ENGLISH MUM

I’ve noticed that I’ve been a bit remiss with the cocktails of late.  And well, you know me, it’s not because I’ve not been DRINKING them, oh no, it’s just because I usually drink too many and then forget to take a photo! The perfect Bloody Mary This particular Bloody Mary (left) was served to my friend Laura and I at the Cassis American Brassierie in St Pete’s, Florida. It...

Lemon and mint cocktail On our amazing trip to Dubai, we were served a refreshing drink made of lemon and mint.  I got quite addicted and since coming home have found myself drinking it a lot, with the addition of a slightly less traditional little ‘freshener’ of gin.  Oh it makes all the difference.  Those little minxes at British Mummy Bloggers challenged me to vlog a summer recipe, so I cheated...

A Londres encore! This time we headed to Hammersmith to visit the wonderful chaps at Sipsmith.  I first met James at the Real Food Festival (incidentally, you can win tickets to this year’s festival over at My Daddy Cooks), and was enchanted by the fantastic aromas of their bespoke London Dry Gin (you know I love a gin).  At the time he said ‘oh you must come and see us’, but then we headed...

This month I’m delighted to have been invited to join in the Irish Foodies Cookalong.  Basically, a whole bunch of Irish foodies and bloggers get together the first Friday of every month to cook their interpretation of a theme, then post their results on the Facebook page. This month’s theme is autumn fruit, so I thought it was time to unearth all those blackberries I picked in September, now nestling...

So the other night, we were talking about cocktails.  Well, that’s a lie actually, I was regaling Hubby with tales of Disney – how me and my fellow Disneyers spent many a happy evening in the bar, downing mojitos, being loud and taking the piss out of the lady behind the bar who looked disturbingly like Matt Lucas (I luv you more than…lollipops!).  Anyhoo, digressing.  I happened to remember...

  So being a bit of an Ebay-addicted household, lovely Ciaran the postie is well used to being mugged at the door of English Towers by eager parcel recipients.  Friday was no exception, then, when my copy of Merry Kitschmas, The Ultimate Holiday Handbook by Michael D Conway finally arrived.  I’ve been looking for it for ages after glimpsing it on the shelf behind someone on some tv programme or other...

Righty ho, then.  Here we go with the promised Limoncello recipe.  Firstly a little note about the alcohol.  Seeing as we’re cheating (see title), there are no rules.  I know that some people make this Limoncello with Grappa, or Schnapps, or one of those colourless fruity brandy-type drinks called Eau de Vie.  Any of these is fine. Anyhoo, it’s dead easy.  I’ve even enlisted José Mourinho...

  Ahhh, Hubby and I love the boat road down to the lough.  This time of year it’s filled with the most beautiful sights and smells: the baby burgers and all growing up into potential rump steaks, their mamas still snorting protectively as we pass, the brook gurgles and bubbles, hidden amongst a hundred different wild flowers, butterflies flutter by (sorry) and recently a beautiful, and surprisingly...

So there’s nothing nicer than spending a warm, early summer’s evening surrounded by the sound of chinking glasses and laughter.  And last night was exactly one of those nights.  Loads of people came (Hubby had invited more people when he was down the pub last night) and we had buckets full of ice dotted around to keep all the drinks cold, tons of food (the kebabs went down particularly well) and...

So okay, I know at this exact precise moment it’s still Thursday but I’ll be FAR too busy tomorrow to post anything so you’ll have to indulge me.  What’s that you say?  Why will I be busy?  Well, dear reader, I’m having a PARTAY!! You see, people, in Ireland you definitely have to go with the flow a bit.  A party can often start for the most inane reason.  For example, last...

So J, C and little C finally came up for their long-awaited visit. Hubby and I made a special trip to Flood’s the butchers in Oldcastle to get a joint of their fantastic beef. It’s a very busy place which is always a good sign in my book, and they have all the details about where their meet comes from (even the abbatoir if you’re that interested) up on a blackboard in the shop. The chap brought...

So J’s on nights at the moment. We love this as it gives us the opportunity to have random nocturnal chats about all sorts of things while she’s on her break in the bowels of wherever it is she works (she does something incredibly clever and technical which I don’t honestly understand). Hubby came in last night very late to find us gabbing away about the kitsch retro food of Fanny Cradock....

So it’s been a while, but last night we had another little dabble with the Cocktail Bible (Hamlyn £14.99 – beats the real one hands down, sorry Ma). I was especially interested in recipes containing watermelon as my delightful second child insisted that he ‘loved watermelon’ and waited while I spent ages cutting up a baby one (no pips!) into bitesize chunks before daintily nibbling...

Oh yes, last night we were mostly drinking Frozen Strawberry Daiquiris. I know, I know…STB again, but actually I don’t feel as bad as I did last time, which is always a bonus. I was in a cocktail type of mood because of two things: Firstly, we took twiglet dog to the beach and had a mighty fine time. We met some very friendly people who had a little girl who loved dogs. B took to her instantly, enjoyed...