the Garden is Sooooo Happy

Although I'm not a big fan of summer...too many hot days...I do love the garden produce of summer.
We have been enjoying chard and grilled summer squash (with extra going to friends...they claim they are thrilled...we'll see if that continues as the plants keep producing more and more and more) and now the beans are blooming so soon there will be lovely haricot verts. Just saw today that the eggplant have set fruit. It will take a while for them to grow big enough to harvest, but probably sometime in August I'll be looking for eggplant recipes.

The fun part is the tomatoes. I grew three different types of heirloom tomatoes from seed, but then got the seedlings mixed up, so it will be a surprise to see what kinds I actually planted. Weeks went by with the plants getting bigger each day. Little yellow flowers were blooming like mad, but no tomatoes were setting up. A little over a week ago I had enough. I went out at mid-morning, pulled off a likely flower, used my thumbnail to open the pollen holding area, then smooshed that flower up into the pollen holding area of some flowers that were still on the plant.

Each plant was treated to pollen from a flower from its own plant, so the varieties should stay true. It worked! Withing 4-5 days, you could see tiny tomatoes, about the size of a raisin. The next day there were far more baby tomatoes than those I had messed with. Looks like the plants got the word that they better set fruit, or else. LOL! Anyway there are now dozens of the little tomatoes, growing larger by the day. It may be September before I harvest any of them, but at least there will BE some to harvest! BTW, I've done this before when Mother Nature seemed to be asleep at the switch, so I knew it was likely to be successful. You can try it yourself if the bees are not doing the job.

Along with the veggie plants, I planted basil this year. Since rosemary grows in a big shrub down the driveway and my newest rose plant seems to be bonded with some oregano, herbs were easily available for a nice marinated chicken dish for dinner yesterday.

Some rice or good bread will sop up the juices and a green salad is perfect to pick up the herbal flavors, but with crunch and coolness instead.


Wine and Herb Baked Chicken

1 cut-up chicken or about 8 pieces - I used boneless, skinless thighs and breasts
1 cup finely chopped fresh herbs, mixed - I used Italian parsley, rosemary, oregano and basil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon grainy mustard
2 tablespoons olive oil
about 1 cup red wine

Rinse the chicken pieces and set aside.

In a non-reactive bowl, combine the herbs, garlic, mustard, olive oil and wine. Pour into a non-reactive baking dish which is just large enough to hold the chicken pieces. Place the first piece in the baking dish. If the liquid doesn't come halfway up the piece of chicken, add more wine until it does. Then place each piece of chicken in the marinade and then turn it over, thus coating it with the herbs. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cover dish with plastic wrap and put in the fridge for an hour.

After an hour remove the dish from the refrigerator and unwrap. Turn each piece over, cover and return to the fridge. Repeat an hour later and let chill one more hour.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Remove the plastic wrap. Replace it with foil to cover the dish, then bake for 35 minutes, removing the foil cover for the last 5 minutes.

Serves 6 - 8

Discoveries in Limerick and California Scones

Our time in Ireland is coming to a close. As you can tell from the journal, we have enjoyed the land, the people, the ruins, and the culture and food…not so much the roads, but that part was an adventure! Today we leave the lovely lakes of Killarney and head toward Limerick, and then turn north to Ennis for one more pleasant night with Mrs. Keane at Grey Gables.

As we drive toward Limerick, we are again in the Palatine area with lush green fields full of sheep and cattle. At some point we reach the equivalent of a freeway…a two year old modern road with limited access. Once we get used to the fact that it is only a lane and a half in either direction, we enjoy the ride. Slower traffic moves to the half lane on the left, which allows for reasonably easy passing on the right. The day is bright after morning overcast so we enjoy the ride. As we near Limerick I look at one of my guidebooks to see what we can visit in the hour we have. King John’s Castle, which we passed as we left town, seemed too much like the other castles we had already visited.


The Hunt Museum, with “a hoard of archaeological finds” sounded promising, as did the National Self-Portrait Collection at the University of Limerick. We decided to take the first exit we came to and see what the signs said. On exiting we saw signs directing us to the University of Limerick, so that’s where we went.

The campus is very beautiful with abundant plantings and modern buildings. We managed to find a parking place and the parking attendant asked if he could help us. I said that we were here to see the National Self-Portrait Gallery. He thought for a moment and said that he didn’t think there was such a thing. Once we explained that our guide book said the gallery was there, he directed us to the Information desk. There the young woman on duty asked us if she could help us…and we gave her the same answer. She looked puzzled and said she would make a few calls. The first person she called said we would need to have a guide go with us, but that none were available. The second said it was fine to just go over and see the self-portraits. She directed us to the White House (plus a few minutes of chat about our White House and President Obama, etc.)

so we walked over to a lovely old mansion, painted white, which was the old manor house for the property prior to it being purchased to become the University.

Once we entered the beautiful lobby we were approached by an elderly gentleman who asked if he could help up. We repeated our request to visit the National Self-Portrait Gallery. He said that he didn’t believe that they had such a thing, but that there were some paintings on the wall upstairs and we could go have a look, and that as long as we were looking for paintings that we should also go through to the Foundation building where they had some more hung on the walls. By then we were quite interested in seeing these illusive self-portraits.

