HI eeryone - this is my first time in the group - any one interested in
Irish cooking? or been to Ireland?

cookie wrote:
> HI eeryone - this is my first time in the group - any one interested in
> Irish cooking? or been to Ireland?

Pub food rules!

On 27 Jun 2006 13:42:26 -0700, cookie wrote:

> HI eeryone - this is my first time in the group - any one interested in
> Irish cooking? or been to Ireland?

I'm going to be the first week of August. Dublin will be the hub and
we'll do day trips from there. Do you have any culinary suggestions,
like where to eat and what to order? I'm not interested in a 5 star
restaurant dining expericence, just good food. I want to eat in the
pubs and restaurants where the locals eat.

Any suggestions?
--

Ham and eggs.
A day's work for a chicken, a lifetime commitment for a pig.

cookie wrote:
>
> HI eeryone - this is my first time in the group - any one interested in
> Irish cooking? or been to Ireland?

Cookie, a/ chara,
I've been to Ireland twice but it was nearly 20 years ago.
I loved it. Flew into Shannon and then drove around for about
10 days - Lisdoonvarna, Galway, Clifden, Achill Island, Donegal,
then back down the middle to Cashel and then over to Killarney
and over the Gap of Dunloe and down to Dingle, then back up to
Limerick before heading home.

My second trip was partly spent at an Oideas Gael class in
Glencolumbkille (most of the week) and then about 5 days
knocking around County Donegal along the coast.

I absolutely loved Ireland and the food was mostly great.
I stay at b&bs so I had all my breakfasts and most of my
dinners at the b&bs. For lunch every day I had a "99", which
you probably know is a soft-serve ice cream cone with a stick
of Cadbury chocolate stuck in it. Every little grocery store
in every little village seems to have an ice cream machine.
Once I discovered the "99" I went looking for one
every day at lunch time.

I have some friends who had been to Ireland many times and
always raved about the pub lunches. I did stop one time at
a pub for lunch and it was absolutely awful. Maybe I stopped
at the only pub in Ireland that serves bad food, but after that
I never had the urge to try it again.

I had one dinner in a hotel restaurant in Donegal town and had
the absolutely best salmon I have ever tasted.

At the b&bs I had great lamb chops a couple of times.
The breakfasts were great and I really loved the black
pudding. I've tried to find it here but when I finally
did, it was nothing like what I had in Ireland. I didn't care
for it at all. The same goes for the breakfast sausages.
I found a vendor who is Irish and supposedly makes them just
like they do in Ireland but they are totally different.
Bummer!

People joke about the Irish and potatoes. Well I had potatoes
with every meal over there, which is fine with me because I
love potatoes. Every meal that is except for breakfast! At
one of the b&bs where I stayed I was the only guest so the
proprietress sat and chatted with my while I ate my dinner.
I was musing on the fact that for all the potato eating that
goes on in the country, I find it odd that you can't get potatoes
for breakfast. I told her that here in the states hashbrowns
or home fries are a frequent accompaniment to a bacon and eggs
type of breakfast. I also told her how I use leftover boiled
or baked potatoes to make home fries and how I slice them up
and fry them in bacon fat and sprinkle them with mixed dried
herbs (parsley, sage, thyme, oregano, basil, rosemary) and salt
and freshly ground black pepper. I was also mentioned the fact
that I was starting to have home fries withdrawal as I had been
in Ireland for 10 days - this was my last night and I was flying
out the next morning. Well, wouldn't you know it, the dear woman
actually made me home fries for breakfast the next morning based
on my description of how I made them! They were great! That was
the sweetest thing!

And while I'm on the subject of potatoes - would you believe that
at one place I stayed they actually served *2* kinds of potatoes
at the same meal? Mashed and boiled! Much as I love potatoes,
that may have been carrying it a bit far. ;-)

Being of Irish descent (at least one quarter - but it feels like
more since my last name is so Irish!) I have always been very
interested in all things Irish - except politics and religion.
(Hmm? That doesn't leave much, does it? ;-)) I've had to learn
it on my own, though, because I'm not from recent Irish immigrants.
My Irish ancestors came over in the 1600's and 1700's so the
family has long lost any Irish culture and traditions.

I started learning about Irish food and cooking over 30 years
ago and for many years I would always have all "authentic" Irish
recipes for a big St. Patrick's Day dinner. I've got about
8 or 10 Irish cookbooks and numerous other Irish recipes collected
from here and there.

Some of my favorite dishes to make are Roast Goose with Potato
Stuffing, Roast Duck with Apple Stuffing, Port Ciste, Colcannon,
Fitzpatrick Tipsy Cake, Soda Bread, Oatmeal Bread, Sorrel Soup,
Burnt Oranges.

I took Irish language classes for a number of years and, besides
the time I went to Oideas Gael, I have also participated in some
Gaeltacht Weekends in New York. But that was quite a few years
ago now. Ach, ta/ beaga/n Gaeilge agam!

Is mise,
Ca/it Ni/Chonghaile

(P.S. The slashes after the letters are supposed to be
accent marks.)

