Food videos

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1930, amaretti, cuisine, ice cream, Ireland, life, whiskey

So I started with the Japanese Egg Salad sandwich, well from that first recipe I was prompted by YouTube to see other types of sandwiches you can make which in Asia is considered street food you can buy in small kiosk or in the large kiosk in all train stations for a snack on board a train. What is interesting about train stations in Japan is the variety of the food offer and the quality, something you simply do not see in Canada. There are lots of very interesting recipes on YouTube and none are difficult to make.

Sometimes they will use some ingredients like sprinkling sugar and then using ketchup and mayo as part of dressing up your sandwich. Some combinations may appear strange to Western taste but it is worth a try, I know Foodies will understand that.

The three ingredients for this ice cream recipe, the custard, the whiskey and the roasted bread. All this will go into our ice cream machine and then into the deep freeze. 

Today Chef Will, who has always been good in the kitchen and has an aversion to boiled potatoes, decided to make Irish brown Bread Ice Cream, for this recipe you need a good 12 year old Irish Whiskey, we have a bottle of Yellow Spot, single pot still, aged in three casks, Bourbon, Sherry and Malaga. I know Dr Spo of the No Rubbish school would approve. What got Will to make this type of ice cream is his recent purchase of a previously admired Ice cream machine by Cuisinart. Three days ago he made fresh pistacchio ice cream. Yes pistacchio has 2 C. in the word, pronounced Pis Tak Kio. I know you may wonder, Brown bread ice cream?!? really? Yes really, will let you know how it all turns out.

He also made with left over egg whites some Amaretti cookies to have with our Espresso. For those who might be interested, we use Lavazza ground coffee.

So has promised, here it is very good ice cream, it does have that taste of Irish Whiskey and a crunch to it due to the roasted bread. This is a recipe Will found on a YouTube site which specialize in recipes of the 1930’s in Canada.  If anyone is interested, let me know and I will post the link to this YouTube Channel. The host and his wife are charming and will be honest, if after making a recipe it is not good or they do not like it, they will tell you. Not every recipe can be a winner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Music

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Clementi, composer, Ireland, Irish, Moscow, piano

At night I like to listen to music on Radio-Canada from Montreal. I find it relaxing.

At dinner we will listen to Stanley Péan who host Quand le Jazz est là, who presents a variety of jazz following the great names and their music. Afterwards after 9pm is the classical music which is adapted to that time of night with Marie-Christine Trottier hosting Toute une Musique.

Tonight its the music of John Field.

John Field, (born July 26, 1782, Dublin—died Jan. 23, 1837, Moscow), Irish pianist and composer, whose nocturnes for piano were among models used by Chopin.

Field first studied music at home with his father and grandfather and afterward in London with Muzio Clementi, under whose tuition, given in return for Field’s services as a piano demonstrator and salesman, the boy made rapid progress. In 1802 Clementi took Field to Paris and later to Germany and Russia. Field quickly secured recognition as a pianist and composer and in 1803 settled in Russia, becoming for a time a popular and fashionable teacher. He played extensively throughout Europe during the next 30 years and had great success.

Field was one of the earliest of the purely piano virtuosos, and his style and technique strikingly anticipated those of Chopin.

 

Good restaurants

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cuisine, Food, Ireland, pubs, Restaurants

We did an extensive tour of Ireland in September 2016, here is a list of great restaurants in Dublin.

Amuse Restaurant, Dawson St
Ananda, Dundrum
Assassination Custard, Kevin St Lwr [NEW]
Bastible, South Circular Road
Brioche, Ranelagh
Brother Hubbard, Capel St
The Cake Café, Camden St
Chameleon Restaurant, Temple Bar
Chapter One, Parnell Square
Craft, Harold’s Cross [NEW]
Dunne & Crescenzi, South Frederick St
Ely Winebar, Ely Place
L’Ecrivain, Lwr Baggot St
Etto, Merrion Row
Fish Shop, Smithfield
Forest Avenue, Sussex Terrace (pictured)
Forest & Marcy, Leeson St Upper [NEW]
The Fumbally, Dublin 8
The Greenhouse, Dawson St
Hang Dai, Camden St [NEW]
Heron and Grey, Blackrock [NEW]
L. Mulligan Grocers, Stoneybatter
Luna, Drury St
O’Connell’s, Donnybrook
Osteria Lucio, Clanwilliam Tce
Pickle Restaurant, Camden St [NEW]
Piglet Wine Bar, Temple Bar [NEW]
Restaurant Forty One, Stephen’s Green
The Winding Stair, Ormonde Quay

The McKennas’ annual 100 Best Restaurants List was first published in The Sunday Times. for more info see guides.ie or @McKennasGuides on Twitter.

