My weekend

I love making plans – sticking to them is a different matter altogether. Came home Friday night to get ready to meet Sofie and Linda. Plan was we go for a bite to eat and then to the cinema….we never made it to the cinema. We went to Bacco in Chapel Lane in Ballincollig. A lovely little restaurant with friendly staff. Linda loves mozzarella, so went for the salad, tomatoes and cheese while I had the bruschetta. We chose a Sardinian wine and it went well with the food we ordered. For the second bottle, we asked to leave it to breathe a bit and it improved the deep richness of the wine. Sofie skipped the starter and had Ricotta Cannelloni, while Linda went for the steak and I opted for pan-fried cod with tomatoes and olives. This wasn’t first class food but comfort pure. Your next door Italian that didn’t pretend to be something they are not. The staff was very patient with a couple of girls who got gigglier by the second. We finally got the hint when the staff started to eat their own food and we noticed that we were the last ones. Sofie had enough of Linda and me giggling and laughing, so Kevin (Linda’s poor boyfriend) was put in charge to look after us and Sofie went home. But the 2 gigglers decided that the night was young and that we needed some more entertainment. So Kevin had to drive us to town….and seriously, I lost the last few hours a bit (just know that I should not go onto the dance floor…I CAN’T dance).

Anyway, Kevin – all gentleman – drove us home and I giggled my way to bed and into dreamland….the waking up was not so dreamy actually and on advice of my ever so wise mum decided not to risk to get arrested and didn’t go to Mallow as I actually had planned for me. So I spent most of the morning on the couch, drinking plenty of water. But nothing would stop me from going to Clonakilty to visit Marjory and Gordon….and what a wise decision that was. I had a fantastic time. Both are eager cooks with the talent to match it. Keen in Indian food – just like me – they created some amazing dishes. Potatoes roasted with cumin, okra mixed with spices and baked, marinated chicken, lentil dhal and a vegetable that was new to me called Kerella (not the Indian city) which looked a bit like a miniature crocodile. This was simply mind blowing. The first bite was bitter…then it went over to a gentle sweetness and afterwards you got sourness on the back of your gums….Gordon got this recipe from a friend and I hope he is handing it down to me. The basmati rice was fluffy and perfectly cooked, we had tomato salad, onions and freshly made poppadums…Mini-me was in heaven. Marjorie and myself had a glass of Chardonnay with the food and it did not distract from the excellent food. The dessert was ice cream and rice pudding with roasted almonds….

I would have been happy by just sitting at the table and talk and never ever moved again from there but our hosts had planned for a lovely evening so we went for a spin to Inchidony where we looked over the sea and since it wasn’t the most pleasant of evenings we went inside the Inchidony hotel. Marjorie and Gordon must have been there before as they were greeted by the staff by their names….just a guess on my part tho ;-). We sat in the resident lounge and listened to a wonderful piano player. Again, it was so relaxing that I thought I have arrived in heaven. But we still had to go back to Clonakilty to experience the nightlife of the town. We started off in An Teach Beag, one of the smallest pubs I’ve ever been but one of the nicest as well. It seems that every pub in Clonakilty has some type of live music on and we went to most of them – I think. Friday night was still catching up with me so we made it almost an early night.

Sunday saw a misty morning but that didn’t stop me from enjoying a wonderful breakfast of scrambled eggs with roasted peppers - a combination I never had for breakfast – but hey…surprise surprise, it was yummy. We headed then towards the beach – this time to Glandore…and I will tell you more about this day tomorrow….

Hope you all had a great weekend as well……may all days be Sundays….