I entered the #SundayCookOff on Twitter this week for a bit of fun.  You have to tweet the judge pics of what you are cooking and then he judges compared to all the other entries.

For starter I roasted some beetroot with garlic, olive oil and a dribble of Balsamic vinegar for 2 hours in tinfoil.

I then sliced some goats cheese on top and flashed this under the grill, served with a nice dressed salad

Main course was rare raost beef, with yorkshire puddings and lots of veg, and the piece de resistance- our first purple sprouting broccoli

And dessert was the YUMMIEST caramel and chocolate chunk bread and butter pudding

As it was Pancake Tuesday, and I just LOVE pancakes I decided to go all out and make savoury and TWO types of sweet pancake, with various fillings/ toppings.

The Ricotta and Spinach Pancakes were a huge success.

The pancake batter I let rest for an hour before cooking them, I feel this gives time for the batter to settle and makes the pancakes light and not at all rubbery.

I wilted some spinach in some sautéed onions and garlic, and left to cool before combining with ricotta, grated parmesan and some lemon zest.

I used this to fill the pancakes, and sprinkled some lightly toasted pinenuts before rolling.

The filled pancakes I placed on some tomato passata, I also spread a thin layer over the top.

The whole ensemble was then covered in a light cheese sauce and put in the oven for 20 minutes, the result was YUM!

I made two types of sweet pancake, American & Traditional.

The American pancakes we cooked with blueberries and raspberries pressed in on the first "flip".

The kids also enjoyed these with ice cream and maple syrup.These were lovely on their own, with just a dollop of cream.

The "traditional"pancakes we served with;

Lemon & Sugar - For old time's sake

And my personal favourite- caramelized banana's with a shot of Bailey's and a dollop of softly whipped cream.

I decided to expand my chocolate millionnaire repetoire, and below are the pictures! I will post the recipe in the coming days

xx

Salted Caramel in the making

Chocolate layer going on

130g Dark Chocolate

125g butter

3 large eggs

150g caster sugar

35g plain flour

Melt Butter & Chocolate slowly,  in a bowl over a pan of hot water, make sure not to let the bottom of the bowl touch the water.

Whisk eggs sugar and flour until just blended, add chocolate and butter mixture, and leave aside to rest.

Prep ramekins i.e. grease and flour lightly

Preheat oven to 200oC (V important to fully preheat)

Pour mixture into ramekins and place them on a baking sheet for ease,

Bake for 10- 12 minutes, serve immediately and ENJOY!

I had a very accpetable lunch here on a Friday while waiting for a friend.  There is good parking across the road, and the hotel entrance is very difficult to find.  The staff were in the midlle of decorating for halloween and it looked like it was going to be fabulous.  The bar was very plain and dark however I got a nice seat near a window.  The waitress was straight over to see if I would like a drink.  There was a very good selection of food on the menu, although pricey.  There was no choices attributed to local producers, which I felt was a pity.  I had the 6oz steak with a salad (14 euro)  I asked for this rare, and it came well done, but I can appreciate that a 6oz steak is quite hard to get right. I followed this, in the interest of sampling, with the chilled chocolate and caramel cheesecake, it was very pleasant although slightly reminiscint of condensed milk.  I had a pot of tea, which arrived in a very dingy pot!  Overall the staff were lovely, and the food good, but expensivve for what you got.

Just Do It!

This is more of a pep talk to myself, rather than a blog to the world. However you may benefit from my ramblings! I think the hardest thing to overcome in life is irrational fear. Irrational fear is typically disproportional to the actual danger posed, thus being identified as irrational.

Nigel, years ago gave me a pull off from his daily calendar. It said “courage is getting back in the saddle, after falling again and again”. He gave it to me because, for a while, all I seemed to do was fall off my horse- again- and again- and again. Those not of a horsey persuasion might ask why would I keep doing it? Well it’s because I love it! And to be fair, I always say to the kids- Practice makes permanent- not perfect- and now I have been permanently in the saddle for quite a while now (mostly anyway), and although I am definitely not perfect, I am certainly more permanent.

