Grannymar

Orange Roasted Vegetables
Preheat the oven to 200°C

4 medium carrots, peeled and cut in half lengthwise.
4 medium parsnips, peeled and quartered lengthwise
8 shallots, halved
4 small sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges
Juice of I orange plus keep the orange skins
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 sprigs of rosemary
Pinch of fennel seeds
Pepper & salt
8 garlic cloves

Prepare the carrots, parsnips, shallots and sweet potatoes then place in a large bowl. Add all the remaining ingredients except the orange halves and garlic.  Toss to coat all the vegetables.
Spread the vegetables in a single layer on a roasting tray,  Add the orange skins and roast for 20 minutes.  Add the garlic cloves and toss the vegetables to prevent sticking, then even out once more and return to the oven for a further 20 minutes or until tender and slightly caramelised.  Serves 4

Following a great show of interest last week for  A Tour of Ireland ~ Episode 1, hopefully I can continue over the weeks to take you round the country both North and South giving you a taste of what is in store in the land of Guinness and leprechauns.  Now in all my years living here I have seen and indeed tasted Guinness but never once did I catch a glimpse of a leprechaun - not even after the Guinness!

Where better to start than in Dublin’s fair City, the Capital, and place of my birth.

As I said last week, Dublin has a large variety of International restaurants offering food from all corners of the globe. There is something to suit all pockets, very often there are special offers of the day displayed on chalk boards inside and quite a few offer Early Bird selections very suitable if you wish to eat before heading to the theatre for the evening.

Tipping is usual in restaurants expect to allow15% in Dublin and 10% outside of the major cities.  Don’t tip if the food or service is not up to scratch!  If paying by Credit card, check in case this is already included.  I prefer to pay the tip separately and that way you are sure it goes to the staff and not used as part of their wages.

Getting about in Dublin

Car Hire:  Best to do that in advance, when you are booking your Air tickets.

Taxis are available from many ranks scattered about the streets or can be hailed as they drive through the streets if they are empty.  The link gives a list of companies with contact phone numbers.  I would ask the price to reach the destination and check that the Driver displays his Taxi licence on the dashboard.  They usually display a photo and relevant  details.

Bus: Besides the normal commuter service Dublin Bus operates tours daily from 9.30am and can be joined at any of 23 stops.  All tours offer live commentary by experienced tour guides.

Luas: Dublin’s Light Rail Tram System has two lines but alas in true Irish style the two lines do not connect.

Dart: The DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit) is the rail line running along the coast of Dublin, from Malahide and Howth southwards as far as Greystones, Co Wicklow.  It is well worth the journey to see and hear all the shades of Dublin life.

Dublin City Bikes You might remember I mentioned these before.

Bicycle Taxi: Free Taxi Service. This video should bring a smile to Ramana’s face!  Give the driver a good tip, that is how he earns his money!

Shanks’ mare. With a good pair of stout walking shoes this to me is the best way to see Dublin.  You get to rub shoulders and meet the people.  Mind you at times you might even meet your own next door neighbour, their cousin, sister or aunt!

*A good link to keep handy

Now that you have the transport sorted where should you start?

If time is short and it is a first visit I suggest the Red Dublin Bus tour highlighted above, where you can get on or off at any of the stops along the way.  It gives a taste of what is in store and a good way to list the places you might like to return to and give more time.

The Spire of Dublin is a large, stainless steel, pin-like monument 121.2 metres (398 ft) in height, located on O’Connell Street and visible for miles about.

The Book of Kells has been on display in the Old Library at Trinity College Dublin from the mid 19th century, and attracts over 500,000 visitors a year. Since 1953 it has been bound in four volumes. Two volumes are on public view, one opened to display a major decorated page, and one to show two pages of script.

The volumes are changed at regular intervals.The manuscript contains the four Gospels in Latin based on a Vulgate text, written on vellum (prepared calfskin), in a bold and expert version of the script known as “insular majuscule”.

Grafton Street is one of the two principal shopping streets in the city centre, It runs from Trinity College University to St Stephens Green.  Since the 1980s, the street has been mostly pedestrianised with musicians, poets and and mime artists performing for the shopping crowds. It is home to the the late twentieth century statue of Molly Malone, which has become a popular Dublin meeting place.