We mounted a beautiful staircase off the lobby and went through some tall glassed doors and found the first few of the self-portraits. They were wonderful! A long, long time ago I used to paint portraits. Self-portraits are even more of a challenge for an artist. There were probably 25 – 30 of them, hung along the corridors on the second floor. We sort of felt like interlopers, so I didn’t take notes about who these were self-portraits of, although I did photograph my favorite ones:

Then we went over to the Foundation building and enjoyed a collection of lovely watercolors on display

courtesy of the Limerick Watercolor Guild (at least I think that is the group it was).

It was unfortunate that they were hung in an area where glare obscured the true beauty of the paintings.

Then we had tea in the café’ near where the watercolors were hung. As we were leaving we noticed that there was an exquisite mural designed to depict a ballad, using Venetian glass tiles.

Here at the University there are three wonderful collections of art in at least three media and no one seemed to appreciate that it was there. What a shame!

That evening, back in Ennis, we were chatting with our server in The Poet’s Corner Pub in the Old Ground Hotel. It turned out that she was a student at the University of Limerick. I asked what she majored in and she said “Fine Arts”, so I asked her if she had seen the National Self-Portrait gallery. She said she hadn’t. I mentioned that it was in the White House. She said that explained it, because students aren’t allowed in…it is a faculty only building. The corridors where the self-portraits are hung are those giving on to faculty offices. How disappointing that the students were barred from seeing these wonderful, skillful works of art.

Maybe that will change one day, especially if enough visitors show up and ask to see the National Self-Portrait collection. Just don’t believe them when they tell you they don’t have such a thing!

The following morning we were off to Shannon Airport and the long flight across the Atlantic. Glad that we didn’t have to take a flying boat and spend over twenty four hours on the flight!

It’s been a month since we returned to California. Today I was remembering the lovely scones we ate in Ireland and decided to make a California version. Part of the usual white flour was replaced with my King Arthur 12 grain flour. Some almond meal left over from making the Bakewell Tarts was added, too. I added a little almond extract to the milk mixture to pick up on the almond meal flavor and to go with the truly California part…fresh, diced strawberries, grown just a few miles from here…full of the sweetness of summer. Good thing I baked them on a silicon mat because the juices from some of the strawberries caramelized around the edges of the scones. This afternoon we sat outside, remembering the fun we had in Ireland, enjoying the view of the garden that grew so large while we were gone, and sipping Irish Breakfast tea as we ate our fruit and nut California scones.

Thus ends the tales of my trip to a small portion of the beautiful island of Ireland. Maybe one day we’ll go back and see some other parts. Still hoping that our cousins from Glin will come visit us!

California Scones

2 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup almond meal
½ cup 12 grain flour (or substitute whole wheat flour)
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons sugar
4 oz (1/2 stick) very cold butter, grated on the large holes of a box grater
1 egg
½ cup light cream
¼ cup buttermilk
¼ teaspoon almond extract
1 cup fresh strawberries, diced finely

With a fork stir together the flour, almond meal, 12 grain flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Stir in the grated butter, then, using clean fingers, rub the butter and flour together until the texture of bread crumbs. Work quickly to keep the butter cold.

In a large measuring cup, use the fork to stir the eggs to beat them lightly, then add the light cream, buttermilk, and almond extract and stir to mix well.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and gradually add the liquid ingredient mixture, mixing lightly with the fork, just until ingredients are barely combined. Do not overmix. If mixture seems to dry, add a few drops of milk; if too wet, add a tablespoon of flour. Finished mixture should be the consistency of moist biscuit dough.

Again using the fork, gently stir the strawberries into the dough, just enough to disperse them.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Pat dough out to about a 1 inch thickness. Cut with floured scone or biscuit cutter, or with the rim of a drinking glass. Gather scrapes and pat them down, then cut some more scones until dough is used up.

Place cut scones onto baking parchment lined or silicone mat lined baking sheet(s) and bake in a preheated 425 degree oven for about 10 – 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool slightly in pan, then serve warm.

Happy 37th Peabody!

Dim the lights, light up the candles, cue the Birthday playlist on the iPod, start the Birthday celebration!

AAAKKK! Technical difficulties. The-computer-won't-work-and-I-can't-get-to-the-e-mail-because-have-forgotten-the-password!

Very, very sorry Pea, but no round-up.

Posting this at work as an emergency measure.

Know that your frined in the blogosphere, especially me, wish you the happiest of birthdays...and many more!

Elle

Around the Lakes of Killarney

There won't be any recipes in this post. We have been eating simply (aside from the Daring Bakers' lovely Bakewell Tart) with lots of fresh fruit like the ollaliberries down by the road, served plain or with plain yogurt, fresh local corn and squash and strawberries, plenty of simple green salads...delicious but not really things with recipes.

Instead there will be the next installment of the Ireland journey.



The days left in Ireland are winding down, but we have a few more places to see. We leave Dingle town and drive around the southern edge of the peninsula and past Inch beach, watching the people walking down it being buffeted by the fierce wind.

The map seems to show that driving to Kilorglin and then from there to Killarney is our best route. Once we arrived in Kilorglin we discovered that we had passed the turnoff for Killarney, but there was a delightful café where we enjoyed some coffee and some fine art magazines and a chat with the owner. Down the road was a gorgeous old bridge across the Laune River.

We retraced our path and found the correct turnoff.

On the way from Kilorglin we see signs for the Kerry Woolen Mill in Beaufort. We’ve seen their outlets in other places in Clare and Limerick Counties, but follow the signs because this seems to be the actual mill.

When we arrive at the mill we notice that the retail part is in a very old whitewashed building. Inside the tables and shelves are crowded with the most beautiful woolen sweaters and coats and hats and scarves, blankets and throws.

