First Photos

This past weekend was the start of my digital photography class. I practiced at home in the living room for a little while after...its clear there is much to learn and I won't be quitting the day job soon but here are a few of my first ever photos shot in manual.

Easter traditions….

Like any holiday, Ireland does it different.  For starters there is no egg colouring, instead of Easter baskets there are big chocolate Easter Eggs and kids get LOADS of them from just about everyone they know. In our house we’ve once again made it our own…we colour eggs (thanks mom for always sending us Paas).  We invite a whole bunch of kids over and have a party.  After the egg colouring we have our own egg hunt (thanks again mom for the plastic eggs).

Brown eggs don’t colour as vibrantly….no matter how long you leave them in…..but the kids don’t care.  Next year I plan on splurging for some white duck eggs.

Molly did get chocolate for her first Easter but she also had an Easter Basket….so did Brie….somehow I don’t think either of them would argue that once again our ‘merging of traditions’ has come out in their favour!

 

Winter wonderland?!?!

GeoTagged, [N43.08187, E76.02569]

Three weeks in upstate NY & it already seems like a long winter to us. The biting cold, falling ice, and early morning snow plows waking Molly each night....enough is enough. But one thing for sure, just like mom says, a fresh five inches sure makes it look beautiful like a true winter wonderland!

A knock at the door…

During the run up to a national election in Ireland, local and national politicians from all parties take to the streets of their constituencies and go door to door canvassing for votes.  Not only is it cold and wet most days, but the government is pretty severely disliked at the moment so  I really would hate to be a politician knocking on angry voters doors.  So, when the doorbell rang on a quiet Friday afternoon I made Michael answer it (after all he is the only one in the house with an actual vote).  To our delight it wasn’t a politician at all but a fish monger!!

Friday seems a fitting day for a fish monger.

Anyway,  a small fortune later and we have a well stock freezer of flash frozen fresh fish to keep us all going over the next few months!  We played it safe for now and got some yummy Cod Loins and Brie’s favourite, fish fingers!   No need to trudge to the market for fresh fish for a while.

       

Oh, and the politicians have begun canvassing in our neighbourhood, however, they just put leaflets through the letterbox rather than ring and have to face the music and actually talk to voters.  Pretty cowardly if you ask me… 

Standing…

She may still currently weigh in at 12 pounds, but there is no doubt that Molly is strong, particularly in her legs which never seem to stop moving.

 

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This week's new food....

Avocado!!!

She loved it!!  We like to think this is the first step to life-long enjoyment of Uncle Jamie's Specialty Guac!

Quorn....it's what's for dinner.

We've been in a total food rut lately it seems. We keep trying out new recipes and trying to find new 'weeknight reliables' before I go back to work. There has been much discussion in our house lately around Quorn, the vegetarian meat substitute. This week we finally decided to give it a shot.  Our adventurous side only stretched so far.  Besides,  we were feeding Brie tonight too and well, since we pretty much lied and told her it was chicken, we had to use an base recipe we knew she would eat.  Ah, the old stand-by chicken chow mein, now Quorn Chow Mein.

 The verdict? Doesn't exactly taste like chicken, but Brie didn't seem to notice, and there weren't any left overs so that's a good sign. 

Homeade Pizza

So this is what it's come too, the IMF takeover and the "draconian budget" leading to wage cuts and ultimately, cuts in the pizza budget at our house.....well not exactly, but we made homemade pizzas for the first time this week.  Of course it was about doing it together but the money saved and the healthier option sweetened the deal.

            

 We used Naan breads, although we have since located pizza crusts at the grocery store for next time.

Molly supervised from her chair. Seriously she's finding her voice and spent the whole time shrieking!

and Bella was kept occupied by her cow's kneecap....gross. 

                                                       



4 Months

Molly is 4 months! It might not have been my outfit of choice for photos, but I live in a house of Manchester United supporters and of course Molly is being groomed to back the Red Devils too.

The truth is,  I can't wait until next month when I deck her out in Syracuse gear.  Go `Cuse!!!