How about: Dublin’s oldest church to see to see the famous Mummies of St Michan’s - ancient cadavers that have dried out rather than rotted.  The tallest one - his legs broken, and folded-up beneath him so as to fit in the coffin, was known as “The Crusader”. If you touched his finger, great fortune was set to envelope you.  The air in the vaults is extremely dry - something to do with the consistency of the soil, and the non-fluctuating temperature.  Because of the arid climate, nothing rots. Instead, over time, it just dries out. The coffins collapse into a powder of sawdust, and the desiccated ‘mummies’ fall out.  The skin of the mummies has turned leathery, and their features can still be distinguished. They have nails on their fingers, and in some cases, even internal organs can be seen through rips in the skin.

The Dublinia exhibition covers the formative period of Dublin’s history from the arrival of the Anglo-Normans in 1170 to the closure of the monasteries in the 1540s. There are many exhibits which include videos, models and reconstructions. The ground floor houses a large-scale model of Dublin around 1500, a display of artifacts from Wood Quay, and reconstructions.

Viking Splash tours are fun and completely unique tour of Dublin by land and water in reconditioned World War II vintage amphibious military vehicles called “Ducks”. Costumed and colourful Viking Tour Captains tell you all about the most exciting sights in Dublin: how the Vikings first settled the City over 1000 years ago and how Dublin has become a thriving, cosmopolitan European city. Finally, you’ll experience a real thrill as our Tour Captain drives the Duck into the waters of the historic Grand Canal Basin for the water portion of the tour. You may even be asked to give a Viking Splash Tours roar at passers by!

Are you thirsty?  For the final part of this episode I have chosen:

Guinness Storehouse, the “Home of Guinness”, is a converted brewing factory, where they used to add the yeast to the beer for fermentation.  It is now a Guinness museum, incorporating elements from the old brewing factory to explain the history of its production. Some of the old brewing equipment is on show, as well as stout ingredients, brewing techniques, advertising methods and storage devices.  Visitors do not get to see the beer being brewed in front of them. But from various vantage points in the building you may see parts of the brewhouse, vats, grain silos and the keg yard.

The exhibition takes place over 7 floors, in the shape of a 14 million pint glass of Guinness. The final floor is the Gravity Bar, which has an almost 360° panorama over the city, where visitors can claim a free pint of “the black stuff”.

St. James’s Gate Brewery was founded in 1759 by Arthur Guinness.   Leased for 9,000 years in 1759 at £45 per year, St. James’s Gate has been the home of Guinness ever since.  The company is now a part of Diageo, a company formed via the merger of Guinness and Grand Metropolitan in 1997.

Next week I hope to continue the journey around Dublin with History, The Arts and Sport.

I was reminiscing the other day with a friend about the old style phones from my young days.  Like Ford cars they came in every colour…. so long as it was black!  Was that just in Ireland? I only ever remember having a black phone at home.  As for cars, even when a range of colours became available, my father preferred a black car.  His excuse was that it looked well at funerals!

Now back to the phone….

It weighed a tonne and if a call went on for any length of time, my hand would remain as if soldered to the hand-piece.

On one occasion I picked up the receiver to dial a number and I could hear a conversation going on.  I had a crossed line – I had linked into a busy line.  Now don’t tell me you would put down the phone immediately.  You would?  Really?  Well on this occasion I have to admit I succumbed and had a little listen.  Bernadette was lambasting some woman called Patricia to another called Fidelma.  Poor Patricia, wherever she was, must have had ears on fire with all the dreadful things those two had to say.

I waited long enough to gather names and then I coughed loudly.

“Excuse me Ladies”, I said. “You are talking about my friend Patricia!  I am sure that  tomorrow when I relate to her the dreadful things that you Bernadette, and you Fidelma have said, she will not be very happy.  In fact I would not expect dinner invitations any time in the near future!”

Like lightening, the two phones were slammed back on their bases.   I wonder how long it was before they used the phone again for a chat?

OK! OK!  I had no idea who this person Patricia was, but Ladies Bernadette and Fidelma deserved what I said and I got to make my call…… I was very careful and polite as I did it!

Time once more for another episode of the Loose Blogging Consortium.   Our topic for today was chosen by Gaelikaa.

Coincidences

The coincidences I have chosen are all to do with marriage.

On this day sixty nine years ago my parents were married.  They both had the same last name, although they came for opposite sides of the country.  I arrived six years later and with time developed a mop of auburn tresses.  The gene for this autumn glory skipped a generation but came down to me from grandparents on both sides - my maternal grandfather and paternal grandmother Margaret.

