Northern Ireland: Both new and familiar

Last weekend I decided to make sure I got the complete feel of Ireland by taking a weekend vacation up tp Northern Ireland.  Initially I had not planned on doing this because I really wan't sure what the situation between the two countries was like nowadays, but the days of 'The Troubles' are mostly a thing of the past now with only extreme radicals continuing violent notions.
The first main difference between the states is that Northern Ireland still uses the pound due to their continued connection with Britain.  You might think that this would make the journey more expensive, but surprisingly enough Northern Ireland is generally cheaper than The Republic of Ireland even when the currency exchange is taken into account.  In fact, the Euro is nearly the same value as the pound nowadays.  For instance, a pint of Guinness wouls usually cost you between 4- 4.50 Euro in Ireland, but only cost 3 pounds in the bar I visited in Portrush, which still equals less than 4 Euros.  In general I would say that this difference highlights the elevated cost of living in Ireland in comparison to many other places, however I am not sure if this difference is offset by higher incomes. The minimum wage is 7.95 euro/hour if that gives you any idea of what its like here.

There are loads of little differences that you might not notice if you haven't been living in the Republic for nine months, things like slightly different brands of bread and chips.  However, these food items might be sold in the same supermarket chains that you would find in the Republic, thus highlighting both new and familiar very well.

Outside of the city of Belfast, Northern Ireland cities and villages seem to have this feeling about them that makes it seem like their best days are behind them.  Boarded up buildings with graffiti or train stations that really have not been kept up might seem like trivial things but they can really takes away the magic from an area quite quick.  In my personal opinion, which I give no claim to its accuracy due to the fact that I was only in the area for a few days, is that Northern Ireland is feels a little bit more like a real, working country that has seen some really hard times but is still manging to get along just fine.  There tourism center is doing the best that it can to attract visitors, but I do not think the country as a whole is nearly on board with the tourism mentality as The Republic is (and believe me, tourism is a huge economy here).

Belfast is actually a gorgeous city and is well worth a visit in my opinion.  The City Hall is an amazing cite to behold as it bestows a sense of graduer upon the city.  The free tour I received of the building was incredibly informative and painted a nice picture of Northern Ireland's history and its politics.  For instance,the country's ruling body mimics that of England's Parliment and is almost equally divided among two parties, one which desires to continue the nation's current relation with England and the other which desires to unite with the rest of Ireland.  Even with a tentative piece in place, the conflict between Northern Ireland and Ireland is still unresolved, but as time continues to pass it seem more and more likely that the country's differences will be permanently resolved.

So guess who was on The Splendid Table?

In case anyone back home was listening to this week's broadcast of The Splendid Table on NPR and heard someone calling with a question from Dublin, you might want to go back and listen again because it was yours truly.  Splendid Table has been keeping me company over here so I thought I would try to get ahold of Lynne and surprisingly enough did.  Here is a link to the broadcast.  I am the last caller  http://splendidtable.publicradio.org/www_publicradio/tools/media_player/popup.php?name=splendid_table/2011/05/28/splendidtable_20110528_64&starttime=00:33:08&endtime=00:51:30

Recent food ventures

Hi all.  So this entry is pretty long so please feel free to read it in segments.  Hopefully it will give not only some info on what I have been doing and enjoying here, but also a small glimpse into Dublin's current food scene

While although the blog is called "cooking in Ireland: Beyond Meat and Potatoes", it could just as easily be called "Eating in Ireland" because as a foodie I find myself enjoying some of Dublin's affordable eating destinations.  They take many different forms, starting with a visit to your local farmers market and the dozens of food stalls that it contains.  My favorite is the Dun Laoghaire Sunday market which is filled with food from several nationalities and dishes ranging from falafel, to crepes, to roast chicken and more.  I have been there twice for lunch now and have been very happy with my experiences.  The first time their I got a ham, cheddar and sundried tomato pesto crepe.  It was sensationally delicious and not that filling, which is actually a good thing because it lets you keep eating more exciting things as you walk along and explore.  The second time I was feeling something a little more ethnic and got Japanese yakisoba noodles.  I wasn't really sure what I would think about this vegetarian lunch option, but got really excited when the woman serving the food pulled out a bottle of some 'secret sauce' and gave my noodles a good dose.  It was definitely delicious, but nothing really extraordinary.  Could have used a little more heat in my opinion.  What was extraordinary though, was a cup of hot apple cider made from freshly pressed Irish apples with a shot of apple brandy.  Intense apple flavor was married beautifully with warm spices that easily could have overpowered the apple, but did not.  It only would have been better if it had been a little colder outside.

