The ingredients

Add one hungry boy just home from school

Who doesn’t even wait for pasta to be cooked

400 ml of olive oil was supposed to be used and I promise I won’t take out my soap box, (haven’t time – hungry boy waiting to be fed), but I only used 45 ml olive oil, (measured it – three tablespoonfuls) and it was plenty. Chopped garlic followed by chopped chilli were cooked in the heated oil. Tomatoes were then added, seasoned and cooked until soft. I threw the pan in the oven. The recipe says cook for 30 minutes. I found it took only about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile I cooked the pasta. The pasta, tomatoes, rocket and basil were gently mixed and grated parmesan was sprinkled over.

20 minutes from starting

10 minutes later

Into the ‘definitely repeat’ category. Fast food for the win

We met a number of pairs of swans along the river. Interestingly swans form pairs that last for many years, and can last for life. However genetic techniques are starting to show that ‘divorces’ are more common than previously thought among swans!

Another pair

And another

The importance of not having a stiff neck.

The dogs curious at first, bravely approached the swans but after lots of hissing … reconsidered, and retreated well back.

Other wildlife

There are some lovely fisherman’s huts along the riverside, in various states of repair. Here are some of the nicer examples.

Bridges along the way, old and not so old

Night began to fall

Plassey house, known as the ‘White House’ because because it’s … white and/or contains the offices of the President of the University. Originally the estate was owned by Robert Clive who renamed it Plassey after his victory in India. He later became Lord Clive of Plassey.

The house is three stories high, the third floor being cleverly hidden in the roof level.

Plassey House was the only building on the campus when Denis was part of the first intake of students to UL, (then NIHE) in 1972. That first year five courses were on offer; two in engineering, two in business and one in European studies.

Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery hand in hand,
For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand.

W.B. Yeats

So far we have seven members, Marian, Treasa, Cathy, Marie, Lorna, Val and yours truly.

Our first book has been selected ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’, the 2007 novel by Afghan author Khaled Hosseini, as suggested by Marian.

We will all be busy reading, ready to post our reviews midday, Easter Sunday.

Who knows, maybe this time next year our fledgling online book club might be celebrating its first birthday at the Ennis Book Festival with all the other book clubs

Update to above. We are now at nine members, Edie and Jenn have just joined.

Today is World Book Day, the biggest annual celebration of books and reading in the UK and Ireland.

Ennis Book Club Festival is on this weekend with readings/talks by authors such as Lionel Shriver, Joseph O’Connor, Paul Durcan, Tim Pat Coogan, Diarmaid Ferriter and David McWilliams to name a few. More information here. I have something else on so can’t go to the events I would have been interested in. Pity. I read the quotation above on their brochure.

With all the talk of books, it’s such a pity to hear that Hughes & Hughes, one of the Ireland’s largest bookshop chains, has just gone into receivership. I met Derek Hughes a few times and he seemed to be a very nice, hard-working man. I hate to see yet another company go … 225 jobs just like that.

Now to the idea I mentioned. Would any blog readers be interested in forming a ‘BBC’, a ‘Blog Book Club’?

What I suggest is if a group of bloggers were to read the same book each month, write a review of it and post it on their blog. The book to be read each month would be selected by the members. We could agree that we would simultaneously post on a particular day/time each month, say midday on the first Sunday or some such time. It would be very interesting to read different people’s review of the same book.

It’s much along the lines of a traditional book club except this is done through blogging.

What do you think? If you are interested, please leave a comment below.

For a similar reason I was critical of the Avoca’s Salad’s book. A number of the salad recipes were loaded with almost hidden calories.

Darina Allen is one person I admire for her trojan work for Irish food. Her latest book ‘Forgotten Skills of Cooking’ is a cultural masterpiece in my humble opinion. But I would still be critical of Darina Allen’s heavy use of cream and butter in recipes.

How can we fight obesity if recipes in relatively ‘ordinary’ cookbooks written by professional chefs are so calorie laden?

According to latest OECD data available, 51% of the Irish adult population in 2007 were either overweight or obese (BMI > 25kg/m2). This is a frightening statistic when one realises how many medical conditions are directly related to excess weight. (For the record, the figure for Switzerland was 37% and the UK was 61%. No data was available for the US.)