John my paternal Grandfather grew up in a small village in Co Clare.  He was over six feet tall and a noted athlete in his young days, particularly in the long jump, high jump, putting the shot and the hop-step-and-jump.

Once, while jumping over a six-bar iron gate, he slipped and fell heavily on his right knee.  When it became evident that the injury was incurable he travelled across the country to Dublin’s Richmond hospital by canal barge, to have the leg amputated from the knee.  The stories of the journey, the surgery, no anaesthetic and his hair going white,  were often repeated and embroidered to an open mouthed audience of John’s grandchildren as we sat round the fireside of our youth.  On occasion some of my brothers were found tying pieces of timber to their knees in order to try walking with a wooden leg!

John was looked up to in his village and the surrounding areas as a scholar and philosopher.  People were constantly coming to him for advice and he was known far and wide as ‘The Professor’.  He was familiar with Plato & Aristotle and had a good knowledge of the classics.

When a vacancy occurred in the Kildysart Post office John applied and got the job.  He moved into the heart of the little village situated on the River Shannon in West Clare.  Besides running the Post office he opened a grocery and became the agent for all the Trans Atlantic shipping lines.  Next he bought a farm in Ballinacragga and on the 30th January 1900, he married for the second time, a farmer’s daughter, Margaret from Coolmeen.  They were blessed with 11 children.

Margaret, my paternal grandmother was a mere twenty three years of age, while her husband was many years her senior. He had married for the first time the year she was born 1877.  He died twenty two years after they married, when my father was eleven years old.  Margaret survived in widowhood for another thirty three years.

Exactly one hundred years after Margaret was born, I walked down the aisle with a man who had been a widower.  He was married for the first time the year I was born.  He also walked with a limp, the spoils of war gained in Burma during WW11.

It was many years later that I was handed a cutting from an old Co Clare weekly newspaper.  The cutting was from 1900 and it was a description of the wedding of a local Postmaster - you guessed it, the wedding of my grandparents.  The piece went on to tell us that the bride was wearing an Ecru ensemble, the very colour I wore for my big day.

What does it mean?

Stop Hammer Time.

A Stop sign at the approach to a junction with a sticker on it.  Have you come across one of these before?

A woman arrived at the Gates of Heaven. While she was waiting for Saint Peter to greet her, she peeked through the gates. She saw a beautiful banquet table. Sitting all around were her parents and all the other people she had loved and who had died before her.

They saw her and began calling greetings to her, “Hello - How are you! We’ve been waiting for you! Good to see you.”

When Saint Peter came by, the woman said to him, “This is such a wonderful place! How do I get in?” “You have to spell a word,”
Saint Peter told her.

“Which word?” the woman asked.

“Love.”

The woman correctly spelled “Love” and Saint Peter welcomed her into Heaven.

About a year later, Saint Peter came to the woman and asked her to watch the Gates of Heaven for him that day. While the woman was guarding the Gates of Heaven, her husband arrived.

“I’m surprised to see you,” the woman said. “How have you been?”

“Oh, I’ve been doing pretty well since you died,” her husband told her. “I married the beautiful young nurse who took care of you while you were ill. And then I won the multi-state lottery. I sold the little house you and I lived in and bought a huge mansion. And my wife and I traveled all around the world. We were on vacation in Cancun and I went water skiing today. I fell and hit my head, and here I am. What a bummer! How do I get in?”

“You have to spell a word,” the woman told him.

“Which word?” her husband asked.

“Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis”, she replied.

Moral of the story: Never make a woman angry . . . there will be Hell to pay!

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Where did I get this one?  It came from a very old friend!

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NB: The longest word currently listed in the Oxford dictionary is the supposed lung-disease pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis (45 letters).  Please do not ask me to say or spell it, as my granny used to say… I just slapped it down!

I got a little side tracked and nearly ended up in here>>>>>

I was searching for some paperwork and still have not found it.  Did you hide it?

Not to worry it is not that important and in the process I did clear papers back to the year 2000.  So that is why I have nothing to show from my needle crafts today.  Sure you all needed a rest anyway, so I will try to make up for it next week.

Stay dry, warm and safe until then!

“We are on the precipice of a major financial melt down and one which will change the way the world and its people live in the next couple of decades.    I have just been reading some statistics which simply don’t add up to a bright future.” So said a friend of mine in conversation the other day.

So what can I do about it in my little corner of the globe?

