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. 

Grilled rack of lamb in air-frier

A very effective way to cook a rack of lamb to perfection, grilled crispy surface and pink in the middle. 20 minutes meat side up, 5 minutes bone side up, 5 minutes resting inside. With parboiled potato wedges in the bottom. 

Pumpkin salad

This year, only manage to get one mature pumpkin. Cut into halves and baked until soft, used in a salad with tomatoes, basil and vinaigrette. 

The seeds are washed sprinkle with salt and baked dry, good snack but really need strong teeth to chew it whole. 

Date and almond cookie

Saw this recipe on social media and have to try it out, indeed easy and very tasty. 

Cook date in equal volume of cream/milk/water to soften, blend until smooth. Add almond powder, big pinch of salt to form a soft dough, make small round balls and flatten on lined baking tray. Bake at 170˚C until golden and dry inside, around 30 minutes. 

Braised Lamb shoulder

Nice to cook whole lamb shoulder with bone, not as much meat as gigot, a dinner for two and leftovers for a few lunches. 

Cut deep criss-cross pattern on the meaty side so that it can cook through faster. Season with salt, pepper, 5 spices powder, black bean chilli paste and paprika for a day. 

Bake on top a bed of cooking apples cut into cubes, at 180˚C for 50 minutes, juicy pink inside. 

Parsnip

Haven’t successfully germinated/grown parsnip for a few years, it is a pleasure to finally able to pull out a well formed long parsnip this year. From seeds sown in April, it only germinated in June and slowly grow to this size. 

Cut into strips, toast with olive oil and air-fry until outside turns golden, soft and sweet inside, around 20 minutes. 

Golden yellow cake

A childhood memory of rich yellow fluffy cake, the simplest form without any flavouring and decoration. Actually pretty easy to make, I used cream, as I have to use up, to replace butter and milk. 

flour 180 gm
1tbsp baking powder

egg 2

cane sugar 50 gm
 
honey 50 gm

a pinch of salt

Basically whisk every together and pour into a paper lined baking tin, bake at 170˚C until cooked through, around 35 minutes. 

Roast duck

First attempt this year to have crispy roast duck. The bird is seasoned and skin treated with boiling water, vinegar honey wash and dried in the fridge for 3 days. 

Unfortunately, the coal is far too hot and the skin is burnt before the meat is barely cooked, need to work on it again. 

The meat is super delicious inside. The left behind goes into next day’s lunch of runner bean and savoury herb soup.

Pollock

On the last day of the camper trip, fisherman caught 3 pollocks. Cleaned, salted to brought home to cook. 
The best way to cook this cod family fish is to wrap in baking paper, with olive oil and rice wine, bake at 200˚C for 20 minutes, super juicy meat. 

The left behind is used in a tomato soup the next day.

Green house

Well into late October, plants inside green house are still going well, peppers turning orange, tomatoes turning red, basil flourishing, edamame ready to collect. Indeed with enough day light, a lot can be grown in Ireland over a very long period. 

Ireland west coast Connemara tour 3/3 Inishbofin island 2026年10月20日 最精彩的行山徑

Took the ferry from Cleggan harbour to Inishbofin island, one of many inhabited islands on the west coast, we are ticking them off one by one.

Half an hour ferry to this island with 3 hiking routes, 2-3 hours each. We can only do one and followed recommendation to do the west coast one, after scenery and geology. 

 
Without much expectation, it turns out to be the best hiking route in Ireland! Easy to walk path, mostly on grass and no sharp incline, the view changes in every turn in that 2.5 hours.

From rugged coastal views, to lifeless brown black blanket bog, to immense green field with loads of stones, then some giant stones on the path and lastly cliffs and wild rugged coast again, fascinating. 

 

趁天氣大晴，又到西岸遊玩，乘小輪到小島Inishbofin ，西岸由南至北有多個有人居住的島，以畜牧和漁獲為經濟來源，現在加上旅遊收益。

 

 

 
選擇一段八公里的行山徑，知道有山有海風光，沒有特別期望，走了兩個多小時，山路好走起伏不太大，意外是地勢變化極大。

起初是青草地白綿羊海灣風光，明媚舒服；然後是高地一望無際啡黃色的沼澤地，了無生氣；過一會兒回復青嫩草地，但遍地石頭，沒有任何動態，令人聯想到月球表面；再走一段路，見到巨石擋路，完全不同的石質，突然在這地面出現；然後又回復青草地海灣岩石山崖⋯⋯

八公里路程中，風光變化之大，又處處都獨特，實在美好，覺得是愛爾蘭最精彩的行山徑。

看資料，十八、九世紀因為漁獲豐富，小島人口上升到千五人左右，十九世紀中的大饑荒，餓死和離開過半，然後人口一直下跌，近年因為旅遊業增生，而穩定有百五名全年居住的人民。
 

Ireland west coast Connemara tour 2/3 Omey Island

Nearby is Omey island, a small island off the coast of Clifden, where everyday on low tide, you can walk across flat sand to the island. It is a nice experience to be wandering on such an immense space. On a fine day, the contrast of colours and textures, far away mountains, green trees, deep blue sea, rippling sandy surface … is gorgeous. 

 

Stay the night at Clifden Eco campsite right next to water and a beautiful small sandy beach. 

 

We tried shrimp netting, simply sinking a shrimp net with fish head as bait overnight, indeed got a few shrimps.