Calm Before the Storm?

I just returned from an amazing 13 days in the Maritimes.  As I watch the current pictures on TV about the remnants of Hurricane Irene, it is hard for me to reconcile the images  I'm seeing with what I experienced while we were there. Blue skies and beautiful days.

The reason for the trip was to attend my sister's wedding on Prince Edward Island and we were truly blessed with wonderful weather in a beautiful location in a wonderful part of the world.

It looks like the worst of Irene is over and that the Maritimes have escaped most of the major damage of Irene, but to anyone who has been affected, either in Canada or along the eastern seaboard of the United States,  I wish them speedy recovery.  I'm reminded how quickly lives can change.

Gregan's Castle

My current trip to Ireland is winding to an end. It's been great to spend some time with friends here and visit all the old places. But it's also been fantastic to find a few new ones as well. Gregan's Castle Hotel is located near Ballyvaughan in the Burren area of County Clare. The hotel itself is very comfortable, quiet and secluded, the kind of place you would go to to escape or hide. I've known of this place for years but never ever been there. Recently it seems they've brought their food to a whole new level and in 2010, chef Mickael Viljanen was named Bridgestone Chef of the Year. So as this was literally in our backyard from our base in Liscannor, Co. Clare, we set out to have a look. This is the view from the top of the Corkscrew hill at the edge of the Burren in County Clare. You can see the limestone area of the Burren in the distance. Corkscrew hill is not for the meek and if you are driving, don't take any chances - designated driver a must!

burrencorkscrewhill_6372LOWRES

The hotel has beautiful gardens and our table overlooking the gardens, and with views of the sea and the Burren was in a lovely light filled room.  Dinner started without delay as we quickly decided on the tasting menu option.  We chose 6 courses with paired wines but 9 and 12 course options are also available as well as an á la carte option.

Amuse Bouche:

These were simply darling, and were described to us as follows.

Pig Tail Bon Bon consisting of Black pudding and hazelnut mayo, Smoked Eel, Beetroot Meringue, Baked Potato Jelly, Rooster Liver Mousse. These were very beautifully presented and definitely set the scene for the type of cuisine we were going to enjoy. I think the meringue was the most interesting, it was light and melt in your mouth good and the slight salty taste of the fish combining with the sweetness of the beet. The jelly was very interesting and tasted of the skin of a baked potato but we all wondered if we would have been able to identify it had we not been told what it was.  The liver was great too, mostly from a textural point of view as the crisp it was served on was beautifully delicate and light.

First Course: Foie Gras, honeycomb, pear and almond textures, pain d'épice for the ladies.

The gentleman chose Raw milk with lovage, artichoke, rye and morteau sausage.

Second Course: I chose skate with beetroot, fricassée of peas, lobster, girolles mushrooms and chicken oyster, caper shoot and raisin dressing, riesling velouté. The mushrooms were divine, the skate almost undercooked - but perfect - so beautiful and delicate.

For my dining companions, scallop served with truffle, cauliflower, hazelnut, wood sorrell, smoked apple, leek and ash. (The leek was charred slightly). We all had a taste of the smoked apple which was amazing. Very bright.

Third Course:

At this point in the meal, we'd been discussing Obama's recent visit to Ireland and how the Prime Minister of Ireland had got into trouble by using parts of Obama's Inauguration Speech without attributing it to the man himself. Then the pigeon arrived and to be honest, it looked terrifyingly rare. My friend exclaimed: Well, choose hope over fear! and it became our mantra.

The ladies: squab pigeon, new season carrots, date, vadouvan. This dish was served in two parts, with the main plate including the apparently rare breast, liver and heart of the pigeon. The breast was delicious and once I got over the sushi like look of it, I was pretty happy with the flavour.  We guessed it had probably been cooked sous vide so there was no colouring. The highlights were the beautiful new season carrots with flavours of anise and the beautiful mushrooms, which looked to me like enoki. This dish literally burst with flavour! I was not familiar with vadouvan, but it is sort of a mixture of caramelized onions, garlic and Indian flavours - I think cardamom, cumin and ginger were probably present. Delicious!

The legs of the pigeon were served in a pan over burnt hay which imparted the smoky flavour to the meat. The smell was that first time you lit a bonfire smell. I enjoyed it although it alarmed some of the diners at the next table who started to wonder "what was burning?"

The gentleman: veal sweetbread, madeira, peach, macadamia nut, fennel, liquorice. A very pretty presentation.

Dessert:

Me: cherry, celery sorbet, goats milk, yogurt. No picture of this sadly. It was divine and had various textures and flavours. I always enjoy having lots to choose from so this was right up my alley. The highlight was the celery sorbet which was the perfect complement to the cherry flavour.

My companions: coffee deserts with caramel, green apple paired with champagne flutes of Murphy's stout.

Petit Fours:

As if we hadn't had enough, out came the petit fours, with traditional macarons, jellies and some mini-magnums - baby ice creams.

