Holidays in Devon

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Knockin' on Devon's Door....


The holiday plans were, to spend some time in Devon and Cornwall. Some bad weather and some very painful wisdom teeth were to convince us to hop on a boat to France. We spent a nice week in the UK despite my gloomy summary. We camped on a farm and had delicious farm raised sausages for our breakfast. The site ran along the edge of a large stream and made for a tranquil few days in Exmoor National Park. Sadly the wisdom teeth meant little to no real eating. Cream teas, fish 'n chips and Cornish pasties will have to wait till next time.

Camping breakfast in England

River side farm camping in Exmoor

 France was as sunny and hot and oozing with good food. Here are but a few of my snaps - in case you were wondering what happened to June on the blog!

Breakfast in France

What lovely radishes you have

Evening beer in the forest camping

Non edible flowers

Lovely La Rochelle

Boudin Noir 

Cheese mobile - yes all of it!

River side camping in La Marais

Pilgrims walk across the sands to Mont St Michel

Innovative use of brie box
Must eat more brie

ehh final breakfast in France

Next years breakfast in France 

Farm camping in France

That way!

Connemara Adventures

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The Wild West

False Bay

The world of Lola-lu’s Kitchen has been quiet online of late, but having been busy this summer with work (both of us) we’ve been taking our holidays late. Lola was off on a Las Vegas California adventure - while I headed to the Wild West (of Ireland!)

Here’a few food highlights from my travels in the van with Delo from around Connemara and Mayo. We’d the most amazing time, staying in some beautiful remote spots with the most incredible views. Travelling in September found some of the more popular spots quite deserted.

We caught and cooked some fish (not the tastiest fish, but we caught it, so by god we ate it!) We gained some fishing advice from an old fisherman on the pier, which gave us the boost we needed after fishing fruitlessly for several hours.

The Old Fishing Hole

Success!

Getting accustomed to cooking in the dark!

The Connemara Smokehouse  - sitting on the farthest reaches of Ballyconnelly. Populated with a healthy population of seagulls. They run tasting tours with advance notice. The place has a puzzling small chimney for a 'smoke' house! We just called in on Monday morning and bought some fresh organic smoked salmon, which we had for breakfast on brown bread with coffee. It was divine – a lovely subtle smoked salmon that melts in the mouth. They also have a special smoked tuna – maybe not ideal for breakfast but I’ll pick some up next time I’m there.

Breakfast is served

Smokehouse View and the Sea

After a long cycle the following day we bumped into the old fisherman unloading a small currach on the pier, having spent several hours at sea that morning.  I asked him if he’s had a good day and his response was “ah everyday is a good day for me now’ which was just such a wonderful sentiment – expressed so genuinely. After a little chat he asked would we like some crab claws. Of course we said yes and he produced a large crate of crabs and gave us a huge pot full of claws for our dinner, and looked for nothing in return. So happily we set off from the pier and off to False Bay – a spot where my mum used to take us to play in the waves, with huge basket of tuna and egg sandwiches!

False Bay - Ballyconnelly

We parked up for the night in beautiful sunny solitude. After  a swim in the waves we settled down for the night. We had ‘Chilli con Sausage’ for dinner. Like chilli con carne – but with sausages instead of mince.

Van Cooking

Van Cooking

Van Drinking

Cooking

Long Distance Cooking

Chilli Con Sausage

After a nice long evening with a fire and a clear sky. We set a pot of crab claws boiling on the fire. After boiling for about 15 minutes, we set about the them. Words will fail me when I try to describe how amazing these were. Wonderful and tender and buttery, melt in your mouth. We added not a thing to these, and I’m pretty sure they couldn’t be improved on in any way. Thank you lovely fisherman, I’m pretty sure this is a food experience I’ll never forget.

Clab Claws by Day

Clab Claws by Night

We stayed with Delo's relations on their farm in Moycullen in  Galway. They have tons of chickens and we ate some of the most delicious eggs, bright orange yokes, and tasted incredible. Renewed my ambition to own my own chickens asap - they'll love my little balcony honestly!