There are many good pubs and great restaurants throughout Ireland in Galway, Cork, Belfast, etc.. Cuisine is inventive and different with a certain flair.

Return to Dublin

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1916 Easter Uprising, Dublin, Heuston Station, Ireland, Sean Heuston, West country

After a fantastic stop in Westport and the the visit to Ashford Castle and the time spent with the Hawks and Falcons, we returned via a very scenic route to Westport and our train waiting for us on our private platform. At the Station the train was too long by 3 cars for the platform, no problem, we had more oysters on the half-shelf and this time a small glass of Guinness, which I found to be a very good beer which goes well with Oysters.

Here are some of the views on the road back, Ireland is a spectacular country in its geography.

The West Country

County Mayo, in dark green. The Pink area is Ulster and its 6 counties,(Northern Ireland).

I can say that we have visited all of Ireland now, including Ulster. The Irish are a charming people, helpful and kind. Ireland has beautiful and dramatic scenery of great natural beauty. I learned to appreciate Guinness beer, me a non-beer drinker and sample 2 Irish whiskeys I really liked Green Spot and Yellow Spot which I found to be very good.

Though I preferred Yellow Spot Irish Whiskey.

Nose: There are masses of fleshy stone fruit on the nose, especially peach and apricot with hints of sherried dried fruit and Bourbon cask vanilla.

Palate: The palate is equally fruity with a substantial body and a velvety texture.

Finish: The finish is long and sweet with notes of marzipan and dried apricots.

Overall: This is very different to the Green Spot we all know and love with a delicious sweetness to it and a firmer body.

Our train arrived in early morning in Dublin Heuston Station, we took a taxi to our hotel to pick-up our luggage and headed to the Airport for our flight to London.

Heuston Station, Dublin

The next part of our trip was about to begin.

 

Falconry

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Ashford Castle, birds of prey, co.Mayo, Harris Hawks, Hawks, Ireland, School of Falconry

I now know why Falconry is considered the sport of Kings. At Ashford Castle the Irish school of Falconry has about 24 Hawks and Falcons in residence. The Hawks are Harris hawks from North America. The female weighs about 2.5 Kilos and the male weighs about 1.7 kilos.

At our arrival at Ashford Castle we were taken by Land Rover to the school which is on the estate but at some distance of the Castle in the great park.

 

Falcons and Hawks are birds of prey, they cannot become pets and cannot be trained to be pets, that has to be understood from the beginning.  The instructor told us that we should under no condition try to pet them or cuddle them, the bird will think you want to harm them. They are majestic and dignified, not cute. Their claws are sharp and huge, the wing span when they fly off is impressive at 120cm or 47 inches.

Their eyesight is far stronger than any human eye, they can see things at a very great distance we would be unable to see. The instructor told us that from 4000 feet in the air they can see a little field mouse. They see in colour and differentiate various hue. They are also silent in flight meaning that you do not hear them coming or going. When they come down on a prey, the animal in their sight will never know what hit them. They are like a silent missile.

At the school they are kept in large enclosure, but each has its own territory inside  the aviary and a distance of at least 2 meters between birds must be kept. Otherwise they would attack each other and fight to the death. We took them out in pairs but I did notice that when they fly off they do so separately and will perch on different branches of different trees always at a distance of each other.

