I believe in Santa!

Luckily this is a problem that I hope not to face for  many years to come but for those of you whose children are questioning the reality of the Man in Red, here’s a useful site that can provide you with photographic evidence of Santa visiting your home this Saturday!!

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Food, Glorious Food

I thought that Four Live’s Festive Special featuring guest chefs every day this week was a great inspiration! Lots of yummy Christmas recipes for all to enjoy. Having said that I don’t actually have to worry about cooking at Christmas as we still rotate to each other’s parents’ houses for Christmas Day! This year we are in Belfast with all the in-laws and really looking forward to it! Friends ask me when I’m going to stay put and host Christmas in ours, I respond with incredulity – why, oh why, oh why would I want to take on that burden! Confession : despite being a farily competent cook, I have never cooked a roast chicken dinner, so Christmas lunch seems like far too much of a challenge. Here’s a recipe from Four Live that even the most culinarily challenged should be able to manage!

This is Kevin Dundon’s mum’s recipe for roast potatoes!

Ingredients:

675g floury potatoes cut into large even-sized chunks (Rooster or Golden Wonder)

Vegetable Oil, dripping, goose or duck fat

Sea Salt

1. Pre-heat the oven to 220C

2. Place the potatoes in a pan of cold salted water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 8-10 minutes until the outsides have just softened

3. Drain and return to pan for a minute or two to dry out

4. Meanwhile, pre-heat a roasting tin with a 1cm of oil, or dripping, duck or goose fat for a few minutes until smoking. Put the lid back on the potatoes and shake vigorously to break up and soften the edges or roughly prod the outsides of the potatoes with a fork. Carefully tip them into the hot oil, basting the tops.

5. Place the roasting tin with the potatoes back in the oven and cook for 40 minutes, then pour off the majority of the fat before turning the potatoes over. Seaon to taste with the salt and cook for a further 20 minutes until crispy around the edges and golden brown.

6. To serve, tip the roast potatoes into a warmed serving dish.

7. Cut up and add loads of butter, salt and pepper (that tip is my own!!)

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Customer Service

Mamas & Papas is generally one of my favourite baby stores and to be honest I’m disappointed that my little girl is now too old and too big for the clothes. I’ve kitted out the nursery, I have the travel system so not many opportunities arise for me to visit the store so I was delighted to pop in yesterday to the Blanchardstown store to pick out a present for my friend’s new baby boy. I picked out a lovely baby gro, cardigan and a soft toy. There was a 20% off promotion on clothing so that was a bonus.

Now to my complaint, I asked if I could get the items placed in one of the gift boxes. The lady that was serving me asked whether she could just pop one in the bag. I was distracted as my little one was acting up so I said sure, no problem, even though on every other occasion I have shoppe there I have been asked whether my purchase was a gift and whether I wanted it wrapped. She placed the gift box in the bag with my items and was handing me back my card , etc and I asked whether she had given me a gift receipt. Cue SIGH… Now even her colleagues noticed so this is not me being sensitve. She produced the receipt, I thanked her and I left, trying to convince my 2 year old that she had to wear her socks and boots outdoors.

Today I took out the box, etc to start putting everything together and it’s actually not completly straigthforward so I stopped myself from getting into a dither and have decided to go back to the store and ask them to do it for me. Today I am annoyed that the service was so unusually poor. There was not a queue of people behind me, there was no big rush – this lady was just not bothered and made me feel as if I was a bother rather than a valued customer.

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Christmas TV

I have to admit – I love Christmas tv. I look forward to watching all my old favourites – top of the list is Ben Hur. My Dad loved the Chariot scene and watched the film religiously every year! Other favourites include The Sound of Music, Singin’ in The Rain, any of the Indiana Jones franchise, The Bridge on the River Kwai, The Wizard of Oz, and, of course, Casablanca! 

Check out today’s Mirror for a preview of tv on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and St Stephen’s Day if, like me, you like to plan you viewing well in advance! There’s plenty of films to entertain the kids too: Ratatouille, Santa Claus the Movie, Cars, The Chronicles of Narnia, Happy Feet, Madagascar, Shrek the Third, Polar Express, The Grinch. Who am I kidding – I love all of those as well! Go Mumble!

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New Vaccination

A new PCV vaccine, whih protects against 13 strains of bacterial infection, is being added to the childhood immunisation programme. It will be given to all babies from this week onwards, as they reach two months. In addition, babies who have already started their PCV schedule will be given a dose of the new vaccine at on-year-old. For more info check out the National Immunisation Office!

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not so sure about the snow anymore…

It took me two and a half hours to get home last night! It was quite scarey on the M50 with cars skidding around the Dundrum on-ramp. Thank God for Granny Nannies (as per the Irish Independent yesterday)  though – my little girl was safe at home, getting fed a nice dinner by my mam!

Here are some tips I found about driving safely in icy conditions (best advice is not to drive at all if possible!):

Driving safely on icy roads

1. Decrease your speed and leave yourself plenty of room to stop. You should allow at least three times more space than usual between you and the car in front of you.
2. Brake gently to avoid skidding. If your wheels start to lock up, ease off the brake.
3. Turn on your lights to increase your visibility to other motorists.
4. Keep your lights and windshield clean.
5. Use low gears to keep traction, especially on hills (but apparently it’s not great to stay in 1st, try to get to 2nd/ 3rd on hills – courtesy of George Hook).
6. Don’t use cruise control or overdrive on icy roads.
7. Be especially careful on bridges, overpasses and infrequently travelled roads, which will freeze first. Even at temperatures above freezing, if the conditions are wet, you might encounter ice in shady areas or on exposed roadways like bridges.
8. Don’t assume your vehicle can handle all conditions. Even four-wheel and front-wheel drive vehicles can encounter trouble on winter roads.

If your rear wheels skid…

1. Take your foot off the accelerator
2. Steer in the direction you want the front wheels to go. If your rear wheels are sliding left, steer left. If they’re sliding right, steer right.
3. If your rear wheels start sliding the other way as you recover, ease the steering wheel toward that side. You might have to steer left and right a few times to get your vehicle completely under control.
4. If you have standard brakes, pump them gently.
5. If you have anti-lock brakes (ABS), do not pump the brakes. Apply steady pressure to the brakes. You will feel the brakes pulse — this is normal.

If your front wheels skid…

1. Take your foot off the gas  but don’t try to steer immediately. (American tips)
2. As the wheels skid sideways, they will slow the vehicle and traction will return. As it does, steer in the direction you want to go. Then release the clutch, and accelerate gently.

If you get stuck…

1. Do not spin your wheels. This will only dig you in deeper.
2. Turn your wheels from side to side a few times to push snow out of the way.
3. Use a light touch on the gas, to ease your car out.
4. Use a shovel to clear snow away from the wheels and the underside of the car.
5. Pour sand, kitty litter, gravel or salt in the path of the wheels, to help get traction.
6. Shift from forward to reverse, and back again. Each time you’re in gear, give a light touch on the gas until the vehicle gets going.

Take it easy and drive safely!

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