Sweetie even found himself a fine tweed cap.


The buildings in the complex are the original 300 year old woolen mill buildings.

There is even a machine in a back hall that (I think) was once used to measure out woolen yardage for sale. I love that sort of artifact.

We continued on to the town of Killarney in the Killarney lakes region. Driving through the town is a bit confusing, but we eventually found our accommodations, Ashville House. Although we enjoyed the charm and warmth of our previous B & Bs, this was a Guest House and more like a hotel in some ways. Everything was just a notch more elegant and the service was particularly good and very professional, although still friendly. It was a short walk from the center of town, so we took a stroll.

That evening we ate dinner late enough and at a pub, Mac’s of Main Street, where traditional music was played, so we were able to stay right where we ate to hear the music, although, as luck would have it, we were seated at the front and this group had set up loud speakers. After about 40 minutes of good but loud music, we headed back to Ashville House.

The following day after a particularly fine full Irish breakfast, we headed to Muckross House in the National Park not far from town.

This past spring when it was my birthday, we visited Filoli in Woodside, an estate south of San Francisco that I had wanted to visit for years since they have gorgeous gardens. The gardens were spectacular, just coming into bloom and full of daffodils, but we also took a tour of the mansion and discovered that the original owners had presented their daughter and her groom with an Irish estate as a wedding gift. When the daughter died of pneumonia in the early 1920s, the parents, The Bournes, and her husband, gave the estate to the new Irish Republic as the first national park. That estate is Muckross House. You can see that having just heard about it and knowing that we would be in the area, that we absolutely had to visit once we were in Ireland.

The gardens here are equally beautiful to the ones at Filoli and also remind me of the ones at Buchart Gardens in Victoria, BC, Canada.

The house itself is quite imposing,

built in 1843, on land purchased by the Herbert family in 1770 after leasing it for 200 years and has something like 55 fireplaces. The servants must have had a time of it hauling coal and peat for so many fires! The Herberts later sold it to the Bournes, who added modern bathrooms.We weren’t allowed to take photos inside the house, but the tour guide pointed out many original antiques, including a carved sideboard that was created for the visit of Queen Victoria in 1861. It took four years to make! Muckross House has one of the Killarney lakes, Lough Leane, at the foot of the lawn
and a very good café for a cup of tea and a scone. I think I took 40 photos in the gardens!

I also spotted a jaunting car, which is a horse drawn cart with side seating. Looked uncomfortable to me, although I’m told that the jarveys (drivers) give interesting tours and can spin good tales.

Once we drove back to Ashville House, we decided to take it easy and just relax and read, noshing on food we had purchased in town on the way back. You can see that eating out at fancy restaurants wasn’t high on our list of things to do in Ireland, although each time we did we had spectacular meals.

The next morning we took a walk into town, bought some scones in the bakery (the best we had the whole time we were in Ireland.

I particularly liked the fruit scones, stopped in at a car parts store to buy batteries (far cheaper than at most other stores),and visited the Gothic revival cathedral, St. Mary’s, which has a spire so tall that you can see it from all over and which has glorious stained glass windows and a carved altar.

More walking took us past the boys and girls schools and through some lovely residential areas. Glad we visited Killarney, which seems like a nice, quiet town, except for the part out by Muckross House which has large hotels, big tour busses, and a lot of traffic.

Next we head a bit north, a bit east, to Limerick city where we discover the National Self Portrait Gallery…which wasn’t easy to do.

Glin to Dingle and Some Grilled Garden Goodies

If more of my Ireland journey journal has you yawning, just scroll down the post almost to the end for Sweetie's take on grilled zucchini.

A few days earlier when we exited the Tarbert ferry, everyone seemed to be following the sign toward the west, toward Dingle. Now it was our turn. We were sad to leave our new found relatives, but also excited about seeing some actual ancient (Stone Age) stone ruins.

On a slightly overcast day we drove back to Tarbert and took the N69 southwest, past Listowel, past Tralee, past Derrymore to Camp. Once we passed Tralee we were on the Dingle peninsula.
Dingle peninsula is a lovely but rocky piece of land and is the westernmost tip of Ireland, which is itself the far western part of Europe.


Dingle is part of the Gaeltacht, a part of Ireland where Gaelic is spoken, traditions of music and poetry and the arts are cherished, and sometimes the signs are only in Gaelic. Coming through pass between Camp and Anascaul we read a sign painted on the road that ended in Mall. We were pretty sure that it wasn’t directing us to a shopping mall. As it turned out the phrase was ‘Taisteal go Mall ‘ which is Gaelic for ‘go slowly’. Fortunately we were going fairly slowly so that we could enjoy the lovely green valley below with fields crisscrossed by hedges and stone walls

and flocks of puffy white sheep here and there.

There even seemed to be a section at the lowest part of the valley for peat farming.
One of the pleasures of Ireland is how clean everything is, both with the lack of trash at the road side and in the towns, but also with the lack of billboards and other visual distractions. We did see some signs that explained how clean and fresh many places looked. There is a national competition for the Tidy Town award.

People keep their personal space in good order, towns plant flowers and paint buildings bright colors.

Getting the award seems to be very important. I wish we had something like that here.
There were plenty of signs for those running for office, but even those seemed to be regulated so that none were terribly large. Multiples of the same sign posted side by side on highway overcrossings was as close as they came to big campaign signage. There are often appropriately sized signs at ruins telling a little bit about the history, but even those are discrete. Road signs are very large when needed and usually well placed and helpful. It seems to me that Ireland has the right idea.

