I couldn’t figure out why she thought she wasn’t going to school, “We’re going to the book launch aren’t we?” she said.

Hmm.

I said to her, “You know it’s at 6pm don’t you? “

Blank stare.

“And that it’s only in Moate?” (i.e. the same county as us)

“Oh.”

She was awful disappointed, she thought she was getting a day off school and some shopping time in Penneys Dublin. Until I told her there would be cake. We’re quite partial to a bit of cake…

Well, I can confirm, she wasn’t disappointed. We decided there and then that we wanted to bring Nessa home with us so she could bake for us. We spent a lovely couple of hours chatting with fellow food bloggers, scoffing cakes and drinking tea before heading home armed with a copy of Apron Strings (which I will tell you all about in a future post because I haven’t read it properly yet – but I can confirm that there has been much drooling over pictures!) Below is a small selection of pictures from last night:

A small section of the goodies table!

photo taken by The Girl

The boy was not impressed that our other signed cookbooks haven’t had his name on so I asked Nessa to sign the book to me and him (our names obviously ..) he was delighted with it this morning!

Nessa signing books

Here’s the goodies table just before we left:

After

___________________________________________________________________________________

Wild Garlic Soda Bread

As mentioned here, I’ve been absolutely DYING to make a Wild Garlic Soda bread. It went down so well with the family that I was just sorry that I had only baked one, it disappeared so quickly! It’s adapted from the Basic White Soda Bread recipe from The Ballymaloe Cookbook by Myrtle Allen.

METHOD:

Preheat the oven to 230c.

Finely chop the Wild Garlic leaves.

Sift the dry ingredients together and mix in the leaves.

Make a well in the centre.

Pour in the milk gradually and mix together making sure the mixture isn’t too dry.

Turn out onto a floured board, knead lightly for a few minutes. Shape into a round shape and place on a flat baking tray or in a greased loaf tin if you prefer. I find that in my house there are less arguments over who has the biggest slice of bread if I bake it in a loaf tin!

Cut a cross into the bread if it’s a round or a line if in a loaf tin.

Bake in the oven for 30-45 minutes.

To test, tap the bottom of the bread, it will sound hollow if it’s done.

Turn onto a wire rack to cool (wrap in a clean tea towel first if you want a softer crust).

Wild Garlic Soda Bread

The boy, who had been telling us since last May that there was no way he was going to come with us after we nearly walked the legs off him last year, suddenly decided on Friday evening that he was indeed going to come along after all. So there we were at 2.45 am sat at our kitchen table eating our breakfast and laughing at how weird it was before getting into the car at 3.10 am to make the short trip to Belvedere.

We arrived around 3.45 am and joined the queue for t-shirts. Shortly afterwards, the crowd were told to start making their way out into the courtyard where we all listened to a letter from Joan Freeman being read and we were informed that there were 800+ taking part in Mullingar (although I’m pretty sure there were more than that with late registrations etc) The kids were given glow sticks to carry round and some clever people (ie not us!) brought torches and finally the walk got under way at 4 am.

Walking wise, we fared much better than last year. We weren’t walking for very long before we could get the familiar scent of Wild Garlic! The boy got tired and a little whingy after a while but that was mainly because we were going at the same pace as the rest of the crowd. After hearing me going on and on about wild garlic recently he suddenly stopped and tried to pick some. In the dark. Which I had to talk him out of incase anyone fell over us! Once we started to walk again, we slowed to a pace more suitable for short legs (his not mine…) then we were grand and he started to enjoy himself although being male he will never admit that! It had started to rain by this point but we ploughed on and by the time we got back round to the lake shore, it was getting light and what a beautiful moment that was. As always at things like this, I found myself chatting with complete strangers as we crossed the finish line about how the walk didn’t seem to be very long and that it wasn’t as hard as we thought it might be. I, along with lots of others paused to take some photos which aren’t great but my favourite is the one at the top of this post – candles arranged to spell out the word “HOPE”

It was a lovely morning, even with the rain, we could have gone back inside for tea and scones but we decided to just head home and leave the tea for people who maybe travelled further than us. We were home, into our pyjamas and back in bed by 6.30 am where we promptly fell into a deep sleep, even the boy slept til almost 10 am when he got up and asked me, “Is it still yesterday?” followed by, “Let’s have another breakfast!”