Jamie Oliver is one professional chef whose crusading I hugely admire. His campaigning against the use of processed foods in schools. His campaigning to change unhealthy diets and poor cooking habits for the better across the UK. His training in the restaurant business of young adults from disadvantaged backgrounds. His latest project is in Huntington, West Virginia where he tries to change the way Americans eat and depend on fast food.

Jamie Oliver received the 2010 TED Prize for his campaigns to “create change on both the individual and governmental level” in order to “bring attention to the changes English and now Americans need to make in their lifestyles and diet.”

TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is a U.S private nonprofit foundation devoted to what it calls “ideas worth spreading”. Its lectures or TED Talks are subject to a strict time limit of 18 minutes, referred to on occasion in jest as the TED commandment. From 2005 to 2009, three $100,000 TED Prizes were awarded annually to help winners realise a chosen “wish to change the world”. Previous winners included Bono in 2005 and Bill Clinton in 2007. From 2010, only one winner was chosen to ensure that TED can maximize its efforts of achieving the winner’s wish. Each winner unveils their wish at the main annual conference – within the specified 18 minutes.

Here is Jamie Oliver’s speech on receiving his TED prize. I’m not sure how he got away with his ‘longer than 18 minutes’ speech but it really is worth watching.

His TED wish was simply

“I wish for your help to create a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity.”

I really feel Jamie has his finger on the pulse, so to speak. Learning to cook healthy food is a life-skill. It’s our medicine for health and our health is our responsibility. It’s our medicine in the fight against obesity. It can be done so cheaply even in these recessionary times and there’s nothing as nice as being able to share good home-cooked, healthy food with family and friends.

Dear professional chefs

Can I just remind you that half of the Irish adult population is either overweight or obese. It’s not much different in other countries either. Can you just consider this small fact a little more when write scrumptious recipes for the likes of me to cook at home. Your report card says ‘Shows great ability but could try harder’.

One of your recipe followers

All above is correct chez Collison other than atheist Papa says no prayers, daily or otherwise.

Friday pizza making chez Collison has a number of origins.

First about thirteen years ago Denis and I stayed for a few days at the Arbutus Lodge in Cork. At some stage over our stay, I commented on the great breads. The person serving us was the owner. We had a good chat about bread baking and she said that her husband, Declan, gets up early every morning to bake. She recognised that I was interested and asked if I wanted to get up the following morning to watch him. That night we were meeting friends. I excused myself early as I had to be up with the birds … and the baker.

At 5am the following morning, leaving sleeping beauty in bed, I quietly crept down to the kitchen. There things weren’t so quiet. Declan was already up and the ovens were going. For a few hours he made different breads, sourdough, yeast, soda, ciabatta, focaccia and finally ending with pizza. Much of what he made that morning was for sale at the English Market. I helped, learned a lot and thoroughly enjoyed my lesson with a master.

A number of years later I read in the paper that the Ryans sold the Arbutus Lodge and Declan set up a multi-award winning bakery, Arbutus Bread Ltd.

Here’s what the Bridgestone Guide said

Declan Ryan’s pioneering bakery is one of the most important artisan businesses in Ireland …

Another source of our inspiration into making pizza from scratch at home was a fantastic restaurant in Sligo called Truffles, run by Bernadette O’Shea. Alas this restaurant is no more. Here’s a review of this restaurant from the New York Times in 1994. I love Bernadette O’Shea’s book Pizza Defined.

I can’t really remember how ’sleeping beauty’ rather than ‘keen pupil’ became chez Collison’s chief pizza maker. But he did. And I’m so glad he did. I do most of the cooking at home so love when it comes to pizza night. It’s part of the ‘Thank God it’s Friday’ feeling.

Over the years various mice helped with pizza making. I remember middle-mouse entering chez Collison’s pizza recipe in a children’s cookery competition.

Here’s a pizza making picture essay.

First up getting the tomato sauce on, basically lots of garlic and tomato

Pizza Chef at work

Chat is important

I was away for the early dough stages and just arrived home for kneading the dough

Pizza shovel needed

Table ready

Nyom nyom

The Papa, the Papa! Tradition.
The Papa, the Papa! Tradition.

According to the calendar, it’s the first of February. In the US it’s the 21st March, the spring equinox. According to nature it’s beginning to happen around now.