One the nice thing about a farmers markets is that you can almost always go back to a place that you wanted to check out the week before but didn't for some reason or another.  But this is not the case with the restaurant Crack Bird, a pop-up restaurant that features southern pan-fried chicken (with a few twists).  In case you have never heard of the concept of a pop-up restaurant, it is basically when a chef rents a cheap short-term lease on a building and then sets up a restaurant there with the intention of only being open for a couple of months.  After this point in time, the restaurant disappears and is possibly never to be seen again.  Kinda gives you incentive to go to a place when there is a deadline on when it will be there.  Allie and I got promotional seats at the restaurant through twitter which got us a completely free meal, minus the drinks.  The meal included half a fried chicken, 4 hand breaded chicken tenders whth a choice of dipping sauce and a side.  The actual fried chicken was super moist/ flavourful and was covered in a sweet and sour spicy chili garlic sauce that was so good I spent at least ten minutes trying to find any possible piece of meat I could on those bones.  We seriously left nothing.  The chicken tenders were good, but what was really exciting was the burnt lemon and whipped feta dipping sauce we chose to have with them.  Fresh, tangy and ohhhhh so good, so much so that we eventually just used our fingers to finish off the sauce once the chicken was gone.  Our side was a shredded carrot and cranberry salad, which was amazing in its simplicity.  Small flexes of orange zest were hidden in the mix, disguised by the carrots so that you wouldn't know they were there unless you tasted it.  It was sweet, light and refreshing, a nice break from the delicious fattiness fried chicken can sometimes have.  I plan on ordering fried chicken many more times in the future now.  

Within Dublin City there are three other eateries that seem worth mentioning.  The first is Cornucopia, an all vegetarian restaurant in the heart of Dublin, which is a brave endeavor for any restauranter setting up shop in such a meat-loving country.  I only stopped in for a quick bite and got a small bowl of butternut squash soup with homemade brown bread.  It was the most interesting and delicious version of butternut squash soup I have ever tried, hitting you first with squash and vegetable flavor, followed by a strong orange note and then finishing with a nice balance of the two.  I would have liked the texture of the soup to be completely smooth, but I guess that might just be a personal preference.  The brown bread was super hearty with lots of seeds in it and not only accompanied the soup well, but was also a vital component in my opinion.  Next there is Murphies Ice Cream, a small ice cream chain based out of an area on the other side of the country called Dingle.  The quality of the actual ice cream is matched only by the uniqueness of some of the flavors, including Irish whiskey, brown bread and sea salt.  This place is a very nice break from the ordinary soft serve vanilla found almost everywhere here (which is very good, but at the end of the day it is just soft serve vanilla and I need a little something more in my life).  Last but not least is Queen of Tarts, a great local bakery found near the Temple Bar area that makes cakes, tarts, brownies, cookies, scones and even some savory baked items for lunch.  The raspberry scone I got was buttery yet light, puffy and was only improved upon by the application of butter and raspberry jam.  I also got a chocolate and hazelnut biscotti, which had chunks of bittersweet chocolate and chopped hazelnuts spread throughout the giant slice of crunchy twice baked cookie.  I naturally ate this with a cappucinno, dunking and swirling it through the thick head of foam so that it could absorb the bitter brew and also ever so slightly melt the chocolate.  I am going to be trying to replicate this one when I get home.
 

It may not be Italy, but I am still definitely finding some amazing eats here in the land of potatoes

My First Completely Original Recipe for a Baked Good: Bailey's Cheesecake

After lots of research into what appeared to be successful cheesecake recipes (including personal knowledge from several cheesecake I have made), I created my own Bailey's cheesecake recipe for a blog on Discover Ireland's website for Urbun Cafe.  It turned out pretty amazing and boy does it taste like Bailey's.  There are, after all 6 oz of it in the cheesecake.  Give it a try and let me know what you think.  I plan on making it at home and probably tweaking the recipe a bit because ovens in Ireland work a little differently than they do back in the states.

