We Had Joy, We Had Fun, We Had Seasons in The Sun

It seems that celebrating my birthday with a picnic is becoming a yearly tradition. I approve.

Easy Peasy Yummy Sunday Dinner

Couscous with Pine Nuts and Almonds

Cookbook: the cooking book
Editor: Victoria Blashford-Snell

Can be made ahead of time.
A tasty alternative to rice; serve hot as a side dish or cold as a salad
Yield : makes 4 servings
Prep Time : 15 mins, plus standing

Ingredients:
* 1 cup couscous
* 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
* ½ cup raisins
* ½ cup chopped dried apricots
* ½ cucumber, seeded and diced
* ¼ cup chopped pitted Kalamata olives
* ¼ cup blanched almonds, lightly toasted
* ¼ cup pine nuts, lightly toasted
* ¼ cup olive oil
* 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
* 1 tbsp chopped mint

Directions

Prepare ahead

The couscous can be prepared several hours ahead and served at room temperature.

1. Put the couscous in a heatproof bowl. Add enough boiling water to cover the couscous by 1in (2.5cm). Let stand for 15 minutes, or until the couscous has absorbed all the water. Fluff up the grains with a fork.

2. Stir in the pepper, raisins, apricots, cucumber, olives, almonds, and pine nuts.

3. Whisk together the oil, lemon juice, and mint. Pour over the couscous and toss. Season with salt and pepper. Serve warm, or let cool and serve at room temperature.

Notes

Good with grilled meats, chicken, or fish.

Cork Midsummer Festival of the Senses

Today was sunny and beautiful again in Cork, a wonderful and much-appreciated Irish rarity. We spent the afternoon outdoors with friends, appreciating the weather. With summer come all the festivals, and this weekend there are two going on (that I'm aware of). We managed to see a bit of both. First went to see the Ocean To City festival from Lapp's Quay. We stayed long enough to wander through the crowds, eat some delicious hummus, barely see a few boats, and then head off to our next destination.

We spent the rest of the afternoon at Fitzgerald's Park, where the Cork Midsummer Festival was underway. The were huge crowds of people there, mainly to see the Street Performance World Championship. We caught a few acts around the park, but the one that impressed me most was an acrobatic duo. As we approached, they were blasting opera music and making the crowd laugh while performing amazing feats of athleticism. Those guys did things with their bodies that made me cringe in pain/fear/incredulity. The only way I can describe them is to say that they would fit in at Cirque du Soleil.

As we watched, Jon noted that their accents sounded French Canadian, and I agreed. The longer we stood there, the more convinced we became that they were Quebecois. And guess what? We were right.

Here is their website, and a few photos I stole, which I hope they don't mind because I'm trying to spread their name far and wide:

Fresh Eggs

Jon's co-worker lives on a farm in County Waterford, just east of Cork. She has three hens on the farm, and mentioned to Jon in a conversation not long ago that they lay eggs every day.

We were surprised to hear that every hen lays an egg every day, being the city folk that we are. She also mentioned that she sometimes gets a bit sick of eggs. Less than a week later, she brought these beautiful fresh eggs to work for us. Isn't that a fantastic gift?



This morning we had scrambled and they were delicious.

Hot Monkeys.

While we were in Canada my mother bought me some pot holders (same idea as oven mitts) from a store called Kitchen Stuff Plus. I tend to be very sensitive to heat and we only had one oven glove, so it was a thoughtful gift. Check them out:



Yes, the top one is a hippo and a the other one is a monkey!
And yes, they come in many other animals & colours.


In other news, we finally broke down and bought a space heater for our apartment. When we returned to Ireland from our trip to Canada we arrived in the middle of a massive cold spell the likes of which Ireland had not seen in years. Our heater simply could not manage under the all that pressure, so I was left shivering most of the time. When we decided to buy an extra heater all the stores were sold out of the good ones, so I suffered a bit longer while Jon went away for a few weeks for work. So, long story short...it has taken ages, but we finally got a small efficient space heater. We were a bit taken aback by how much it glows:



A bit scary, no?

Life Saver

Just was I was feeling gloomy and down in the dumps, along came NUTELLA.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Pre-Birthday Celebrations

OK, I'll admit that I was not thrilled to be back in Cork. It's true. Luckily for me, though, tonight my Corkonian spirits have been lifted and I've been reminded of some of the pleasures of living here.

Jon is turning 34 on Monday but he will be in Bath, England doing a sciencey thingy (as he is wont to do), so I organized a little pre-birthday celebration for him tonight. We went out to a nice restaurant called Les Gourmandises with our friends. There was much chatter, much laughter, and much food. I had a good time, and I think Jon did too.



Happy Almost-Birthday, Husband!

L

Mulling It Over

Today we had a lovely Sunday afternoon with some friends who threw a little holiday shindig at their house. The whole affair revolved around some delicious mulled wine that the hosting couple made for the guests. It was very yummy and it made the house smell really good. Everyone was so cozy and happy. Ah, life.

November's News

November was eventful for us here, with our first year in Cork quickly nearing its end and our married life just beginning. It feels like the universe is reminding me that the cycle of life just keeps on spinning, always changing and moving forward.

