Farmleigh, part one.

It's raining now, but this morning was bright and sunny and COLD. C forgot I was on a day off and woke me bright and even earlier than normal with a mug of coffee, so that got me going early. By the time Farmleigh was open I had hung two washes out, put a third one on and taken a trip to the recycling centre.
To my total delight almost the first thing I saw was a pair of jays. I spotted the colour in the undergrowth, the sort of pinky brown of a chaffinch but too big, and then I saw the flash of blue. It's only about the fourth time I've seen jays here in Ireland, and I've never seen two together before. I could only get a photo of one a t time, though.

Chaffinch in a cherry tree

Lots of signs of spring on the way too - catkins, magnolia buds, snowdrops a-plenty, crocuses and cyclamen, a beautiful winter jasmine. It's a shame I can't share a soundtrack of the birds singing their hearts out.

You can see the horses have their coats on - they certainly needed them. Even at 9.30 I still had to defrost the car windows.

I went to the butcher and greengrocer on the way back. I got a free cabbage in the butchers - and there I was thinking we'd take a break from it for a while! We had colcannon made with cabbage tonight, along with lamb shanks cooked with red onions, red wine and a little balsamic vinegar.

Bits and pieces

It's been a grey, dull week. I've been trying so hard to get a blanket dry - the first time I finally got it on the line it blew off and I had to wash it all over again.

Hitching a ride - of course he wasn't, but I had fun watching this juvenile gull for a while this morning.

Two more signs for last week's photo challenge on SCS. The first one caught my eye as being a signpost on a poster. The second one comes from a series of different signs relating to transporting Guinness. I chose this one because my mother used to have a good friend whose husband was an electrician on the Guinness  barges, and this was one of the boats he worked on. My old sewing machine is a legacy from them. I meant to take a picture of it, but today rather disappeared. It's in a lovely wooden case, and Ed electrified it for his wife. Some time back when my Brother needed servicing I had the old Singer out to make curtains for my brother. The guy who came to service the Brother recognised the exact model of the Singer just from looking at the case, and told me never to get rid of it. It only goes forward and back, nothing fancy, not even zigzag, but I'll certainly hold on to it until it needs parts that aren't available.

And some spring flowers - I saw the hellebore in work this morning, and the card is my first attempt at making a rose from grunge paper. Since C is on the unromantic side of things at the best of times, and whatever the equivalent of the Grinch is for St. Valentine's Day, I made this into an anniversary card, and I'll just have to hope I can find it in June.

The Curse of the Everlasting Cabbage...Musings on Minestrone

It's a bit unfair to call it a curse, actually, and it's not quite everlasting, but...
I bought a cabbage when I did a big supermarket shop last week (normally I buy most of my veg in a local greengrocer, but when I'm doing a supermarket shop I'll top up there), and I hadn't quite realised how big it was.
We had a quarter that night in the form of Gujerati Style Cabbage and Carrots as our main dish, with a small amount of leftover lamb curry, and naan bread. We had a quarter last night  just as plain boiled cabbage. A quarter went into this big pot of minestrone which was our lunch today and will do two more meals!

And that still leaves a quarter - I think I'll try an Indian recipe for cabbage and peas early next week.

The last minestrone we had was a vegetarian version; today I used a different one and added a small amount of pancetta which added just the right amount of smoky richness which I had missed from the vegetarian version, nice as it was. Trust C to spot the difference straight away and ask what it was. Since he also didn't believe that cabbage was a standard ingredient, it was out with Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking  (one recipe, no bacon of any sort, cabbage) and Elizabeth David's Italian Food (three recipes for what I would consider "classic" minestrone, all with cabbage, all with some form of bacon). After his follow-up reading I'd like to think he now knows that parmesan is also a standard ingredient, but I know he'll reject it if I offer it grated on top the next time we have it. Since I intend making a parmesan and rosemary focaccia, if he doesn't get it one way he'll get it another.

It was not so windy today, but still wet and grey and gloomy. I didn't even bother taking a camera when I walked down to the vegetable shop, but I did try a new recipe for gingerbread with orange juice. It's just afternoon coffee time now, so I'll see how it turned out.