Bailey’s Cheesecake: Urbun Café

Crust:

1 ½ cups of Chocolate biscuits, finely ground

3 Tablespoons of granulated sugar

4 Tbsp. or 2 oz. unsalted butter, melted

Pinch of salt

Filling:

2 lbs. cream cheese, softened to room temperature

1 ¼ cups granulated sugar

5 large eggs, room temperature

½ cup sour cream

6 oz. Bailey’s Liquor

2 tsp. vanilla extract

3 tbsp. plain flour

Coffee Whipped Cream:

1 ¼ cups chilled heavy whipping cream

1 tsp instant espresso or coffee

3 tbsp. powdered sugar (more or less to personal taste)

Chocolate ganache:

3 oz dark chocolate, finely chopped

3 oz heavy cream

Equipment:

Medium and large mixing bowls

Spatula

Electric mixer

9 ½ in Springform pan

Small saucepan
Large baking/roasting pan

For the crust:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit / 180 degrees Celsius.

Combine the biscuits, sugar and salt together in a medium size mixing bowl.  Stir in the melted butter with a spoon or spatula until all of the crumbs are evenly moistened.  Pour the biscuit mixture into the springform pan and either with your hand or a flat bottomed object (water glass or measuring cup), firmly press the biscuit mixture across the bottom of the pan to evenly cover it.  Place in the oven and bake for approximately 8-10 minutes.  The crust should be fragrant when you pull it out.  Place on a wire rack and allow it to cool before adding the filling.

For the Filling:

Lower the oven temperature to 325 Fahrenheit / 170 Celsius amd bring a pot of water to the boil.

While the crust is cooling, place the softened cream cheese into a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer to soften the cream cheese, about 2 minutes.  Add the sugar and beat for 3-4 minutes on medium speed in order to cream the two ingredients together.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl.  Next add the eggs, but only one at a time, making sure each egg is incorporated before adding the next (about 30-45 seconds for each egg).  Scrape down the sides of the bowl.  Add the sour cream, Bailey’s, vanilla extract and flour and beat until well combined.  The final texture of the cheesecake will be is firm like a New-York style cheesecake, so if you prefer a softer cheesecake you might want to omit the flour.

You are going to be baking the cheesecake in a water bath, so wrap the springform in aluminum foil to prevent water from seeping in the bottom.  Pour the filling into the springform and place it in a baking/roasting pan.  Next pour the boiling (not cold) water into the roasting pan, enough to come halfway up the side of the springform pan.  Place in the oven and bake for approximately 1 – 1 ¼ hours, or until the cake only slightly wobbles when gently shaken.  Immediately remove the cheesecake from the water bath and aluminum foil and place on a cooling rack, allowing it to come to room temperature before storing it in the fridge.  Allow it to set in the fridge overnight (at least 7 hours if you need it sooner).  Run a small knife around the edges of the cheesecake to help separate it from the pan and then unmold.  To serve, slice with a clean knife, making sure to clean the knife with a wet cloth after every slice.  Serve with the whipped cream on top and drizzle heavily with the ganache.

For Chocolate Ganache:

Place the chopped chocolate in a small bowl.  Bring the heavy cream to a gentle simmer (not a boil) in a small saucepan, and then pour over the chocolate.  Let the mixture sit for 2 minutes so that the cream can melt the chocolate.  Gently stir the mixture until you have a smooth and silky ganache.  Let it sit for a few minutes, allowing it to thicken slightly to the perfect pouring consistency.

For the Coffee Whipped cream:

Pour the chilled whipping cream into a chilled metal bowl and add the instant espresso.  Begin whipping the cream with an eclectic mixer on low speed to avoid splatter, and gradually increase the speed to medium after a few minutes.  After the mixture has begun to thicken, stop beating and add the powdered sugar.  Continue beating on medium speed until you have achieved soft peaks and taste the cream to see what it needs more of.  Continue beating to firm peaks, but be careful not to beat it too long.

The perfect pint of Guinness

Easter Weekend Holiday: Part 3

So after talking about how amazing this trip was, I feel like I wouldn't be telling the whole story if I didn't point out some of the less than perfect aspects of the trip.  For starters, hostels are nice when traveling on the cheap, but after three nights in a row I was feeling rather sleep deprived.  Not only did our hostel not have blinds on the windows to keep the sun out at 7:00 am, but people just start waking up early so that they can use the shower first and get on with their day.  If you slept in till 8:00 am you were lucky.  Also, I think I had my worst restaurant experience ever on Easter Sunday at an Italian Restaurant called Bella Mia (I think.  I think I am wrong though).  First, Allie and I were the only ones in the restaurant at 7:00 pm, which is never a good sign.  Second, they got Allie's order wrong and lastly they failed to mention that their credit machine wasn't working until it came time to pay.  As I didn't have any cash I proceeded to walk down the street to the nearest ATM to withdraw money to pay.  It took every ounce of energy and self-restraint I had for me to not rip the manager a new one.