So why my irrational fear? I don’t know. I am intelligent, educated and don’t want to jump in the Puissance Class at the Dublin Horse Show (well- if I could it would be great, but not very realistic). So why do a couple of poles on the ground drive such fear into me. And I’m talking gut wrenching/ sleepless nights/ unable to breathe fear- not to mention the bathroom trips- enough said!

And I have pictures, proof, beside my bed, or me competing- actually jumping. But still the same irrational fear. My very patient trainer asked me this morning, what I was so afraid of. Is it falling off? Is it my horse- eh no- she’s a saint? What? Why? I have no answer. Those of you that know me will understand how this frustrates me. As I have an answer for EVERYTHING.

I jumped three fences in a row this morning. Perfectly (well almost), and how did I feel- Great! Will I remember that positive feeling the next time- unfortunately no!

So I have decided. I am going to practice until it becomes permanent. Will I ever get over this clearly irrational fear? Probably not. Will it stop me? Definitely not.

So to all of you out there saying- I can’t do …. In the immortal words of Nike.

“Just Do it”

And do something different- even if you are afraid. Sorry but- “You’re worth it!”

The Old and the New- Seamus Heaney and Sage CRM v7.1

I didn’t really enjoy poetry in school, too much darkness as far as I was concerned. I did enjoy Seamus Heaney. Especially Blackberry Picking as I think it relates especially to teenagers. Anyway it’s Seamus Heaney’s birthday this week- so Happy Birthday Seamus.

The Forge is my favourite poem however as it combines my love for horses with remembering something that is no longer used- the hot forge.

The Forge

All I know is a door into the dark.

Outside, old axles and iron hoops rusting;

Inside, the hammered anvil's short-pitched ring,

The unpredictable fantail of sparks

Or hiss when a new shoe toughens in water.

Of course at that stage I was on my way to work and was thinking about tools in business we no longer use- for example cheques will soon be obsolete, there was a very good article on this in the e-finance section of last weeks www.siliconrepublic.com/efinance. Worth a read!

Then I decided to be more positive- what tools do we use now to improve our business. We have recently started to use twitter more, both professionally and personally, we find it really good for making contacts. Damien Mulley (www.mulley.net) is coming to give us a social media marketing course in June. We hope this will further kick start our presence, embedding it in the social media sphere.

Today Pims launch Sage CRM v7.1. The evolution of social media such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn have changed the way that companies in Ireland, and the world connect and interact with people be they customers or prospects. I can't wait to start using it! Tweet Tweet

Positivity, Bunsen Burners, Velcro & Sage CRM

Lots of ideas floating around in my head these days for blogs. The creativity juices have really been flowing. But like with my horse- rein back seems to have to come into play for control and impulsion.

I’m loving the new Belle XI song- Velcro. I’m a fan of their lyrics. I was sorry I didn’t get to see them when they played in the Theatre Royal in Waterford recently. So “I’ll be your Positive” is so true today for me. In Business. Personally.

Then “Velcro”. Great stuff, one of those things like Tetra Packs (Erik Wallenberg)and Cats Eyes (Percy Shaw) that you wish you’d invented. George de Mestral invented “Velcro” after his dog was covered in burrs from a hunting trip. He investigated them under a microscope and came up with the idea of binding two materials with a simple material. Similarly that’s how I see Belle XI’s success- binding two simple things- lyrics and catchy music to make a successful song.

CRM is a bit like Velcro. Binding two simple concepts for businesses- accounts and sales- seamlessly. SageCRM provides integration with leading ERP solutions as well as with Microsoft Outlook, so business owners can view more complete data and make the most of their current solutions.

Oh, and hats off to Robert Wilhelm Eberhard Bunsen, he would have celebrated his 200^th Birthday today if he had invented a long life elixir, instead he refined the Bunsen burner with his lab assistant Peter Desaga.