Driving home from the Oakland Airport after our trip the most noticeable signs were the commercial ones; neon signs, lighted signs, and billboards were more numerous and shouted for attention much more than the occasional road sign. They seemed to be a blight on the senses after the serene lack of them in Ireland. Think of a busy American large tourist town and all the bright, overpowering signs and then notice these which were on one of the main streets in Dingle which is a major tourist destination.

After coming through the pass we were able to see Dingle Bay on our left as we continued on to Dingle town and our next B & B, Harbor Nights, which sits right on the water of Dingle harbor. Housed in narrow, traditional row houses,

the rooms were similar to a good motel’s, but the beds were top notch and there was a tea set up in the armoire and a good shower and nice sliding door to the balcony. The breakfast room is bright and well appointed and the common room upstairs has really comfy chairs and good, free Internet connections. The innkeeper, Kathleen, was welcoming and efficient and her helpers charming.

One of the advantages of staying here, besides all rooms being en suite and there being parking behind the B&B is that you are within easy walking distance of Dingle town. Should you wish to stay there, they have a web site: http://www.harbournightsguesthouse.com/.
While Sweetie caught up with his e-mail upstairs, I headed off to town and had a look around and mailed some post cards. I was charmed by some old fellas chatting by the harbor

and by some schoolgirls at lunchtime gathered by a grocery store.


Store fronts might have dolphins ‘swimming’ on the front


or they might be adorned with a beautiful carved face with knotwork hair.

There was a lot of traffic and plenty of shops.

I went into a pottery shop


and fell in love with a beautiful and unusual teapot which is the work of the owner’s daughter. I had it shipped home and have already enjoyed the wonderful balance it has…so important in a teapot that is for use, not just looking pretty. Isn’t it beautiful?

That evening we celebrated our anniversary (a little late) and enjoyed a fine dinner at Fenton’s with two kinds of fresh fish. Mine, a flat fish similar to a flounder, was poached and finished with a light butter, lemon and chive sauce. Sweetie’s was a steak, similar to halibut, grilled and it came with a mushroom sauce. Both were excellent and you could tell that it was very fresh fish. Fresh veggies were lightly sautéed. The light as air potato soufflé was a perfect way to enjoy the extra sauces. We shared a strawberry rhubarb crumble for dessert. It came with a dollop of whipped cream, but also with a pitcher of barely warm, pourable crème anglaise . Heavenly! Too bad I had left the camera at home. In fact, most of the time I was in Ireland I forgot to take food photos. What kind of a food blogger am I?

As we walked home from dinner it began to get dark. There were dramatic clouds on the horizon. We hoped for good weather the next day because we were going to explore ancient Iron Age forts, beehive huts used by monks, and hoped to have a picnic, too.

The next morning I headed for town to get supplies for the picnic. I spotted a bakery with industrial sized beaters hung in front of a window. I missed cooking and baking!

Inside I bought some goodies for a picnic I had planned. One slice was a Victoria Sponge enrobed in chocolate. The other was puff pastry with pastry cream and powdered sugar. (The last made a mess in the rental car, but was really good.)

At another grocery store by the post office I found local cheese, a wonderful seeded baguette, some sliced sausage, fruit and juice. At the fish market across from the B&B I bought some salmon pate’ which finished off the picnic provisions.

Starting a little later this way was a good thing. The road along the edge of the peninsula as you go in a clockwise direction is very narrow and the tour buses you are sharing the road with are very wide. Since most of the buses leave much earlier, we had little traffic and could enjoy the wonderful sea views and felt blessed with the slightly overcast but good (but windy) weather.

At Ventry Harbor there was a nice sandy four mile long curved beach. We pulled in and had our picnic, but the wind made it nicer to eat in the car.

Fortified, we headed off to Dun Beg Fort, an Iron Age (500 BC) ring fort on a rocky promontory. This is looking straight down to the sea.

Comparing this actual historic ring fort to the one we had seen at Craggaunowne, it seemed like the real one was larger and that there were multiple rings. Amazing how these unmortared walls

are still standing so many hundreds of years later. The doorways were very low,
but lined up with the breaks in the ring walls.

You can see that the underlying land is very rocky. Imagine having to clear all that rock!

They have estimated that there are something like 40,000 ring forts remains all over Ireland. We had parked across the street at a stone house where a traditional boat called a currach is permanently dry docked. It looked a bit like the Brendan.

Our next stop was at a group of beehive huts or clochans.

They were likely the living quarters for monks. They are enclosed by a circular wall, like the ring forts,

but the rock on the huts continues on up to make a roof, with spaces to let smoke out. Although the entry ways are low,

inside you can see that the roof is a fair distance over your head. Some like these above have lost their roof section. Imagine living in rock buildings like these so close to the water! Some of them were connected with a sort of corridor. You can see Sweetie on one side of two that are connected.

One of the interesting thing about the western part of the Dingle peninsula and, indeed, the area around the Cliffs of Mohr in County Clare, is that there is so little topsoil before you reach underlying rock. Getting to the sand and seaweed to build up the soil can be a challenge when this is the coastline.

It turns out that the inhabitants started out with mostly rock and hard clay and slowly built up the soil by first clearing rocks and piling them into walls, then sand and seaweed were laid on the clay and in time it was good for grass for grazing. A hard way to create soil that wasn’t even deep enough in most places to plant anything. Sheep and cows were grazing near the beehive huts, carrying on centuries old traditions.

