I have learned my lesson(s)

Life Lesson 1:

Do not ask a three year old what she would like for her birthday

Certainly not in a casual manner.  For she may have an answer ready.  She may also be a particularly dear little girl, who deserves to have to her birthday wish honoured, even if she's not actually technically your god-daughter, she's XH's god-daughter and you're - well, you're just in there, part of the package.  You may also have told him that you're taking care of her gift and he's paying for it because you know what, that's just the easiest thing. 

Do not ask a three year old what she would like for her birthday, because she may, without skipping a beat, reply:

"A chocolate dinosaur".

Ah hah.

And you may just be soft enough in the head to follow through.

They're monsters.  Not in the scary sense, because they actually possess dopey grins - and what could be either one tombstone tooth or a tongue poking out - but because they take a staggering 100g of chocolate each.  That's a family sized bar in each one (the smaller moulds I wanted were sold out).  I started off using Green and Blacks, as I usually do, and then realised that not only madness but penury that way lay, so I switched to good old Cadburys. 

Life Lesson 2:

Dad knows best

Certainly when it comes to chocolate.  Well he would do as he was a baker and confectioner.  I had an impromptu lesson in tempering chocolate, so it will be interesting to see if the next two dinos are shinier than these.  And whether the first two set.  Yes there will be more - there are six children coming to the party with us (at the Natural History Museum, where else?) and you can't get away without enough for one each.  Despite the fact that each one has their annual chocolate requirement contained in one brontosaurus-shaped package.  Perhaps their parents will be able to convince them to split them.  Yeah, that's an idea...

* * * * *
Lots of work coming up so will pop back to the blog as often as I can.  In trying to get everything done, I'm very conscious that not only is it St Patrick's Day on Saturday, it is also the Eurovision Song Contest.  It's a bit like a lunar eclipse on Halloween, snow on Christmas Day, winning the lottery on your birthday, or maybe in this case extra white sauce on the bacon and cabbage. (especially if it's the gammon and colcannon at the Empress - had lunch there last week and the food rocked).   The icing on the barmbrack cake, as it were.
I fondly remember the Eurovision from college.  I mean, the music is rubbish, obviously, but for a couple of years back in the early 90s, when Ireland didn't seem to have much to shout about, we were certainly able to win the Eurovision. Again, and again.  It also spawned the clickety-legged spectacle that is Riverdance, it was the interval entertainment in 1994 (I'd dispute that the contest didn't create a financial burden for RTE - as a media student back then, we were continually told how the budgets had been slashed in order to pay for the Eurovision) and watching it always turned in to a fairly mental night.   It's up there with the Late Late Toy Show which is - or certainly was in the Gaybo days - seminal Irish television and such a strong feature of my childhood.  It was basically a seasonal show where they featured toys that would be 'big' for Christmas - sending Santa into a frenzy if he had already allocated Johnny's and Mary's pressies based on that letter they sent him in November... I always wanted my parents to go the Toy Show because the main catchphrase, which the audience was just dying for, was '...and there's one for everyone in the audience!', it was the mother of all freebie giveaways.  Ah yeah, brings a smile, and I'd bet that anyone Irish who's about my age would agree. 

So the question is, where could we go on Saturday night to celebrate the auld national holiday, and also be able to see the Eurovision?   What a perfect night!  Roll it there Colette...

BTW there's an interview with myself and Rebecca in the Irish Echo this week, if it's available in your area and you'd like to check it out.  She also has a wonderful new blog that you must visit...

**Edit:  As Caroline's comment so rightly says - it's a qualifying thing for the Eurovision only today.  Sure who'd want to watch that kind of rubbish?

Comments

[Jade]

Your chocolate dinos are super cute! The kids will love them & probably demolish them right away.

Your talk of food has made my mouth water for exotic dishes. I used to work with an Irish lass about six years ago and she taught me about colcannon. Yum! Best way to eat a potato!

[kirsty]

We watched Eurovision last year here in Australia. It's SOOO bad. But we couldn't take our eyes off it. Like eating peanuts - just ONE more. Sometimes we nearly peed ourselves laughing. And then you find yourself saying "This one's not too bad" about a song that out of the context of the show would have you gagging.

[Dawn Castro]

Oh i do love the dinos!! Do you think they would melt on the way here to the States?!!! So the kids will be on a sugar-high!1 So what?!! You're giving them back to their parents! The parents can deal with them being all sugared out!! I'm sorry that was a bad thing to say! See what ahppend with no chocolate!!
i'm sure the kids will have a wonderful time and be the perfect children they are. Give them the chocolate to eat at home!!
HAve a fun week end!!

[Ting]

I want tooooo!!!!!!!! Wahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!! (See the chaos you've started already?) I'm sure there'll be hair-pulling and fisty cuffs all round because with the big 'hit' you're giving them, you'll be starting them out on a lifelong chocolate addiction! ;)

p.s. we used to watch the Eurovision when I was growing up in tropical old Singapore. We had to tape the programme and watch it the next day because it was broadcast in the middle of the night. Looney I know!

[Jennifer]

What a labor of love, and how kind of you to have seen it through! And what an amazing resource your dad is for you-- Well, you're on the road to sainthood -- oh rats, the patron saint of bakers just went right out of my head.

[caroline]

I LOVE those dinosaurs - they are fantastic.

Sorry, I am the bearer of bad news the only Euro thing on this weekend is the UK's Song for Europe, the actual contest is in May. Good news is that you can enjoy St Patrick's day and then have another knees up in May. Hurray!

[Denise]

A Song for Europe!! Possibly the best Father Ted ever!
all together now...
"My lovely horse running through the ...Fields
Where are you going with your fetlocks blowing in the...Wind...
I want to shower you with sugar lumps and ride you over...Fences
Polish your hooves every single night, and bring you to the horse...Dentist
My lovely horse you're a pony no more,
running around with a man on yer back, like a train in the night, like a train in the (I can get this) Night..."
I know what I'm watchin' tonight.
Grand so Ted.

[Jo]

At least she asked for something you could make - albeit a bit of a tricky request. We will be watch Eurovision as my husband loves it, I usually nod off before the scoring!

[Lauri Smith]

Chocolate dinosaurs! How cute! I just found your blog---linked over from Vintage Chica---and this is the first post I see...yummy!

and am I bad if I really don't like Green & Black's? But I do LOVE Cadbury's!