The life of a suitcase !

the big shmoke, fun and food to be had, but not for me !!

there are many pros and cons of living out of a suitcase, of which i have been for the past 10 days or so...

ONE of which is not being able to make my own food, which is highlighted in the fact that that I cant realistically afford to go and eat out in beautiful fooderies around London !

OK, so there was one exception :-)

(sort of exception!) i went to Won Kei a few nights ago for a sneaky plate of squid in spicy black bean...i was to scared to take pictures though, they were angry enough at the fact I couldn't eat squid with chop sticks...ashamed to say it, im new to this blogging and need hints to taking sneaky photography!!!.JEEZE, i DESERVED it though...after 4 days of Bikram Yoga, I DESERVED to pig out !!! The food was delishious, and whilst some people are not keen on the staff environment there, I love the food and go back EVERY time.

of course coming to london is not coming to london without frequenting the whole foods on High Street Kensington for some sample snacking.... I do buy occasionally though so in the HIGHLY unlikely scenario that anyone remotely linked to whole foods reads this...PLEASE dont stop being generous with samples to keep bums patrons like me from abusing enjoying your beautiful samples...nice one ;-)

ALSO ON THE CARDS....Towersey Festival !!!!

amazing times were had by one and all....I was tutoring team percussion on the Shooting Roots program.

way to go with the 10/8 riffs gang !!!

unrelated to music, I also nearly bought a Tagine.... then reality kicked in....They better have  some sort of a good oven in my new apartment in Stuttgart! also nearly bough a buffy the vampire slayer mouse matt...resisted that too- LOL

Speaking of, I also saw a fantastic Aga shop in the close town of Thame. Its an inherited dream of mine from Mum to have an Aga, even though im HUGELY a little impatient when cooking I love the idea of soda bread and grilled toast and slow roasts with veg etc etc etc etc .. one day maybe !

is this an aga shop i see before me...

Amongst the good and great food in Toweresey were the Pizzas....homemade, in front of you, all fresh ingredients from the tomaters to the dough...ALL FRESH and delicious ! UN surprisingly they sold out pretty quickly on the last day...I foreseeing this made best use of their offering on the Thursday and Friday !!! check out their site HERE

any self respecting food blogger couldnt resist a first bite before the photo !

queuing not so patiently!!!!

NOOOOOOOOOOOO !!!!

 MUSICAL HIGHS ...there were so many, notably though...quartet Kan were fantastic ALTOGETHER. They really won me over with there sets and were technically, musically on it :-)

and for the fitting finale, the great procession of lanterns around the festival site...

Il surely be back to Towersey !!

tomorrow to Germany, to REITERATE, they BETTER have a good oven.... !!!!!!!!!!!!!


ruairi :-)

bye Ireland xxx

For my last day in Ireland, Dad suggested we took a 3 hour hike along the East Cork coast line... 

this is what we saw...

 stunning scenery...

 And...

beautiful barley shaking in the wind

25 mins into the walk, i suggested we turn back and get lunch in the Farm Gate in Middleton ( he agreed WITHOUT hesitation).  By lunch, I mean three huge courses at noon, not even propper lunch time, just after breakfast!. Being seasoned competitive eaters, we savored the challenge with relish. Although, seeing as I had a 16 hour coach/boat/coach trip ahead of me, im sure I can be forgiven peeps...as for dad, he will have to live with the guilt :-D

The food was almightily good as usual...

Chouder to start,

yum, fresh fresh fresh !

Deep fried Squid with chiliesque/pesto sauce... i feel an obsession with squid coming on!

just enough sauce !

Choklit cake for desert...WITH ice cream ( which i specifically requested )

what can i say, choko cake....

not good trying to catch the runaway dog afterwards when we got home (mum if you read this DAD LET HER OUT; NOT ME I PROMISE ) anyways...

 dog was caught unharmed, I left the back door open and waited and watched from my bedroom window for her  to venture back into the house... i then swiftly jumped out the window and closed the door. ruairi-1, milly the dawg-0 :-D bring it on dawg !!!!

