Rugosa rose petals

From end of spring until now I have been collecting Rugosa rose petals, the wild variety of rose with lovely fragrance and colour. They are air dried next to the window for 3 days and now have collected 2 big jars. These can be used to make hot drink, in dessert and stews. 

Some petals are infused in diluted vodka and in cider vinegar. Will see later on how they taste like. 

Spit roasting lamb lap

Seasoned lamb lap with Koji salt, black pepper for a day and on to spit roasting, for 1.5hrs, wonderful way to enjoy a gorgeous evening. 

Koji give a lovely brown tone and unique umami taste to the tender juicy meat, really happy with the result. 

Red Orach

A new veg this year, direct sow into open bed, and grows well in this heat without bolting, yet. A bit like spinach in texture but more like amaranth that loves heat and  able to cut and come back for a while. 

20kg lamb

Our yearly whole lamb purchase from neighbour’s family farm, to be cut up into portions:

-2 gigots
-2 front legs
-2 saddles
-2 laps
-4 racks of lambs
-2 chucks
-2 neck parts
-lamb fat, kidney and diaphragm 

The kidney and diaphragm are cut up and stir fry with veg, nice tender morsels. 

 

Honey processing

During such glorious hot summer with no rain in sight, honey bees have been busy in collecting nectar. We have to take some honey combs out from hives to give them space to store nectar. 

In doing so, we first processed all last years kept honey comb, that we have not finished eating, into honey in jars, so that we have the containers to keep new honey combs. 
 

First warm honey combs at 40˚C for honey to run out, then pass through a sieve into jars. 

The left behind wax still have a lot of honey attached, and is rinsed with cold water to dissolve honey, leaving cleaner wax behind. This honey water is kept in small paper cups in freezer to use as ice cubes in  cocktails, hot summer treats.

Sweet potato sprouts

I got 3 sweet potatoes half buried in greenhouse to produce slips, to be transplanted around. Turns out to be a great way to have many young sweet potato plants in a short time. I now have a good 20+ plants and can start harvesting the tip top young leaves, and for the plant to branch out to have more shoots for picking. 

The first small dish of stir-fried sweet potato sprouts for summer, looks like many more to come, fingers crossed. 

2026年7月10日急都無用

喜歡吃支豆，是青嫩時的黃豆，趁新鮮時快煮，特別甜美，是那類要自己種才容易吃到那獨特鮮甜。

四月在溫室小盆內埋下種子，來自英國的種子，以前在法國種得好好的，這幾年在愛爾蘭都未能發芽，今年亦如是。

五月改用在日本買的種子，前年成功長大，但葉多豆少，吃不了多少。可惜又失敗，豆子在泥內腐爛。

六月在網上訂購奧大利的納豆菌，見到他們出售在當地種的有機黃豆，亦訂回來，做納豆。

見到豆子，心癢決定再試一次，看能否發芽，一口氣種下廿四粒，希望有機粒現生機。

一個星期後，廿四粒青嫩豆子從泥土冒出來，全部長成幼苗，一粒都沒有少。全部種下，期待收成。

在想，成功發芽，是種子不同？或者是太心急太早種下，早晚溫差太大而死亡？

今年四、五月特別濕冷，相信是太早發芽而失敗，真的是想急也急不來也。

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.