Jesus . . . will you relax???

Billy:  Standing to attention.  Tail rigid.  Starting to growl.

Himself:  Will you relax fffs, it's a  plane.  You're not going to catch a fucking plane!

I concur, he was never going to catch the plane.

Oscar and his Italian Chocolate Cookies (dammit, why can't they be called biscuits anymore?)

We came across this recipe in the Irish Times Magazine (28/9/13) and decided to make these instead of Brownies (yeah, mainly because I had no Cocoa Powder either, bad mammy).

To make these you will need:

250g dark chocolate

Another 175g dark chocolate chopped (I used milk chocolate as felt they would be rich enough)

50g butter at room temperature

125g granulated sugar

25g demerara sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract (I went to the cupboard and there was none to be found so didn't use it!)

60g flour

1 good tsp of baking powder 

Pinch of salt

Icing sugar to garnish

Then you:

• Preheat the oven to 180c/gas 4
• Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Melt the 250g of dark chocolate in a bowl sitting over a pan of simmering water.
• Beat the butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy and then add the demerara sugar, eggs and vanilla extract (if you have it).  Continue to beat.
• Pour in the melted chocolate and whisk until smooth.
• Fold in the flour, baking powder and salt.
• At this stage you want the mixture to be lukewarm (if, like me, your butter wasn't at room temperature when you decided to make these biscuits you'll find the chocolate has long since cooled to a lukewarm temp by the time you get your rock hard butter to the 'light and fluffy' stage) so that when you fold in the chopped chocolate it won't melt.
• Spoon dessertspoon sized blobs on to the trays, leaving a bit of a gap in between.
• Bake for 10 - 12 minutes (took 12 in our oven).
• They will be quite soft but will harden slightly as they cool and will remain gooey in the centre.
• Dust with icing sugar when cold.
• Make a cup of tea, turn back on trashed kitchen and try not to choke as you wolf down these gorgeous biscuits.

Next time we make these I'm going to use orange in them as I imagine it will be lovely.  Might also try and remember to buy vanilla extract next time Himself is at the supermarket too.

Aaaaaaaaaargh

Arthur is finishing up in Infant School this year and it's terribly sad (terrible, terrible, terrible - Oscar) so he got to have his last big birthday party.  They each get three big ones (we didn't plan this, it just kind've happened that way) and this was his last one.

His first one with this gang was to the cinema and it was bloody mental.  We assumed every four/five year old regularly went to the cinema and took fourteen of Arthur's pals with us ... waaaaaaaaay back in the day.  I never brought a cake.  The kids were disgusted, even more disgusted when I explained that I don't do party bags.  "Huh? No bag??"  "s-s-sob .. . no bag?"  

NO.  I HATE PARTY BAGS!!!!!

Long story short, the kids were fucking mental and needed to pee every two sodding minutes and we swore never again.  That thought lasted  a year.  Last year it was Really Grand Events i.e. Mr. Paul Furey entertaining the kids and that was brilliant.  Would love the power to hold that many kids attention in the palm of my hand the way he does.  The fact that he is a magician probably helps!

So this year, the last party (terrible, terrible, terrible - Oscar) we had Kinsealy Pet Store come in, with various animals, to entertain the masses.  Thing was, they weren't going to be here until 4pm   They weren't going to be here until 4pm and I'd lost my voice.  Three cheers for Ms. K who helped me out with the many,  many boys and one girl on the green.  We played chasing, we allowed ourselves to be caught and we leaned on the bench drinking gin and tonics.  Happy days.

Brought kids into house, applied cream to ease nettle stings (nothing like telling young fellas, and one girl, to stay out of the bushes to make them go INTO the bushes and get stung.  Repeatedly) and fed them.  Then the lads arrived.  The wonderful Ciaran and Eric.  Yup, two lovely chaps and a van full of creatures.  We had chinchillas, rabbits, guinea pigs, a hedgehog, corn snakes (love) and a big boa constrictor.  We also had beardies and tortoises and every kid had something to have and hold and pet before getting bored and wandering off to find something else to have, hold and pet.

The kids had no fear, like, none whatsoever.  One or two were a bit wary but most had a blast.  I forgot to take a photo of the cake (would've looked great on our site, doh) but got a photo of every kid there holding the boa.  Including the ones of Arthur.  Cackle, don't you love the way, at the start, he looks happy enough but, towards the last shots, his little cheeks are being squeezed up into his hair.  Cackle. 

Oh, and the little shites were still giving out about the non appearance of party bags.

Ouch

 

Long snake or small family?

 

No way!!  I don't believe ssssshe sssssaid that

Cackle, the infamous Ms. K . .. now, start humming that song to 

yourself, you know the one, I'm a Slave 4 U, doesn't she look just like Brittany?