Since about 1980, Harris’s hawks have been increasingly used in falconry and are now the most popular hawks in the West (outside of Asia) for that purpose, as they are one of the easiest to train.
Their desire and ability to work closely with their falconer allows them to take a larger and more varied score of game than any other falcon or hawk species. They are effective on both bird and mammalian prey, and are willing to tackle game larger than themselves. Though not quite as athletic as falcons, the close and cunning ways they learn to work as part of a falconry team more than makes up for their somewhat lesser speed and endurance. Trained Harris’s hawks have been used to remove an unwanted pigeon population from London’s Trafalgar Square.

Will is holding on his arm the male Hawk of the group. Females are usually the dominant partner of any Hawk group. They do not migrate like other birds and stay in the region where they live.

 

They come back to us because they know that in our gloved hand we have a piece of raw meat. However do not make the mistake of trying to fool them by not having that treat of raw meat, they will not return to you afterwards, you will be seen as untrustworthy by the Hawk.  Here I am walking back with my female Hawk, Maya. What a wonderful afternoon that was, quite unlike anything I have done before.

Ashford castle, Falcons and Hawks

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Ashford Castle, County Mayo, Falconry, Falcons, Guinness, Hawks, Ireland, Westport

So after an extensive tour of Connemara our last leg of our trip brings us to Westport, Co. Mayo. Our visit here hit a highlight by visiting Ashford Castle and the school of Falconry.

Ashford Castle a former private residence is now a veery exclusive Luxury Hotel. The setting in a very large private park with its golf course, tennis courts, lake Lough Corrib, and Ireland’s School of Falconry, shooting range, etc. Guests are chauffeured around in luxurious Range Rover similar to those made for HM the Queen with liveried drivers.

view from the Golf course. 

A castle was built on the perimeter of a Monastic site in 1228 by the Anglo-Norman House of Burke.

After more than three-and-a-half centuries under the de Burgos, whose surname became Burke or Bourke, Ashford passed into the hands of a new master, following a fierce battle between the forces of the de Burgos and those of the English official Sir Richard Bingham, Lord President of Connaught, when a truce was agreed. In 1589, the castle fell to Bingham, who added a fortified enclave within its precincts.

Dominick Browne, of the Browne Family (Baron Oranmore) received the estate in a Royal Grant in either 1670 or 1678. In 1715, the estate of Ashford was established by the Browne family and a hunting lodge in the style of a 17th-century French chateau was constructed. The double-headed eagles still visible on the roof represent the coat of arms of the Brownes.

In the late 18th-century a branch of the family inhabited the castle. In the early 19th-century, one Thomas Elwood was agent for the Brownes at Ashford and was recorded as living there in 1814.

The estate was purchased in 1852 by Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness from the Encumbered Estates’ Court. He added two large Victorian style extensions. He also extended the estate to 26,000 acres (110 km2), built new roads and planted thousands of trees. On Benjamin’s death in 1868, the estate passed to his son Lord Ardilaun, who expanded the building further in the neogothic style.

Lord Ardilaun was an avid gardener who oversaw the development of massive woodlands and rebuilt the entire west wing of the castle, designed by architects James Franklin Fuller and George Ashlin. The new construction connected the early 18th-century part in the east with two de-Burgo-time towers in the west. Battlements were added to the whole castle.

The Castle passed to Ardilaun’s nephew Ernest Guinness. It was gifted to the Irish government in 1939.

Today Ashford Castle is a luxury hotel, a major refurbishment was done in 2015.

We had lunch at the Castle in a beautiful dining room, service was in the grand style, very attentive, rarely seen today in any hotel.

Hotel grounds and garden

 

 

Half way mark

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Belmond, Charles I, Cromwell, Eyre Square, Galway, Ireland, Meyric Hotel, Nan Tom Teaimin, Peter Stubbers

Our trip to Ireland with Belmond Grand Hibernian was extensive. Each stop was very well organized and no detail was left unattended. Galway we had an excellent guide who gave us a good view of the city and its history. Vikings, Pirates, Spaniards, English, Cromwell and the Civil War, always interesting but complex, we had a great lunch Ard Bia at Nimmos a beautiful restaurant by the River Corrib (Irish: Abhainn na Gaillimhe) in the west of Ireland flows from Lough Corrib through Galway to Galway Bay. The river is among the shortest in Europe, with only a length of six kilometres from the lough to the Atlantic.