The entire meal was really bright and refreshing and despite the number of courses, I felt I had been able to enjoy and taste each one. It's a great special occasion place. The hotel and bar look lovely and I'm sure it would be an enjoyable stay as well if you wanted to make a weekend of it.

A very special thanks to O & J for treating me!

Breakfast in Ireland

Here's the view that greeted me when I woke up from my electric blanket / jet lag induced coma. Yes god bless Ireland and electric blankets. They make everything all right.

I'm staying with a good friend in County Louth, just north of Dublin. This friend is also a talented chef, so the added bonus of our friendship is that I eat like a Queen and let's face it we all know how much I like that. Today, granola and fruit. Blueberries here are amazing. They are just juicy balls of flavour.

Sunshine in London

I'm on my way to a friend's wedding in the west of Ireland. I left Vancouver late yesterday and found myself with about 7 hours to kill in London. Desperately wanting to avoid yet another unnecessary Tie Rack purchase and over indulgence in badly prepared pastries, I escaped Heathrow and headed into Central London on the Heathrow Express to spend a few hours walking around Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens enjoying the beautiful English sunshine.  Yes, sunshine! And of course, I couldn't resist my childhood favourite, a 'flake 99'. For the uninitiated, this is an English classic - a soft serve ice cream cone with a chocolate flake stuck into it. I always thought the 99 part referred to the price.  But I've been told that's not the case. And anyway, then it would be a flake 1.65 as of yesterday's prices.

After a quick cup of tea near Paddington Station it was back to the airport to catch the flight.  I snapped this last shot of a lovely lady in her later years, enjoying a 'fag' as they call them here.

Cuban Lunch at Delux

This past weekend, I went to Toronto with my mum and sister to visit my other sister who lives there. Without giving too much away, let's just say we had an important task on hand. It involved shopping. And we needed fuel.  Somehow I'd heard about Delux on Ossington Street so we decided it to make it our pitstop for lunch on Saturday. I love the design of this place, beautifully simple and comforting place settings with a clear simple menu design.

It seems Edison bulbs are popping up everywhere in restaurant design these days and despite their ubiquity, I do enjoy them. The warm soft glow they give is wonderful. Someone told me that Edison's original design was quite environmentally friendly compared to the bulbs that followed later. So it's interesting that we are now looking back to older designs for both aesthetic and practical reasons.

Delux offers a Cuban Lunch featuring traditional Cuban Sandwiches and other Cuban inspired dishes. I opted for the Achiote and Lime Chicken Avocado Sandwich which was served on lovely thick bread.  I also had a very fresh and light jicama salad.

My mother chose the Empanada, which was really more of an open-faced galette style pastry. It was filled with chicken and chorizo and had a wheat flour pastry (as opposed to a corn style).  Despite the debate over the accuracy of the nomenclature, which ensued at our table, it was very delicious and yummy.

Dessert was one of the lovely highlights. We opted for traditional cuban coffee and donuts. The espresso coffee is served with sugar added and in thimble size paper cups.  I remember seeing this in Miami years ago so it brought back some memories for me.  The donuts were cake style vs yeast style, a gourmet Cuban version of the 'Tim-Bit' for the Canucks out there. The cream served alongside was drizzled with dulce de leche which made these irresistible and more-ish.

More than anything, I have to commend Delux for the warm welcome and service they provided. Despite having just one person to manage the entire front of house, she managed to serve us promptly and with a friendly and engaging attitude despite having her hands very much filled. One of the best experiences I've had in a restaurant in a long time.

Seattle

For the last weekend in February, I was happy to pay Seattle a visit to meet up with a friend from Ireland.Friday

Despite having spent a good part of my childhood in Canada's north, where minus 40 Celsius was not uncommon,  these days if it hits the freezing mark I'm ill prepared. But that said, the gorgeous sun made up for it.  After settling in to our hotel, we headed down to Pike Place and Lowell's, a Seattle classic and had a couple of pints and watched the sun set over Puget Sound.  The changing light gave me plenty of opportunity to play with my new SLR.  I'll be spending a lot more time learning over the coming months and am excited to get going.

Saturday

If you have ever been to Ireland or many other placed in Europe, you may be familiar with the Spar chain of corner shops. While hardly a culinary mecca I have a very fond memory for a certain prepared pastry that always appeared in the hot case of my local Spar at the corner of Glentworth street in Limerick City.  Having been away for several years now, I was pleased to discover on a previous trip to Seattle, Le Panier, and their versions of the same pastry.   Warm and yummy with various fillings of cheese, spinach, potatoes, onions and mushrooms, Le Panier's versions are far superior in nature, but they also give me the warm memory feeling that I associate with the original.

Having already had quite an ample breakfast, this occasion we opted for one of their gorgeous pain au chocolat which rival anything to be found in France.

The requisite walk around Pike Place market provided a bit more photo practice.