Having had enough of stone and wind and narrow roads for the day, we turned around and headed back to Dingle Town. Here is where we were from Glin (day 4 & 5) to Tarbert, Listowel, Tralee and on to Dingle and then the stone fort and beehives (day 6 & 7) and left Dingle on day 8. On day 8 we headed toward Killarney and it’s beautiful lakes and gardens.

Speaking of gardens, thanks to drip irrigation installed before we left, mine is doing really well!

For the food portion of this post, we turn to a summer staple, fresh from the garden zucchini. There has been a fair number of lovely yellow, light green and dark green zucchini squash (also known as corregettes) being harvested so far, with some being given away to friends and neighbors, too.

In case you were wondering, I rarely give more than three medium sized at a time and never any of those baseball bat sized ones that managed to hide under the broad leaves. I like folks to be happy when I turn up with squash, not running the other way in dismay.

This "recipe" works for all types of summer squash; just be sure the pieces are large enough or they might fall through the grillwork and onto the fire or coals. For small pieces, use a piece of heavy duty aluminum foil on top of the grill to hold them.

"RECIPE": Sweetie is a genius with the grill, so we cut the squash lengthwise in thick slices, slather on some olive oil, sprinkle on a little garlic salt or herbs and a good grinding of fresh black pepper and they are ready to grill. I like them slightly charred but not so cooked that they are mushy. A few in the photo were a little too charred for my taste, but Sweetie likes them that way. A nicely cooked zucchini which retains is firmness and has a little sweetness from being so fresh is a true summer treat. Add in some golden bell peppers, also grilled, and you have a plate of goodness.

Daring Bakers June Tarts

Imagine having a strong memory of a treat that you had once, many, many years ago, but not having any idea what it was called or how to make it. That's why this challenge is a personal favorite...my remembered treat turns out to be a Bakewell Tart...er pudding...although it was called something Italian when I first had it.

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.
Bakewell tarts…er…puddings combine a number of dessert elements but still let you show off your area’s seasonal fruits.

Like many regional dishes there’s no “one way” to make a Bakewell Tart…er…Pudding, but most of today’s versions fall within one of two types. The first is the “pudding” where a layer of jam is covered by an almondy pastry cream and baked in puff pastry. The second is the “tart” where a rich shortcrust pastry holds jam and an almondy sponge cake-like filling.

The version we’re daring you to make is a combination of the two: a sweet almond-flavoured shortcrust pastry, frangipane and jam.

The combination of textures is awesome! Crisp but tender buttery shortbread on the bottom, sweet tart strawberry-raspberry jam (in my version) giving just a bit of oozyness, and a light baked topping which is enriched with the finely ground almonds so it has a delightful almond flavor in a moist dense cake. All in all a delightful summer treat.

I followed the recipe given HERE, using a purchased jam. It is called A Red Duet and made by Mountain Fruit Company in Chico, CA. It is like the essence of summer with tangy strawberry and bright raspberry flavors in 'a natural fruit spread'. It went so well with the almond flavors.

Of all the Daring Bakers challenges, this one seemed to be one of the easier...the pastry was easy to make and held its shape well and baked up crisp but tender and the frangipane was simple to mix together and easy to spread over the jam, plus there was no trouble with the baking or removing it from the tart pan. It is perhaps my favorite because I have longed for this tart for such a long time...never suspecting that it was a Bakewell Tart...er pudding. Thank you Jasmine and Annemarie for choosing this memorable tart.

For those few of you who enjoy the tales from the Land of St. Honore', return there with me now...

Sitting in a cafe on a little side street, she sipped her tea and used her fork to pick up the last crumbs of the dessert. There was something special about the combination of a red, fruity jam and an almondy topping all inside a short, sweet crust. She was just about to ask the server what it was called when she realized that she was late for her bus, so she quickly gathered her things and sprinted down the block to the bus stop.

Many years passed and her life did, too. She became a busy professional and had no time to sit in cafes drinking tea.

Eventually she decided that she needed a creative outlet...pushing papers all day is a very low form of creativity...so she started painting still life compositions. Her favorites included some food in the arrangements. Seasonal fruits in a painting seemed to bring an extra depth to the works.

One day she was passing a bakery and she saw a golden brown tart scattered on top with sliced almonds. It was so beautiful that she decided to paint it. She bought a small one and a larger seven inch one. She tried an arrangement with just the small tart, one with a few berries added, and one with some ice cream.too. Eventually she finished her painting and sat down to eat a piece of the tart. Imagine her astonishment to find that it was the same dessert she had enjoyed all those years ago!

The next day she left on a business trip and when she returned, the bakery selling the tart had gone out of business, another victim of the recession. It may be a while before she has another tart like that one, but the sweet memory will carry her far.

As is often the case, there are many, many talented and gutsy Daring Bakers who have baked dozens and dozens and dozens of creative and beautiful Bakewell Tarts...er puddings. You can find them using the Blogroll.

Monday, Monday

Start your mixers! Pull out your pans! Even rev up the Ice Cream maker! It's time to PARTY!

Send the URL of your post to help celebrate Peabody's 37th birthday by the coming Monday, June 29th...to plachman@sonic.net.

I'll do a round up on her birthday, July 2nd. If you can't stand the heat, ice cream or sorbet are great desserts for the party...or even home made lemonade as long as it is sweet.