The following day, we “found” tons of the stuff growing near Enniskillen on the sides of the road. When I say near Enniskillen, it was actually *somewhere* between Enniskillen and er, Bundoran because that’s where we were going. I annoyed the hell out of himself to get him to stop the car and it’s only on the drive back when I turned into Shouty Wife that he decided he had no choice but to pull over if only for a bit of peace and quiet. We eventually stopped at the entrance to some woods which were also near Enniskillen that I can’t remember the name of, sorry! Of course when I got out of the car and walked into the woods, I stepped right into the biggest pile of dog poo in the world. I’m not sure what was worse on the drive home, the smell of garlic or the smell of poo!

Towards the end of the Wild Garlic season, we accidentally stumbled across some so near to home it was practically up the road. Isn’t that always the way?! Only I was so fed up with trying to find it, and not very nice things happening to me in the process, that I couldn’t be bothered with it anymore.

I went back there a couple of weeks  ago with my mum and she got out of the car and picked a few stalks. Well, when I say she got out, I practically put her out of the car and since we weren’t parked properly (and it’s a small country lane) I had to shout at her to get back in because there was a van coming up behind us! We went back again last week and parked properly so she got a bit more but more importantly, I got some for myself too.

I’ve been mad to try out a soda bread recipe with wild garlic since I reading Imen McDonnell’s post a couple of years ago but not only that , I’d been dying to make some Wild Garlic Butter. So I did that first…

All you need to make Wild Garlic butter is a few Wild Garlic leaves/flowers and some butter. I used Kerrygold (real) butter because we like it and it’s yummy but you can use whatever brand you prefer.

Try and leave your butter out of the fridge for a half an hour or so before mixing (no other reason than it makes it easier to mash!)

Take a few Wild Garlic leaves (I used 4) and finely chop.

Mix together with the butter and place in a dish. Cover with cling film and refrigerate.

That’s it, it’s so simple! I used my Kenwood mini chopper (at least I think that’s what it’s called, it’s a mini food processor if that helps!) just to make sure it was all mixed properly but a machine isn’t strictly necessary.

I used a little of the Wild Garlic Butter by pushing it under the skin of a chicken before roasting for dinner that evening and it was just lovely!

Big thumbs up all round and those famous (in this house anyway..) “You can do this again, Mammy!”

If I told you I have struggled with words this morning trying to get this post written then I wouldn’t be lying. We (myself and the kids) took part in this event last year in Phoenix Park, Dublin along with Caitriona and her lovely family and to say it was a moving experience would be an understatement.

While trying to find the right words to say, I stumbled across this youtube video from Pieta House. Have a look for yourself:

(and since I’m not very technical, if the video doesn’t appear above click here)

This year, there are 20 venues nationwide making it even easier to take part. We’ll be joining the walk at Belvedere House, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath at the unearthly hour of 4am. It’s not too late to register online – as I type there are just under 11 hours to go but late registration at the venues is allowed (just arrive in plenty of time!)

Come on, what are you waiting for?

Once we’d arrived on site and got sorted out with our pitch etc we began to set up and quickly discovered that not only did we forget to pack the aerial cable for the telly, we’d also forgotten the remote control! We had purposely brought the girl’s tv from her room because it had a built in DVD player which we could use if the new digital signal thingy didn’t agree with our caravan aerial. Of course, it’s one of those bloody tellys that has NO buttons on it anywhere and the only way you can turn it on is with the remote.

Cue himself and my dad going off to the town to buy a universal remote control to try and get it working. Typically, it didn’t work either so had to be returned. Himself was in a RIGHT mood by this stage so we left him to it and went for a walk. We had no idea how addicted to tv we were until we didn’t have one. I was sorted, I had an audiobook on my phone (The Mystery of Mercy Close by Marian Keyes) and my crochet to keep me occupied and the kids had books but himself was like a lost soul. Luckily, my mum had her laptop with her so we borrowed that to watch DVDs. I can honestly say it saved the weekend.

Even the fact that we’d forgotten to pack some essential cooking stuff (extra saucepans, the flippy yoke for frying, gravy granules etc) didn’t put a dampner on the rest of the weekend – we just made do with what we had.

