Travel

The Final Day

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Waking up early in the morning we made a trip to the Kilkenny castle and went on a tour of the beautifully reconstructed castle. If you are in the area you should definitely go, and don’t skip the Gallery! After this we headed for Dublin for our last night.

Since we missed the Jameson tour our first time in Dublin we decided to go straight there when we got back, and man was it a good thing. The place was packed, and the line was huge, but we were patient and got our tickets, then had a drink while we waited for our tour to start. Our guide was wonderfully knowledgeable and fun, the tour itself did not include actual distilling but a lot of the old machinery was there which was cool to see.

After that we went on a mission to find the local potter that I saw the week before. It was raining and I was absolutely sure he wouldn’t be there, I was honestly acting like a little kid dragging my feet, knowing I was going to be disappointed. To my great surprise he was still there! Talking with a friend had made him pack up slow and he still had the tea pot I had been pinning over. If I was even a few minutes later we could have missed him. I was so incredibly lucky to have caught him and gotten my teapot!

I was so excited that one of the first things I did when I got home was invite Miss Amanda over for tea and scones, just so I could use it. The recipe for the scones is below, and its a recipe i actually got out of a magazine; however I didn’t have any blue berries so I swapped it for cranberries and added about a tablespoon of orange zest to the recipe for Orange Cranberry scones, which are probably my favorite scones of all time.

>>>>Tip of the Day: hold the zester over the bowl and grate the zest right into the mix. This will allow the oils that come out during zesting to get into the food and give it more flavor.

Now, I LOVE tea. I always have, some of my first words were “hot tea”, what does that say? In the US it seems I am an outcast, a weirdo who doesn’t drink coffee, but in Ireland I was in the majority for once. Every room we stayed had a teapot, and an assortment of teas unlike the coffee machine I’m used to. Every bed and breakfast we stayed at offered us a cup of tea upon arrival. And going to a pub to order tea wasn’t weird at all! It was heaven for me.

Being able to come home and make Irish Breakfast tea in my Irish teapot was so fun! I swear it tastes better in an Irish teapot. Now everytime i make a pot of tea in it I will remember the rolling hills, rocky shores, fresh scent, delicious food, and dramatic history that makes up this small island. I can’t wait to go back.

Kilkenny: Smithwick’s & Lamb Stew

By Jessica

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Upon arrival in Kilkenny we walked around town some and then went to Smithwick’s for a brewery tour. There was a lot to learn about on this tour, which was very different from the one at Guinness. Here there were no displays, and old machinery, this brewery was still brewing beer, albeit not much longer. After gearing up in our safety clothes we entered the 1710 courtyard and viewed the building that the Smithwick family once called home. Next we went to a church, which is actually a national landmark that happens to be confined within the brewery. It was neat to see how after all the years of development the brewery was still able to grow around the ruined church and maintain a place for it. After that we were able to enter the brewery and see a few men at work, as well as how the machines worked. Our guide was very knowledgeable and entertaining which also made the tour enjoyable. Our last stop on the tour was the bar, and basement area where they used to store the beer that was transformed into a modern bar where we were served our complimentary pint. One neat thing that we learned is that in order to taste Smithwick’s at its best it should be poured in stages like Guinness. Who Knew?

Next we headed downtown for dinner. Chuck wasn’t feeling well so we started off with a pot of tea, had dinner, which I will get to in a minute, and another pot of tea. Once it started to cool off outside, we headed inside for a few beers, and a few hours later a side of fries, and some more beers. One of my favorite parts about Ireland is that it’s a regular occurrence to go and hang out at a pub for hours on end, sipping tea or beer. Since they don’t tip they aren’t in a rush to turn tables, and they just assume you sit enjoy yourself, and make their job easy. We spent nearly 6 hours at one place and enjoyed every minute of it. I think more bars in the US should be like that.

