Leitrim, Sligo and Donegal.

We were away for the weekend visiting a friend. She lives in County Letrim; on Saturday we drove about 15 minutes to Mullaghmore in County Sligo to walk along the beach and coast there, and on Sunday we drove ten minutes to Bundoran to fit in a VERY short walk along the seafront before heading home again. Made me realise how little coastline Leitrim itself has.
Don't want to put too many photos in one post, so I'll add some now and the rest tomorrow. On the Saturday night we were invited to go along to a 60th birthday party. When we arrived, for some reason a couple of people thought we were foreigners - as in not even Irish, let alone not local. And us in our lovely handknit Aran sweaters - maybe that made us look too much like tourists. Far from being foreigners, it turned out that one of the hostesses brothers is married to a cousin of C's whom he hadn't seen for almost 40 years (and being a kid at the time, he didn't even remember that), and one of her sister's best friends is someone we know quite well and whom C often used to call in to for a cup of coffee if he was driving through her area. Lots of singing and music - shame I didn't know in advance or I'd have tucked my flute in along with C's guitar.


The last time I can remember being on the beach here was when I was in Irish College one summer - and my main memory is that there was such a large amount of jellyfish in the water that swimming was not a very enticing prospect! No jellyfish this time, but though our friend kept hoping the sun would appear, it stayed grey and overcast all afternoon.






The people walking back in from the sea had just been helping to release some seals. We arrived just too late, although we did see one who was reluctant to swim out to sea. In fact, when we were having a cup of coffee later, someone came into the hotel bar to see could he find anyone from the seal sanctuary, as the seal was still there just a few feet from the shore.


A not very good photo of the seal - my zoom lens was in the car because I was only anticipating panorama shots, and C was not inclined to go back for it. I've left the foreground in, because where the water is curling is actually the shoreline - with wellies you could easily have walked out to the seal.

Salambos, profiteroles...and birds

We had a busy weekend - it was C's father's 90th birthday last week, and there was a family meal on Saturday. I was asked to make a dessert, so I thought I'd make profiteroles. And just for a change I made some of them as Salambos à l'Orange. It's the same choux pastry buns, but you used caramel to top them (being careful not to burn your fingers when you're dipping the buns into the hot caramel) and filled with an orange flavoured cream; the finely grated zest of one orange crushed with a couple of spoons of sugar and a bit of orange juice or an orange liqueur like Cointreau or Grand Marnier, folded into stiffly whipped cream. I had more orange cream than I needed, so some of the regular profiteroles had orange filling too - very nice with the chocolate sauce.
Our little robin is still hanging around. These photos were not even with the big zoom, I was able to get quite close. C was amazed one morning when he was out to see how close the little robin will come. Speaking of which, I'd better go and fill up the feeder, I didn't have time to do it this morning.

Timeless

The photo challenge this week on SCS is "Timeless". This photo, being about 12 years old, is not eligible, but when I was thinking about the theme this morning, and about the Botanic Gardens, this photo came to mind.



It was taken in the chateau grounds at Villandry. Villandry isn't one of the chateaux you visit to see the castle, particularly. It's the gardens that are the real show-stopper. And strangely, for the official website, the photos in that link are a bit disappointing. There are nine square formal beds, planted totally with vegetables, using proper crop rotation. They are quite amazing to see - I'll have to scan and post a couple of my better photos. We took the car to France that year, and stayed part of the time with friends, and then took off on our own and camped around the Loire Valley. We had to specially buy a roof-rack; we knew that our friend F was going to take advantage of coming back to Ireland in a car to bring stuff that she couldn't normally manage on the plane or as a foot passenger. My last photo from the holiday is C trying to load everything into the car - the fact that we now had two guitars instead of just one added considerably to the volume.
I love this dog statue, gazing out over the garden with his patina of lichen.
And while I'm on the theme, here's an even older dog photo. This was taken a couple of months before we got married, so 22 years ago - so not the best photo. My last job in the UK before I came back here was in Brodsworth Hall, when it was still a private home. It looks as if it was just the next year that English Heritage took it over. The greyhound (?) sculptures were at the bases of each flight of steps down into the garden - you can just about see in the photo on the website :D.

More Greek memories

Nothing special about this - it was our local beach in Argassi - all of about 3 metres in some places, nothing in others. The ruined bridge you've already seen used to be on land, and there were a couple of other ruined walls in the sea too - parts of old churches, I think. I liked the colours in this...

We spent a lot of time trying to find an aqueduct quite near us. We did find it on our last full day - we found this little church on one of our many false trails...

One of the areas we drove through where there had been a fire...



A view over Zakynthos port from halfway up the hill behind it. It's actually quite a busy port, there were always ferries coming in and out, and the occasional cruise ship.

Cheap rice - bad idea....