Sunday: The Oscars

Finding ourselves in Seattle on Oscar night we thought why not take advantage of all Pike Place Market has to offer and have our very own Oscar Picnic in the comfort of the Westin. We hit De Laurentis' deli for some beautiful Jamón Serrano some lovely blue cheese from Oregon, and Aberquina olives.  While this year wouldn't have been my favourite year for the Oscars, I was very happy to see Colin Firth and The King's Speech be recognized. The  food certainly didn't disappoint.

Street Cars & Cable Cars

Can I just say how much I love the modes of transport in San Francisco. Let's face it, in my ideal world, I'd really be more of a car and driver girl than a bus passenger but in San Francisco it's different.  The Cable Car and the Street Car transport you to a time forgotten. And rather than being a hokey tourist attraction, they provide a very efficient and valuable service that actual residents use.

Campeones España

When we planned our trip to Spain, we weren't thinking of the World Cup. We picked our return date of July 12th, somewhat randomly.  It was only after I had booked that we realized that the World Cup Final would be on July 11th and that we would be in Madrid and that there was a very good chance that Spain would be in the Final. So from that point, it was very much a case of believe and it will happen. That said, the first game we watched, still in Canada at this point, at Vancouver's Cafe Barcelona, left us a little shaken - losing to Switzerland? But from there, there was nowhere to go but up.

Having watched a few games in Spain, we were cautiously optimistic, but by the time we hit Segovia and watched the Germany Spain semi-final, it was clear that we were on the right track.

So as we reached Madrid, the mood was great and everyone had their party clothes on.

The morning of the final, we got up early enough and headed to the Retiro, Madrid's beautiful park. Apparently this is a Sunday tradition for me. My dad used to take me here every Sunday, when I was a child and we lived here for a few months. I love that everyone comes here. The old ladies, the young hipsters, the loud-mouthed youths, the families. It's a beautiful park with acres to walk and lots of shade to keep cool in.  This Sunday was different only in the displays of yellow and red and the sound of the vuvuzela which started early.

Being our last day in Spain, we hit the Corte Ingles one more time to see if there was any last minute shopping we could avail of.  Near the Puerta del Sol, the fans were out in force, even Mickey Mouse, who everyone knows is Spanish, was there.  At this point, I was somewhat weary of the Vuvuzela and game time being still several hours away, I had serious doubts as to the lasting power of some of the more ardent fans.

For the match itself,  I'll be honest, and just tell you that we wimped out of going to Plaza de la Cibeles, a short walk away, with the thousands of fans and opted for the cool, air-conditioned comfort of our hotel bar.  The atmosphere was still very lively with lots of fans and we were close to the action, in Plaza Santa Ana. Our own group consisted of myself, Super G, my friend Jay who lives in Germany or (Yeik as he is known locally in Spain...more on this later), my sister and her fella plus one of her former work colleagues and his wife who are both Spanish. So we had a nice little international but clearly pro-Spanish contingent.

The match itself was kind of difficult to watch, with attrition setting in pretty early, the Dutch clearly determined to stimy Spanish efforts. But with Iniesta's late goal, the atmosphere exploded and the fans went mad.  After the match, there was nothing to do but hit the streets and join the party!

We joined the action for a while and then headed for a meal, at a local pizza place nearby.  It was perfect, simple and just what was required. The partying continued long into the night and even by morning, there were still a few stragglers around.

The next day, our flight was delayed by two hours, which delighted us because it gave us another couple of hours to enjoy in Madrid. When we finally did go to the aiport, we learned that the Spanish team would be arriving around 3.  We didn't expect to coincide with them, but as we were taxiing for our flight, the captain indicated that the aircraft carrying the Spanish Team was on our right hand side.  (I think this also explained our long taxi and why we were making a runway change at last minute...)  I have to say, this was a pretty cool moment, and everyone on the aircraft started to clap at this announcement.  It was the cherry on top of a beautiful and memorable trip.

Madrid – Pan de Lujo

Here are some pictures from our Lunch at Pan de Lujo in Salamanca district. Very cool, oasis like setting. We had a group of 5 and shared a few dishes.  All yummy. An escapist atmosphere out of the hustle and bustle.

Taste of Childhood

I love Fanta de Limon. (Lemon Fanta) I'm not sure why we don't have it in North America. It is the perfect soft drink. For me it's the taste of childhood - I always preferred it to the 'Naranja' or orange variety and there is nothing finer for quenching thirst on a hot summer's day.  And did I mention that it is 37 C today in Madrid.

Madrid – Casa Lucas

The main roads in Spain are all measured from the Puerta del Sol in Madrid so we have literally arrived at the epicentre. 440kms from Galicia and we are here!

For our first afternoon, we visited Puerta del Sol and Plaza Mayor area. It was extremely hot and humid and at one point rained, which was a blessing because it cut the relieved the air of its humidty.

For our evening meal we went to Casa Lucas in Cueva Baja, once again, the recommendation came from my friend Bob.  Another great one Bob - thanks alot!

The raciones are creative and delicious but with simple, yummy flavours.