Now for the lamb stew! Here is the recipe that I found and followed to a T. I chose to use a crock pot recipe, because with the weather in the 90’s having the stove running in our tiny kitchen did not sound appealing at all. But overall I am happy with how it turned out. The rich broth, fresh vegetables and lamb from the farmers market really pushed it over the top for me. I will be making this again. I daresay it was even better than I remember it. I think starting with the bacon really helped add a little salt, and smokiness that added so much depth. My friend Amy was over and had never had lamb before, she’s not really the type of person I would expect to like it either, but even she said it was delicious!

Irish Lamb Stew

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 8 hours

Total time: 8 hours 10 mins

Serves: serves 4 to 6

Ingredients

5 sliced of bacon, diced
1 lb bone in lamb shank
½ cup dry white wine
1 ½ cups beef broth
¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 small onion, chopped
2 large carrots, chopped
2 medium potatoes, chopped
2 whole bay leaves
1 teaspoon dried thyme
½ cup frozen peas
Salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

In a large skillet cook the bacon until crispy over medium high heat. Remove and set aside, leaving the grease in the pan.
Add the lamb to the pan and brown on all sides. Once browned place the lamb in the crock pot.
Deglaze the pan with the beef broth and white wine, scraping the browned bits form the bottom of the pan. Whisk in the flour until well blended and remove from heat.
Add the onion, carrots, potatoes, bay leave and thyme to the crock pot. Then pour the broth and flour mixture over the top, scrapping the pan.
Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours. 30 minutes before the stew is finished use tongs to carefully remove the shanks from the crock pot. Separate the meat from the bone with a fork and shred. Return the shredded meat to the pot, and discard the bones.
Stir in the frozen peas, cover and allow the stew to finish cooking.
Adjust seasonings and serve immediately.

Cashel: The Rock, Bangers & Mash

By Jessica

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Waking up bright and early, our host Patrick provided a beautifully large Irish breakfast and chatted us up a bit before we headed up to The Rock. This is the sight of a 13th century cathedral that has a history dating back to before 1100 A.D. It sits up high on a hill which allows you to look out over the town and some of Ireland’s most fertile farm land. It was also the spring board for several smaller churches whose ruins can be seen in the distance as well as in the city. We spent a lot of time here looking at the mammoth buildings, and reading the old grave stones. I was awestruck most of the time at the shear mass of the building, and the craftsmanship that it took for carpenters and stone masons to do all of this by hand. It is amazing what humans were able to build with simple tools. The nerd in me wanted to inspect every alcove, vaulted ceiling, and hidden stair; this was one of those places that you can just imagine the monks roaming around sweeping the floors, and tending the gardens. I truly enjoyed this site, its unique beauty and eventful history. It was easily my favorite historical site on the trip.

While here I finally ordered my own bangers and mash, while Chuck had roast duck in orange sauce. It was all delicious! The bangers, known to most of us as sausages are very different than what most people in the US think of as sausages. They have a much more mild flavor, and there is no definitive difference between breakfast and dinner sausages, meaning there’s really only a few types offered, the most popular being pork and leek.

In my quest to cook as much traditional Irish food as possible I decided to try my hand at making my own bangers. Following this recipe (recipe no longer available), this little experiment actually took a couple hours. I first had to grind the pork loin, then mix it with spices, then stuff the sausage casings, before cooking. I heard somewhere that when you’re making a large batch of burgers, or sausages that you should cook up a small patty to make sure they taste the way that you want them too. And I am so glad I did, they definitely needed an extra leek, as well as round through the fine grinder. I made a few small changes to the recipe, in that I used a pork loin and didn’t add any extra fat, in order to keep them a bit healthier, this may have sacrificed some flavor but I was happy with the way the leak and sage really showed through in the sausages.

What was exciting was that I was able to complete this project with the use of my mother’s kitchen aid and a $30 attachment. Had I known that making sausages was so easy I would have done this forever ago! I think I’m seeing some great experiments in my future.