A photo to go with your entry would be appreciated, too.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon.

Foynes Flying Boats, the Palatine and a Quiche

Although my grandfather's family in Ireland, living by the river as they did, earned their living messing around in boats, not too far away to the southeast, away from the river, there is an area with a rich agricultural heritage called the Palatine.
Before we visited the Palatine area, we headed due east along the Shannon in a light rain to see the Flying Boat Museum at Foynes, Limerick's port on the Shannon.

Between 1939 and 1945 this was the location of a terminus for flying boats crossing the Atlantic. Because the period of time between when flying boats were finally technologically able to make the Atlantic crossing and when regular airplanes began to be the regular cross Atlantic carriers was so short, most people don't rally know much about their place in air travel history.

Turns out that Charles Lindberg was hired to scout out the best place in Europe to be the terminal for trans-Atlantic flights. The small town of Foynes on the Shannon river was chosen after an extensive survey of all possible locations. My Cousin Mary was a girl when the first boats landed and she and a friend went to see them land on the river. It was pretty exciting!

The Museum is fairly new and exists due to the determination of locals to remember this part of the history of air travel as well as the part that this base played during the Second World War.

There are no available flying boats for the museum, so they got plans from Boeing and had a reconstruction built to size for the museum. Here is what the outside of the hull looks like:

When I mentioned the war to my Cousin, she was amused. Cousin S said that in Ireland it wasn't a war (because Ireland was officially neutral) but was called The Emergency. Sweetie had fun sitting in the captains seat in the full size model of a Clipper ship

as well as trying out the simulator for landing one. They had the radio and weather room with original transmitters, receivers and Morse code transmitter.

Another thing we learned was that Irish Coffee was invented here. The same chef who invented it later went on to the Buena Vista in San Francisco and found Irish Coffee well received there, too. We shared an Irish Coffee even though it was still morning...and it was great!

There is another California connection of a sort. Maureen O'Hara of Hollywood, CA fame was married to Captain Blair who piloted flying boats. She helped with this museum, including donating some of his memorabilia from those years. We both enjoyed this museum a lot.

After an illicit drive around the port, we headed off to Adare, Rathkeale, Ardagh and Athea in the Palatine, then home to Glin.

This area is in the Maigue Valley and is know as the Palatine because of the number of Lutheran refugees from southern Germany who settled there in the 18th century. The British sponsored them and even paid their rent at first.They are credited with introducing crop rotation. Their descendants still farm in the area.

The area around Rathkeale,

where we tried to visit the Irish Palatine Heritage Center, but found that it was closed only on Saturday and it was Saturday, is a great area for dairy-farming.

This old building was being restored. It's interesting to see how the different levels and roof lines look...like a building cut open.

It was a beautiful ride on narrow country roads, up and down hillsides. Our favorite church of the trip is here and the first 'President' of the Irish Republic, Eamon de Valera, know as 'Dev is from this area, too. He and my grandfather were both Limerick County men, which might explain the fact they they corresponded long after Ireland became a Republic. When I visited my grandfather in 1970 he had a Christmas card from 'Dev' on the mantle and made sure that I heard about it.

Except for the preponderance of stone walls as field dividers, you could often be in Northern California. Perhaps a bit of homesickness inspired by those views explains why we had a yen for pizza that night?

Next time it's on to Dingle, beehives and rings.

And now to food!

Shortly after returning home I needed to bring something to a pot luck luncheon. One of my favorite things to make to take somewhere for lunch is a quiche. This one benefited from all that lovely Swiss chard that grew while we were gone, plus some bacon for flavor and Swiss cheese to keep the Swiss thing going.

You can make your own pie crust if you prefer, but since I was baking the pie shell the night before, still jet lagged and having worked all day, the Pillsbury ReadyCrust seemed like the way to go. Using pre-made pie dough makes this go together very quickly and this kind of quiche is always a hit.

Tip: If you use a pound of dried beans as pie weights as I do, save them once they have cooled off and you can use them again and again as pie weights...just don't plan on cooking them to eat. At about a dollar and a half for a bag of dried beans, it sure beats the almost $9 you would pay for Pie Weights from King Arthur or a similar amount at Sur la Table.

Quiche with Swiss Chard and Swiss Cheese and Bacon

1 9inch pie shell, blind baked at 425 degrees F for 10-12 minutes (recipe follows)
3 slices bacon, cut into small pieces and cooked until crisp, then drained
½ cup cooked, chopped and drained Swiss Chard (or substitute spinach), leaves only
1 cup Swiss cheese, cut into ¼ inch dice
3 eggs (or equivalent egg substitute)
1 ½ cups evaporated milk (I used non-fat) or light cream
¼ teaspoon salt
dash pepper
Dash nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Sprinkle the bottom of the pie shell with the bacon, Swiss chard, and Swiss cheese, distributing evenly. Set aside

In a bowl, beat the eggs lightly, then add the milk and beat with a fork to combine, add the salt, pepper and nutmeg and beat with a fork to combine.

Pour the egg/milk mixture over the ingredients in the pie shell. Place in the preheated oven and bake 30-45 minutes, or until set and lightly browned. Cool for 10 minutes before cutting to serve.
Serves 6-8

Pastry Pie Shell

1 cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
1/3 cup chilled butter
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons ice water
1 teaspoon lemon juice (optional)

Mix the flour and salt in a bowl. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender, or two knives, until particles the size of dried peas are formed.