So....

cheers to 16 hours overnight innna bus that smells like smelly feet :-Z Although, some good did come from the grueling trip, I had an op-rah moment ( an epiphany, if you will)...

instead of buying newspapers for the recipes, just take pictures of the recipe pages and save me everyone some money ...and the environment. Please dont sue me big paper companies who im sure are following my blog diligently ( i have about 10 hits altogether, woo woo go me!!) I got a really good foccacia bread recipe which I look forward to trying once I get to Germany ! with mozzarella, homemade pesto and cherry tomatoes

ruairi :-)

PS. Major thanks to Lucy for being my first follower ( besides the fact that i am following myself, of course) You shall be rewarded with a mighty feast of your choice....and ...
1 millleeeooon euro(s) !!!

last views of Ireland til Chrimbo time x

blueberry and strawberry buckle

I found a nice recipe for blueberry and strawberry cake buckle...

click here to find it.... now, im not going to lie, mine look pretty different to the ones on the blog, but i guarentee they were really delishious-ness in the form of a bun...im not sure that traditionally they are supposed to be served with ice cream and lumpy strawberry coulis...or strawberries atall...:-Z ....hopefully nobody gets offended. Essentially, my intentions were good and i did my best, given the circumstances( the cupboards were bare)

moist and delicious and a little bit almond-ee

pre blitze nerves for these poor suckers

happier and more tasty now with a sprinkle of sugar

above and below,my choice of serving for this particular afternoon..

i blitzed some strawberries with some light white sugar to make a sauce to go on top of some homemade vanilla ice cream in the freezer ( not made by me...by dad surprisingly!!)

Check out more of the food librarians recipes, here 

ruairi :-)

i love chickens

after the car-boot shenanigansof yesturday, mum and i decided to treat ourselves to dinner at the Fota Island Golf Club...

Fota Island Resort - Dining at the Golf Club check it out...... 

I had ribeye steak which was actually done a proppa medium :-) (wiki quoteThe middle of the steak is hot and red with pink surrounding the center. The outside is gray-brown.) mum had posh style fishie and chippie. The highlight was desert, choco/hazlenut/toffee brownie with crunchie( as in the cadburrys bar ) ice-cream and cream and choco sauce....collectivly, it had a fancy name which i cant remember....

photo dont do it justice

halfway point

add in a trip to ruairi town Cobh, my place of living ages 8-18 for good measure.

my old haunts....

my old dirt track street...no postcodes here ;-)

 
Add in plenty of catch ups with old friends.......................
such as one of my old pet chickens who apparently is one of the oldest chickens in Ireland...

mrs brown

NOT KIDDING.....
not about

 the fact that as a child i personally kept chickens and ducks
 the fact that this chicken is friggin old
 i count a chicken as  a friend

also 

this chicken is called mrs. brown 

this chicken has a theme song

re; chicken age.....thats what i was told from a very reliable source, and i peronally believe that this is one of the oldest chickens in ireland...circa 11 years old

Wowza :-D

ruairi :-)

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car boot extravaganza.....

so today me and mum had the joys of chucking out selling some junk of our unwanted possessions at Castletownroche car boot sale. Fun times were had by all...


best sale of the day was a toss up between a wickless candle and a broken plastic tree to a woman who couldn't read ... for 2 shiny euyoyos ... dont ask .... i was getting us coffee when mum made the sale, not sure how conversation got to literacy, maybe mum tried to flog her a book togo with the candle?...


 My artful sale of an old pair of my  size 9 school shoes to a size 7 woman for a euro ( yes they were for her) also was one to remember ....also I unintentionally attempted to hustle encourage a woman to purchase a dutch book mum had just picked out of the jeep, incidentally she didn't understand what I was saying because she was Dutch.


Major LOLS :-D ....what are the chances...


Anyways, i made buckets of dosh and saw some really cool crap, not that the olsens are cool or nothing.

It was also really sunny( by Irish standards) 



And there was yummy cake.

So to celebrate my natural reaction was to make some cakes, my favorite salmon cakes....

