St Patrick's Day Dinner
Having discovered that the Bridge Centre near my home in Langley Mill, Notts, was holding an Irish meal to celebrate St Patrick's Day I advertised this as a Mensa event. 10 of the 54 attendees were Mensans and we had our own candlelit table complete with orange, green and white linen and flowers.
The staff were also attired in the colours of the Irish flag and there were banners and flags decorating the walls. First course was homemade potato soup with soda bread. Yummy! The main course was a huge serving of beef and Guinness pie accompanied with mashed potato and colcannon. Dessert was Kerry apple cake with cream and some sort of small red berries - we couldn't decide what they were! By this time we were all feeling rather full but there was more to come! Beautifully arranged platters of Irish cheese and biscuits arrived and we spent some time trying to guess the type. Finally someone had made a huge St Patrick's Day cake which was cut up and shared around the room. It was the lightest sponge cake I've ever eaten! After all this gluttony some of us couldn't even manage a coffee! Throughout the evening there was an optional Irish themed quiz to complete and after the meal some optional singing of appropriate songs including Molly Malone, Danny Boy and The Wild Rover. An evening of good food and good company for a bargain £15.50 and the drinks at the bar were reasonably priced too. The staff at the Bridge Centre were very welcoming so we'll be back.
Maxine Bates