Part of the reason to choose to have a walk near Doolin is to try this new restaurant. It opened last year and instantly got a Michelin star!
An old traditional house converted to restaurant, run by Irish chef and French wife. Lunch menu is decent, food looks good, perfect cooking degree and well seasoned, good value for money, rare in rural Ireland.
On top of traveling aboard to see the world, I also may it as regular as possible, mostly during summer, of visiting beautiful locations in Ireland.
This time to the west coast near Doolin, with huge rocky limestone coast, forming lots of cracks, called Clints and Gyres. Some part looks like a giant natural amphitheatre.
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| rock samphire (edible) |
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| sea campion (edible) |
Also able to see on the thin soil pasture, farmers has cleared the field of rocks and used them to make boundary walls.
What a fantastic sunny hot day! Perfect for alfresco bbq dinner of squid and a salad with all home grown ingredients: butter lettuce, coriander, Shungiku, semi dried cherry tomatoes and honey fermented garlic.
First time to try this Ilex squid, (different from normal squid which are gathered from near the coast) with a pair of short wings at the tip end of the body. It is a bit tougher than normal squid, but equally tasty!
Three years since planting the roots, I can harvest asparagus now, just a few spears every few days and not that fat, but still a delight to have.
I peel off the tougher skin at the bottom, bake at 180˚C until turns soft, around 12 minutes. Just like that to enjoy the pure concentrated flavor of asparagus, but also good to sprinkle a little salt and drizzle olive oil for a different presentation.
The transplanted rugosa rose is doing well, very healthy and having a lot of flowers now. I will go in the evening to collect the petals of wide open flowers, after insects have enjoyed their nectar and knowing that in a bit of wind they will fall down. Nip off the flower heads afterward and more buds will come.
I add the petals into a jar of raw honey, from my hives, and let int steep in it. At the end of the year I will have fragrant rose honey.
I use only rugosa wild rose, because mose cultivated rose are hybrid with camelia, giving the petal a mild astringent taste.
外遊回來，到菜園巡視一圈，大黑鳥似乎有點幫助，戶外菜苗都安好，只是天氣仍冷，沒怎麼長大。 溫室內的蔬果就大不同，一星期不見，長高長胖，看到開心。
大根的白胖根開始現形
芫荽可以收成，放湯下一把，香啊。
芥蘭開始有點體態
牛油生菜夠大可以吃了
桃子又胖了些少
草莓開始結果
洋薊首個夠大可以收割的花蕾
荷蘭豆一下子長到網頂，要加繩讓其生長
除了看電影 Schindler’s List 外，從來沒有看過波蘭的歷史，决定和朋友來 Krakow 旅行相聚數天, 特意看了書本，才知道波蘭在十九和二十世紀時的苦難，不光是猶太人，本土波蘭人也在俄羅斯和納粹德軍的管治下傷亡慘重。
最可怕是二戰時波蘭軍人與盟軍合力作戰，但在勝利後，國家沒有得到獨立，而是被送給俄羅斯，得再忍受五十多年共產政權後，才終於得到自由，難以置信的決定。
看完波蘭歷史，來到 Krakow , 參觀的宏偉建築物，堡壘、大教堂，全歐最大廣場等等，都是波蘭國力強盛和富裕的十六、七世紀的作品。
Krakow 位於南北、東西多個同樣強大國家的貿易路線中央，以出產琥珀而收入豐富。
終於在列強多年不停入侵後，因戰力沒能追上火炮威力而滅亡，國土被鄰近三國瓜分（Russia, Prussia, Austria) 而在歐洲地圖上消失百多年。
那時期，人民被長年勞役，如送去西百利亞工作，以1890 年的統計，那些年有近百五萬人離開，多以南北美為目的地。
然後兩個世界大戰，文字、圖片和電影的紀錄，令外人所知的，以猶太人的苦難為主，因為歷史，一直由往後較富裕的人民主動記下。
不得不佩服猶太人，經歷那麼多的殺害和刧掠，民族文化仍然可以持續，又在世界各地重新富裕起來，以財力和能力，留下民族歷史。
有感而發，因為同時期波蘭人的傷亡，遠較猶太人為多，但這個事實，外人知道的極少。
參加城市walking tour, 導賞人驕傲地指出，八十年代終於脫離蘇聯獨立後，國家一貧如洗，廿年前加入歐盟是個重要轉捩點，那時失業率高企，是歐盟的窮國，現在的經濟就，是首十名成員之一。
問他如何爬升得如此快，回應是人民勤力苦幹，到歐盟各國工作，賺錢後回國創業，包括設厰房為鄰國做加工製品。
愛爾蘭亦是在八十年代加入歐盟後，經濟才有起色，亦有大量在外國工作的人民，但民族品性不同，没有波蘭人的幹勁，和忠於國家的歸屬感。
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| waiting for sunset |
Made an effort to try most of the local dishes, cuisine is not their
selling point, but still interesting to know. My favourites are sour
fermented rye soup, tripe soup, sausages and grilled smoked cheese.
Bigos, cabbage stew with meat in a bread bowl 
cooked herrings in different marinate, lemon mustard, curry, beetroot, spicy 
dumplings in beetroot soup 
fried trout 
confid lard with onion and pork 
tasting of vodka, with herb, lemon honey, cherry and walnut 
grilled smoked cheese with caramelised beetroot 
brilled sausage with horseradish 
Zapiekanka, various toppings on cheese toasted bread 
cabbage meat roll 
roast mutton 
zurek, fermented rye soup with sausage 
potato pancake with apple 
Pierogies, dumplkings with various fillings