Rainy Wednesday

Actually it didn't start raining till just before I left work to go into town. In view of the rain, town turned into a flying visit - post office, bank and a new guitar strap, strings and flute cleaning cloth. From then on it got windier and more and more showery. Just before C got home from work I spotted this beautiful rainbow through my skylight, and dashed down the ladder to capture it while the light was still so good. I especially liked the way the sky within the inner bow is still all stormy looking, while beyond the second bow it's a sunny blue sky.

The photo challenge on SCS this week is signs...
 My first photo is C signing "husband" in Irish sign language. It's something I find fascinating to see. Last year in Greece there was an elderly man who used to come down for a swim every day, and I noticed at least three people who could talk to him in sign language. And one day recently when I was on the Luas (tram), there were three people talking in a most animated fashion. One was speaking, one was signing and one was the interpreter. Just a couple of weeks ago a friend was telling me that she had heard of a signing choir, who sign in time with the music. I'd love to see that!

Off to the dentist tomorrow morning. I had to rearrange my work days because C made the appointment last week when he was making one for himself, but he didn't tell me when it was till after I had got my hours for this week. So I switched to work today and be off tomorrow. Mild panic, then, when I got a text reminder from the dentist yesterday saying I had an appointment for this morning. I rang straight away, and was relieved that it is indeed tomorrow.

Cloudy Monday

There was the most beautiful fiery red sunrise this morning, and then lovely clouds for quite some time after that. I had time to go out and take a couple of photos of the red sky before it was time to go to work - C had the dentist, so he was up later than normal and I was up earlier. Then once the sky had got more blue in it, the swoosh cloud that I'd seen earlier was even more noticeable. And by the time I got to work, while the sky was totally light, the clouds were still very dramatic.

A grey wagtail is a very small bird, especially when you're trying to take a picture of it across the river. But seeing it flit up and down the Liffey like a yellow butterfly brightened my day, so even though it's a crummy picture I'm still going to share it. I knew we'd finished work too late for me to make an early bus, even if I jogged all the way, so instead I took time to enjoy watching the wagtail. When I first saw it, it was just about 3 metres from me on the quay wall, but then it flew off over to the other side, landing on various perches up along the river. I've sometimes seen them on the canal here, but I don't feel I've seen one on the Liffey before.

Busy busy

Where did this week go!
And how have I taken so many photos that there's a new folder on my memory card!
When I was walking out to the bus yesterday there was a perfect half moon. When I saw it it was just emerging from the clouds, but by the time I'd fished the camera out of my bag the clouds had moved on a bit.

I think this is one of my favourite cards for January - a swan on the canal just before Christmas, and some swan's feathers that I picked up one day in the summer.

A day off tomorrow, so I am already in weekend mode. Maybe some peanut butter cookies tomorrow? The forecast certainly doesn't suggest that I'll be going out for a long walk anywhere. It was bitterly cold today, my hands got quite painful when I hadn't bothered putting my gloves on on the way home.

SIng, sing a song

Boy, this has been some week. I was sick at the start, then DH's bike was sick. Yesterday we got a new battery, so he'll be back on the road again tomorrow and glad of it. His brother was disappointed on Tuesday as he was really looking forward to a ride on the Ducati, but after spending the best part of three quarters of an hour trying to start it, C gave up and they got the train.

On Friday evening we dropped some sloes I had in the freezer over to the people who own the cottage we go to in Clare. They tell us that they spotted a likely site within walking distance of the cottage if we're down at the right time this year. We then went on to dinner with another friend and got to meet her absolute doll of a little black Staffie. The last one they had, many years ago, was bigger and brindle and altogether a more macho looking dog, although he was a real softie. Little Lil reminded me more of Babe, not least because she snuffled around just like in the film, but even the way she moved. And yesterday evening we had friends visiting and staying over - just as well I held on to my big bag of Duplo, it had a good workout.
The Splitcoast photo challenge this week was Sing, Sing a Song. The back-story to my choice for the challenge was that when I was looking at the letters that had already been used, the first ones were SATB. Instantly I saw soprano, alto, tenor, bass. Way back we used to have a group that met in our house to do 4-part singing, we even made a home-recording. Then some of that group moved on and moved away, and a few younger friends, still in college, joined in for a year or so, but by the time they finished college the whole thing just faded out. Since we were distinctly short of females at that stage, and C normally had to sing alto it was coming to an end anyway. I don't believe I've used things like all my little mini quiche dishes and cream-horn moulds since those days...
The weather on Monday gave me a rainbow, of sorts, but didn't allow me to get the chimney tops I really wanted the next day. Tuesday was so wet and wild and windy that even with a weight, I am not sure the tripod would have stayed put.