In a small bowl mix together the egg, ice water and lemon juice (if using). Sprinkle over the flour mixture and toss with a fork lightly. Do not over mix. Gather the particles together in a ball. Wrap airtight and chill in the freezer for 10 minutes. Roll out with a rolling pin on a floured surface until large enough to fill a 9 inch pie pan with some overlap.

Fit into a 9 inch pie pan, smooth to fit, trip excess , tuck edges under and crimp as for any pie crust. Prick lightly all over the surface with a fork. Freeze 10 minutes. Remove from freezer and cover with a circle of parchment paper. Fill the paper with beans or pie weights (blind baking the crust).

Bake at 425 degrees F for 10 – 12 minutes. Cool slightly. Remove and save the beans or pie weights. Fill with filling as called for in recipes needing a pie shell.

A Significant Birthday Event

I have been accused of being (rightly) a bit of a nut about birthdays. I love birthdays and celebrating that people I care about were born at just the right time to be part of the current flow of history.

Some birthdays are even more special than others. When you are young even turning from three to four is a very big deal. Eighteen and twenty-one mean you are legal in one way or another, perhaps even an adult. At thirty some begin making a big deal each time we hit a round number birthday. Hey, not everyone want to celebrate birthdays the way I do, so once a decade is enough.

For my blogging buddy Peabody, 37 is the magic year. To find out why, visit her post at Culinary Concoctions by Peabody HERE.

I don't know about you, but I find Peabody's blog to be a source of inspiration, always a good read, and, if I am honest, a place where I can 'enjoy' some outrageous desserts without adding a pound to my hips. Her photos make you want to lick the screen...again no calories involved. She has been providing all of this fun, to say nothing of her infamous Snickerdoodle Muffins, for many years. Don't you think she deserves a birthday party??

If you are a fan of hers and want to join in the fun, you are hearby invited to Peabody's 37th Birthday Celebration. I'll bring the drinks and some music and decorations. You bring some dessert.

I'm going to start off the madness with a dessert I created just for her (although no one will mind if you have to try it yourself to see what all the fuss is about) for this blowout birthday.

WANT TO JOIN THE CELEBRATION?
Between now and JUNE 29th (Monday) make and blog about one of the recipes on Peabody's blog and/or create a fabulous dessert for her and blog about it.
Then, by JUNE 29th (Monday) send me an e-mail at: plachman at sonic dot net with your name, your blog's name, the URL of the post and a photo no bigger than 200 pixels wide. I'll gather them up and post a round-up birthday party in time for her birthday on July 2nd.

This is not a surprise party & you may want to head over to her blog and wish her a happy day in her comments section, but you'll miss a hellava party if you don't join the celebration and make something special just for Peabody. Here is mine for inspiration - a warm, gooey bread pudding with cinnamon rolls as the base, rich custard for comfort and lots of chocolate and caramel sauce because Peabody really seems to like chocolate and caramel sauce.

Cinnamon Roll Bread Pudding for Peabody

4 cups cubed cinnamon buns – each bun cut into 4 – 8 pieces, depending on the size of the bun – about 1 inch cubes are what we are aiming for
I used this recipe: http://feedingmyenthusiasms.blogspot.com/2008/11/happy-times-with-polly-and-some-nuts.html a whole wheat sourdough cinnamon roll with nuts, but store bought or your own recipe is great, too.
2 cups milk
1 tablespoon butter
¼ cup brown sugar
4 eggs
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon vanilla
½ cup chocolate chips or chunked dark chocolate (optional)
1/3 cup caramel sauce (optional) (I used Smuckers sauce for ice cream)
hot water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a saucepan, scald the milk, then melt the butter in the milk. Let cool slightly.

Lightly beat the eggs in a mixing bowl, then add about ¼ cup of the milk mixture and stir to temper the egg-milk combination. Add another ¼ cup and stir, then stir the egg mixture into the saucepan with the milk mixture. Stir in the brown sugar, salt and vanilla. Set aside.

Place the bread cubes in a large bowl. Pour the milk egg mixture over and stir gently. Let sit 5 minutes, then stir again to get the less soaked bread cubes get into the soaking liquid. Let sit 5 minutes, add the chocolate if using, then stir once more. Let sit five minutes.

Butter a baking dish large enough to hold the mixture. I like to use a wide and relatively shallow baking dish so there is more of the crispy bread bits, but if you like the custardy part better, use a more narrow and deep dish.

Pour the pudding mixture into the buttered dish and push down slightly on the cubes to settle everything. Sprinkle with some more chocolate if you like.

Bake by placing the baking dish in a roasting pan and pouring hot water about half way up the side of the baking dish.

Bake for about 1 hour until the top is crusty and the interior custard is cooked to baked custard consistency.

Serve warm with a drizzle of caramel sauce if desired.

Summer Salad Time

After a nice cool spring, we felt some heat today, so for dinner I decided to make a nice cool salad. There is nothing amazing about this salad...you have probably made one like it yourself on occasion, but i think it's a fine idea to write out the recipe so I have it the next time I want a good, easy, quick but delicious dinner salad. We had it with some fresh, juicy Silver Queen corn on the cob.

I'm not too crazy about summer hot weather, but I love the clean fresh flavors of summer foods! I used a combination of field greens salad mix and baby spinach for the greens. The warm chicken contrasts nicely with the chill, crips greens

Summer Supper Salad

serves 2

Big bowl of mixed salad greens - enough for two people

1/2 large yellow pepper, thinly sliced
1 tomato, cut in half, each half cut in wedges, then the wedges halved
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
garlic salt
balsamic pesto dressing (recipe below)

Toss the greens pepper slices and tomato wedges gently to mix. Set aside in fridge to stay cool.