Freshest Scrambled Eggs

Omie Island - Access via sandbank. Minutes later up to our axels in sand with the tide rising! Not funny, got towed out by some friendly druids, not a happy 20 minutes of my life

After nearly loosing Mister (the van) in the sea – we wished him a happy 40th birthday with  a lovely apple cake from Walsh’s Bakery in Cliften, Galway. This is an incredible shop with a huge variety of breads and cakes. We sampled some great bread rolls, a baileys éclair (amazing!) this cake and a good hearty farmhouse loaf. I would highly recommend a visit if you’re in the area, a really top class bakery. 

Spiddal

Front View - Spiddal

Killary Harbour View Mayo - nice spot!

View from Diamond Hill - Connemara National Park

Then as part of Cliften Arts week there was a performance, with glass seahorses suspended from a crane, and about a hundred kids all dressed in costumes of lights. There was dancing, fire juggling, fire hula-hooping, a fire breathing horse, and then a parade of multi-coloured castle towers! An amazing night for a birthday. 

Cliften Arts Week

Detail of Glowing Castle Tower

Master of Ceremonies

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Anne’s Wonderful Rich Chai Syrup
From Berlin with Love

Anne sent us over a lovely xmas package with some goodies- a yellow spatula, a cute re-usable spotty bag, and best of all some super tasty chai syrup which she knocked up her self. We promptly finished the bottle and then craving more, begged for the recipe, which she very kindly provided.

The syrup is deep with flavour and is sweet without being too sickly. Anne said it would make the house smell great - and by god it did!

Ingredients
2 teaspoon of pepper corns
3 stick of cinnamon
2 tablespoons of cardamon pods
Root ginger, thinly sliced - 3 inch section
2 teaspoons of cloves
3 jars of honey
1 litre of water
Clean and sterilised jars

Mix and crush gently all of the big spices - and then tip into1 liter of water - bring to the boil and simmer gently for 30 mins. Stir in 2 Barry’s tea-bag (Anne was very specific about this, had to be Barry's!) for two mins until a rich deep tea red color.

Sieve the water to rid it of any bits and pieces. Then add the three jars of honey. Bring this to a gently boil until it thickens up and darkens slightly.

Pour into sterilised jars. We did this by boiling them in a big pan of water for 20 minutes. The recipe makes in terms of volume about equal to the amount of honey that you put in – so if you like you could sterilize the jars that you took the honey from.

This syrup is great poured into hot milk, with blueberries over yogurt, on apple pancakes and also very, very good in tea. I’m tempted to use it as the sweetener in a fresh batch of granola also. We made two type on with Barry sand the other with green tea. The barry’s turned out a bit richer and a darer colour. Anne asked for a vanilla pod in the recipe – but we didn’t have one- maybe that’s the secret ingredient.

Thanks Anne I foresee this becoming a kitchen staple - see you for St Patricks Day!

The foods of New York

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Never fear, we are still here!

We have been quiet recently, that's because we are on our holidays in New York City, which means no new recipes as no way are we cooking with so many great and cheap places to eat in this town. We know all our millions of readers need their Lola-lu's kitchen fix, so here is a list of everything we have eaten so far.

Chicken and beef (on the plane)

bagels

Ice coffee with half and half

Bagel with turkey and American cheese

reuben bagel

Slice of pizza bianco

Slice of pizza with chicken and broccoli

Burger

Fish tacos

fettuccine with spinach and cream

croque madame

moules mariners

Teriaki chicken burger with caper and wasabi ailoi

corn beef hash with fried eggs

Pancakes with syrup

French toast with bacon and maple syrup

More bagels

More coffee

Lots of alcohol

ice cream

And we have only been here 5 days.... no vegetables! This is like a list from 'you are what you eat' or 'this is why you are fat'.... oh dear...

Off for dinner in Korea town/hen party madness. Will update with photos soon!

Lemon & Tarragon Barbecued Whiting

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Fish in a Box

This is a quick and delicious way to prepare fish, the tarragon lightly infuses the meat as it cooks gently over a medium heat barbecue. The slices of lemon lend a subtle flavour, whilst preventing the fish from sticking to your grill or 'fish box'.
Gut your whiting, fill the cavity with some fresh tarragon and some slices of lemon - salt and pepper gently. Then place some other slices of lemon on either side and place into your 'fish box' This makes it so much easier to turn the fish and prevents fall apart.

Cooks in 10 -12 minutes.