took him no time to get used to it and he really loves it. Its very stable as is a three wheeled scooter and he can move at his own pace. Mind you, he seems to find the faster the better!

Its tough and is able to take the usual knocks and bumps. It has soft, easy to grip hand bars and a light and sound front plaque with indicator lights to press and a horn button and various bob the builder catch phrases.

He loves it and its perfect for him till he gets that bit bigger and can start looking at learning to ride a bicycle.

I used this recently to purchase personalised thank-you cards.

The notecards are supplied in packs of 8 and can be customised. I selected the photo I wanted on the cover and uploaded it. Then defined the writing I wanted on the front of the card and the type and colour of border. Then I detailed the inside message I wanted to complete the card.

I was able to preview the finished card before ordering the desired quantity. All in all, a very smooth and easy process.

The finished cards arrived by post within a few days and the finshed products were great. All happy.

The only disadvantage I noted was that it didn’t save all of the above, so when I went to re-order more cards, I had to start the process from the beginning which was a bit tedious.

The price per card was reasonable and it decreased when you ordered a larger quantity.

My sister had been at this festival last year on a Friday afternoon and had had a really enjoyable few hours so this year, she invited me along and I was really looking forward to a fun and tasty Saturday night in Dublin.

Off we set for the starting time of 5.30pm. It had been raining so we were a bit apprehensive as we approached the Iveagh Gardens entrance, which is just off Harcourt St, as this was an outdoor event. Thankfully though the organisers had dealt well with this problem and the venue was not a sea of mud, but all the exhibitors and stands had a canope over them or were in a marquee. The walkways between each were made of a hard plastic so that was grand.

As she had gotten VIP tickets we headed for a complimentary glass of champagne and a cocktail. The cocktail was a blueberry martini and was ok, I’m not a huge fan of white spirits, that is vodka or gin, but it worked well with the blueberries.

We then headed out to the various restaurants, foodie exhibitors. At this stage, the place was packed with people and there were queues for everything. The idea was that you paid from €5 to €8 for each sample. We headed to the Thornton’s restaurant stand and tried their scallop with a truffle mousse. It must be said, this was delicious. The mousse was just really a sauce around the scallop and some truffle was grated on top but it tasted fabulous.

Then to the Yo Thai’/ Chai Yo’ where I had the chicken yakitori €5, and Paula went for the tiger prawn 3 seasons €8, both of which were very good.

Still hungry, we battled on through the crowds, and reached Bang Café’s stand where we both tried the crabcake, €7. These too were good.

Last dish I tried was the seabass €7, from the Harvey Nicols restaurant.

Again this tasted great but was a very small portion.

By this stage it was approaching 9pm so we headed for the chef demonstraton arena to watch Derry Clarke from L’Ecrivan preparing 2 fish dishes and a duck one. This was quite entertaining, despite the electricity failing midway. Thankfully he was cooking on gas burners. There were 4 chef demos that night but his was the only one we made it to.

There were plenty of other exhibitors, wines were available to taste and to buy by the glass at around €5. Starbucks for coffee, ciders, beers, champagnes to sample and purchase, various food vendors with wares ranging from chocolate, cakes, bacon, sausages to smoothies and cheese.

 But I left with a feeling of disappointment. It would have been so much better if the organisers had sold less tickets. I would have liked to have had more time to check out more of the restaurants. Next time, I would probably give the evening session a miss, in favour of instead maybe trying one of the earlier weekday afternoon sessions, when hopefully there’d be less people there. An afternoon session would probably have suited me better. I also feel it was slightly overpriced. The food portions were small which was fine as many could be sampled without getting sated but the prices should be kept correspondingly fairly low.

Its that time of the year again and the paddling pools are being brought out into back gardens. Last year I bought a 10ft easy set pool and cover for round about the €100 mark. I figured it looked sturdy and would take plenty of abuse from our darlings! It was big and looked like good fun. 

Alas it was only when I got it home, unpacked and started to try and assemble and fill it with water that I realised my mistake. This pool REALLY requires a totally flat surface to work. If it is placed on any sort of a slope, however small, the pool will not fill properly with water, one side will slope and water will continually spill out and the sides of the pool will not stand. It also needs a smooth surface. It is quite difficult once it starts filling with water to get all the creases out of the base of it.

I was really disappointed. We tried it on the patio, on several places around the garden but to no avail. None of the locations were level enough. In the end, I donated it to my brother in the hope his garden will suit it better.