No rain no wind cloudy day, good enough to get out for a walk at Castle Lough, a forest next to the lake. A beech forest, changing to golden, just what we wished. Super calm, no noise from wind or bird/bugs, very unusual.
Squid pasta
Had friends over for a seafood dinner, appetizers are Carlingford oysters, Connemara shrimps and main course is with squid.
It is not often we get squid from the fishmonger, and have a few discussion on how to present it. Being cold and dark early, that ruled out barbecue. A sensible way to enjoy it hot would be to use it like spaghetti and serve in a tomato and Dan Dan noodle cross over sauce, a truly high protein zero carb dish.
First blanch squid in boiling water to stiffen a bit, just 10 seconds, then cut to very very thin strips, it will swell during reheating in the sauce.
Make a tomato sauce, thicken with peanut butter and chilli sauce, add squid and fresh herbs. A nice surprise to taste this very al dente pasta!
Crispy scallop
Always want to serve scallop in a way to add a bit of crunch without overwhelming its mild flavour, other than just quick sear in very hot pan.
Made a few trials, cover scallop with seasoned semolina and sear, bake cheese crisp and add scallop at the last minute, and stuck a piece of dry rice paper on top and bottom of scallop and shallow fry…..
The winner is with rice paper, the very light crunch is unbeatable, a bit similar to tempura, without the need to make the batter and use a lot of oil.
Shiitake egg savoury custard
Savoury custard is a very common dish in my childhood, an easy way to have a big, nutritious hot dish with simple ingredients. Now I use very fragrant shiitake mushrooms and dried shrimps to recreate this dish.
I sweat mushroom in oil until soft, season with salt and pepper. Place in a shallow bowl with cut up dried shrimps.
Whisk egg, season with miso, salt and diluted with 1.5 volume of water, pour into the bowl.
Steam until just set, around 10 minutes. Add sesame oil and herbs before serving.
Tour of Connemara Dog Island area 2/2
Found on the map a hiking route nearby, on boardwalk in a blanket bog. Driving in this area is a pleasure, because every turn seems to be totally different and unexpected, unique, gorgeous wild landscape. The hike is easy and offer a good look of this bog area where peat were removed in the old days as the main heating and cooking fuel in this area.
Drove round the area to different water edges for fishing, without success. Saw a good parking area on the beach called Coral Strand. While walking on the beach, the crunchy noise caught my attention.
There is a reason for the name, the beach is not covered by sand, but small bits of coral like materials. Internet search found that is is Maerl algae, a super slow growing (1mm per year) purple red algae in the seabed. It produces calcium to slowly solidify its body. Dead ones got pushed up to the beach and bleached by the sun. They are so beautiful, like 3D puzzle pieces. There are only 2 ‘Coral’ beaches in Ireland and I came across one by accident.
The bay faces west directly, in this unusual day with clear sky all day long through to the evening, we are awarded with a memorable sunset.
Without a cloud, the night is very cold, needed double duvets in the camper bed.
Tour of Connemara Dog Island area 1/2 2026年11月3日 冬日有口福
2 days of clear sunny weather ahead and off we go, on the camper to the west coast again. This time we chose to go to Dog island area in Connemara, 3 hrs from home and 1 hr from Galway.
Yet another corner of this immense coastline, traversed with many lakes, rivers, and islands joined by bridges. With blue sky and warm sun, the scenery is fantastic everywhere you look.
Found a rural pier to park the camper, nice deep water to sink our handmade shrimp trap, using mackerel as bait, overnight. In the morning, what a joy to see a big handful of good size shrimps inside, the best fresh local seafood in this winter period.
Also met a fisherman on his little boat coming back from collecting lobsters from pots in deep sea. After a long chat, we bought 2 at wholesale price.
初冬，又風又雨密雲天多，氣溫十度上下，一見天氣預告有連續三個晴天，即刻出camper 去西岸玩，陽光下，愛爾蘭的西、北岸，處處有風光，又少人煙。
自然，冬日晴空，眼福好，但早晚只有幾度，濕氣重，包到隻糉似的仍然手指、面孔冰冷。
初冬，又風又雨密雲天多，氣溫十度上下，一見天氣預告有連續三個晴天，即刻出camper 去西岸玩，陽光下，愛爾蘭的西、北岸，處處有風光，又少人煙。
早上見到老漁夫乘小船回來，談天一輪，知道他一生經歷（六二年帶著五鎊到英國，在建築地盤工作，七八年回來，工作太辛苦，收入不多，身上只有八鎊，回來在pub演奏，加上有小船放籃收集龍蝦，才有穩定生活）。買下兩隻龍蝦，是市面一半的價錢，談天太開心，老人家幾乎不願收錢。
而自製蝦籃，昨晚放有鯖魚餌，今早拉上來，有收穫，今回好口福。
Tomato salad with sesame oil dressing
Normally I use olive oil, salt and pepper to season tomato, but one night I saw the bottle of grilled sesame oil and used it instead . Interesting, it seems to bring out an unusual sweetness in tomato.