Pause Part 3

So back to our lives- up to this point of getting the final date, we were unable to book holidays/ weekends nothing really- just in case. So pause- pause-pause. We can do “x” when we have the date, “y” when we have the date. Even in work, everything- marketing- training- mail shots, were all working around our “date”. Nigel was 40 last year, and we had planned to make the long trip to Oz & NZ, as we had never visited. But the surgeon said no travel so soon after the operation- just in case-so we’re still on pause!

But then we got the date. Up until that time all my energy had been focused on getting the date, now it was on the countdown. It was actually very nerve racking. Various questions were running around my head keeping me up at night.

Would they survive the operation?

Would Alan reject the kidney?

Would Nigel have long term complications?

These were all very real concerns, luckily I have a very good friend who helped talk me through them as I felt the family had enough of their own fears and doubts.

I took Nigel away for the night to the Maryborough House Hotel a week before the operation. My thinking on it was that if he died on the operating table I would have no regrets about spending more quality time together- yes I can be very melodramatic at times! We had a lovely night and although now I feel that we should have kept it for after the operation to recharge, at the time it was very welcome.

It affected our children too. My son was concerned that all we ever seemed to talk about was the “operation”, we explained to them both what a serious and life changing procedure it was. Luckily they both understood, even Jordan (8) who is the most attached to “Granddad” and was very worried about being apart from two of the most important men in her life. We did try to keep the possible complications from their ears but they definitely felt the undercurrents.

The Day Before dawned. Nigel was going to go up to Beaumont with his Mum and Dad to “check in”. We came to work for a few hours. I felt like every emotion was just building, I was a bundle of nerves. I had arranged to get our dog clipped (normality) and had to leave to bring her for the appointment before Nigel left. It was awful, heart wrenching, words can’t describe the despair I felt.

Pause Part 2

The next step after starting the dialysis was the discussion on organ donation. Because of his age- 71, it was quietly thought it would be unlikely to get an organ through the waiting list, as he would have to get a healthy kidney- that matched his proteins- in his age group. After a family discussion Sue, his wife, decided to approach the transplant team to see if she was a match. Unfortunately due to having successfully survived breast cancer in 2002 she would not be considered. This was a huge blow- especially for Sue.

OK what next? Andrew the eldest son has a history of a heart problem, so would not be considered due to the drugs he is on. Kevin, the youngest, is in Australia. Tia (Deirdre) their daughter did go down the road of finding out about it being done in NZ, but the cost was prohibitive at the initial investigation. So the only one left was Nigel.

Off we trekked to Beaumont to see if they were a match. Nigel initially said that he would see if he was a match first before made any final decision. The team are wonderful, they make you feel very at ease and go to every length to explain all the ins and outs along the way.

There were a lot of blood tests, every time Nigel went up there was more blood to be taken. The other obstacle was his weight, they wanted his BMI to be under 30. So Nigel went about losing weight and getting fit. They said it would take a while to get the date for the operation. I did not realise when they said that, that it was going to take a full year. I think I would have panicked.

But month in month out Nigel went up to Beaumont and was weighed prodded poked analysized and talked to. He, to his credit, passed every hurdle they put in front of him.

As we have our own business it was decided that the operation could not take part around the sacred “Payroll End of Year”. But we were hoping that it would be around the end of January. Unfortunately Alan had a fall in November, dislocating his patella. This meant an operation- crutches- splints- and that Beaumont would not even entertain the transplant until he was 100% again.

Another set back was that his central line got infected. So they took it out of course. However this was one of the hardest part of the whole journey, as he had no dialysis for eight days, we had to feed him with a special kidney diet, he had more medication to keep his potassium level down. And it was Christmas Week. Eventually after many conversations with the wonderful staff in the dialysis unit the line was put back in, and with an enormous sigh of relief dialysis started again.