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I love weekends and I think the best feeling is the ‘Friday-Afternoon-Feeling’ when you get out of work and know that a bit of freedom is ahead of you. So I left work and headed home, weather was lovely, so I decided to enjoy the last few rays of sunshine with the rest of my Barbera d’Asti. Just had some cheese and crackers with it.
Watched the final of the Great British Menu and was thinking that I might re-create the winning menu (considering that I might not be able to find all the ingredients – but more about that later).
Saturday morning was nice and sunny as well s I headed to town and treated myself to a nice breakfast in Nutmeg (I think they must have a new chef). I love going out for breakfast. You don’t have to worry about the dishes; you get served by a friendly person who is concerned that you got enough tea….great way to start the day. After that – and having done my main shopping – I headed to the English Market to my almost best friend Austin. Goedverwacht Shiraz Rose was on offer (2 or € 20) and I since this is my favourite Rose…there was absolute no hesitation (and right now I am looking at 2 very very empty bottles ;-).
Anyhow, paid the farmer’s market a visit and got some nice cheese from there. Went home and done a bit of the ‘oh so boring’ house cores. On request of our guests, we decided to have a BBQ in the afternoon and I was lucky that I had bought some haloumi. Marinated it in olive oil, lime rind and juice and some chilli, cut it into cubes, and stuck them on skewers over the BBQ…..yummy. We also grilled baby potatoes and I mixed them with pesto…and of course we had to watch the end of the Eurovision…I think Russia deserved to won….although my favourite was Serbia…but seriously…Dustin wasn’t the only weirdo there….
Sunday was decision time; heading to Fermoy or Ballineen. Sofie made the decision easy when she asked if we meet in Fermoy….so we headed out to see the farmer’s market,… while I am typing this, I am actually laughing…cause the farmer’s market consisted of……..1
(one) stall. Thanks God it was Arun from Green Saffron (www.greensaffron.com)…as if he knew that I was running out of garam masala (his mixture is the b
est – trust me). They have finally moved to Midleton and are doing their famous curry nights again. Sofie and myself got glary eyes and you can imagine what we are going to do soon. The setting of the Castlehyde Courtyard was fantastic and the perfect background for the event….if it had been bigger. I am not sure if this was the first event of this kind, so it might need some advertising to the producers. Anyway, we had a look at the art exhibition and that was interesting as most paintings were done by people who are using the services of the Brothers of Charity and they are very talented indeed. For kids it was a great day out as there was face painting, workshops in mosaics and circus fun. Homemade cakes and sandwiches were offered and they looking great but I was peckish for a bit more substantial. So we left the live band behind us and headed to Cork (La Bigoudenne was closed for lunch and we didn’t want to wait until 5:30 – we have to go back another time for this great restaurant). We settled on Market Lane in Oliver Plunket Street. I have been there once before with Anita and didn’t like it sooo much that I couldn’t wait going back so I was a bit hesitant. But I feared for nothing. I had breaded sole with citrus crème fraîche and baby leaves salad (not very baby but with a nice dressing). Sofie opted for wild mushroom ravioli with sun-dried tomatoes. Since we have been very good just having 1 course, we decided to push out the boat with a dessert. Sofie seems to be a chocoholic as she went for the dark chocolate tart – and her face was just a picture of delight. I had a banoffi pie…..which was okay. We didn’t have wine as Sofie had to drive and I showed solidarity. Headed home after that and settled on the couch for the rest of the evening with the rest of my Shiraz. And now I ma ready to face another week of reality ;-) Hope you all had a great weekend as well. By the way, I will upload images and links later - my connection at home is a bit grumpy this morning.
Watched the final of the Great British Menu and was thinking that I might re-create the winning menu (considering that I might not be able to find all the ingredients – but more about that later).
Saturday morning was nice and sunny as well s I headed to town and treated myself to a nice breakfast in Nutmeg (I think they must have a new chef). I love going out for breakfast. You don’t have to worry about the dishes; you get served by a friendly person who is concerned that you got enough tea….great way to start the day. After that – and having done my main shopping – I headed to the English Market to my almost best friend Austin. Goedverwacht Shiraz Rose was on offer (2 or € 20) and I since this is my favourite Rose…there was absolute no hesitation (and right now I am looking at 2 very very empty bottles ;-).