--
Kate Connally
“If I were as old as I feel, I’d be dead already.”
Goldfish: “The wholesome snack that smiles back,
Until you bite their heads off.”
What if the hokey pokey really *is* what it's all about?

Kate Connally > wrote in
:

> Is mise,
> Ca/it Ni/Chonghaile


Great story!

Thanks,

Andy

Q: Why is Ireland the richest country in the world??

A: It's capital is always Dublin.

On Wed, 28 Jun 2006 14:53:05 -0400, Kate Connally wrote:

<snip>
> I took Irish language classes for a number of years and, besides
> the time I went to Oideas Gael, I have also participated in some
> Gaeltacht Weekends in New York. But that was quite a few years
> ago now. Ach, ta/ beaga/n Gaeilge agam!
>
> Is mise,
> Ca/it Ni/Chonghaile
>
> (P.S. The slashes after the letters are supposed to be
> accent marks.)

Wayne B. turned me onto a free program called "AllChars" and now
I can't live without it! I use it mostly for degree marks ° and
accented e = é - but it saves me digging around in the character map
for them. http://allchars.zwolnet.com/
--

Ham and eggs.
A day's work for a chicken, a lifetime commitment for a pig.

Kate Connally wrote:
> And while I'm on the subject of potatoes - would you believe that
> at one place I stayed they actually served *2* kinds of potatoes
> at the same meal? Mashed and boiled! Much as I love potatoes,
> that may have been carrying it a bit far. ;-)

Yes, that happened to me, too! What a hoot! It was in a pub, and there
were two kinds of potatoes on the plate. I want to think there were
three, but I can't remember for sure. I think boiled, mashed and some
fried ones, all at the same time.

Has anyone mentioned the must-have Guinness while in Ireland? I've
tried it here in Calif., in a can, bottle, at a restaurant on tap, and
it's just not quite the same as having it there. It's delicious in
Ireland, but I can pass on it here.

Guinness factory tour in Dublin is really fun, too, btw.

Karen

"Karen" > wrote in news:1151527303.881117.82500
@b68g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

> Guinness factory tour in Dublin is really fun, too, btw.
>
> Karen


Guinness started brewing their stout in the U.S.A. a few years ago and I
refuse to touch it. The BUMS!!!

Andy

Yes I was in Ireland a year ago, and I will be going back again in November.
I am going along with my daughter and her husband and two babies. His
family lives County Armagh on a farm. The country side is absolutely
beautiful there.
If you have any favorte recipes that you use in Ireland, please post them.
What part of Ireland are you from.
My grandparents were from Galway and Cork.
I have an irish-american recipe for irish bread, and I have to say it is the
best recipe for irish bread I have ever had.
I got it from a friend years ago. It is not your typical soda bread that
they eat in Ireland. It is sweet and moist.
See recipe below:

Pat's Irish Bread




Bake in 8" Cast iron fry pan)



Set oven to 350 degrees



2-1/2 cup flour

½ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

1-1/2 sticks melted butter

1 egg

1 16-ounce container sour cream

1-cup sugar

½ box raisins

Dust raisins flour before adding to mixing bowl.



Sift first four ingredients. Melt butter. Mix all ingredients in a bowl
with a wooden spoon. Put little pieces of butter and sprinkle sugar on top
before you put in oven.



Bake at 350-degree oven for 50 - 60 minutes until golden brown.

Cool in pan for ten minutes and then put on rack to cool.


"cookie" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> HI eeryone - this is my first time in the group - any one interested in
> Irish cooking? or been to Ireland?
>

I've heard there are a hundred times more Irish people (descendants of
those who emmigrated) in the US than there currently are in Ireland.

Karen

Karen wrote:
> I've heard there are a hundred times more Irish people (descendants of
> those who emmigrated) in the US than there currently are in Ireland.
>
> Karen

that's alot, it's not surprising, I guess that's what the 70's did for
populating the states

bit-o-honey wrote:
> Karen wrote:
>> I've heard there are a hundred times more Irish people (descendants
>> of those who emmigrated) in the US than there currently are in
>> Ireland.
>>
>> Karen
>
> that's alot, it's not surprising, I guess that's what the 70's did for
> populating the states

I don't think the 70s had much to do with it. During the potato famine
years, I've read, a third of the population of Ireland died, a third
emigrated, and a third remained. Most of the third that emigrated went to
the US, and they found conditions there much more advantageous. Not to
mention the fact that there was on ongoing stream of immigrants from Ireland
after that. (Among them some of my family, before WW1. Of my grandmother's
generation, for example, 5 out of 7 came to the US, and they had a lot more
kids than the 1 who stayed in Ireland and the 1 who went to England.)

And it wasn't only Ireland. A decade ago or so they said that Chicago had
the largest Polish population of any city outside of Poland. It may have
been more than Warsaw. Even Lech Walesa's father lived in the US.(Although
not in Chicago, IIRC.)