Recipie


Ingredients

• Tin of cheap salmon... dont be tempted to use the expensive shizz, to put it polietly, it wont mish-mush together and be as yummy....ya


• chick peas


• cooked couscous... i cook with hot water and wine and stock


• chopped pepper


• chopped spring onion


• a few table spoons of flour


• lemon and lime


• an egg ( VERRY IMPORTANT!!!!!)


• herbs ( mum has a basil plant that I butchered)


• toasted bread-crumbs


• sesame seeds

Blitz salmon, chickpeas,  flour and egg with a blitz machine

add chopped veg and herbs or whatevs you feel like/have, i used sping onion and pepper. add lemon and lime, with lots of salt and peppa.

shake it all about...

toast and crumifie blitz some bread into bread-crumbs...add flour and sesame seeds

get a fist of mix and make into a nice ball and dip it into crumb mix...

put in fridge for 15 mins...or the freezer for 5 mins ( i did the freezer, who wants to wait 15 mins...)

heat a thick amount of (olive) oil on a big pan....when heated put patties into oil and flatten into cake shapes...ie salmon cakes , not balls....

Turn ONCE for good luck :-D
 
serve.........

I had mine with white wine mushy peas to dip into....

and grilled cherry tomatoes on rocket ... smother with dark sugar and rock salt before grilling ....its cool because they looked like burst eyeballs

perfect for outside in the sun with a glass of wine and friends .....or inside watching the hills on MTV.....

guess what i did :-D

ruairi :-)

Granny and the Min-ster...

Ive been spending the last few days with my granny  and my SUPER cool aunt. (AUNTIEE MINNAEYYY)

Shes amazing and still the wittiest person ever at 88 years young...her stories are long and brilliant !

We share lots in common, and I mean lots, its scary…such as…

Our love of food, particularly of the Asian nature.

And maple syrup

And dressing dogs in clothes…check out these timberland booties, apparently for when its snowing. Snoopy works these pink babys out below for the camera. Surely worthy of doggie edition of vogue,

Furthermore…



Im SO lucky to have the greatest aunt ever (cite wikipedia) My auntie Minnie is the best company ever and we always have a great time catching up about everything.






I also re-discovered Tracey Chapman on the bus journey up, truly amazing… the 6 hours flew. Love this song

Anyways, time to plan for tomorrows car boot sale in aid of the Ruairi Is Broke Foundation. Expect haggling with children and strong cork accents  from me and mum. Car boots are always eventful….the last one ended with mum being kicked by a miniature pony :-D good times…

ruairi :-)

aldeburgh times...

aldeburgh!




Bring on the Mo Fo’ fish and chips!!!




so, after a quick stop off in London for a night ( spent with Jane my partner in crime.....!) im en route to Aldeburgh for some music-ee time.




to be honest…




the best thing about visiting Aldeburgh is without doubt the fish and chips



So in preparation for a mighty feast, ive been starving myself…how about that for maturity! My stomach had been grumbling  SO LOUDLY, including for the entirety of the train journey leaving my seat mates( completely anonymous might I add…) looking a little bit uncomfortable…good times :-D




its worth it....trust me....




i went for the classic cod chips and mushy peas ( the peas didn’t make to photo cut) all for a fiver…which was truly epic.




mash in some micro session with the aldeburgh toy bodhran too…funny

also

my band, Tir Eolas have just booked a gig in the super nice venue, The Troubadore on the 19th October :-D ....




come and join us




ruairi :-)

my first blog :-D

Hello :-) im ruairi and i like stuff

like percussion

and mozzarella

and avocados

amongst others....

although, as most who know me know, mozzarella is my thing at the moment. as a final holiday treat and incentive to excersize i made a huge steak sandwich today ( well...pita)

YUM......

possibly the most satisfying meal ever..

pita + mozzarella in grill...


roast whole corn on top...more grill


mushy avocados from lidl (45cent!!!!! wtf !!!!) ontop


marinaded steak on griddle


slap the steak on pita and grate( or mush) more mozzers :-)


more grill times


many thanks mammy glash for the collaboration, growing the green salad


(pictured below)




and now to Aldeburgh....


ps. that's my three legged dog, poppy,


masquerading as my mum, who would freak if i put pictures of her holing lettuce on the internet !

ruairi :-)