I am pleased to introduce the latest member of the gaffbhala household. Old Gregg arrived on Friday evening and has already asserted his presence and become an indisensable member of the family. We spent Saturday afternoon building his cage and his favourite pastimes are rolling around the computer room in his ball, moving food from one place to a second place and hanging upside down in a tube. Below are a couple of pics and I plan to upload a few more when we get them. I know you’ll all join me in welcoming Old Gregg into the house. If anyone fancies coming around to say hello, please feel free!

Just to inform you all that shortly Milky Joe will no longer be the newest member to gaffbhala. The latest member, Old Gregg, should be with us by the weekend. I can provide you with no more information at this point as to the nature or identity of our newest housemate, however anybody wishing to make Old Gregg’s acquaintance are welcome to drop by at the weekend.

I’ve been using this broccoli recipe recently. It’s easy and it’s fast and it’s bloody delicious.

First, cut/break most of the stalk off the broccoli, wash and set aside. Next heat a bit of oil in a frying pan, get it nice and hot. Add a few pinches of fennel seeds and some ginger into the pan and fry for about a minute. I use ginger paste because it’s easier but normal, grated ginger is good too. Next throw in the broccoli and stir it around so it’s nicely coated with oil, fennel seeds and ginger. After another minute, pour some soy sauce over the broccoli. An optional dash of dark soy sauce will make it even nicer. Stir the broccoli around the pan while frying for a few more minutes but be careful not to over do it as the broccoli can get soggy. You want it nice and al dente. Bob’s your uncle! I often throw a few sugarsnap peas in with the broccoli for a bit of variation.

Last night three quarters of gaffbhala hung out at Clare’s gaff. We drank a few beers around her lovely fire and just had a bit of idle banter. Here are some pics I took with my girlfriend’s camera. Check ‘em out!

I’ve managed to locate some party pics. The ones below are thanks to Zoe. But I know there are more out there. Come on people! Cough ‘em up!

I know I may be out of line speaking on behalf of the whole gaff here, but I am declaring Gaffbhala official sponsors of Munster rugby club. Since I’m really the only one who follows rugby, the team I support is therefore the team that the gaff supports. In any case, Milky agrees with me. Anyway, at the moment, Munster are the last glimmer of hope for Irish rugby this season. Following a poor performance by Ireland at the world cup and 6 nations and Leinster’s premature exit from the Heineken Cup, it is now up to Paul O’Connell and his boys to carry the flag for Irish rugby. Munster have a tough quarter final away to Gloucester on 5^th April but they’ve never been ones to shirk away from a challenge. With the Munster back line better than ever, I’m sure they will give Gloucester a run for their money. I have already secured myself a pair of tickets for the Heineken Cup final in Cardiff on 24^th May and last week I booked return flights to London for that weekend with Ryanair. If Munster win the quarter final against Gloucester, I intend to book a place on a bus from London to Cardiff for the morning of the final. In the meantime, here’s a pic of Munster’s star player and arguably the world’s best out-half – Ronan O’Gara.

Yo. Here’s a pic of a recent mac cheese I did. Yum!!

One day last month, Ali made a lasagne. It was pretty nice and since I hadn’t had lasagne in ages, it inspired me to make the lasagne to end all lasagnes from scratch. I decided to make a huge one that I could get about eight portions out of to freeze for future dinners. And so I began cooking enthusiastically with 2 packs of mince and 2 whole blocks of cheese. The making of the meaty sauce went pretty smoothly however the cheese sauce did not fare so well. In making it, I managed to burn the bottom of the saucepan. Convinced that this was only a minor setback, I ploughed on with my project. Sure enough, once the cheese sauce was finished, it had this nasty burnt taste to it. I naively still believed that once the whole lot was baked in the oven, the burnt taste would go away. How wrong I was!

The lasagne came out of the oven fresh and bubbling and looking amazing however when I tasted it, it still had that relentless burnt taste to it. I tried and tried to like it but I just couldn’t eat it. It was ruined. It didn’t stop Ali and Wig eating it mind you. They were delighted to have a whole massive lasagne to themselves! I don’t know – call me a perfectionist or whatever but in my opinion it was inedible.

Most people would have been discouraged by such a disaster but not me. The very next day I went out and bought two more packs of mince and two more blocks of cheese. I diligently started again from scratch. I had a hankering for lasagne and I was damn well going to have one! Long story short, the mighty lasagne mark II was a success. There was no burning of the cheese sauce and the end product was to die for. I ate a portion for dinner that night while Ali and Wig ate leftover burnt lasagne (haha!) and managed to freeze another five portions.

About a week later, I was home late from work and didn’t really have time to cook dinner. This was the ideal time for me to defrost one of my beautiful lasagne portions. I defrosted it in the microwave a tiny bit before chucking it in the oven to heat it properly. 20 minutes later, the oven was beeping at me like crazy to check it. I extracted the portion and quickly determined that all it required was five more minutes until it was ready to eat. Oh no! In the process of returning the lasagne portion to the oven, I dropped the oven tray and it landed face down, squashing my beautiful lasagne between it and the cold, dirty kitchen floor.

I couldn’t believe it, I wanted to scream. All I wanted in the world was a slice of lasagne. Was that too much to ask?!? In the end I went ahead and defrosted yet another slice of lasagne which I managed to prepare ok. However I am now very wary of lasagne. I don’t think I’m ever meant to really eat it. Whenever I try, there just seems to be trouble. Think I’ll stick to cheese on toast in future…

Introducing the newest member of the gaffbhala household - Milky Joe. Anybody who has spent any time with us recently will know that we are fans of the hit BBC3 comedy series The Mighty Boosh. Milky Joe is a character from the second series where Vince and Howard get stranded on a desert island. Feeling the pressures of isolation, they make characters out of the coconuts on the island (although I don’t know where they get the tea towels from!!) and the episode ends with the pair caught up in a high speed coconut police chase. We decided to make our own Milky Joe and after some hard work by Dan with the help of his parents’ drill set, he came up with a pretty near-perfect replica. The first pic below is of the actual Milky Joe from the tv show. The final two are of our own home made Milky Joe. Feel free to pop by any time and say hi to him. He loves parties!

There is a severe lack of pics from the Good Friday party however I distinctly remember posing for loads of photos. Who has them?!? Anybody with any pics from the party, please step forward. In the meantime, here are a couple of my mate from work asleep on the stairs using a cardboard box for a pillow. They were taken on Wigs’ phone. The funny thing is, this guy is a self confessed hardcore boozehound who claims that he can never drink too much. Looks like history has been made at gaffbhala once again!!! Click on the names below to view.