Who says it rains in Ireland??

We're over in the homeland for the annual summer family check in. Rumor has it it was raining for a month before we arrived but I guess we brought the good weather with us as it has been gorgeous since we arrived. And by gorgeous I mean dry and mostly sunny. I have to say if the weather's nice here there's nowhere else I'd rather be. Funny though, as soon as the sun makes an appearance the shorts and t-shirts go on and lots of farmers' tans to been seen! Makes people watching good craic. Just to let you all see what 'summer' in Ireland looks like (since it's actually Sept), here's a quick taste. We've been doing plenty of eating and drinking as you can imagine so check back for those photos as we'll be giving the local restaurants and pubs the once over. Thank God for Chaser!

Our neighbour Erica has been an avid gardener for longer than I've been around here. She's grown everything from artichokes to corn to tomatoes and so on. But this time something clicked and I found myself wandering over there to take a gander at what she was up to. It was brilliant. She had lettuce, cabbage, swiss chard, mint, oregano, carrots...the whole 9 yards. It reminded me of growing up in Ireland, where growing your own veg was the norm. You didn't need a hugh selection maybe some carrots, potatoes and onions. Enough to make soup or an Irish stew.

This got the juices flowing to start blogging on Urban Gardens. Myself and herself try to eat local as much as possible so this idea is right up our alley. And even more surprising, it has spread like wildfire throughout our neighborhood. Erica kindly lent a portion of her garden to our other neighbours Chris and Jen, who have planted even more veg like eggplant, leeks, arugula, beets, pole beans and zucchini. Herself the elf decided to jump on the bandwagon and starting small, she planted some herbs such as cilantro, thyme, oregano and basil. On the other side of us Cristina and Dave are trying their hands at heirloom tomatoes so by summer we should be in good shape to salad party!

The best part about this though is that we're a beach neighborhood in Los Angeles, CA. For those of you at home still shivering, tough! It's great to see the community bonding together over home-grown organic food. I've decided to keep track of the growth spurts in both gardens in hopes of inspiring some of you out there to try your own Urban Garden. I'm going to pass on all the info I get from these two and any of you out there who want to pass on any insights, don't be afraid! Let your inner jolly green giant pop out.

It feels great to be surrounded by these organic veggies (cabbages and all) and my fellow beach foodies.

Check out the video!

MARCH MADNESS OF IRISH GRUB

Just when you thought I had checked out, I'm back with a vengeance! I started a new job last week which kiboshed me from doing any blog stuff but I've got some excellent ideas brewing for the entire month of March. In honor of my favorite holiday St. Paddy's Day (big shock) I am dedicating March the month of the Irish (which should be most months but we'll just take one!). I'll be cooking some delicious food that I ate growing up as well as some 'healthified' traditional grub. I'll even throw in some factoids and sips of Guinness along the way....how else would the Irish do it?!
On the board this week:

Ya, it's all about parsnips! The lovely parsnip...a staple in all kitchens growing up. Don't know much about them? Here's what's not on the box;

The ancient veg is thought to have originated around the eastern Mediterranean region and believed that the Celts brought them back from their forays to the east. In Medieval Europe sugar was rare & honey expensive. Moreover the starchy potato had not yet arrived; the only alternative was the sweet, starchy parsnip. Introduced to North America by early settlers they were used as a sweetener until the development of the sugar beet in the 19th century. In Italy, pigs bred for the best quality Parma are still fed on parsnips.

Parsnips are richer in vitamins & minerals than cousin carrot and are sweeter & almost nutty in taste. They are packed with fiber, offering more than that found in many ready-to-eat cereals. They are low in calories, but that depends on how you cook them, of course. Though they get along famously with butter and honey I've got some tricks to cook them without adding all the extra calories while keeping all the flavor. Thanks to Wikipedia and Innvista.

Now that I've introduced you to Sir. Parsnip, stay tuned all week to see the recipes!

MY LAST SUPPER

Have you ever thought about what you'd want to eat as your last meal? I hadn't really until I saw this book by Melanie Dunea, with introduction by Anthony Bourdain. It asks the same questions to each chef: What would you have? Where would you have it? What would you drink? Who would you be with? Who would cook it? You've got the most elite men and women in the culinary world featured here from Raymond Blanc to Nobu to Charlie Trotter with 47 others in between. You'll recognise a lot of the names and others you won't until now.
For me this book is great 'cause it gives a little insight into what makes them tick. I liked when I heard Ramsay's last meal would be roast beef and Yorkshire pudding with wine at home with the wife and kids, because I can relate to it, well without the kids part. However, when I went on to read about Martin Picard who would have a multi course meal: a kilo of caviar, truffles- black and white, cured foie gras...with wine, champagne and vodka...for me, a bit over the top, but whatever floats your boat!
Once you've amused yourself with the pictures, (visualise Jamie Oliver with the Union Jack and a naked Anthony Bourdain holding a cow's leg by his manhood) a great added bonus are the recipes in the back. Each chef gave their last supper recipe, like Thomas Keller's Roast Chicken recipe and Wylie Dufresne's Burger with Fried Egg. It's good to see that just because these masters of the kitchen are renowned for their genius, at the end of the day they like the simple things too.
And yes, I've been thinking about it...What would my last supper be? There's a little pub not far from my hometown called Spillane's. It's located next to a very small harbour which over-looks the Atlantic ocean. I can see myself sitting there with my friends, having a homemade crab sandwich on freshly baked soda bread and a pint of Guinness on a beautiful summers day. Sounds good right? Ireland in summer, where else would you be? On the other hand because we only get 3 days of summer a year it might be a bit of a gamble so I think I'll go to Tahiti instead. I'm sure I can get a crab sandwich there!

Murphy's Irish Christmas

As you all saw in the previous blog, we went to the homeland for Christmas. Had a great time and as expected it rained for 10 out of our 12 days. Not surprising but just meant we had to go to the pub more. No other option really, was there? Pretty much ate and drank the whole time which was great. Lots of lazy days and there's nothing like home-cooking is there?

We ate in a few of the local restaurants which were ok. We did go to a pub/restaurant called The Tankard, near my home town which serves mainly seafood. That was good. All the seafood is caught locally and it's near the main port so the fishermen drink in the bar. I thought that was great. Since I moved to the States, I have noticed the number of ethnic restaurants has increased at home. We ate in a Thai restaurant one night and I have to say it was very good. At least it was run by a Thai couple unlike the Italian place I went to which was run by some Romainians. Not an Italian in sight. Pretty bad.

I found that a lot more people at home are now willing to try different types of food which is great, unlike when I was growing up our only choices were sheperds pie, lasagne and bacon & cabbage. Always good but I love the fact that, from a food point of view, with the EU being an open market Ireland is now multi-cultural so people are able to eat all types of food any night of the week.

We had a great time but was glad to get away from the wind and rain. I think I've become California spoiled! Glad to be back!