Over the past three or fours years I have noticed a big change in my cost of living.  You may think my needs are few, and they are, living alone with nobody under my care, but that has little effect on some of the expenses.  The cost of living is going up, up, up!  Each time you go to a supermarket the prices have risen yet again.  I certainly do not live on fillet steak or caviare, but have good healthy meals cooking everything from scratch like my mother and grandmother before me.

So I have and own a small bungalow with all the usual outgoings.  There is no reduction on Local Government Rates or heating oil because I am alone.  I pay the same utilities as every other householder whether there are twenty, twelve or only one person in a house.

I need electricity for cooking, lighting and running the heating boiler.
A telephone is a necessity and wireless broadband is my luxury.  I have no TV by choice.

I run a small 10 year old car – more a necessity than a luxury since I live at the top of a hill and public transport is a joke in my area.

Then there is Insurance for house and separately for the car with the usual annual up-keep maintenance for both house and car.  In the past I have serviced my car myself, changing the oil, oil filter and spark plugs.  Alas, I do not have the strength in my hands any more for such tasks.  I would admit to knowing nothing about break pads or replacing them.* Even putting air in my tires, is no longer something I can do myself.

So far I have not mentioned shoe leather – or the clothing needed to go with it.  Shoe leather and clothing wear out and need replacing.  Nudism is not really acceptable or the most sensible of ideas when living in Ireland, especially for somebody who feels the cold like I do.  Only last week while walking in warm mid-day sunshine I realised that from the balls of my feet to my toes had gone numb, yes the temperature has dropped, in the past week but we are a long way from real winter!  I was not wearing sandals, but socks and trainers under my trousers.

I am not complaining, just stating facts.

If what my friend (above) says is true, how can I make changes?  What do I give up first?  Get rid of the telephone or my car?  The heating oil or the food shopping?

Do I go back to the old ways of Bartering?

How many buttons will I need to stitch on in exchange for a tank of oil?

Do YOU see a way round it?

I suppose I could always roll down the hill behind the bottle wall.  Hypothermia is bound to kick in before I am missed or found!

* I may not know much about break pads, but I do know what the wheel balancing weights look like!  I have used them in the past covered in fabric to weigh down the base of an embroidered banner.

Last week following my post Sauce for your Chips,  wisewebwoman asked if I had a recipe for a similar sauce with Chilli like her mother used to make.  It has taken me almost a week to locate this one and I hope it comes close to the mark.

Tomato and Chilli Sauce

3 lbs firm and ripe tomatoes,
1 small onion, cut into chunks,
1 large or two small tart apples, cut into chunks,
12 ozs brown sugar,
½ bird’s eye chilli, minced,
¼ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper,
¼ teaspoon ground paprika,
¼ teaspoon freshly cracked black peppercorns,
12 fl ozs malt vinegar,
salt to taste,
1 teaspoonful corn flour dissolved in
½ teaspoonful water
Reduce any spices you think will make the sauce too hot for you.

Put the halved or quartered tomatoes, onion and apple chunks in the food processor. Process until smooth. Pour into a large saucepan on a medium heat. Put in the rest ingredients
Stir to dissolve the sugar. Let the mixture bubble and keep stirring to avoid the fruit mixture sticking on the bottom of the pan. When the mixture is reduced and the colour is darker, have a taste. You can add more spices, salt or sugar, to give the correct balance, according to your preference.

Line a large bowl or jug with a muslin cloth.  Remove the saucepan from the heat, then, pour the hot sauce through the muslin.  Press to get more moisture from the sauce and scrape any residue on the outside of the muslin into the bowl.  Discard the leftover tomato mixture in the muslin and return the sauce to the saucepan and put it back on the heat.
Simmer on a low heat until bubbling again. Add the cornflour dissolved in the water, and cook for another 10 minutes to thicken. Pour immediately into the prepared sterilised jars or bottles leaving ¼ inch headroom.
When cold, cork tightly and store.  Mark with name and date.

In the past few months I have had several requests for suggestions of  places to see while visiting Ireland.

I love the island of Ireland and would find it difficult, and gain enemies if I tried to cover the whole place in just 1,000 words.

I could write for a month and still not cover all the wonderful aspects of my native land, so instead I decided to dip in and out of the counties, over several weeks, and include various links that you can explore at your leisure and return to many times before finally planning an Irish Holiday.

