The Baynhams

When my brother Joe went off to India last month, Rhonda and Cian moved up to Anne and Kel's house for company while he was away. We decided to make the most of seeing Cian by making Wednesday nights a regular "Get together" for tea at our house. There is nothing better than seeing our kitchen table piled high with food, cluttered with plates and a person in every chair, even extra chairs pulled up on the corners for us all to fit. It is noisy, squishy and fun!

This Wednesday we were in for an extra treat.... We needed yet another chair squeezed in because Uncle Joe was coming home for the week and was joining us. Convinced Joe would be fed up of spicy food I decided to go with an Irish themed dinner: Guinness and Beef pie with garlic and bacon mashed potato. It is a slow meal to prepare and cook so I made it on Monday, my day off work. I followed a recipe in a great book I got for Christmas from Mum and Dad.

I did have one dilemma, the recipe called for 150mls of Guinness but the can was 440mls....? It would have been a real shame to waste it so I poured some extra over the beef and then poured the rest in a small glass and raised a toast to all friends and family in Ireland

"Slainte"

All I had to do today when I got in the door from work was put the pastry lid on top and let Rhiannon decorate it with Shamrock shaped pieces of pastry using Auntie Carries cookie cutters. While we were waiting for it to crisp up in the oven we made some raspberry and white chocolate muffins with Cian helping to measure and mix!

He was so excited when they came out of the oven but he had to wait until after dinner to tuck in.

It was a really great evening. The dishwasher was packed tight with plates and glasses and there was still a mountain of stuff to be washed that just couldn't be squeezed in. If a family meal can be judged on the height of the pots and pans balancing on the draining board afterwards then tonight was a massive success!