Our lunch started with a glass of champagne and oysters on the half shell. It was in an old stone building pictured above, it was at least 700 years old. We had Nan Tom Teaimin to sing some old Irish songs to us. She is a National treasure in Ireland, a very great artist and a great voice. She was not introduced to the group and no one knew who she was, it was somewhat embarrassing to discover afterwards that we had been entertained by such an artist.

Nan Tom Teaimin singing at Ard Bia at Nimmos, Spanish Arch in Galway.

Ard Bia at Nimmos, highly recommended for its food.

 

Merchants Rd. Galway old town. 

At the Kings Head tavern we came upon this plaque at no.15 High Street.

A very interesting story about the Kings Head, with the fall and execution of King Charles I (Stuart) of England in the yard of Whitehall Palace in London, Oliver Cromwell became the Lord Protector of England. In 1651 the English parliamentarian army gathered its forces around the fortified city of Galway and a long siege lasting nine months ensued after various truce offers were turned down by both sides. A Colonel Peter Stubbers had been appointed Military Governor of Galway and on the 12th of April 1652 after the great siege he led the Cromwellian army as they marched triumphantly into the city. Two years later in October 1654 the last tribal mayor of Galway, Thomas Lynch, was forcibly removed from office and replaced by Stubbers who now became the first protestant mayor of the new order in Galway. Stubbers also took over the mayor’s house at No. 15 High Street. While Governor and then Mayor of Galway Stubbers initiated and enforced a brutal puritan regime on the town and peoples of Galway. Stubbers had all priests rounded up and marched off to prison to the sound of beating drums and blowing bugles. He also made frequent nightly raids throughout the countryside rounding up over 1000 Irishmen for transportation to the West Indies where they were sold as slaves.

The town also witnessed the more excessive elements of Puritanism in the despoiling of the churches and tombs both within and outside the town walls. They went so far as to break open the tombs and root out the bodies in search of treasure, usually when disappointed they left the carcasses uncovered so that they were often found mangled and eaten by dogs. After their desecration the town churches were used as stables for the horses of the Cromwellian soldiers. Stubber’s reign of terror, however, came to an end with the restoration of the English monarchy in 1660. Upon this event Stubbers suddenly and mysteriously disappeared without a trace.

Stubbers was to be the only member of Cromwell’s inner circle to escape any form of punishment. Very little is known of him after this period, but it appears he fled to Germany.  Stubbers had at least one son Edward, who had also acquired property in Galway and the building at 15 high street was actually in the Stubbers family until 1932 when it was finally sold. The building was later turned into a public house and was appropriately named the Kings Head.

We also visited a fascinating little Church, St-Nicholas Collegiate Church, built in 1320, it is the oldest medieval parish church still in use in Ireland. The church is dedicated to St.Nicholas of Myra (aka Santa Claus). It is said that Christopher Columbus worshipped in the church in 1477. It is an Anglican church today and the Russian and Romanian Orthodox communities also worship there.

We departed Galway by entering into an old railway hotel, The Meyric Hotel on Eyre Square.  This was another neat thing about this railway trip, usually if you depart Galway by train you go straight to the railway station. However in our case Belmond had arranged for us to pass through the hotel and bypass the train station all together, like in the old days when patrons of the Meyric went through a private door opened only for them which gave unto a private platform where our train was waiting, how very nice.

 

More Ireland

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Aran, Cliffs of Moher, Ireland, Killarney, Liscannor, Muckross, trains, Unesco

As we continued to tour Ireland we arrived at Killarney and visited Ross Castle on the lakes once owned by the ruling O’Donoghue Family in the 15th century.

The whole area is a huge National park of some 10,289 hectares once part of a large estate known as Muckross and now known as the Bourn-Vincent Memorial Park. It forms what is Ireland First National Park, a gift of the Bourn and Vincent Family who donated it all to the Irish Republic in 1932. On this estate stands Ross castle all of it set in wilderness. Three lakes all large are stocked with brown trout, Char, Salmon and Eel. It was very nice to visit such a beautiful and quiet place. Just West of the Park rises MacGillycuddy Reeks the highest mountain range in Ireland.