Anyhow, paid the farmer’s market a visit and got some nice cheese from there. Went home and done a bit of the ‘oh so boring’ house cores. On request of our guests, we decided to have a BBQ in the afternoon and I was lucky that I had bought some haloumi. Marinated it in olive oil, lime rind and juice and some chilli, cut it into cubes, and stuck them on skewers over the BBQ…..yummy. We also grilled baby potatoes and I mixed them with pesto…and of course we had to watch the end of the Eurovision…I think Russia deserved to won….although my favourite was Serbia…but seriously…Dustin wasn’t the only weirdo there….
Sunday was decision time; heading to Fermoy or Ballineen. Sofie made the decision easy when she asked if we meet in Fermoy….so we headed out to see the farmer’s market,… while I am typing this, I am actually laughing…cause the farmer’s market consisted of……..1
(one) stall. Thanks God it was Arun from Green Saffron (www.greensaffron.com)…as if he knew that I was running out of garam masala (his mixture is the b
est – trust me). They have finally moved to Midleton and are doing their famous curry nights again. Sofie and myself got glary eyes and you can imagine what we are going to do soon. The setting of the Castlehyde Courtyard was fantastic and the perfect background for the event….if it had been bigger. I am not sure if this was the first event of this kind, so it might need some advertising to the producers. Anyway, we had a look at the art exhibition and that was interesting as most paintings were done by people who are using the services of the Brothers of Charity and they are very talented indeed. For kids it was a great day out as there was face painting, workshops in mosaics and circus fun. Homemade cakes and sandwiches were offered and they looking great but I was peckish for a bit more substantial. So we left the live band behind us and headed to Cork (La Bigoudenne was closed for lunch and we didn’t want to wait until 5:30 – we have to go back another time for this great restaurant). We settled on Market Lane in Oliver Plunket Street. I have been there once before with Anita and didn’t like it sooo much that I couldn’t wait going back so I was a bit hesitant. But I feared for nothing. I had breaded sole with citrus crème fraîche and baby leaves salad (not very baby but with a nice dressing). Sofie opted for wild mushroom ravioli with sun-dried tomatoes. Since we have been very good just having 1 course, we decided to push out the boat with a dessert. Sofie seems to be a chocoholic as she went for the dark chocolate tart – and her face was just a picture of delight. I had a banoffi pie…..which was okay. We didn’t have wine as Sofie had to drive and I showed solidarity. Headed home after that and settled on the couch for the rest of the evening with the rest of my Shiraz. And now I ma ready to face another week of reality ;-) Hope you all had a great weekend as well. By the way, I will upload images and links later - my connection at home is a bit grumpy this morning.
7 comments:
Oh yes, photos please......... ;-)
Martin
www.berlinkitchen.com
Hello Elke, I nearly went to the Castlehyde market and wish I had now. I do like La Bigoudenne, though we hardly ever get in there. And I've been wondering what the Oliver Plunkett Street place is like. So thank you for a very interesting post, from my point of view. And thank you for drawing attention to the Shiraz rose, and so on.
Didn't realise that there was a market in Castlehyde - sounds like something worth checking out, if I'm ever off on a Saturday again.
Going slightly off-topic, I thought you might be interested in this cookery school call-out for the Cork area. Cactus TV are looking for people who are interested in learning how to bake and who would like to participate in a new cookery series. More on www.bibliocook.com
Ooops! Just re-read your post and realised that the market is on Sundays...
Hin Martin, I will post the pics tomorrow.
Hi Julian, since Saturday I had 4 bottles of the Goedverwacht and I think I have to take it easy now.
Hi Caroline, I love your blog - especially the Ballymaloe Experience. The only thing I can't bake are scones. For some reasons they don't rise. I think I have tried every recipe on the planet by now. But I will post a link.
Ah scones...they always were my bugbear too - my mum is the queen of scone-making so I never really had to, except when in was in NZ, when they often turned out flat and uninspiring. Towards the end of my time in Ballymaloe, however, I did really get into making them and my kitchen were cursed with a new variation most mornings to have with their tea! Check out Darina's recipe for scones in her grey Ballymaloe Cookery Course - there's LOTS of baking powder and it really works.
Hi Caroline, so good to hear that I am not the only one with fierce scones problems....and I will check Darina's book as it is sitting on my bookshelf and smiling at me. Just last weekend I used it to make the Apple & Tomato chutney. So the next project will be to make the best scones ever. Will let you know how that went. By the way, for some reason, I couldn't leave a comment on your blog (might have been my very crumpy computer tho).
Have a great weekend
Elke
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