My Irish Bangers & Mash

Kinsale

By Jessica

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The little town of Kinsale

When my grandmother went Kinsale was one of her favorite places, I however was a little less than impressed. I think that Dingle is part to blame for that because it was so quintessentially the old fashioned fishing town, and we went there first so there’s probably some biased. I think it also didn’t help that we went to lunch in the first place we saw because we were starving. We should have made a note that it was a greasy bar that would obviously serve greasy food. The town it seemed had a lot going on, gift shops, boat rides, and all sorts of other activities, but nothing that really sparked our interest. We decided to see the **Fort as it was one of the major historic sights there, but I was loving ancient Ireland, so an 18th century British fort didn’t do a whole lot for me. So we decided to head to Cashel, and get an early start for the next day.

For this leg of the trip as it is still a fishing town I figured I would talk about fish and chips. Now fish and chips are usually prepared as they would be here in the US, but they are typically served with salad, or coleslaw and mushy peas. For this recipe I chose beer battered fish, pea and leak puree, and for lack of a deep fryer fries from a bag. Also I want to note that they do not typically provide ketchup, some places had small packets, but most places did not, so I take it that ketchup is not a typical Irish staple as it is in the US.

Dingle!

By Jessica

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Early on day 5 we woke up and made our way to Dingle. It was the most adorable little fishing town, filled with brightly painted buildings, beautiful views, and numerous pubs. First order of business was lunch; a delicious seafood chowder, with huge chunks of fish, whole clams, and mussels. Then I had crab and prawn stuffed dumplings and Chuck had smoked salmon. We also tried a Local Cider Beer which we had seen in several places; it was very similar to woodchuck cider. The whole meal was probably the most expensive one that we had, but it was absolutely delicious, so much so that before we started our driving tour we decided that a short walk around town was needed to let our stomachs settle.

We opted to do this tour instead of the Ring of Kerry as it was shorter, and we were told less busy. The drive into dingle was breathtaking itself so I was very excited for the tour. I was very glad to have my Rick Steves book with me because the self-guided tour was really helpful. Being a nerd I really like to read about the sights and a lot of the historical locations such as the Iron Age ring forts or the early Christian beehive huts didn’t have much description if any. Luckily we already viewed a lot of the artifacts at the museum in Dublin. The book also outlined many of the scenic stops which we may have otherwise missed. They snuck up on you, and with such a small twisty road turning around or backing up seemed rather dangerous.

Taking in all the sights was actually exhausting; It was literally overwhelming how much there was to see, and how beautiful it all was. Little homes and farms nestled into the rocky hills that sloped down to the massive ocean. Random coves with sandy beaches protected by massive rock outcrops, and closeby islands. Though the day was overcast I honestly think that it added to the beauty of it all, the bright green hills, and the blue ocean with grey skies and white clouds. My pictures cannot do it justice. The drive was only a few short hours, but it was probably my favorite part of the whole trip. I think we could have easily spent several days exploring this area.

That night ended with some more walking around town and a few pints at Murphy’s Pub, where traditional Irish music was played. Here we were able to chat up the bartenders, a brother and sister team that had a good time busting on each other and cracking jokes with patrons. Here some of the cultural differences were very evident. One group ordered shots, and they came in large whiskey glasses instead of shot glasses, as that is not a typical Irish thing. Another patron ordered a gin & tonic with a twist, and the bartender had no idea what that was, so we kind of helped her out. Also they actually apologized for not being able to give me a Smithwick’s glass with my beer, because it seems tradition to supply the proper glass for the proper drink there, which is so not the case back home.

For this portion of the trip I wanted to make White Wine sauce. This sauce was offered all over the country, as well as at our feast at Bunratty where it was served over chicken. For my recipe I put it over fish, as this is a fishing town, and that’s mostly what was offered. I also served it with roasted veggies, and mashed potatoes, as we found were typical of just about every single meal we ordered.

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