Grannymar

Carrot & Coriander Soup
Serves 2

1oz butter
1 lb carrots finely chopped
2 onions, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 oz flour
1 pint vegetable stock
zest & juice of an orange
½ teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon fresh coriander chopped
salt & freshly ground black pepper
¼ pint pouring cream
coriander leaves for garnish

Melt the butter in a large pan and add the carrots, onions, garlic and ground coriander.  Cook for 5 minutes until softened.  Stir in the plain flour and cook for a further 2 minutes.  Gradually add the stock, zest & juice of an orange stirring continuously.  Simmer for another 20 minutes transfer the soup to a food processor and blend until smooth.  Return to the pan over a low heat and add the nutmeg & fresh coriander slowly stir in the cream & season to taste.  Garnish with a little of the cream and a few coriander leaves.

Serve with Garlic Bread.

This imposing sculpture at Larne’s Curran Park features a family group on their way to an emigrant ship, about to set out on the journey across the Atlantic.  It might have been Friends Goodwill which was the first vessel to set sail from Larne to the Americas in 1717.

The figure of the father has his arms around his wife and son in a protective gesture, while the mother carries the family Bible to symbolise not only the importance of their faith to these 18th century emigrants but also that often the family tree and other documents were contained within the leaves of this precious book. The boy, carrying his shoes so as not to wear out the leather, also has a small bag containing his belongings. An added little feature for our feathered friends is that one of the shoes has been created as a bird bath!

The monument, cast in bronze, was designed on the advice of the Ulster-American Committee by sculptor Ed Barton and was unveiled in May 1992 by an American Professor, Dr. Bobby Moss of Blacksburg, South Carolina, an acknowledged expert on the role of the Ulster Scots in the American Revolution. The memorial tablet carries the statement from the Tyrone poet and cleric W. F. Marshall, that no other race in the United States can provide a roll so long and so shining with honour than can the Ulster Scots.

There is another sculpture at the far end of the park, that will keep for another day.

Still in Market Square at Antrim Town, I have few more entrances or openings to share with you.

The centre piece of the square is the 300 hundred year old, Old Courthouse.

The Old Courthouse has been tastefully restored and the redeveloped building opened for business in early 2010. Antrim Information Centre and a new cafe/bar area for visitors are on the ground floor and the first floor features a multi-use auditorium space for culture and arts performances, civic events and conferencing.

The front of this Bank looks like it has had a recent face lift.

Right next door the gate is well secured to the entrance of another bank:

At least you can get a few bob from the hole in the wall!

Finally, directly across the square is another laneway leading down to the Board-walk at the river.

Gaelikaa has drifted by with the topic to tease our LBC brain cells this week:

Culture Shock

I could have cheated with a cut and paste job.

Or
Written about a Punk Band
Or
Gone down the road of protection of our culture and heritage from shock and disaster

No, I would rather tell you that I have lived at three different addresses in my 64 years.

My first flight from the nest (in Dublin) was to live and work in Germany.  There I Lived within one culture (German) while working with another (American).  Perhaps because I was young, I saw it all as an adventure, and made friends in both groups.   I made the usual mistakes of buying weird tasting toothpaste – NO! - You don’t need to know what the tube contained!   The couple of years actually passed quickly and taught me to become totally independent, able to live alone without the cushion of a large family around me.  Who knew that it was the preparation for the past 13 years?

The second move was to my present home of thirty four years.  Same Island.  Same language….well almost!  Different country.  Very Different country.  What a culture shock it was.

EVERYONE wanted to pigeon hole me.

Once I opened my mouth it was assumed that I was “ONE of THOSE, from DOWN THERE!” – The actual words from the mouth of a member of the Democratic Unionist Party, who called to my door canvassing my vote!  The same gentleman, reversed away from me, all the way to the end of the driveway.  Anyone would think I had Bubonic Plague!

I learned that asking someone what school they had attended was actually asking what religion they belonged to.

I came from a country where flags were for Public buildings, to a place where a total stranger calling to your door, would try to intimidate you into flying a flag (of a particular type) on your property, during the Marching Season.

I quickly learned to be careful what I said about people from the town.  With a population of 6,000, everyone was related.  I actually felt like I had moved back in time by about 40 years.

Walking through the town on one of those very early days, a total stranger, to me, congratulated me on being pregnant, a fact we had only shared with my parents and my local doctor.  Since I never had much of a ‘bump’, the information had been passed by someone who read my file at the Health Centre (not the Doctor), or a member of the family who shared out telephone line!  Within two days I had the latter problem sorted.

As for the lack of bump….. our neighbours from two doors away, were so surprised when Elly arrived, they saw no problem in asking bluntly if we had adopted the baby!!!!!  This was a baby who looked the spit of her father.

I suppose nowadays, I am like a stone on the waterline of life. Washed in and out by the ebb and flow of the lapping waters, not quite sure where I belong but happy to drift with the tide.

Now it is time to drift over and swim along with our other LBC members: Anu, Ashok, Conrad, Delirious, gaelikaa, Magpie 11, Padmini, Ramana, Rohit, The Silver Fox Whispers, Will, Paul & Plain Joe

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Nema & Noor have decided to form “The Half-Baked Bloggers Consortium’s (HBBC)”, posting on the same day with topics chosen by members of their group.

The Half-Baked Bloggers Consortium’s (HBBC) first post, where Maha Mohamed, Ammar Al-Majali, Rana Safi, Maryam, Yara Hani, Noha Hanafy, Noor Al Zubaidy, Deppy, Nouran Ziad, Noor El terk, Salima Al Masrouri, Mariam Tarek, Sara Amr, Yasmine Fayez, Rania Khaled, Engi Amin, Ibhog, Abeer Zaki, Hagar Haggag Yomna Arbad, Salma M San, My Essam and I voice our opinions about a weekly topic chosen by various members. This weekend’s topic is Self-love, chosen by Nema (me). Please take the time to view their blogs just as you viewed mine in order to get different perspectives about the same topic.

Now if they are Half-Baked, I hope it does not mean that we at the LBC are Hard–Boiled!

Next time you use a pair of latex gloves when you’re painting or crafting, you’re going to smile when you think of this:

A dentist noticed that his next patient, a little old lady, was nervous, so he decided to tell her a little joke as he put on his gloves.
‘Do you know how they make these gloves?’ he asked.
‘No, I don’t,’ she replied.

‘Well,’ he spoofed, ‘there’s a building in Canada with a big tank of latex, and workers of all hand sizes walk up to the tank, dip in their hands, let them dry, then peel off the gloves and throw them into boxes of the right size.’
She didn’t crack a smile.

But five minutes later, during a delicate portion of the procedure, she burst out laughing.
‘What’s so funny?’ he asked.

‘I was just envisioning how condoms are made!’

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Thanks Brighid for sending this…..