We eat a lot of rice - it's our main carbohydrate. Unfortunately C doesn't really like pasta, except for thread noodles, so we don't have pasta too often - it's rice, then potatoes and then couscous. Normally I buy the Tilda basmati rice, but it's got a lot more expensive this last year, so last time I was in Asia Market I bought some cheaper basmati rice that they had bagged themselves. Mistake...it was a while before I copped why it wasn't coming out properly any more. No matter whether I soaked it, rinsed it, cooked in the right amount of water, cooked in extra water and drained it it was ALWAYS sticky, and that's not normal for me. So in a drive to use it up in ways where residual stickiness wouldn't matter, we had stuffed rice and split-pea pancakes (dhosas, really) today. And yesterday we had this lovely summer tomato soup - based on another of Anna Thomas's recipes. I've cut it in half.
Tomato Soup - serves 4
2 lb tomatoes, skinned.
1 small onion
1 tblsp olive oil
1 clove garlic
handful of coarsely chopped basil
2 ounces COOKED rice
salt and pepper to season
1/2 pint water.
Heat the oil in a pan and gently fry the onion for a few minutes, till soft but not coloured. Add the crushed garlic and fry for another minute.
Whizz the coarsely chopped tomatoes in a food processor, but not long enough to totally liquidise them, there should still be some texture left. Add these to the pan, and the basil. Cover and simmer for at least half an hour. Add the cooked rice and water (mild stock, if you like), heat through and season to taste.
I always like this soup, and it was a good pick for yesterday because I'd got tomatoes in a pack that was 50% extra free. I am sure that works for families, but with just the two of us I often end up paying more to buy less, rather than have it go off. I know it's the same for single people living on their own, too.
Saturday is the Inspiration Challenge on Splitcoast Stampers, and I made 3 punch-art type cards which I was very happy with - not my normal style.
The inspiration site was The Pajama Squid and these were my cards:

Coffee Cream

I've been meaning to do a best of the rest of photos, but with being sick this week haven't got round to it. OK, so I do only work part-time, but Wednesday was the first day I've had to call in sick in two years.
So here's the promised recipe for the Coffee Crème Caramel. It's from From Anna's Kitchen by Anna Thomas. One of my well-thumbed vegetarian recipe books.
Coffee Cream - serves 6 - 8
600ml / 1 pt milk
120ml / 4 fl. oz. cream
3" cinnamon stick
50 g / 2 oz whole coffee beans
225 g / 4 oz sugar
4 eggs
2 egg yolks
1/2 tsp vanilla

Heat the milk, cream, cinnamon stick and coffee together. Bring to a simmer, turn off, cover and leave for at least an hour. Bring it back to a simmer again, and then allow to cool slightly.
While it's cooling, melt half the sugar over a low hear (I always find this easier in a non-non-stick pan, so I can see the colour) till the sugar has melted and turned a rich caramel colour. If you find it easier, you can add a little water at the start to help the sugar dissolve. Use this to line the base (and sides if you choose) of a 1.5 litre / 2 1/2 pint soufflé dish or similar.
Whisk together the eggs, yolks, remaining half of sugar and vanilla till thick and smooth.
Strain the milk into a clean jug, and gradually pour over the egg mix, continuing to whisk gently.
Pour over the caramel in the soufflé dish. Set this in a larger roasting tin with at least an inch of boiling water. Bake at 175C / 325F / Gas 3 for about 50 minutes to an hour - it should be just barely set, not too firm.
Remove from the oven, and when cool put it in the fridge for several hours. Turn upside down onto a plate, remove dish and serve.

Wings

Butterflies and bugs - and one bird...



Flies for dinner, anyone?



Spotted this the morning I went out for sunrise photos. Had the wideangle lens on, so this is cropped out from a bigger photo.

We saw this beautiful swallowtail butterfly when we went to try to find some ruins of a Baroque mansion. After several attempts we did find them - but they were so overgrown by trees that they were next to impossible to see. Just as well there was some interesting wildlife so that C didn't feel the detour was a total wild goose chase. He hadn't been impressed by the photo in the guide book.


We saw this on a beach. I haven't been able to identify it yet, not helped by the fact that we only saw the underside of the wings really. They remind me of a Persian carpet...

Out and about

Various photos from the holidays.
The crème caramel turned out well - I'll try to remember to bring the book upstairs tomorrow and post the recipe. On Saturday C had been very suspicious when I described it as a sort of Crème Caramel, and he'd seen the coffee beans infusing. But he didn't notice the coffee flavour at all on Sunday, and only knew it was there this morning because he was looking for it.


This was in the town, loved the colours in the striped curtain. One of the BIG problems with trying to take pictures is the amount of telegraph wires trailing across everywhere. Even up in the hills - if there are houses, there will be wires that you just can't crop out of the picture you want to take.


This was on the walk up to the Venetian fortress (ruined)


Typical terraced olive trees.


Greek Still Life - this was just a little alcove in a wall near a gate, on the way up to the Venetian fortress.


There are whole calendars devoted to Greek cats. They're thinner than ours, and what I think of as Egyptian looking. This one was enjoying the sun and the smell from the skip!