Somewhere over the rainbow...

Away above the chimney tops...

Rainy days and Mondays...

I can see clearly now...

Leaving on a jet plane...

After the initial mild and wet start to the week (water restrictions now pretty much lifted) it turned bitterly cold, so that the frost stayed on the paths all day in the shade ,and was so heavy it looked like snow. I spotted this hydrangea on the way to work one of those mornings.

Quick walk...

I was feeling pretty sick yesterday afternoon and all night. However, when today was a beautiful bright, sunny (and very cold!) morning, I thought maybe a quick walk would help clear my head. My brother-in-law is coming for dinner this evening, and as he heads back to Australia this week, it wasn't the sort of date that could be re-scheduled. I've made a  Crème Caramel, always appetising, just got to get it cool in time. The problem was that my walk wasn't as short as it was meant to be - I was nearly back at the car when I realised I'd lost a lens cap. I'd already lost one last time I was in Farmleigh, so this time I tried retracing my steps and was lucky enough to find it before I'd gone too far. I think the problem is if it falls out of my pocket on the grass or the lakeside paths, I just don't hear it fall. I'd also spent quite a while watching the birds on the feeder - I saw blue, coal and great tits, and a chaffinch scavenging underneath.

That witch hazel smelled so sweet. Got to dash, time to get on with the rest of dinner.

C is for Collection

I took a photo of one of these display shelves for the current SCS challenge which was to take the same picture with and without flash. But it had been in the back of my mind all week that they would have been a good subject for the C challenge, so today I took photos of all three of them. They are all atrociously dusty - I do the tops every week, but no way am I taking each and every thimble out. With so many, and going back so many years, at this stage I don't even remember who some of them came from, which is a pity. Most of the enamelled ones came from Portobello Market and little shops around Covent Garden, from when I worked in the UK. The Chester one was when I met DH in Liverpool at his sister's after we got engaged. We bought his wedding ring in Chester. I am guessing that my Dad probably got the Science Museum one as he used to take a school trip over to London every year. There are two tailor's thimbles, those are the ones with no top - they are also called sewing rings. I find them quite easy to use, but in fact my regular sewing thimble doesn't live here at all, but on the mantelpiece in the sitting-room.
It's hard to choose a favourite - I like the Brambley Hedge ones, and the little hand-painted Christmas robin, and the cedar waxwing.
I think I'll have to try for better photos another day - the one I originally took for the photo challenge was when we had bright sunshine flooding in, whereas today has been wet, wild and extremely windy all day.

Some time back I gave a recipe for what my sister calls Jammy Chops. Last weekend, while looking through one of Ronald Johnson's books I found a similar idea for pork chops, and tried it out. It was very nice -we don't eat a lot of pork, but I'll remember it to try again.

Pork Chops with a Currant Glaze - from Ronald Johnson's Simple Fare

4 large loin pork chops, seasoned with salt and pepper
3 tblsp oil
1/4 cup chicken stock (2 fluid ounces)
1/4 cup redcurrant jelly
1 1/2 tblsp Dijon mustard
2 tbslp red wine vinegar

Heat the oil in a frying pan of suitable size to take all the chops. Fry them over medium heat till golden brown on each side. Pour out almost all the fat (leave about 1 tblsp), add the chicken stock, cover and cook over a low heat for half an hour. Add more stock if necessary, and I turned mine over half way through. Warm the redcurrant jelly and mustard, stir to mix and add to the pan after the half hour. Cook for another 15 minutes, turning once. Remove and keep warm while you add the vinegar to the sauce in the pan and boil rapidly to reduce to a thick sauce.

Birds, mostly

I managed to get a moderately OK couple of photos of a coal tit for the C challenge. There was a pair of them at the feeder yesterday.

Although the dunnock (hedge sparrow) isn't nearly as entertaining to watch as the sparrows, I still love to see them in their sober brown plumage.

I liked this front on picture of the robin - he almost looks a bit egg-shaped.

A lovely sky on the way into work this morning...