Ireland may look small and seem like you could travel from one end to the other is a day, it is in fact possible and only worthwhile if you enjoy watching the road.  The island covers 32,599 square miles, at its widest the island is about 174 miles  and at its longest (north-south) it is 302 miles.

For my friends across the pond, Ireland is about the size of the State of Indiana (U.S.). Indiana is 35,910 square miles in area.  The population of the island of Ireland is between 5 and 6 million, much the same as Indiana.

Map courtesy of Our-Ireland.com.

The coastline is magnificent, it extends for over 3,000 miles  and is indented by numerous peninsulas. There are mountains along much of its perimeter.  Carrantuohill is the highest mountain in Ireland. It is part of Macgillicuddy’s Reeks, a rugged twelve-mile ridge which stretches along the south west corner of the island, not far from the Atlantic shore.  Along the West coast it is possible to find hidden beaches with only the birds and the sound of the breeze for company.

So today I will stick to the basics, the information you need before any holiday to my part of the world.

The island includes the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland which is part of the UK.

The currency for ROI is the Euro (€).  The Euro comes in denominations of: Coins:1¢, 2¢, 5¢, 10¢, 20¢, 50¢, €1, €2. Notes: €5, €10, €20, €50, €100, €200, and €500.  The coins have a map of Europe on one side and the national symbol on the other, Ireland’s national symbol is the harp, but it can be used throughout the 12 participating EU states. The notes have a map of Europe on one side.  **

Northern Ireland still use the Pound Sterling (£) but many places will accept the Euro.

Major Credit Cards - particularly Visa, MasterCard, and American Express - are widely accepted though some B&B’s will only accept cash. You can also use them to withdraw cash from Ireland’s many ATMs.

While on the topic of money – I suggest you guys stitch up the back pockets of your jeans before travelling.  A bulging wallet protruding from a back pocket is an invitation for nimble fingered thieves.  You have been warned!

Remember in Ireland we drive on the left hand side of the road, and all cars are right-hand drive. A manual transmission car is standard but automatics are available. EU driving licences are treated as Irish. If you’re from outside the EU its generally a good idea to obtain an International Driving Permit (IDP), obtained from your local automobile association.

Traffic speeds are in Kilometres in the republic and in MPH in Northern Ireland(UK).  In cities, it is usually best to avoid driving during the morning and evening rush-hours, especially in Dublin.

You need to relax and soak up the scenery, the people and the atmosphere, yes that includes the rain, but without it Ireland would not have those wonderful 40 Shades of Green!  All you gain from rushing about is raised blood pressure and or an ulcer,  neither a souvenir you want to take home.  Away from the hub-bub of the cities you will find the speech sl..o…w….s down and people move at a more relaxed pace.  Live it and enjoy!

So what do you need?  Stout walking shoes to begin, and dress like an onion!  Plenty of layers to peel on and off as needed.  We are known for having all four seasons in one half hour, but not for wearing green – only American Tourists do that! ;)  A waterproof layer is essential, but on occasion I have been proved wrong.  Better to have it and not need it than to be continually soaked.

Everyone speaks English and An Ghaeltacht, refers individually to any, or collectively to all, of the districts that Irish is the predominant language.  They are mostly on the west or south coasts of Ireland.

Urban Ireland became very cosmopolitan with the Celtic Tiger, with a large variety of International restaurants springing up, offering food from all corners of the globe.  The day of the token ‘vegetarian’ option is fast fading.

Starting next Sunday I hope to begin my journey around the country by taking an area or county and pointing to the high points.  If you have suggestions or questions let me know in the comments and I will try to answer or find the answers for you.  Remember that like in all things I do, I am no expert and only sharing what I know or have experienced.

I hope you will join me and enjoy the journey.

** UPDATE:  See Elly’s comment below about the large denomination Euro notes.

*** UPDATE 2:

Electricity

Mains electricity is supplied at 220 Volts (50 cycles) and the plugs are flat with three pins. An adapter is needed to convert to the right plug size. A transformer is needed to convert American appliances (except for dual-voltage equipment which needs only an adapter).

Emergencies

In case of emergency, Dial 999 or 112 and ask the operator for the emergency service you require: Fire, Gardaí (Police), Ambulance, Boat & Coastal Rescue, Mountain & Cave Rescue. When the emergency service answers, state the address or location at which help is needed. Calls to these services are free of charge.

Internet Café’s

Internet Café’s will now be found in many cities and towns. Prices vary.