"Put down that wrench!"

Another Sunday brunch today, this time for my PhD (and EngD) students. It was great to finally get them all over, although I note that they're a far more abstemious bunch than the usual suspects - we practically had to beg them to drink the margaritas I had on ice!

Menu was as follows (mostly for my benefit):

• Fruit platter - pineapple and papaya, dressed with lime and cayenne
• Huevos revueltos with chorizo
• Guacamole
• Frijoles
• Salsa Pica de Gallo
• (sour cream, crumbled Wensleydale, spring onions)
• Tortillas and bread rolls (the latter for molletes)
• Sopapillos (or bunuelos - I can't work out which is the correct term for fried wheat tortillas dredged with cinnamon sugar)
• Cafe en Olla
• Choice of cocktails, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic: Margarita, Bloody Mary/Maria, Bucks Fizz, Tequila Sunrise, Virgin Mary, Virgin Sunrise

Next time, we might try a New York bagel brunch; sadly, there are several people who dislike fish, which rules out an Edwardian brunch with kedgeree or kippers.

So, time's winged chariot duly rumbled past last Wednesday and added another year to my age, putting me indisputably past the halfway mark of my three score and ten. ias and I took the day off, having left the garklet in the nursery, and we went out! And saw a film! In a cinema! Without the garklet! Like real people!

We ended up going to the Harbour Lights to see Quantum of Solace, mainly because it meant we'd have a fighting chance of staying awake; the garklet had been pretty unsettled the night before, so we were in need of sleep. Not bad overall, even if it should really have been titled Casino Royale, part two. Still like Craig as Bond, though. This may be TMI, but I had to nip to the gents halfway through. Apparently, turning thirty-six has meant that my bladder can no longer hold the metabolic by-products of a pint of Hoegaarden for longer than half an hour. Thus begins the long, slow slide to senescence.

Picked the lad up after the film, fed him and waited for our babysitter. Not only had we gone to the cinema (!), but we were also going out to a restaurant sans-garklet. Had a few complaints from him on the grounds that I wasn't following the bedtime script to the letter, but he went down without too much wailing, and slept soundly from then on.

We'd decided to go to Zen (japanese place that theno23 had recommended in the past). Wednesday night was all-you-can-eat night, but this was cooked to order rather than steam table dross. Food generally good, though it stuck to the safe favourites. By this point, we were feeling rather shattered, and lapsed into blank-eyed silence. A good night out, nonetheless.

Part two of the birthday bits was today, with a selection of the usual sorts descending on us for Sunday brunch. Cooked Mexican, just as last year, but scaled down both the variety and the quantities, as follows:

• Huevos Revueltos con Chorizo
• Frijoles
• Salsa Verde
• Pico de Gallo
• Guacamole
• Tortillas

We still had food left over (mainly guacamole, since I'd not been able to pass up the chance to buy ripe Hass avocados at three for GBP1), but of manageable proportions. We also had a large platter of fruit (principally pineapple, papaya and lime), cocktails (pisco sours, tequila sunrises, bloody marys) and a regularly replenished supply of cafe de olla. I'll certainly make the cafe de olla again. Best of all, we managed to keep the garklet away from the egg.

We really ought to hold brunches at ours more often...