This year, I have been very successful in germinating seeds inhouse, on the floor enjoying under floor heating warmth. This is the only way to make sun loving plants (tomato, pepper, eggplant, physalis, basil, beans etc) to germinate early, growing to seedlings in greenhouse big enough to plant in late April, for a good head start, for earlier harvest.
various seedlings, with seeds germinated in house 
happy to see strawberry plants starting to burst into life again
Started planting seedlings in the green
house since January, some are ready to harvest regularly, like daikon, rocket, small fennel, parsley, Tongho and chicory leaves. Other, Kailan, Khol rabi, Brokali, carrot, turnip, pea and broadbean, will need to wait for another month before they are big enough.
rocket 
parsley 
Daikon 
turnip Mooli, white egg turnip 
fennel and chicory Sugar Loaf 
pea Onwards 
broadbean Ratio 
Kailan, Khol Rabi Azul star, Brokali 
Carrot Oxhella
outer cabbage leaves 
Savoy cabbage 
Spring cabbage
Planted these Spring cabbage and Savoy
Cabbage outside last September, they grow really very slowly in cold weather.
Instead of waiting for them to form a head and harvest the whole head, which is
too much for a meal for two anyway, I harvest the outer big leaves just enough
for the day, and let the plant carry on growing more leaves and bigger leaves
gradually.
This should be a more efficient way to harness the full capacity of the plant, and feel that I could get more out of it than cutting the whole head off, with the inside leaves very small.
Celery re-grow
Learn from internet how to grow veg from the stalk, like celery, morning glory, pak choi etc, very interesting and indeed speed up the growing process compare with starting from seeds.
Test using celery, which I use regularly but have not tried to grow it yet. Simply cut off the bottom part, put in a small glass of water, place next to the window and in just a few days time the leaves come up from the middle.
I planted it in a pot of soil for it to grow tall, the plan is to remove the outer leaves for cooking regularly, let it carry on growing throughout the season, sounds really simply, and hope so.
Harvested another daikon from the garden, serve it with mild tasting pork fillet in miso sauce.
Pork fillet with miso and daikon
1. Butterfly pork fillet into a cm thick piece, score lines to speed up cooking. Season with soy sauce, salt, white pepper, honey, rice wine and dark miso for an hour.
2. Cut daikon into pieces, cook in some oil with salt and pepper until soft.
3. Sear pork fillet until brown both sides, add daikon, any remaining marinade, half a cup of water and herbs. Bring to simmer and cook until pork is done.
Rack of lamb on baked veg in fig and
coconut sauce
This baked dish of mix vegetables in coconut milk thicken with fig and nut is very tasty, and no need to stand in front of the stove while it cooks, vegetables are soft yet keep their shapes.
1. Cut vegetables (sweet potato, celeriac, carrot, potato etc) into pieces.
2. Mix in a baking dish a cup of coconut milk, a cup of water, dry figs cut into pieces, some cut up almonds, season with soy sauce, Garam Masala and salt, mix well with vegetables. Bake at 200˚C until soft, turn over mid way, around 40 minutes.
3. In the meantime, season lamb with salt, white pepper and cumin for 2 hours. Sear fat side to render fat out, then the meat sides. Place on top of vegtables in the last 10 minutes of cooking. Switch off oven, with door ajar, rest for another 10 minutes, for a pink result.
Don't understand why it took me so many year to attempt to make fresh cheese, using rennet to set it.
It is so easy to make, the freshly set curd is silky smooth like Tofufa. After pressing the curd, the fresh cheese has a lovely cream yellow hue, sign of dairy cow fed on grass diet. Texture is thick with a rich flavor, unlike any shop products I have tasted before.
I used raw organic whole milk for the full flavor.
whey fresh cheese salad one day old fresh cheese cheese curd to be pressed coagulated milk cut into cubes rennet set milk
1. Pour 2 litres of milk into a wide pan, warm in a water bath to around 35˚C, mix in 1/2 a cup of natural yogurt, keep in the water bath (or oven set at that temperature, for proofing bread dough) for 3 hours. This step is optional, just to give it extra microbial benefits.
