My heart is now a big puddle on the floor. OH MY GOODNESS!!!!
On a small island off the County Donegal coast in Northwest Ireland, there is a Golden Lab who loves to swim with his best friend, a dolphin. When the dolphin hits the little cove he calls out to the dog, who comes running.
“Faith and begorrah! The wee folke took my skirt and forced me into stripper shoes!” — Tom & Lorenzo on the exceptional beauty that is the Miss Universe 2010 National Costumes.
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
Phoenix, “Everything is Everything” // via lauren
Oh wow. This bring me back to all-night, all-day parties in Dublin the summer of ‘04, fresh from college, whole lotta euros in my pocket (an inheritance), and barely a care (or job) on my mind. Bush hadn’t been reelected yet, Katrina was a year out. I had zero idea where I was going — besides shopping, again, at Brown Thomas.
Talk about my misspent youth. Well, it brought me here.
Just went out to get milk and did a loop around the Meadows.
It is half past ten. 16°C.
Happy Solstice.
Just last night I was bemoaning Summer Solstice at this latitude. It is so much more extraordinary in Dublin (or Edinburgh, as lucky Miss Sarah is). Summer nights were so short that it was weird if we weren’t still out when the sun came up.
Dublin summers, all too brief but each day gloriously long (they’re much farther north than we are), gave me a deep and abiding love for pavlovas: meringue cakes topped with whipped cream and seasonal fruit.
Recipe adapted from Deborah Madison’s Local Flavors via Farmhouse Table:
3/4 c. sugar
2 tsp. cornstarch
4 egg whites, room temperature
pinch sea salt
1 tsp. cider vinegar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. blackberries
3 small peaches
sugar for sprinkling fruit
1/2 c. cream
1/2 c. creme fraiche
2 Tbs. honey
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Preheat oven to 300. Mix 1 Tbs. of sugar with cornstarch and set aside. Beat the egg whites until stiff, then add the sugar a little at a time until thick and glossy. Add the sugar-cornstarch mixture, then fold in vinegar and vanilla. Make six mounds of meringue on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Using a large spoon, create a nest or bowl shape in each meringue. Bake for 1 hour, then turn off the oven and let them sit until cool. Gently pry them off the paper and place on serving platter. Gently wash berries and peaches. Slice peaches and place in a bowl, then sprinkle with sugar. Toss berries in carefully. Whip cream and creme fraiche with honey and vanilla until it holds soft peaks. Fill each meringue with whipped cream and top with fruit. Serve right away.
When I get home from work I change into my play clothes and then I have an after-work snack. Yesterday it was Mrs. Quicke’s aged cheddar (last seen here) with Branston pickle. Have you ever tried it? It’s a vinegary melange of pickled root vegetables common to the British Isles. When I moved to Dublin I wrinkled my little nose at it but like potato waffles and baked beans for breakfast (!), I grew to love it.
04.13.2010. 6:30 pm. East Village, NYC.
Students in the herb garden at Ballymaloe Cookery School from an article about Irish chef Darina Allen.
Maybe it was hanging out with Fiona last week, but I’m missing Ireland. These photos from Hither & Thither are not helping….
When I lived there one of my favorite games was deciding which color I’d paint my Georgian townhouse (you know, the townhouse I’d buy with the extra 5 million euro I had lying around*). I think a deep, royal purple would suit me nicely.
*This was at the very tippy-top of the Celtic tiger. You could probably score one for 4 million now. Cheap!
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