ManicMammy’s Blog

Politics, religion, conflict, attraction, sex: whats not to like about this tv series which is now in its second season?

I watched a repeated BBC series on Henry VIII and his wives a couple of decades or more ago with my Dad and I was hooked. It was a fascinating time in history and yep, despite this series being historical fiction and not totally accurate, despite Jonathan Rhys Meyers not fitting the stereotypical image of a rotund, ginger haired Henry VIII, I am liking his portrayal of the monarch. He does arrogance and sense of entitlement brilliantly and yet you do have sympathy for the king as he appears to be manipulated by church and reformists. But his power is frightening and one time friends can be expended without much thought or regret it seems.

The support acting of Maria Doyle Kennedy as Katherine of Aragon is excellent. Her initial belief that there was no way she could be replaced as queen begins to wane and you feel her pain when her husband tries desperately to get rid of her again and again for his new love Anne Boleyn. Her steadfast commitment to her Catholic faith and the church is portrayed with quiet dignity and her popularity with the common English public of the time is something I was not aware of.

The costumes of the cast are sumptuous. The banqueting scenes are wonderful, the opulence and luxury of the court shown off.

There is something about this series that make the issues of that time seem as relevant today as they were then: corruption of the church, frustration of many with the church’s wealth, political wheeling, dealing and backstabbing for personal gain. It makes for great viewing and I, for one, am looking forward to watching the story unfold.

On Saturday myself and Fionn took ourselves off from the mayhem and into town for a couple of hours to pick up a few last minute items needed before we head on holidays this weekend.  He was in great form, we had our cafe stop which he relished, but as the time passed he got tired so we decided to head to Formative Fun in Maylor Street as I thought I’d get him a new jigsaw.

However, once inside the door of the toyshop he immediately spotted the assembled train set and could not be drawn away from it for love or money. In the end it was only my buying him a train set of his own that worked.

He hugged the box the whole way home and couldn’t wait to assemble it to show his siblings and daddy.

It’s fabulous. Really simple parts that are easy for him to put together. He can arrange and re-arrange the wooden track in many different ways, its very versatile. The ramp and soft tunnel stragetically placed at intervals.  The small train is battery run but is powerful enough to pull the three carriages and also the additional Thomas the tank engine ones that were re-discovered in our playroom and added to the fun.

He really loves it. Its robust: the tracks are manufactured from wood as is most of the train and carriage. I especially like the fact that track pieces, tunnels, bridges, cranes and more accessories can be purchased separately so that the whole ensemble can grow with him and become more intricate as he becomes more accustomed to it.

Happy days.

Was Vanessa Mae born a violin prodigy or did she become one through blood, sweat, tears and hours upon hours of practice?

By all accounts, it appears that her mother was a major force in driving her success. From the age of 4 when Vanessa began learning to play the violin, her mother urged her to strive for perfection by telling her daughter that her love was conditional on how well Vanessa played. Thus ensued an extraordinary childhood and adolescence where the violin was the most important focus.

During this programme Vanessa underwent a brain scan, personality tests, hearing exams and more. The results showed that her brain had honed the areas used when she played the violin with her normal hand but when she changed hands it was comparable to any other novice beginning to learn the instrument.

She calculated the number of hours spent practising from 4 to 16 years old and came up with a number greater than 7,000. This was expected from the expert who had studied gifted musicans and noted that they all had spent from 5,000 to 10,000 hours of practice in their youth.

So far it was looking like her talent was in the majority down to her hard work and diligence.

Then the psychologist entered. He subjected her to a range of personality tests. The conclusions drawn were that she’s an extrovert with above normal risk taking, perfectionismand thrill seeking characteristics. Her hearing was also determined to be excellent and well above average. It was discovered that her mother had the same personality characteristics as she agreed to undergo the same tests. These personality traits are apparently conducive to becoming an exceptional musican.

So it would seem that yes, her genes went a long way to making her what she is today but the hard work and dedication was also required. She ended the programme saying she thought it was probably 50/50 in the nature/nurture split of contributing to her success. She did seem saddened that her relationship with her mother wasn’t more conventional. She acknowledged the fact that she knew her mother did love her and that her drive had a huge impact on getting her to where she is careerwise, she just wished it could have been done differently.

I found the programme very interesting. As a parent, it is often difficult to know what to do for the best for your kids. Should they be encouraged and pushed towards developing a talent or should they just meander along at their own pace? It would have be very interesting if Vanessa’s estranged mother had taken part in the programme. Unfortunately she declined to do so.

So Wimbledon was in progress, I was in my local bookshop and this novel caught my eye.

Its the story of Willy, a low ranking tennis professional on the way up when we first encounter her. She’s been playing tennis since aged four and is now in her mid twenties so time is running out for her to make it big.  She is obviously very driven, tennis is “her life”, her reason for being and she can’t seem to define herself without the game. She meets and falls in love with Eric, who took up the game at eighteen and is fast improving his ranking. Unlike her, he has other interests and talents and his not being as all consumed with tennis seems to irk her.

