Pizza gathering

Nice to have friend over for a meal together, created some pizza based on what I have in the garden. 

1. Pizza with confit garlic sauce, scallion and sesame

2. Pizza with tomato sauce, when ready, top with semi-dried tomatoes, fresh basil in olive oil 

3. Pizza with miso cream sauce, fresh pea and Spanish Iberia ham mince, cheese and sprinkle with chive flower before serving

4. Pizza with mustard cream sauce, honey fermented garlic slices for the crunch and sweetness, lamb mince seasoned with 5 spices powder, chili powder, salt and pepper, lastly coriander. 

Flower and herb fermentation

elderflower vinegar

elderflower

elderflower

chive flower

chive flower

elderflower lemon

chive flower vinegar

honey fermented elderflower lemon ginger

chive flower vinegar

honey fermented rosemary lemon ginger

2026年5月30日 賞花惜花

細香葱花色彩紋理都精巧，似朶朶絲花，最方便用來裝飾餸菜、pizza，好看且有蒜香味。花期短，用不完今回學習浸醋，把味道色彩留下。

Elderflower 飲品是多年前英國朋友的介紹，那幽幽青香十分配合夏日天氣。自己試做才知道，一定要下足夠檸檬汁，那香氣才能散發出來，喝時不酸，好奇妙。

花多，又剪下好些浸在醋中，反正夏季常做沙律、漬物，將會有不同花香的醋可用。

自四月中野玫瑰不停開花，香氣撲鼻，花朶只盛開兩天，一向在黃昏，蜜蜂採蜜後收成花瓣，剪走花托不令其長果子，就會繼續長出花蕾，直至夏末。花瓣泡滾水，顏色和香氣都脫落，喝下有益身心。有多的風乾收藏，將來泡茶和送禮都好用。

Elderflower is blooming well, time to do my yearly honey fermented elderflower tonic, this time I added sliced non bitter lemon and ginger in the fermentation, all in one. 

Also learned to marinate elderflower in raw vinegar, well, while there is a lot of flowers around, and I use vinegar in salad and pickling, no harm in having more flavours. 

Chive flower is so pretty, delicate purple with that fine line in the middle of the petal, looks like a silk flower. I like to use them to decorate a dish and also on pizza, for the presentation and a mild onion flavour. As there are more than I can use, I infuse some in vinegar to use later. 

Rosemary is growing so well and there is more than I can cook. Already using a lot every time there is a bbq, but still can’t catch up with it’s growth. Saw this recipe of healthy tonic of rosemary, ginger and lemon syrup, instead of using sugar syrup to infuse, I use raw honey, that I have a lot too, to make a fermented version. 

In raw vinegar and in raw honey, all bottles bubbling away, satisfying my plan to have more fermented food/drink available for daily use. 

Howth seafood

Bought seafood at Howth, compared with ordering online every week, the variety here is good and fish are fresher, bright red gills. 

Among Carlingford oyster, surf clam, squid and mackerel, only the squid is disappointing. Carlingford oyster is as sweet as usual, surf clam is wonderful being very meaty, mackerel is fine but not yet oily. Squid is the tough variety, better for stewing than for bbq. 

Dublin staycation

Stayed in Dublin for a night, for a change of scene, to check out some sights in the capital and see an exhibition in Dublin Castle called Census 1926. The exhibition is interesting as it disclosed the census done 100 years ago, the first one after independence. 

 

2026年5月27日 1926 人口普查

最近看了「1926 年人口普查」展覽，是愛爾蘭獨立五年後，第一個人口普查，一百年後，資料全部公開，讓人民查看。

展出了好些統計，和很多那年代的照片，多張全家福照片，不少有一名兒子是神父，一名女兒是修女，那是合乎當時社會/教會的期望，是否兒女的真心選擇，不得而知。

其中一個統計，特別觸目，是在當時約三百萬人口中，多少能說英語、愛爾蘭語，原來有99%人民能說英語，18%能說愛爾蘭語，和少於1%只能說愛爾蘭語。而到了現在，五百幾萬人口中，能流利地說愛爾蘭語的約2%。

當真意外，愛爾蘭被英國統治百多年後，竟然這麽成功地改變當地人民的語言選擇，是在其他殖民地方沒有的現象也！ 

The other important reason is to eat at Michelin restaurants, a lot there but very few near where I live. 

Tried D’Oulier Street in Dublin center, a 13 courses tasting dinner, tasty dishes, some dishes have really used too many ingredients, good attempt and a nice experience. 

The next morning spend the time at Howth, a peninsula north east of Dublin famous for seafood. It was bitterly cold wind, but the sea scenery is pleasant when the sun finally shine through. 

I was expecting a big market hall, but actually just a number of fish shops and restaurants. Bought some fresh looking mackerel, squid and surf clam. 

Ate at Mamo, run by a French trained Irish chef. I have to say this is one of two best cooked fish I have ever eaten in Ireland in the last 6 year. Just cooked, juicy meat, crispy skin, tasty sauce. 

Sprouting seeds

To supplement home grown veg in this late spring season and add variety, I bought some seeds for sprouting, cress, fenugreek and wheat germ. All germinated well and harvested in a week when the green leaves formed. Among the three, cress has the most distinct flavour, a bit spicy, nice to know there is a lot of nutrients inside these tiny sprouts. 

Venison stew in Tagline

I have a venison shoulder to stew and think of using this Moroccan pot in the oven, good for keeping moisture inside.
I make a sauce with water, miso, garlic, mix spices and herbs from Bulgaria, raisin, hazelnut, salt and date syrup. 
Bring the sauce to boil and warm all sides of the piece of meat, place in Tajine into a cold oven. Turn to 180˚C and cook for 1 hour, turn the meat over half way through. Serve with home grown salad

Butter croissant and pain au chocolate

What a pleasure to find perfectly made croissant and pain au chocolate, good balance of crispiness and bread dough texture. They are from Sunflower bakery in Limerick, they sell it at the Sunday market in our nearby town. They also make very good sourdough bread with different types of flours. Sure with such skill the owner is not Irish, but French, not a surprise.