Lambs are appearing

Photo owned by rs-foto (cc)

The hedgerows are beginning to green up

Snowdrops are plentiful

Tulip bulbs are bursting forth

Even some early daffodils have appeared

I think we can say spring has sprung … or at least is certainly springing.

But I won’t. I’m going to include the occasional review. Who knows I might even discover new places

The ‘rents, as youngest mouse calls us, dropped said mouse to friends in Rosslare to go to see the other RENT, RENT the musical on Saturday night.

Lower case ‘rents decided to visit Kelly’s in Rosslare. This is a hotel I’ve heard lots about but had never visited. Its restaurant is one of those included in Zest cookery book. We hadn’t booked ahead as we were unsure of our exact plans and felt we wouldn’t have too much trouble in February, on the weekend after (the madness of) Valentine’s Day.

An article in yesterday’s Irish Times quotes Bill Kelly, the fourth generation of his family to run the hotel, who said they had a successful year last year and made a profit. This is good to hear in these tough economic times for hotels.

The only dinner bookings available were the first (6.30pm) sitting in “la Marine”, which they describe as a modern style French Bistro, tastefully decorated with an Open Wine Cellar serving traditional French and European dishes or the second sitting in Beaches restaurant, an elegant diningroom with a relaxing atmosphere surrounded by many paintings by Leading Artists.

Who says the recession is in Rosslare on a cold February evening. We opted for the later sitting among the paintings.

The bedroom was really nice and clean with all the usual. We didn’t come equipped so didn’t try out the leisure facilities.

The hotel is very family friendly. I love children but must admit that even I got a little bit tired of children running up and down the corridor outside our bedroom before dinner. Mental note made not to come here in peak season. I was almost glad that children were not allowed in Beaches restaurant.

Beaches restaurant was a big L-shaped open room. Oh yes there were paintings on the walls but it didn’t take from the canteen feel. Later I found out it can sit 250 – 300, the biggest dining room in Ireland apparently.

A look around at the clientele made me feel that I was at a Bank of Ireland or AIB AGM. I nearly expected someone to start giving out about the savaging their shares had taken. They didn’t though the shares did!

We were immediately seated. Menus were brought. We were asked what we would like to drink. Drinks were brought and then my next quibble. We were asked for our room number and sign for the pre-dinner drinks. Why could they not have been added to our food order?

With all the earlier talk of two sittings, with all the staff moving fast, with the sheer size of the room, I was beginning to feel like I was in a production process and that feeling never left me all night. An efficient production process but nevertheless a production process. As we looked at the menu, the table beside us was cleared. We were in a line of five tables for two, close together. I said to myself, great, now I’ll have a bit of breathing space. I shouldn’t have bothered. Within about five minutes, that table was re-set and two new operators were soon perusing menus.

We chose our food and menus were efficiently put back in a menu holder on the wall. I glanced around and saw another holder near the next set of tables.

I was beginning to want to jump off the conveyor.

The evening’s dinner menu consisted of a choice of eight starters, eight main courses and seven desserts including a selection of farm house cheeses. We had:

Crab Crème Brûlée with Picked Cucumber

Warm Mediterannean Style Bruschetta with Goats Cheese

Steamed Fillet of Hake with Shrimps and Bonne Femme Sauce

Roast Stuffed Saddle of Lamb with Mint Gravy, with vegetables in between!

Selection of Farm House Cheeses

I forgot to take a picture. As we often do, one of us had cheese and shared.

Golden Raisin Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce

Denis was really selfish here. He wouldn’t eat his share of dessert, poor me

Overall the food was good, good but not exceptional. The dinner menu cost €45. The high point was the Crab Crème Brûlée. The low points were poor bread selection, poor vegetable selection and they were served in cold dishes so cooled quickly. The three dishes of vegetables were 1) baton carrots and parsnips with three sugar snaps, 2) potatoes gratin dauphinois (lovely) and 3) mashed potatoes. If I’m to be really picky, the fish main course was described as ‘Steamed Fillet of Hake with Shrimps and Bonne Femme Sauce’. The stuffing included lots of crab meat, which hadn’t been included in the description. Since I had a crab starter, I would have chosen a different main course had I known.

