Edamame

I love to eat edamame, but have trouble germinating in Ireland in the last couple years. This year I tried sowing using seed from Japan in April, then seed from UK in May, both without success, the seeds rotted in the pots. 

When I bought natto starter from the Austrian company, I also ordered their local organically grown small soy bean. They said smaller size soy is better in making natto. 

Other than making natto, I also planted 2 dozen in pots, in mid June. To my amazement, everyone of the seeds germinated! i happily planted all the seedlings in the greenhouse, looking forward to have edamame and some left to keep as dry bean, finger crossed for harvest. 

I now don’t know the germination success is related to the bean? or the warmer climate?

Cold lunch

Another heatwave in Ireland, 28˚C, hot enough not to want to cook. Gather some pre-cooked veg and sauces to make this simple lunch, complete with protein, veg and carbohydrate, multi ingredients. 

beetroot
mango
blackcurrant vinaigrette 
potato
basil, ginger, turmeric lemon sauce
tofu
pumpkin seed miso
chorizo

July harvest

Other than raspberry, strawberry, cherry, blue berry and fig are, finally, all ready to harvest in the heat. 

On the veg side, I have the first harvest of purple sprouted broccoli, and sweet potato slips are growing on very well, soon to do the first harvest of the tip part. 

Honey fermented lemon peel

After a month, the jar of honey fermented elderflower, ginger and lemon slices have stopped bubbling, meaning it is ready to be bottled and keep in the fridge to enjoy. 
The lemon peels looks great and is too wasteful to be thrown away. I cut them up into pieces and dry in the oven at 65˚C, around 3 hours. 

A nice chewy snack, lemony, mildly sweet and a floral note. I will use more of these thick skinned not bitter organic lemon in future honey fermentation projects. 

Tour of Connemara 3/3

There is a plan to convert one of the old rail line in Connemara into a Greenway for biking and walking, and at the moment, only 8KM is finished. Still while in the area, we decided to enjoy the path. It goes through a pine forest then along a famous salmon fishing river. Short but varied scenery. 

In the afternoon, drove to Gurteen bay for the view and a bit of fishing, always love this big golden sand beach and popular with swimmers. 

End up at Moyrus Bay for the night. This is a idyllic small peninsula, with beautiful golden sand, clear water, big rocks, seaweeds, and some holiday houses, few people. 

Tour of Connemara 2/3

From Clair island, we drove south around countryside dotted with lakes, where there are no house at all, only sheep and grazing fields, a typical Irish scene. Settle down at Lake Mask for the night, where there is a good camper stop right in front of the lake. 

Cooked the lobsters we bought at the Clare island ferry pier, as we spotted a white van parked there to purchase on every Tuesday afternoon, all the lobsters that the fisherman caught in pots around the island. 

Tour of Connemara 1/3

Time to be out travelling in camper again, target is west coast Connemara area, first to Clare Island in Co Mayo. Easy to get there by 10 min ferry from Roonargh pier.

It is still a good number of people living in the island hence a regular ferry service through out the year. At one point 200 years ago there were over a thousand inhabitants. Enough people in the island to have to cut/burn down all the trees for cooking and land clearing for farming. Hence it is now a bare treeless island, still very green because of animal grazing. 

There is a good gentle hike up to the light house to see the peaceful environment, with a few well kept houses dotted around, many sheep on the way and many old stone walls on the hills, used as fences for farm animal. 

The misty view is atmospheric, the cliff sided coast is dramatic, the light house has been converted to BnB, so not open for visit. 

The castle near the water front was built in the 17C, when they used to collect tariff from passing by boats. 

New potatoes

Planted in late March and after around 100 days, it is time to start digging some out. We like them small and waxy. 

I boil potatoes for 10 to 15 minutes depending on size, pour water away and let them stay inside the steamy hot pan, like having sauna. The potatoes are sweet, waxy and don’t need any seasoning. 

Goes well with grilled striploin, and pineapple, coriander, roasted bell pepper vinaigrette salad. 

Savory herb

While traveling to Bulgaria earlier, I learned about this herb Savory, this is commonly used in their cuisine, I have never heard or tasted it before. So brought back dried herb and seed to cook and to sow in my garden. In cooking, it is not easy to tell the flavour, it does not have a strong unique taste. 

However, 2 seeds managed to germinate and they are not planted in the green house. Very small leaves, when big enough I plugged the top leaves to encourage growing more side branches. The flavour of fresh leaves are strong, a combination of mint then thyme and mildly astringent, very unique. I need to use more to know it better. 

Fermentation projects

 

廚房角落，陽光曬不到，是我的小小實驗室，放漬物、發酵中材料，由五月到現在，轉化在家園收成的時令蔬果，延長食用時間。

-蜜糖發酵接骨木花和檸檬

-蜜糖發酵迷迭香、薑和檸檬

-天然乳酸發酵榨汁後檸檬皮

-野玫瑰花瓣浸酒

-豉油米麴發酵原粒蒜頭

-天然乳酸發酵原粒蒜頭

-米麴發酵蒜蓉

-覆盆子浸酒

-米麴發酵覆盆子蓉

-天然乳酸發酵覆盆子

今年大計是多吃發酵食物，先要多做才成。

Natto with sauce

After successfully making natto, we are having a small portion at breakfast. The flavour is a big strong and I tried mixing it with basil vinaigrette. Was told that tomato paste is a good candidate for the job. 
Indeed natto with my last year’s tomato sauce is a good combination, so is savoury raspberry sauce. Probably we are so used to Heinz bean and find beans in red sauce more tasty.