In a large cast iron or non-stick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon canola or olive oil.

If the chicken breasts are too thick to cook evenly, butterfly them to even out the thickness. Sprinkle lightly with garlic salt.

Saute' the chicken breasts in the hot oil until lightly browned on one side, about 2-3 minutes, then turn the breasts and cover the pan. Lower the heat and cook for another 3 minutes. Check center to see if they are cooked. Cook another minute uncovered if necessary to fully cook. Slice the cooked chicken in bite sized pieced.

Toss the salad greens with the dressing. Arrange a large serving on each plate and top with the warm chicken, dividing the chicken evenly between the two plates. Serve at once.

Balsamic Pesto Dressing

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon prepared pesto

Place all ingredients in a jar and top with a tightly sealing lid (I use a pint canning jar and lid). Shake well to mix the ingredients. Let sit at least five minutes for flavors to meld. Shake vigorously right before pouring on salad. Can be made ahead. Will keep in refrigerator at least a week.

Journaling Takes So Loooooong

Day 4 of the Ireland journey is posted, but it took me so long to finish that it sits below the Daring Cooks dumplings post. You may not care, but if you are looking for Day 4 ... the BEST part of the trip...look for the one with Traditional Music and Glin and Salmon in the headline. Hope these long posts are not too much, but I'll never remember the details (ancient brain cells...getting more ancient all the time) so these posts will help me remember. Thank you for your patience and do check out Sweetie's recipe for Salmon even if you don't give a fig for Glin.

Daring Cooks Make Potstickers and Dumplings

For the second installment of the new Daring Cooks,

Jen of Use Real Butter gave us a wonderful challenge: make the dough for Chinese pot stickers and similar dumplings and then fill them with wonderful fillings.

She started us off with a Shrimp filling and a Pork filling, plus the recipe and instructions for making the dough to wrap the filling in. She even included a link to a demo of how to shape them, including those darling pleats. You can see the family recipe here.

One of the advantages of leaving the challenge to the posting day is that I was able to read tips from DCs who had already worked out some of the challenges. One had to do with dry dough. Jen's best tip was to weigh the flour because dry flour can vary in weight depending on how you scoop it into a measuring cup as well as, a little, on how damp a day it is. I weighed out a pound of all purpose flour and used just under 2/3 cup of warm water to make the dough. It was smooth and easy to work with a only a tiny bit sticky.

Filling these little packets was fun if time consuming.

For the filling I decided to go with the pork mixture, adapted slightly. I'll give the recipe below for filling and soup. Instead of boiling the finished packets in water and then using them for soup for tonight's dinner, I boiled them directly in the Asian flavored soup broth. Once the dumplings were cooked, I removed them to bowls and added julienned baby spinach, stirring it just for a minute until bright green. The broth with spinach was ladled over the dumplings and a few uncooked green onion slices scattered on top.

It made a wonderful soup...very light but satisfying. The dumplings were flavorful and fresh tasting and so delightfully delicate. Once they were cooked I didn't really see the pleats that you can see when they are uncooked.

This will be a recipe I'll cook again. Thank you Jen for a fantastic challenge! You also did an amazing job of answering questions, encouraging the cooks and making it all lots of fun. Go Daring Cooks!

Chinese Dumplings
Elle's variation

Shrimp filling:

1/4 pound cooked cleaned shrimp, coarsely chopped
1/8 pound ground pork
1/2 cup green onions, finely chopped
1/4 cup shitake mushrooms, finely chopped
1/4 cup thinly sliced Swiss chard
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger root
1/4 cup water chestnuts, minced
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon corn starch

Mix all ingredients together until completely mixed. Cover with plastic wrap and keep cool while making and rolling the dough rounds.

Dough:
1 pound all-purpose flour
2/3 cup warm water (approximately)
flour for work surface

In a large bowl mix the flour with 1/4 cup of the water and stir until water is absorbed. Continue adding water one tablespoon at a time, mixing thoroughly until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. We want a firm dough that is barely sticky to the touch. Knead the dough about twenty times, then cover with a damp towel for 15 minutes.

Take the dough and form a flattened dome. Cut into strip about 1 1/2 to 2 inches wide. Shape strips into rounded long ropes. On a floured surface, cut the ropes into 3/4 inch pieces. Press palm down on each piece to form a flat circle.

With a rolling pin, roll out a circular wrapper from each flat disc about 1/16th of an inch thick. Leave the centers slightly thicker than the edges. Pleat along an edge about 1/2 way around the edge, creating a sort of cup. Place the cup in the palm of your hand and place the filling in it. Bring the unfilled and unpleated side up and seal the edges.

Keep all unused dough under a damp cloth.

The Broth:

5 cups chicken broth
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon fresh grated ginger (or more to taste)
1/2 cup sliced green onions, tops included
1/2 cup thinly sliced spinach leaves

Bring the broth, soy sauce, ginger and onions to a boil. Drop in the dumplings and cook until the dumplings pop to the surface. Remove cooked dumplings to soup bowls. You may want to cook the dumplings in batches.

Once all of the dumplings are cooked, add the spinach and stir once. Let spinach cook just until bright green, about a minute.

Ladle broth and spinach over the dumplings. If desired, garnish with a few uncooked green onion slices. Serve.

Serves about 4 people