This book deals with their subsequent marriage and the rivalry between them as his career blossoms and her’s deteriorates. She resents the ease at which he excels and becomes very jealous of his success. Its a bleak book on relationships to be honest and the rivalry that may exist within a marriage. Her rage, jealousy and envy as pretty unrelenting can make uncomfortable reading.  None of the characters are particularly likeable and whilst this isn’t a huge problem, I found it very difficult to empathise with them or to find their actions credible. The same point is driven home again and again and as result I found persevering with reading this novel tough at times as the repetition grated.

Today myself and Oisín had a day out to ourselves. It was very enjoyable as he’s a highly entertaining fellow and was in top chatty form.  We ambled about Cork city centre and inevitably visited O’Conaill’s Chocolate shop on French church Street.

As I’ve mentioned before this place is a chocolate lover’s heaven. This time my purchases included 2 milk chocolate bars: one with chilli flakes and one with pink peppercorns. I haven’t tried these yet.

But my firm favourites of the moment are the milk chocolate and white chocolate chips. Wow, these are delicious.

Fabulous on their own or used to make some hot chocolate, they’re irresistable. Go buy some.

Last Friday, it rained all day here. I was on my own with the children and by around 4pm we were all going ever so slightly stir crazy, cabin fever had struck. With the weather showing no signs of abating, we set out for Chuckies in the Doughcloyne Industrial Estate so that they could burn off some excess energy and run about for an hour or so.

It had been over a year since the last time we’d been there. I have always liked the layout of Chuckies. It is definitely the most user friendly from a parent’s point of view.  The reception/pay desk at the door, a buzz in and out gate next and then the seating area facing the play section which is located along the back wall. The bathrooms are to the right in clear view of the seating area. All this means, that I can see all my children at all times and there is little to no chance of them leaving the playzone without me noticing. As my brood of 5 now range from 9 years to 1 year old, I need somewhere which has different age levels play areas side by side, so I can keep an eye on all at once. This is the major disadvantage of Supernova in Ballincollig. There though the equipment is newer and there’s more of it, the different age groups areas are very spread apart and I’m forced to leave the older kids in one area whilst I watch the juniors. To be honest, its the reason we don’t go there much as I can’t relax.

Chuckies has plenty of equipment to suit all my children. For the under 5s: a big slide, climbing area, ballpond, giant lego area, little tikes cars, playhouse, ball shooters and a touch screen interactive magic house game. For the older kids: a larger climbing area incorporating 2 slides, football/basketball section, a rodeo bull.

I was able to watch all from the comfort of one of the leather couches and have a much needed cup of coffee. Coffee, tea, sweets, scones, muffins, soft drinks, juices and sandwiches are on sale. The entrance cost was €7.50 per child as we had a group of 5.

All of the kids had a great time, they really enjoyed it and we all left happier and less hassled!

Hurrah,  the Spicendipity site is open for business. It looks gorgeous and theres a great selection of spice mixes, sauces, baking mixes and gift hampers. In addition, a very helpful recipe section which gives plenty of serving/cooking suggestions and examples and is therefore excellent for people like me who are culinary imagination challenged. All the products looked great. So without delay, I ordered amongst other goodies one of their chocolate brownie mixes.

This is baking made very very easy. Oscar did most of the work. I melted the butter, he stirred the mix into it. Another advantage is that the mix doesn’t contain any artifical preservatives, colouring or additives. A teaspoon of vanilla extract was measured, poured and stirred in. We then cracked in the eggs and he whisked. He greased the baking tray and poured the mixture in. Oisín then appeared for the most important part of the baking experience: the licking of the bowl, whisk and spoon. All faces were covered but the mixture tasted yummy, very chocolately and gooey.

At this stage, due to the fact our oven doesn’t appear to uniformly heat and has hotspots, the brownies got slightly charred around the edges. The middle was still perfect: moist, chocolately and very rich. The next time we’ll take more care and keep a closer eye on the baking stage.

As they were very rich, we cut up the slab of cooked brownies in to small rectangles rather than the larger size shown above. Needless to say, they didn’t last very long in this house with both parents and kids loving them. They were delicious.

I’m looking forward to trying some of the suggested variations out. Maybe adding some chopped nuts or making them as small muffins as Deborah suggests and turning them into an easy to prepare, fun and delicious dessert. Yummy.

One of the many stalls we visited whilst at the Taste of Cork festival was Declan Ryan’s Arbutus bread one. After sampling the delicious bread we decided to purchase a few bags of his West Cork Brown Soda Mix to take home.

Finally got organised enough to bake one today. You just need to add 1/2 pint of water to the dry ingredients in the bag which include wholemeal wheat flour, pinhead oatmeal, dried buttermilk, bread soda and cream of tartar. Pop in the oven for 45 minutes or so and violá, its ready. This is what I love, its so convenient. I don’t need any extra ingredients here in the house.

It’s smell was fabulous and it tasted divine. I am a sucker for fresh bread with butter and this met my expectations.

It cost €2 per pack which makes a good sized load as can be seen above. I used a silicone bakeware container which isn’t as rigid as standard loaf tins and so its flatter a loaf than I’d normally expect.

I will definitely be keeping a few packs of this mix on standby in the cupboard and use on a regular basis. Excellent product. I’m not sure where else it is available to purchase, I am hoping I’ll be able to find it in the English market in Cork or in the other local farmers’ markets.

UPDATE: emailed Arbutus and discovered the mix is available at Mahon Point Market on Thursdays, Midleton Market on Saturdays or from Nash19 Restaurant.