The three lakes are Upper Lake, Muckross Lake and Lough Leane. All part of a UNESCO Biosphere preserve since 1981.

While cruising on the lakes, we were served champagne to make the sailing more agreeable.

We then proceeded afterwards to the Galway and the cliffs of Moher. Though we travelled by luxury train, the railroad does not come near many of the most famous historical and geographically stunning areas in Ireland. An example the cliffs of Moher who are one hour away by car from the nearest railway station. Trains in Ireland connect only the large urban centres.

As we neared the Cliffs of Moher, we crossed the village of Liscannor where a large funeral was taking place for a young women who was part of the rescue team and she was part of a rescue mission sent to save a man who was caught in a storm at sea. Unfortunately for her she lost her life performing the rescue. In Ireland nature is still quite wild and unforgiving.

The Cliffs of Moher is an impressive site, you may have read about them or seen them in one of the Harry Potter novels or movie. The Cave in the cliffs is featured in the Half-blood Prince.

From the cliffs of Moher you can see the Aran Islands where the famous sweaters came from. It is said that each family on the Island had its own pattern. They were all fishermen and wore the sweaters when they went out to fish at Sea, however none of them knew how to swim, so if one fell over board in the rough sea, he would be drowned, the only way to recognize a drown man was by the family pattern of his sweater. The sweaters are no longer knitted by the women of Aran, they are now made in Galway by a large Irish clothing company.

Looking straight out from the Cliffs of Moher some 3000 Km away is Newfoundland.

The cliffs is a special protected area, some 20,000 seabirds nest on the cliffs, Puffins, Chough, Razorbill, Guillemot and Fulmar.  The cliffs of Moher are well worth the visit, impressive at 200 meters in height facing the North Atlantic.

Blarney Castle

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Blarney, Cork, Ireland

As a child with my parents we visited Ireland in 1969 some 47 years ago. We did a tour of Ireland and I remember us going to Blarney Castle. The site then was very different than today, it was a lot less manicured, more wild park, jardin à l’Anglaise as they say. I remember us arriving a the Castle and climbing up the stairs of the ruins to see the famous stone. I did not kiss it then, I was afraid of the height and of hanging over the ledge, but it was fun. I also do not remember Blarney being geared towards mass tourism as it is today, though in a gentle way, no crass commercialism. I don’t think my parents knew anything much about the place we visited.

We came from Cork to Blarney a short distance, we got off at the visitor centre which is in the village of Blarney, a very nice place with the Blarney river running through it by the old mill. The Old Mill a stone edifice, has been turned into a shop on two floors where you can buy quality Irish clothing, beautifully done with taste. I bought myself a very nice sweater and shirt, Will got himself a nice tweed jacket. The whole area is beautifully landscaped with trees and flowers and everything is green and inviting.

The site of Blarney Castle is part of a huge private Estate over 1000 acres belonging to the same family for several generations. It has been kept in the family through marriage over many decades.

The current owner of the Estate is Sir Charles St John Colthurst, Baronet. He inherited the Estate from his father in 2003.

The Blarney estate in County Cork is an ancient seat of the MacCarthys of Muskerry. It is world famous for its castle, an unusually large tower-house from 1220 which incorporates the famous Blarney Stone, high up beneath the battlements. The 4th Earl of Clancarty had supported Catholic King James II, with the result that his forfeited estate was granted to the Hollow Swords Company at the end of the Williamite wars in 1690.

In 1704 the mayor of Cork, Sir James St John Jefferyes, purchased the estate and built a new house attached to the original castle. This was greatly enlarged by his descendants and developed into large Georgian Gothic building with a central bow, rows of lancet windows and pinnacled battlements. In 1820 this house was destroyed by fire and not rebuilt, though its remains can still be seen today.

In 1846 Louisa Jane, the Jefferyes heiress, married a neighbour, Sir George Colthurst of Ardrum near Inniscarra. He was a man of property, with another large estate at Ballyvourney near the border with County Kerry, along with Lucan House in Co. Dublin. He also inherited Blarney on his father-in-law’s death.

Blarney river on the Estate.

The ruins of Blarney Castle dating back to 1446 with the ruins of the first house burnt in 1820.