However, none of this ruined my time because it all seemed incredibly trivial in comparison to the grandeur of the entire trip.  For our final day, Allie and I picked up our final sandwiches at Elle's Cafe and set off to the bus station to catch our tour of Connemara.  It was a huge bus and was practically full.  There were people from every country you could think of, all visiting for Ireland for the Easter/bank holiday weekend.  We set off with our hilarious bus driver/tour guide whose sense of humor was only matched by his fascinating stories of Irish history, especially that of the potatoes blight in 1845.  Throughout the tour he took lots of time to go into detail about what it was like back in that time and pointed out things along the tour to help tell the history.  He was much more informative than The Burren tour guide.

Connemara is considered a bog land and the ground is incredibly saturated in water all year round, so much so that there are nearly no cows raised in the area because they would sink under their tremendous weight.  Instead, what you see is brown grass lands equally mixed with green pastures surrounded by a mountain range called the 12 Bens.  Lakes and rivers are found all throughout the area (Connemara is renowned for its fishing because of this).  When all of these features are combined, it creates some of the most gorgeous and stunning scenery that you could ever hope to find.  There were times when I thought I was looking at a magazine picture because the landscape here is so iconic of Ireland.  It is a must see region for anyone considering a visit to Ireland.

 This is Kylemore Abbey, on of the main sights worth a visit in the region.

 The Gardens of Kylemore Abbey

One of my favorite things about the region was the animal life.  While there may be no cows here, sheep are in ready abundance and being springtime, new born lambs were everywhere.  I nearly died watching the little lambs frolic in the pastures with all of their little friends.  However I feel somewhat terrible because once we had left the region for our ride back to Dublin, the images of lambs had fled, but the thought of lamb remained.  So now all I wanted was a big lamb chop to eat (with roasted potatoes of course).  I am already hoping to go back to this gorgeous region in a car someday and really have the time to explore this entire area in more depth.

 Lots of sheep and lamb

Easter Weekend Holiday: Part 2

So after returning to Galway from the Burren, Allie and I grabbed a quick Fish n' Chips at McDonagh's, except I got onion rings because I just can't get used to the Irish chips.  They are never crispy, but rather thick and mushy (and people LOVE that here).  We then decided to hit up a place called Monroes, which is known for good Irish music and craic (fun).  It was a blast.  I bought my first Galway Hooker......  hehe, not what you think.  Its actually the name of an Irish Pale Ale made in Galway and it is quite delicious.  The music was great and I experienced real Irish "slagging" at a bar for the first time from a great guy named Sam.  For those who don't know, slagging is basically when you insult and batter back and forth with someone, but its done in a joking, well-meaning manner.  Sam even bought the two of us a pint when he noticed we didn't have anything to drink.  It was a really great night.

The next day we woke up fairly early and caught a shuttle from Galway to the ferry for Inishmore, the largest Aran Island.  We both stood on the open top deck taking in the scenery as the clouds began to part, letting beams of light pierce through and add a sense of grandeur to the whole trip.  We arrived on the Island at about 11:00 am and quickly rented two bikes for 10 euro each to tour the island.  By this time, almost all the clouds were gone and once again we found ourselves exploring Ireland in possibly the best weather imaginable.  It must have been Allie's Irish heritage or something giving us good luck.  It was so nice that I actually got sunburnt on my face...IN IRELAND!!!!  WHAT?!?!!

The island is quite a spectacular place.  It has an incredibly ancient feel to it in almost everyday.  All over the island are thousands of free standing stone walls that fence off plots of land with nothing on them.  The number of houses is very small and lots of them look quite old.  The island is eerily quiet, like no one really lives on it; there weren't even birds singing.  Old stone buildings that hearken back hundreds of years linger around the island.  It is a gorgeous place on a nice day, but never someplace you would want to live.  It is actually hard to imagine how people can live here.

There is one incredible sight that everyone should make sure to see if they visit the island and that is Dun Aengus, an ancient stone fort that sits of the top of the island.  While although the fort itself is cool to see, the main highlight is the view you get from within-side it.  The fort sits on top of dramatic steep cliffs that are second only to the Cliffs of Moher.  Allie and I ate our sack lunches here and we laughed about how we had basically had the two most amazing picnics of our life back to back now.

Stay tuned for the thrilling conclusion of this saga when I wrap up day 3 and recall the amazingness that was Connemara in... EASTER WEEKEND HOLIDAY: THE TRILOGY.