Janet Puistonen wrote:
> bit-o-honey wrote:
> > Karen wrote:
> >> I've heard there are a hundred times more Irish people (descendants
> >> of those who emmigrated) in the US than there currently are in
> >> Ireland.
> >>
> >> Karen
> >
> > that's alot, it's not surprising, I guess that's what the 70's did for
> > populating the states
>
> I don't think the 70s had much to do with it. During the potato famine

putting sex aside for a moment let's talk about rock and roll

we have partied in America, people are partying super hard right now
if I had more money I would be partaying right now

sf wrote:
>
> On Wed, 28 Jun 2006 14:53:05 -0400, Kate Connally wrote:
>
> <snip>
> > I took Irish language classes for a number of years and, besides
> > the time I went to Oideas Gael, I have also participated in some
> > Gaeltacht Weekends in New York. But that was quite a few years
> > ago now. Ach, ta/ beaga/n Gaeilge agam!
> >
> > Is mise,
> > Ca/it Ni/Chonghaile
> >
> > (P.S. The slashes after the letters are supposed to be
> > accent marks.)
>
> Wayne B. turned me onto a free program called "AllChars" and now
> I can't live without it! I use it mostly for degree marks ° and
> accented e = é - but it saves me digging around in the character map
> for them. http://allchars.zwolnet.com/

Thanks for that info. I hardly ever write anything in Irish
so it might be more trouble than it's worth to relearn it
whenever I wanted to use it. I can easily make the special
characters in WordPerfect as I type with little effort when I'm
created documents for my own use, etc. For posting on usenet the
slashes work fine as far as I am concerned. I could type it up in
WordPerfect to get the special characters and then copy it into
my post but special characters don't always show up correctly.
When I post a recipe I always have to go through and change
all the special character fractions back to 1/2 and 1/3, etc.,
because they don't come through right. I wonder if the
same would happen if you used this program to create a
document with special characters and then copied it to a post?
Oh, well, as I said it's rare that I write anything required
accent marks these days so I'll just fudge it. But I'll keep
this program info handy in case I decide I want to do more
serious stuff some day.
Kate

--
Kate Connally
“If I were as old as I feel, I’d be dead already.”
Goldfish: “The wholesome snack that smiles back,
Until you bite their heads off.”
What if the hokey pokey really *is* what it's all about?

Karen wrote:
>
> Kate Connally wrote:
> > And while I'm on the subject of potatoes - would you believe that
> > at one place I stayed they actually served *2* kinds of potatoes
> > at the same meal? Mashed and boiled! Much as I love potatoes,
> > that may have been carrying it a bit far. ;-)
>
> Yes, that happened to me, too! What a hoot! It was in a pub, and there
> were two kinds of potatoes on the plate. I want to think there were
> three, but I can't remember for sure. I think boiled, mashed and some
> fried ones, all at the same time.
>
> Has anyone mentioned the must-have Guinness while in Ireland? I've
> tried it here in Calif., in a can, bottle, at a restaurant on tap, and
> it's just not quite the same as having it there. It's delicious in
> Ireland, but I can pass on it here.
>
> Guinness factory tour in Dublin is really fun, too, btw.

Well, I guess my Irish genes are too diluted by time. I hate
Guinness. In fact I hate almost all ales. I like the Pilsner
type of lagers. I had a hard time trying to get something like
that in Ireland. And when I managed to get a lager it was not
very good.

The other thing that was fun to deal with in Ireland was getting
a glass of ice water or any type of drink with ice in it. I'm
a real ice addict. I like my drinks really cold. I'm not much
for hot beverages most of the time.

When I was attending Oideas Gael in Glencolumbkille I stayed
with a local family along with 3 other students. (You can
choose to stay with a local family or get an apartment, and
maybe there was one other option.) It was sort of like staying at
a b&b. There were 2 women and 2 men in our group. We two women
shared a room and so did the 2 guys. Then our meals were served in
the sitting room and we could use it as our private lounge area.
The family stayed in another part of the house. So they treated us
more like b&b customers than like foreign exchange students that
are treated like, and live with, the family. They were very nice
and the woman of the house made all our meals, which were delicious.
She even managed to make ice cubes for me. The funny part is that
the ice cubes were brown. The water there is flavored/colored by
the peat. So it looks like very weak tea. The first time she brought
me a glass of ice water I was shocked. But once it was explained
about the peat I drank it and it tasted great. She was so sweet
to go to the trouble of making cubes. I was surprised they even
had ice cube trays. I guess they occasionally use ice but not
very often.

Then there was the other beverage related issue. Hot tea. Of course
everyone over there drinks it like the Brits do - strong and with
milk and sugar. I abhor it that way. So was always requesting
to have a cup of hot water and a teabag on the side so I could brew
it myself. Most places I stayed were very accommodating in that
regard, but thought I was nuts.

Kate


--
Kate Connally
“If I were as old as I feel, I’d be dead already.”
Goldfish: “The wholesome snack that smiles back,
Until you bite their heads off.”
What if the hokey pokey really *is* what it's all about?