We spent the first weekend of November on a mini-vacation in Amsterdam with our close friends L & C. It was definitely too short, but it was also really cool to just skip over to Amsterdam for a weekend! Woah, Europe, I love you!






A few days after we got back from Amsterdam, we went on a 5-day trip to Malaga in southern Spain. We didn't know much about Malaga when we booked the flight a few months ago. We were just looking for a cheap vacation to a place that would be warmish in November, at least compared to Ireland. So, we chose southern Spain and then I did some research. First I decided that we should stay in Malaga as opposed to going to the many other (great) places in southern Spain because we were looking for a more restful vacation. Then I found out about a nice-looking hostal (a small guest-house) called The El Riad Andaluz in the heart of Malaga's historic city center. This place turned out to be a godsend. The family who owns it are amazing - really warm, outgoing, and helpful. The husband, Flo, spent ages when we checked in telling us about his favorite spots in the city for food, music, drinks, and other things. Every time we went to one of those places they turned out to be truly wonderful. The restaurants were delicious, the flamenco show was breathtaking, and he was absolutely right that Saturday afternoon should be spent on the beach eating paella or freshly grilled sardines. He also helped us to arrange a day-trip to the Alhambra, and got us out of a bind when we realized during our day-trip that we had forgotten our credit card at a restaurant the night before (ack!). Our entire vacation in Spain was....for lack of a less cheesy word... magical, and it was in large part due to our great hotel owners. I'm so glad we found that place!
These days I dream of returning to Malaga. In my mind, it represents sunny days, delicious tapas, peaceful beaches, dramatic flamenco, streets full of people, wild Picasso paintings, and gorgeous fashions.









After all our travels, we stayed in Cork for the rest of November. However, our adventures continued nonetheless! On Nov 13 we had lots of fun at The Good Wine Show at The Clarion Hotel, only to find it was absolutely pouring rain (lashing, as they would say here) when we left to go home. The rain didn't stop all night, and eventually it actually flooded a large portion of Ireland.
Floods are not completely unusual here since it rains so much and since many rivers cut through the towns, but the flooding in the last few weeks has been some of the worst southwest Ireland has had in decades. Luckily we were not affected much by it, but some of friends had no water at their homes and many of the businesses that we frequent in the city centre were badly flooded. In fact, the flooding was only a block away from our building - crazy! Also, one of the walls of the river simply collapsed (rather than overflowing) and it was just outside Jon's work. Here are some pictures we took in the morning when everyone was out on the streets looking at the water in shock:







Our friends Alex (from Quebec) and Fraser (from Scotland) got married on November 27th. It was the first wedding we've attended since our own in late September, and since it was a civil ceremony it was actually in the same place that we had ours. The woman who married us remembered us and we had a nice chat with her. Cork is just so friendly.

This week our good friends Lyne & Charles are leaving to go back home to Canada. They were in Ireland for a year and now they are ending their adventures abroad. It was very sad to say goodbye to them, and will be strange here without them. We had such nice Sunday wine & cheese days with them, and they were like our extended family here in our home away from home. It feels like the end of an era.

We are going home for a visit too, luckily - Yay! - on December 16th. I can't wait to see everyone. In fact, I'm secretly hoping that all the airplanes break down and we get stuck there. Just kidding. Well, kinda.

L

A few new things to report:

1. We're married.
Yup, we had a civil ceremony here in Cork on September 25th, 2009. Jon's brother came from Canada to be his witness, and Jon's cousin & her daughter came from England to join in the fun. My friend Lyne was my witness. The ceremony took about 5 minutes, and then we all went out for lunch afterwards. I posted some pictures on facebook, and someone I know from primary school commented that the shots are "very whimsical and jubilant". I think that sums up the whole feeling of the day excellently.










2. We almost burned the apartment down.
But at least some delicious Tart Tatin was somehow salvaged out of the billowing smoke. Another highly recommended recipe (we used both apples and strawberries).





3. Yay for cheap flights in Europe!
We are going to Amsterdam with some friends in early November for a long weekend and then to Malaga in mid-November for a little "mini-moon", as I'm told they're called these days. I have some guilt regarding how environmentally unfriendly our current lifestyle is (flying flying flying, spank spank spank) but... um.... well, yes, I have guilt. No buts about it. Note to self: try to be better about that. Seriously.
On the other hand, no denying my excitement about the upcoming vacations. And J is feeling run down, so he is counting the days.

OK, gotta run - Night out with a lovely lady awaits me.
Au revoir!

Nom Nom Nom

Jon made some steamed kale for dinner last night but for some reason it didn't taste very good, so we agreed that we would try to do something with it today to make it yummier. I used handy-dandy old google to look up kale recipes and ended up choosing this one:

BAKED KALE CHIPS

INGREDIENTS
* 1 bunch kale
* 15 ml olive oil
* 4 g seasoned salt

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a non insulated cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. With a knife or kitchen shears carefully remove the leaves from the thick stems and tear into bite size pieces. Wash and thoroughly dry kale with a salad spinner. Drizzle kale with olive oil and sprinkle with seasoning salt.
3. Bake until the edges brown but are not burnt, 10 to 15 minutes.