The new house 1876 of the Lord of the Estate built in a Scottish Baronial style. It is not open to the public in the Fall but we were invited for tea and a tour of the house by the owner.

It was raining softly during our visit with a little breeze, gardeners were busy with the lawns and trees. The visit of the house was interesting, the owners ancestors were soldiers and worked for various Sovereigns in Europe, one being the King of Sweden at the time of the wars with Peter the Great of Russia. The house is furnished with lovely period antiques of great quality. The tea was great, beautiful scones and jam. The house does have a lived in feeling in the manner of great English houses.

It is interesting to note that Sir Charles title is British and given by the Crown centuries ago, so many of us wondered how it all worked now that he lives 9 months of the year in the Republic of Ireland. In Ireland the title is not recognized and I believe his family is what is called West-Britons or Anglo-Irish.

The word “Blarney” has a royal pedigree and its roots in Blarney. During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, she was trying to come to solidify her authority over the Irish. While not adverse to using the sword if necessary, Elizabeth also employed diplomacy, and frequently met her Irish subjects face to face. Obviously not the peasants, but the lords.

Even she, however, might have had second thoughts about the wisdom of doing so when she met Cormac MacCarthy, and with him her match in non-committal diplomacy. As the current lord of Blarney Castle, Cormac tried everything legal (or at least not illegal) to keep his independence.

Thus Queen Elizabeth’s demands were regularly met not by deeds, or even commitments. Instead, the Irish lord offered by extensive elaborations on why something could not be done, or may be done in an unspecified future, at least not immediately, and generally not without some modification (which would always be to his advantage). In short – Cormac tried to talk and bluff his way out of it, hoping that Elizabeth would simply forget.

But she did not. And Cormac became a Royal pain. Until one day Elizabeth cracked and screamed, “This is all Blarney, what he says he never means.”

Our next stop Killarney.

The Train

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Belmond, Dublin, Grand Hibernian, Heuston Station, Ireland

We originally booked this trip to Ireland some 16 months before the actual trip. It was before we even thought of moving to PEI. We do like to plan ahead and we have always done this in the past. The Company Belmond Grand Hibernian built this train from old Irish Railroad stock and completely refurbished them. The train can carry 40 guests, has a bar car and 2 dining cars. The compartments are well appointed and spacious like an hotel room with a full bathroom. It is in similar to the Royal Scotsman train and the Orient Express. Though Ireland is a small country and can be criss-cross in a matter of a few hours, this trip was developed by Belmond Grand Hibernian to included many cities and excursions by day, at night the train goes into a siding and stops until morning. This way you can sleep comfortably and not be disturbed by the train movement. belmond.com

We gathered at the Westbury in Dublin prior to being escorted to the Heuston Train Station in Dublin. While we waited we had a glass of champagne and a sandwich. The Westbury on Grafton Street is a very nice hotel in Dublin. Once at the hotel we did not have to worry about our luggage as it was taken directly to the train by the staff. When we arrived at Heuston Station we were greeted by an Irish Piper who conducted us to the platform where our train was parked. A beautiful blue and gold trimmed train, it certainly stood out in the train station not to mention our Piper playing Irish tunes.

The train is quite long 10 cars total and many railroad station in the Republic do not have platforms long enough to accommodate such a big train. The average Irish Rail Train is 6 cars. The train carries only 40 passengers on 10 cars so it gives you an idea of the spaciousness of the train and the level of comfort.

One of the two dining cars, the food on board was exceptional in quality, the Chef prepared great meals every day for us and presented regional specialty in each area we travelled through.

 

Our compartment was quite nice and comfortable.

Our fellow passengers where nice people and we got to know them during our trip across Ireland. This is important on such a trip given that we live and travel on the same train. Taking part each day in excursions and sharing meals. It just added to our enjoyment to have such an agreeable group.

The bar car was well stocked with fine liqueurs and a vast array of single malt scotch and Irish whisky.

Our first stop was Cork Train Station, signage in both Irish Gaelic and English. We got off the train and were taken to Blarney Castle. The first time and only time I had visited the ruined castle was 1969. It was different from my distant memory of it, certainly more beautiful.