The wind, however was another matter altogether. It shook the BEJAYSUS out of the awning (which in turn shook the bejaysus out of the caravan) so much so that on Sunday night we packed everything that was in the awning (table & chairs, shoes etc) into the already full caravan. I decided that if the awning did take off in the wind, it would mean there would be less to look round the campsite for the next morning. I hardly slept a wink (give or take an hour or two) because I honestly thought if I did fall asleep that I’d wake up in America. But we survived it and more importantly, we didn’t kill each other which has to be good right?

So anyway, back to the Scotch eggs. I made these today simply because I have a surplus of sausages and black pudding today. Because I forgot to bring them camping. I swear, next time I’m writing a list!

This is a great recipe to get the kids involved in, the boy loved squeezing the sausage meat out of the skins then mashing it together with the black pudding!

Enjoy xx

Oh, I forgot to mention that this recipe is from a leaflet picked up from the Clonakilty Black Pudding stand at Taste of Dublin 2011. More black pudding recipes can be found here. I have halved the quantities of breadcrumbs and flour as there was a LOT left over.

This is NOT a sponsored post.

Or a how to on caravanning.

METHOD:

Place the 4 eggs in boiling water and boil for exactly 9 minutes.

Drain and cool the eggs under cold running water, then peel.

Mix the sausage meat and black pudding with the thyme and parsley in a bowl, season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Divide the mixture into four.

Take some cling film and lay flat on the counter.

Place each quarter of mixture onto the clingfilm (one at a time or you’ll end up using loads of clingfilm which isn’t really necessary) flatten it into a rough oval shape, wide enough to cover the egg. Don’t worry if it’s not wide enough as you can easily spread the mixture over it if needed.

Place the seasoned flour onto a plate and cover each boiled egg in the flour.

Place each egg onto a sausage meat oval, and wrap the sausage meat around the egg. This is where the clingfilm comes in handy as it stops it sticking to your fingers! Make sure the coating is smooth and completely covers the egg.

Dip each sausage meat covered egg in the beaten egg, making sure it is completely coated, then roll in the breadcrumbs to completely cover.

Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed pan. Test with a breadcrumb. It is hot enough when it sizzles and turns brown when dropped into it.

HOT OIL CAN BE DANGEROUS, DO NOT LEAVE UNATTENDED!!!

Carefully place each Scotch egg into the hot oil and deep-fry for 8-10 minutes, until golden and crisp and the sausage meat is completely cooked.

Carefully remove from the oil with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.

Serve cool.

So, what’s been going on in the kitchen since I last posted then? Well, we escaped the house last week and hit the library for the third week in a row. The kids will be visiting our local library soon with school so I popped in a couple of weeks ago to sort out membership etc and it’s a good job I did because we had 5 overdue books dating back to April 2006!! Two were mine and three were the girl’s. Imagine, the last time we’d been to the library, the boy wasn’t even born!

This mammy is delighted that we’ve rediscovered the library though as I’ve found out I can borrow cookbooks! How did I not know this already?! This weeks cookbook is Martin & Paul’s Surf n’ Turf by Martin Shanahan and Paul Flynn that accompanied last year’s tv series. Haven’t had much chance to look in it so far but I’ll try and pop up a little review before the end of the week *coughs*

I’m also reading The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult and I must admit I’m having a hard time getting into it. I’m not really sure why, maybe I’ve just got too much other stuff going on at the moment. I’ve read one of her other books (Plain Truth) that I really liked but can’t help but wonder what the twist at the end of this book will be so that’s distracting me too. Ah well, I’ll persevere.

The Not So Bright Blanket

Crochet wise, I made a start on the “Bright Blanket” from Simply Crochet issue one a couple of weeks ago which was coming along nicely, until I got a wee bit sidetracked and started another one. I may have to rename it “Not So Bright” Blanket due to the darker colours. I have 5 squares completed out of 20 although one of them I think I’ll re-do because it doesn’t look right with the others. Otherwise I’m pretty pleased with the progress.

In The Box: 52 Granny Squares waiting for a new home!

I’m less than pleased however, with my granny square blanket. I have still only completed 52 squares – all totally random colour choices but I love them. We have a small camping trip pencilled in for Easter weekend though so I’d better get cracking!

In my eagerness to learn how to “Join As You Go” I started a couple of new granny squares last week, “just to see if I could do it…” well I was so pleased with my new skill that I continued and joined 4 squares then gave them a bit of a border too. Not sure where I’m going with this yet, probably a cushion cover because I already have two blankets on the go and I really want to get them done before Easter. Hmm, we’ll see!