Quick snaps

B is for Burglar,
C is for Crescent.
I've been wondering why the feeder has been going down so quickly recently. I think now that this starling and his mates have something to do with it. I've seen pigeons on the patio, too, but I don't think they could possibly land on the feeder, they must just be scavenging from what falls to the ground. I'd prefer it if the starlings didn't come, because they eat so much - but in this cold weather I am sure they need all the energy they can get. I'll just have to take a trip and get more seed some time this week. And I do enjoy listening to them chattering away amongst themselves. C said he saw a redwing when he was taking the tree out to the collection point - again no surprise with the cold weather.
I was trying to grab a coal-tit photo for the C challenge, but he flew off before I got a decent one. I did see the moon later on; I'd noticed how much of a crescent it was when we were out on Thursday night.

Creative Collection of Cs

The Splitcoast photo challenge this week was the letter C.
Lots of Cs here...

A china cup from a set I have that used to belong to my grandmother. We didn't often use them, but I certainly remember that from time time an elderly colleague of my dad's, and his wife, used to visit for High Tea, and these were the cups we used for them, along with a silver muffin-warmer which I have and still use from time to time.

This cat with his Cheshire grin is a souvenir from our first camping holiday in Kerry in 1991. Some years later my parents moved there, so their little Kerry cat moved back to his home county.

Church, clock, cupola - this is St.Paul's church on Arran Quay, currently not in use.

Graveyard for Christmas trees before they get chipped and spread as mulch on the green areas around Fingal. I love the smell while they are working at the chipping - they come along with a shredder every morning for a week or so. Our tree is heading there this evening - I took all the decorations off this morning and it's now waiting outside the door.

And two abstracts - Crunchy salt along the paths in work (it's been really cold this week. I had to de-ice the windscreen twice yesterday morning, and we had to de-ice it twice in the evening too, as C sprayed it from from the washer just after we started moving, and the water all froze on the screen instantly), and the Chaos that is my desk, even though I give it a general tidy every single day. Thank goodness C is of the belief that being creative = being messy, so it bothers me more than it does him.

Not the eclipse.

There was a partial eclipse here this morning - it was pretty cloudy, and I wasn't anywhere where I could see the horizon, but I am sure that these amazing light effects were part and parcel of the event. As you can see from the third photo, the way the light was catching the vapour looked like sheets of flame - it was really wonderful to see. It really was dark, too. C was commenting on that when he got home from work and I said I had a couple of photos to show him.

Recipe Time

I was so sure this recipe was here that when I wanted to make it yesterday, this was my first port of call. Second port of call was all my sent e-mails - now it's where it should be in my Recipe folder. The amounts are all a bit random because it's a recipe that has developed over the years from a recipe I got for a raspberry cheesecake from a Scottish girl who was over here for a wedding, over 25 years ago.
C's brother was coming for dinner yesterday, and since I've picked up C's cold I wasn't doing anything that was too much trouble - glazed loin of bacon, a gratin of  potatoes and some vegetables. But with a new bottle of Baileys, and cream cheese in the fridge I sent C out to buy some digestive biscuits.

Baileys Cheesecake:

For the base - 8 oz. digestive biscuits crushed, and 4 oz melted butter. Press into a lined 8" tin with a loose base.
Filling: I used 1 leaf of gelatine, which I think is equivalent to one generous teaspoon, (5ml measure) and I dissolved it in the Baileys, in a mug sitting in a saucepan of hot water. With powdered gelatine you should put the Baileys in the mug first and then sprinkle the gelatine on top, and leave for a few minutes before warming to dissolve. I guess I must have used at least 3 or 4 tablespoons of Baileys at this stage.
Beat together one large pack (as close to 250g as possible, because there's a smaller one) of cream cheese  and 2 ounces of caster sugar. Stir in 1 small carton (1/4 pint or150 ml) natural yoghurt. Try not to use one with too sour a flavour,  Greek yoghurt would do equally well.  Gently fold in  one 250 ml (1/2 US pint) carton of cream, whipped till thick but not stiff. Stir in Baileys and dissolved gelatine, adding Baileys to taste - no idea how much I used. Pour over the base and chill.

I splattered this with some melted dark chocolate after removing from the tin. This makes a light cheesecake topping, it will hold its shape when you cut it, but is still creamy rather than set. With slight variations it's the same recipe I use for strawberry and lemon cheesecakes too.

Happy New Year

Hoping your path in 2011 takes you to good places...

and thank you for sharing my (largely pictorial) take on the world around me.