I had my doubts about whether these would turn out well, especially when I was trying to spread out the limp little leaves onto the parchment paper, but they were a great success! I highly recommend them as a healthy alternative to chips. They really hit the spot when you have a craving for something salty.

The Quasi-Organized Chaos Inside My Head

Things On My Mind at 3am:

1. Why do I feel so heavenly and comfy when I fall asleep on the couch, but then when I get up to brush my teeth, wash my face, etc, I suddenly feel wide awake and energetic and *hungry*??

2. I am so lucky. Really lucky. One of the current "dilemmas" of my life is choosing which European city J & I should go to for our next holiday. It'll be about 5 days... Who could resist the cheap flights from Ireland to Paris or Amsterdam? But I've never been to Barcelona! On the other hand, Portugal is cheap & looks gorgeous. Ohhh, what a woooonderful exquisite decision to be making.

3. Weddings. Yes, we're having one. Well, more than one actually...we tend to do things on multiple continents. But on a more serious note, I've been thinking a lot about why people get married and why people don't get married. What is the significance of a wedding in our society? I'm not sure what the answers are to these questions. I'm not even sure how I changed from a person who didn't care about marriage to one who wanted to get married. I suspect it was partly to do with my relationship with Jon, which is so different than anything I experienced before. I suspect it also had to with societal pressure, especially once I reached my late 20s and early 30s. I donèt feel it explicitly, but how can I pretend that it is not there as so many of my friends get engaged, and then married, all around meÉ It is certainly an interesting phase of life. People - we - are building families. I am so curious and excited about the future!

4. On a lighter note, I cannot believe I ate so much goat cheese during my pre-dinner snack that I actually felt a bit sick. Wow. Just, wow.

5. In happier food news, Iève tried a few fancy-ish recipes lately from a cookbook and guess what... I can cook!! It takes time & energy for the fancier stuff, but it tastes GOOD. So deliciously good.
(Note: I do not recommend eating loads and loads of goat cheese with crackers as a pre-dinner snack while you cook. It can make your tummy hurt and it can make you too full to enjoy your dinner. Um, sometimes.)

6. Why am I doing this in the middle of the nightÉ! Goodbye, Ièm going to bed.

Linor

Highlights of Off-Blogging Times:

1. Our friend D came to visit us after his adventures on the Camino de Santiago. One day we took him to Fitzgerald Park, where we marvelled at the magical mirrored tree.



And played in the playground.


And then in the evening, went out dancing, leaving us in a sort of exhausted euphoria.



2. Our next highlight was a visit to Tel Aviv. We got a chance to hang out at the beach, walk around the downtown shops and markets, and still do plenty of family stuff. My youngest cousin got married, his older sister had her first baby, and we had a celebratory lunch for my father's 60th birthday. On top of all that, everyone was congratulating us on our engagement and wanted all the info & details. Of course, we didn't have the info to offer up, but we just developed a generic narrative for people. Funny how these things go!










3. Jon came home to Cork before me because of work, so I ended up coming back just a few days before my 32nd birthday. Before I left Jon bought me surprise tickets to a Tracy Chapman concert that I'd been dying to go and see. However, the concert was on the night of the day that I arrived back in Cork. Things should have still gone smoothly, but of course they did not. My Tel Aviv-Heathrow flight left late, so I missed my connection to the Heathrow-Cork flight. Luckily I got one 2 hours later, but I nearly had a heart attack when I thought I might miss the concert!







4. The day after the concert, we had an appointment with the Cork wedding registrar at an ungodly hour of the morning. I was tired, but excited & nervous.
A very friendly woman met with us and went through some fairly simple questions and instructions. Then she told us to pick a date for our civil ceremony...!
So, we are getting married on Friday Sept 25th in Cork! Yay!
We are also planning a post-wedding party in Toronto and one in Tel Aviv, but for now we will have a wee little ceremony in September.




5. Next, my brother and his partner Emily came to visit us in Cork for a bit. We had a great time checking out St. Finnbarre's Cathedral, ringing the Shandon Bells, heading out to Blarney Castle, and other shenanigans.









OK, this post has taken me much longer than I expected. Enjoy this last little video, and I hope to be back soon.
Shalom!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9NgXIkyiwk

Roasted Cashews

This weekend we had lots of fun inviting some of our new friends over to our apartment. On Saturday night we made dinner and I tried a recipe that my mom sent me ages ago for Broccoli Salad. It sounds boring, I know, but it also has roasted cashews (delish!), and everyone kept raving about it, so I gave it a try. It turned out to be really great. Very unique and totally yummy. Here's the recipe in case any of you are interested:


BROCCOLI SALAD

3 stalks of broccoli - Use the flowers and leave the stems behind (which you can use later to make soup).

Sprinkle olive oil and lemon juice (lots!) on the broccoli flowers and set them aside.

Make the dressing:
Mix 2 tbs of sugar + 2.5 tbs mayo + juice from 1 lemon + salt + pepper + 1 purple onion chopped really small.

Pour the dressing over the broccoli flowers.

Add freshly roasted cashews.

Eat eat eat!