Experimenting With “Join As You Go”

In my vague attempts at making it a bit er, fancier I had a go at spelling the kids names out with batter on the pan and have come to the conclusion that I need either letter shaped mould things or just forget about the letters. The boy’s was semi successful, the girl had to make do with S and A before I gave up and handed her a regular circle. Everything was eaten though, that’s the main thing!

The pancake recipe I used is here or if you fancy Buttermilk Pancakes you can find them here.

Enjoy x

I took up knitting & crochet towards the end of last year and promised I’d explain the reasons for this in my last post. Well, I started to write this aaaaages ago and it’s probably nowhere near as exciting as we think it is but here goes:

Don’t laugh.

Let me introduce you to my new obsession!

Remember the year before last when I told you about my camping trip with my mum & dad in their caravan? (It’s here by the way) Well, last summer they decided to upgrade to a newer model so we only went and bought their old one! I’ve been lusting after an old VW camper for quite some time now but himself isn’t keen on spending an arm and a leg for a restored van and funds aren’t there to restore one ourselves so that idea has had to be put on the back burner (for now…)

The plan was to use this one for a couple of years then sell her on but then I happened to do a quick google search “How To Make Your Own Caravan Curtains” (this one came complete with gaudy dusky pink velvety curtains – yuck!) and stumbled across some lovely caravan-y blogs all decorated with lovely floral prints and of course it made me want to learn how to sew and crochet and do all the other lovely stuff I’ve seen!

Last August, we went on our first camping trip to Strandhill, Co. Sligo to try her out and we all LOVED it! Even himself who swore he’d hate camping!! The weather was fabulous and the kids had a blast as we were only a stone’s throw away from the sea but also right beside the campsite playground. The shops (and the pub!) were also just a short stroll away which impressed the hubs as he is the driver when we’re away and we were able to park up and just walk everywhere.

Anyway, getting back to the point, inspired by Lucy from Attic 24 (just look at her caravan here and here, isn’t it lovely!) I decided to bite the bullet and learn how to crochet. My mum handed me a book that was published in 1972 which was helpful but I’m loving YouTube tutorials at the moment and have been busy hooking up granny squares in hopes of making a blanket (I have 52 in the basket so far..) so as you can imagine there hasn’t been a lot of blog cookery going on here lately (read: at all) just lots of as Lucy calls it, Hooky Time

Of course family life can often get in the way of blogging so it has taken me a while to actually get this post on the go (meaning there is only just a little over two weeks to get your little hats knitted and in the post!) but believe me when I tell you it doesn’t take long at all to knit a little hat. I am a beginner (having only learnt a couple of weeks ago!) and if I can manage it, so can you!

The innocent Big Knit in aid of Age Action is back with a bang and needs the public to knit 80,000 knitted hats.  innocent and Age Action want the nation to stitch together and start knitting from now until the end of November.  The people of Ireland are being urged to knit a little hat to reach the target and help raise essential funds for Age Action Ireland.  The woolly hats will sit on bottles of innocent smoothies and sold in shops nationwide. For every woolly hat wearing smoothie sold, innocent will give 25 cent to Age Action Ireland to help keep older people warm during winter.

Since 2008, the innocent Big Knit and the generous Irish have helped raise over €60,000 for Age Action and knitted over 180,000 little woolly beauties with designs ranging from a classic bobble hat to Jedward hats and Santa hats.  This year innocent urges everyone to cast on and help knit 80,000 little woolly hats to raise €20,000 and much needed awareness for Age Action.

and here’s a little video those lovely folks at innocent have put together to help get you started

Everyone can get involved from novice to champion knitters. For more information, knitting instructions and a variety of knitting patterns visit www.innocentdrinks.ie/thebigknit

So how are they doing this? Well, Glenisk have created a series of Limited Edition Pink Yogurt packs to highlight the partnership across the company’s Fat Free Organic yogurts (which we are HUGE fans of here!), which are available in natural (500g), strawberry (4 x 125g) and tropical fruits (4 x 125g).

In addition, Glenisk has set up a small fund on their Facebook page, inviting visitors to apply for ten community support grants of €250 each. The funds are for events or fundraisers which can help to make a difference in local communities around Ireland. Community organisers and charities can apply on Facebook here.