2. Dilute 4 drops of rennet into 1/4 cup of boiled cold water, use a whisk to mix the cream layer back into milk. While whisking, add rennet and mix well with milk.
3. Rest for 30 minutes without touching it. Milk will coagulate, like tofu, can enjoy as such, most silky tender texture.
4. Use a long palette knife, cut curds into equal 2cm cubes, liquid whey starts to ooze out, rest in 35˚C oven/water bath, stirring every now and then very gently to let more whey to come out, for half an hour.
5. Line a large bowl with cloth, ladle curd into the bowl, tie the corners of the cloth to form a bag and hang on a rod on the bowl, tighten the cloth regularly, and/or put a weight on top to press whey out.
The cheese is ready to eat the next day,
goes well on fresh bread with chutney and salad.The whey can be drunk or use in soup/cooking.
Chocolate yogurt 'gelato'thick yogurt with liquid pressed out
1. Empty a pot of natural thick Greek yogurt on a sieve lined with cloth, put a weight on top to press out liquid. I got from a 500ml pot of yogurt to 350gm of thick yogurt.
2. Melt dark chocolate on hot water, around 60gm, sweeten with honey, stir into yogurt, fridge to cool down. Ready to serve.
Can also churn this in an ice cream machine to make proper fluffy cold ice cream.
Quite pleased with the quality of food served in this village, a few decent no star restaurants that serve properly just cooked meat and seafood dishes, rare to find in Ireland.
scallops, Out of the Blue Black sole, Out of the Blue rack of lamb, Chart House Poached pear on rice pudding with crumble, Chart House
The breakfast menu in the hotel brings a smile, so creative to serve boring porridge with Bailey's!
Porridge with Bailey's Porridge with Bailey's
Driving along the south east coast of Dingle, great to have made a detour to see Minard Castle. It is a ruin, but the setting is fabulous, especially the sun came out just for that few minutes.
Minard castle beach Minard Castle
The pebbles (stone) beach is amazing, imagine the power of the waves that tumble such huge rocks to the smooth rounded shapes!
Inch beach Inch beach
Inch beach is famous, for being long, probably the longest in Ireland, it is peaceful and calming. I like more the beaches further north, in Conamara, Achill island or Belmullet, being more remote and no buildings nearby.
Went to Fahan area to see the 1000 to 200 years old stone huts for animals, the beehive huts. They are restored to show how they used to look, the roof should be covered by stone too, forming a dome shaped huts.
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| beehive huts |
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| coast near Fahan |
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| beehive huts |
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| beehive huts |
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| farmer's house |
It is nice to see stones to be put to use so skillfully in this area, the extensive low walls surrounding the fields are beautiful, so is the stone house built by a local farmer, respecting tradition.
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| view from Dunbeg Fort |
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| Slea Head |
Carry on to Slea Head and Dunbeg Fort, the most westerly point of Europe. The expansive view of sea and farmlands that stretches up the hill is mind boggling.
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| view from Dunquin Pier |
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| view from Dunquin Pier |
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| going down to Dunquin Pier |
Further on is Dunquin Pier, the place to board a small boat to get to Blasket Island, last inhabited in 1954. The narrow steep path down to the pier and the rock formation around is a feast for the eyes, even when weather is moody.
Clogher Bay Clogher Bay
Last stop is Clogher Bay, again fantastic farmland, sea and sky vistas.
After few weeks of bad weather, needed a break, even though the forecast is not that great, still decided to go for a tour of famous Dingle Peninsula, while there is still not many tourists.
Coming via the north side of the Peninsula, first stop is Brandon Beach, lucky that the sun came out, wonderful colours.
Then went over the mountain via Conor's Pass, the highest in Ireland. It is a narrow driveway at the edge of the cliff, with clear restrictions to limit the size of vehicles that can go. A few stopping places at the top, for this magnificent view.
Arrive at Dingle, pleasant little town with character, not many tacky tourist shops, with quality eating places.