Old cannon in the ruined Venetian fortress above Zakynthos town. It was a steep walk up. Near the top we went through a belt of pine trees, and the sound from the cicadas was almost deafening. A lot of the ground within the fortress walls was also wooded, but it wasn't as noisy. Rather, it was very peaceful and quiet; the carpet of dead pine needles was so soft underfoot. There were quite a lot of ruined little churches, an old Venetian prison, old British barracks and sports ground, German fortifications from WW2 - and fire hydrants everywhere you looked. It must be a real fire hazard, there were big No Smoking signs as you went in, and just outside we saw two firemen sitting in their car. They were still there when we left, so presumably it was a duty post. There were nothing like the fires we'd been hearing about in Athens, but we did certainly drive through several burnt-out areas, smelling of wet charcoal.


This was just near the old Venetian bridge that I kept trying to get sunset photos of. Hardly anyone tried to take pictures of either these or another beached boat...


This was when we were walking around the marshy area with the bitumen ponds, at Limni Keri. Someone had been clearing, and there was a lot of dead reeds, grasses and bougainvillea lying on the ground.

Waah....

We were all set to watch the next instalment of The Beiderbecke Tapes as light entertainment last night. And the DVD player wouldn't work. Bit of thinking, and maybe my 30 day trial of the nVidia decoder for using with Windows Media Player had expired. So I tried loading my old DVD program - no joy. Ten o'clock last night, and I was still getting nowhere, even after paying to download a PowerDVD decoder. Frustration all round. Things are partially working today - but I want my money back if CyberLink's tech support can't deal with what seems to be a common fault. They suggest I update my graphics drivers - well, I had enough cop to do that before I contacted them.
Anway, today was spent mostly in the kitchen. We have a Tanzanian friend coming tomorrow before she heads back home for good. I was going to make a tagine, but there was no fresh coriander in the local greengrocers, and he wasn't going to be getting any in till after lunch. I hoped to be finished in the kitchen by then, so we're having a curry instead. It's called Beef with Cashew Nuts, but really I think it's a case of a Korma by any other name, with a bit more cardamom than normal. For dessert I'm trying a creme caramel with a difference: the milk and cream were infused for a while with coffee beans and a cinnamon stick. It smelled almost like toasted coconut, for some strange reason. I also made a batch of brownies, and right now it's time to go and cut them, ready for afternoon coffee.

Just two Greek photos today - a beer bottle on the old disused salt flats, and an old Venetian bridge. I think the name translates as five arches. Five something or other; I recognise the five, and am guessing the arches. These were both on the east coast. The salt flats were amazing, very photogenic in an abstract way. Swirls, and cracked ground, and red and white texture. I don't know if the red was just from the soil - not the colour of the rest of the earth in that particular area, or from iron salts somewhere reacting with all the salt.

Still on holidays...

...I wish. Mind you, work was cancelled yesterday, and when it's cancelled at short notice we still get paid. I was just about to sign in when I heard my phone beep, so I promptly headed home again.
These photos are all from the south of the island. I've included a rare one of me. The biggest problem with the dirt-bike (for me - having to to kickstart it all the time was getting to C after a few days) was that there was no storage space, so I had to carry a backpack all the time. Next time I'll remember to pack a bungee cord or two.
The first two photos are both of Marathonissi Island - also known as Turtle Island, for obvious reasons. It is, actually, also one of the beaches that the loggerhead turtles nest on. The following two pictures are another turtle-nesting beach, Gerakas, at the southern end of the island. It has amazing rock structures, clay and red rock. The turtle beaches are lovely beaches to visit - they are all in a National Marine Park area. Because of the nests, people have to stay within 3 metres of the sea, and also any known nests which are marked with little wooden cages. There are also no water sports - beyond pedalos and little canoes - and people have to leave by sun-down. This was our favourite of all the 12 beaches/swimming sites we visited. Even though it was at the end of a pretty windy road with a LOT of hairpin bends over gorges (dry now, but rivers in winter) we went three times.





This is Agios Sostis - no turtles here. The sand was rock hard, the sea stayed shallow for as far as I swam out, and was so warm it was like swimming in a tepid bath. There was a little islet off it which had been formed in an earthquake in the 17th century. But since there was a €4 admission charge to see it, including a *free* drink in one of the two bars, we passed up on the experience. And having seen it from the far side on the morning we hired a motorboat, I don't think we missed a lot. We could see the clay formation in this picture as soon as we came over the crest of the hill above the port.
The next photo is Limni Keri port and village, seen from a headland above it. There is a large marshland area behind it, where there are some natural bitumen ponds. It's so overgrown with rushes and long grasses that we couldn't see them, but my goodness, we could most certainly smell them. And the last photo is nothing special, it was taken at Keri headland, and I've only stuck it in because I am in it :D. The whole headland was lovely, heavily wooded with some type of light-green pine, and smelling just heavenly.