another year over...

happy 2010, people!

from:

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Tune in some time in January for the remaining updates from 2009...!

With love from the Jamrobbers :)

soul picnic

Picnic anyone?

Back in May we had a really great day out at the Soul Picnic in Merrion Square, which is part of the Dublin City Soul Festival (next year's links are up already!).

We set up our spot before the concerts began and chilled out and had some snacks.

It was a glorious early summer's day.... and the crowds got bigger and bigger...

The great thing about these outdoor summer gigs is you can go right up front and bop with the bands by the stage, or you can just chill out on the grass with your book... and enjoy the atmosphere :)


There's plenty of space in Merrion Square, so when we weren't watching the open-air gigs, we were playing around on the grass ;)

And making friends!

Isn't it amazing how quickly kids make new friends and bond?!



A special shout out to Jon, Janel, Lennan, Finn our new and dear friends whom we met that day... and to Vincenza, Giovanni and Anna-Livia, who our yummy friend Niamh introduced us to that day too!

To the boys' sheer delight, we had a yummy ice-cream after our picnic lunch...

And then later, Granddad turned up too! Yay! Lorcan got a little carried away and climbed all over him...

But we compensated him with some wine from our "bota":

:P

All in all, another great day.

floripondio

Before we continue, we just wanted to transmit to you a little bit of precious "flower power"...

... just because.

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Have you ever seen a tree shaped like a heart before?

Well, now you have

{and it's just around the corner from our house!}

concert-goers

This year Jaime got lots of tickets for his birthday (yes, back in February!)! In addition to the plane tickets for Rome (ah, la bella Roma), he got tickets to see The Slackers and George Thorogood in Dublin in May.

The best thing about buying concert tickets for your husband is that you usually get to buy yourself one too... I mean, I couldn't let him go alone, right?!! ;)

Here's J with David Hillyard of The Slackers before their gig at the Academy, Dublin. We love this band!


Jaime with Vic, after the gig.

We watched whole gig from the front row. The best thing about this band is how much they obviously enjoy what they do.

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We also went to see George Thorogood and the Destroyers at the Olympia in Dublin, which was a completely different experience!

Pure rock n' roll.

Thorogood may be getting old but he's still got it. He is the quintessential rocker... and he can play the guitar like nobody's business! The only thing we didn't like? The guy loves himself a little bit too much ;)

But, who cares?

Rock on.

darting back into action

Well hello! I know, I know, we ended up taking a pretty long blog hiatus again! Those are never planned. It must be just something about the way life flows.

Have you missed us?

We've had a number of posts sitting in drafts for quite some time.

So, come join us while we dart back into action.

Speaking of "darts" here are some photos from a day we spent in Howth with our friends Javi, Yvonne and Isabella. The kids had fun taking the DART (local train) out there... and the grown-ups had fun eating these when we got there:

:)

Liam was especially chuffed to be going on an outing with his buddy Isabella.

We went for a walk and saw the usual portside sights of Howth harbour.

Including the seals, of course (... I'm happier to stand back from the edge... that drop, ahem, freaks me out!!)

Everyone -young and old alike- had fun that day.

sunny park magic

master bakers

Home-grown rhubarb from the little vegetable patch in our back garden

This year we planted our own rhubarb. Do you want to see what we made with it?

This is Wholemeal Rhubarb Banana Walnut Bread. And here is the recipe... Jamrobber style:

Wholemeal Rhubarb Banana Walnut Bread

Ingredients:

* 2 cups wholemeal flour

* 1 cup plain flour (original recipe: 2 plain flour, 1 wholemeal)

* 1 crushed weetabix biscuit (original recipe: 1/4 cup wheat germ -i had none!)

* 2 teaspoons baking soda

* 1 teaspoon baking powder

* 2 whole eggs

* 4 mashed bananas (original recipe: 3)

* 1/4 cup milk

* 3/4 cup vegetable oil

* 1 1/4 cups brown sugar

* 1 teaspoon cinnamon (oringial recipe: 2 teaspoons)

* 1/2 teaspoon allspice

* 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

* 2 teaspoons vanilla

* 2 1/2 cups diced rhubarb

* 3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Have you got your aprons on? OK, then... let's begin:

1. Preheat oven to 175ºC (350ºF). Lightly grease one 11-inch ring-shaped cake mold (or two 9-inch loaf pans).

2. Mix together the flours, crushed weetabix (or wheatgerm), baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg in a medium bowl.

3. Get your mixer out and fool around with your reflections in the metal bowl for a while...

4. Get your trusty assistants to peel the bananas and mush them up.

5. Mix together the mashed banana, eggs, milk, brown sugar, oil and vanilla until fluffy.

6. Play around with your miniature assistants a little more...

7. Making time for play may (or may not) help you to keep your giddy apron-clad offspring from pushing each other around the kitchen and causing unwanted havoc. *though i obviously cannot guarantee that*

8. Add the flour mixture to wet mixture and blend well

9. Clean and dice your crunchy fresh rhubarb.

10. Stir in the diced rhubarb and walnuts.

11. Take a self portrait... just for fun.

12. Pour the mixture into your ring mold (or divide the mixture between the two loaf pans).

13. Bake at 175ºC (or 370ºF) for about 50 minutes. Cooking time may vary (and may take a little longer if baking the batter in one large tin) so check that the bread is cooked through by inserting a skewer or toothpick. If it comes out clean, it's done.

14. Allow the bread to cool in the mold for about ten minutes. Then remove carefully and allow to cool fully on a wire rack.

15. Slice and eat... Marvel at the wonderful rhubarb-banana-walnut combination and wonder why you never thought of making it before. Decide that this is your new favourite variation of banana bread.

16. Clean up the mess. Then eat some more of your tantalizing creation!

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Bonus recipe: If you have extra rhubarb left over. Chop it up. Throw it in a pie tin. Sprinkle it with sugar. Mix some muesli (approx. 2 cups) with wholemeal flour (1/4 cup), butter (1/3 cup) and some honey, golden syrup or maple syrup. Press muesli mix on top of rhubarb and bake for approx. 30 minutes or until golden brown. Hey presto: rhubarb crumble!