2026年11月1日 星期美點
周日，天氣好又饞的話，會到附近小鎮的市集走一轉，只有數個檔攤，包括食物、裝飾和雜貨，當中只有一個有吸引力，是架麵包西餅車，賣的牛角包和其他酥皮甜點，都有上乘水準。
不光是酥皮有層次，賣相精緻手藝極好，且推陳出新，例如這個四方酥皮包，內有忌廉，是近年興起的做法，在丹麥和香港都見過，第一次在愛爾蘭見到，真的有心。
每次站在那車前選擇餅點，眼睛發光外，會大聲坦白地讚美，令那年輕男孩聽進耳中，作鼓勵。他是餅店家族成員之一，年輕一代肯花心力守下去最重要。
如此上心，因為在愛爾蘭，就是在首都，也絕少見到這様的水準。愛爾蘭人沒有美食傳統，要求不高，亦不會評論食物，沒手藝外，亦沒有越做越好的追求，食客和店舖都好求其。
這個麵包西餅車，在附近大城市外圍有店舖，能做到這個水準，因為不是愛爾蘭人！父母是來自法國的做餅師傅，兒女在這𥚃長大，傳承了手藝，所以每次見到年輕成員，都會大聲讚美，希望口福可以持續。
Homemade Halloumi cheese
Had a good plate of seared warm Halloumi cheese in the holiday in Lofoten and quite like the idea of having it for breakfast, or lunch.
When a friend came to visit me armed with 2 bottles of fresh unhomogenised milk from her farm, I decided to learn to transform the milk into Halloumi cheese.
Same starting process of cheese making, warm to 37 degrees, add diluted rennet, I used 20 drops of rennet, more than normal for a firmer texture.
Milk curdled after 30 minutes, cut into cubes, shake and warm back to 37 degrees for 15 minutes.
Ladle on to cheese cloth on top of a flat bottom sieve, form into square/rectangle, press with weight on top for 30 minutes.
Cut into pieces. Reheat whey to 95˚C and keep at that temperature, lower pieces of set fresh cheese into whey one by one. Make sure whey is back to 90+ degrees before lowering the next piece. Let them simmer in that just below boiling temperature, until they float to the top. This cooking sealed the cheese, and it can be seared and turn golden instead of melting like other uncooked cheese.
Salt the surfaces of fresh Halloumi, perfume with herbs like thyme or sage, ready to sear.
2026年10月28日 骨感豬一字骨
母親的家鄉菜中，最喜歡鎮江骨一字骨，久不久會煮，下很多八角，啡黑色的肉骨頭和滋味醬汁，從未有遇上不喜歡吃的人。
愛爾蘭人傳統吃鹽漬豬肉、肉腸等預製食物，比較少吃鮮豬肉，吃也只是買豬扒，就是肉店，也不會整隻豬買入自己切割，所以很少見到一字骨。
就是見到，都是在屠房已經把所有肉都切走，做肉腸用，刀法極好，貼近骨頭地起走所有肉，留低好骨感的一字骨。見到只能失笑，不知道他們以為「食客」是為吃骨頭還是吃肉？
最近在有機農場的冰箱內找到包一字骨，骨頭重疊地放在一起，也就不知肉厚肉薄，幻想美味地買下，回來解凍，又中伏了。烤焗做晚餐，二人花不少氣力撕咬，吃完是七成飽。
最後想到解決辦法，是到肉店買牛肋骨做這道菜式，在冷房即時切割，才能連骨帶肉，牛肉味濃，不最滿意，總算可以解饞。
Oyster/spider steak
First time to see this cut of steak, on an on-line organic farm website. When we see our friendly butcher in Croom, I asked about this cut. Turned out to be a disc of meat between the back leg and hip joint, Super red, fine streaks of fat, with some connective tissue, quick sear and rest like cooking Hanger steak (diaphragm), very tasty.
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