Sunday 22nd April, we got up early – there are few things that get us out of our scratcher at a decent time on the weekends, Formula 1 is one of them!

We high-tailed it down the M1/A1 to Newry, where we monopolised my sisters TV so we could watch the Bahrain race – which, she rewarded with a HUGE Sunday roast dinner fit for a king (but consumed by my parents, my brother, my sister, soon to be brother in law, Col and I, and my brother’s friend Marty).  In short – it was HUGE!!

From there, we took Rowan back to Larne for a few days – and for an interesting upcoming appointment for him!

Monday morning brought with it the BT man, as it turned out, we were in the country when they offered to upgrade us to the new BT Infinity.  Since it wasn’t any more expensive, and promised to be a lot faster than our current internet package – the decision was an easy one.  The guy turned up, he was quick, efficient and pleasant – job done in under 30 minutes and he was gone.  The internet transition was seamless, painless and we have been left with a much faster, more efficient interwebz!

For lunch, we all bundled into the car and headed up to Carrickfergus (Col’s home town) to meet my sister for lunch.  We settled on Dobbins, a small pub in the town centre, it’s quaint and small, with low arching ceilings and brick walls.  The food was delicious (Col had fish’n’chips, Rowan had a chicken burger and I had the roast of the day, three of us had starters, the four of us had pints of fizzy juice and it came to £45 total – not bad going at all.

I’d happily eat there again, and all out plates came out empty on the other side!

On the way back to Larne, we called in to Jackson’s Butchers – an award winning butcher here in Northern Ireland, to pick up something yummy for dinner.  We love the pies in there, chicken and ham, chicken, steak and mushroom, steak and onion, £3 for a small one, £4 for a big one – and they are packed full of delicious, excellent quality meat.

We then had a targeted trip to Asda for the few things I couldn’t find in Sainsbury’s.  Back at the ranch,  I got my baking head on.

First up, I baked some Banana Cupcakes with Nutella frosting (recipe was found here).  With this recipe, I had a couple of issues (aside from the fact that the batter was very gooey and not pour-able), namely the fact that I hadn’t used my oven in over two years and ended up grilling the damn things! I’ll have to make them again to see how they are (all things equal), though the frosting (a little runnier than I like) was lovely!!

My second, and more successful offering, was my go-to, ‘signature’ recipe of Paula Deen’s grandma heirs carrot cake with a basic cream cheese frosting.  Those went a LOT better than the banana ones and disappeared twice as fast! (can you believe I didn’t take pictures of my offerings?! *gasp*)

While the cupcakes were cooling, I stuck on the pies, with some garlic bread, the in-laws arrived for dinner.  We all sat enjoying our pies (which really were delicious!!) and catching-up.  When they left at 9.30pm our sides were hurting from regaling stories from over the last few years!