By now you’ve guessed service was very efficient. So efficient that while we were eating main course, another chit, this time for bottle of wine, was brought to himself again looking for room number and signature. Said bottle of wine was lovely. A south African Pinotage, made from organic grapes, chosen by himself. Their wine list was very extensive, strong on French wines.

I watched the manager ‘work’ the room like a good politician.

By the end of the night I was longing to be in Fawlty Towers. I felt Bill Kelly (the owner) has the process so ship shape here, he should go and run the health service. I’m being harsh but …

Tea and coffee were served in the Ivy Lounge. I would normally hate this if I were enjoying a meal. It’s done to increase table turnover but since I wasn’t enjoying the ambience of the restaurant, I didn’t much mind moving down the conveyor to the Ivy Lounge.

I tried to have a word in this lady’s ear when passing. She just wouldn’t listen.

The Ivy Lounge had live music going. We ran out of the place.

Breakfast next morning was good, but again not exceptional. At the end of breakfast the chit comes again, ‘What’s your room number … can you please sign here’. This time it was for the Americano coffees we had ordered with breakfast. I queried this on grounds that I felt the rate we had paid for Dinner, Bed and Breakfast, (see below), surely could have accommodated this, plus no one mentioned an extra charge. The waitress looked unconvinced so I said don’t worry, I’d say it to the guy who looked and behaved like the Restaurant Manager. He said no problem.

After breakfast, I had a look at the art. Reception had a listing which was really useful, even if it was a bit out of date. The hotel has an amazing art collection numbering a few hundred pieces, displayed over walls in many rooms of the hotel. Paintings by Pauline Bewick, Louis Le Brocquy, Anne Madden, Charles Lambe, Maurice McGonigal, Andy Warhol, Graham Knuttle, pieces of sculpture by Rowan Gillespie and John Behan to just name a few. I was really sorry not to have had more time to have a better look.

I’ve had read lots of good reviews of Kelly’s hence why I wanted to come. I was underwhelmed. I sometimes think that one’s strengths can become one’s weaknesses. I feel this hotel has mastered the art of good food and service in volume. Therein lies the problem, To do volume one has to have a very efficient process. That very efficiency was the undoing of me. I won’t be back but I can guarantee you, Kellys needn’t worry about that because lots will.

Dinner (drinks not included), Bed and Breakfast for one night cost €275 and that was a special rate. Not good value in my book. Interestingly the €8.80 for the Americano coffees was on the bill, though we’d never signed the chit. Needless to say they removed it, once I pointed it out.

Despite the above, ‘rents enjoyed their short visit to Rosslare and youngest mouse had a great night at RENT.

Has anyone been to Kelly’s?

Well maybe far less playing and much more trouncing.

Four onions were finely sliced. My slicing may not have been fine enough, I was in a rush – the early part of the match was worth watching. The onions were added to melted butter and cooked slowly for 20 minutes. The heat was then increased to brown the onions while stirring all the time. Sugar was added and cooked for one minute. Chicken stock was then added and the soup was simmered for … three times the length Cian Healy spent in the Sin Bin.

A slice of bread was put into each bowl, the soup poured over and grated Gruyère cheese added. I actually used cheddar cheese. The soup was then put into a hot oven to melt the cheese.

The soup was gorgeous, definitely to be repeated.

The match was awful, a performance not to be repeated … please.

The three of the books together add up to 1704 pages, 1.6kg in weight. (And they’re only paperback).

Just some light reading!

I really loved but also complained about this second book.

Though the story continues from the first book, it took a while to get started into the second book’s plot. Having finished it, I’m not sure the real relevance of the first section of the book – Salander’s time in Grenada. The book is long. I felt it could have been edited a bit more.

Another quibble is there was a little too much coincidence for my liking. Examples. Though not in contact, Blomkvist just happens to be outside Lisbeth’s apartment at 2am just when Lisbeth emerges and just happens to be attacked. Lisbeth and Blomkvitz, both just happen to independently visit an apartment (visiting people whom they weren’t in a habit of visiting) on the exact night before (Lisbeth) and after (Blomkvitz), a murder is committed.

One would want a strong constitution for some of the detail. Graphic description of rape, murder are all normal copy. No shrinking violets need apply read. I’m no shrinking violet but found myself beginning to shrink. I found myself saying to myself sometimes, ’spare me the detail please’.

By comparison, Scarpetta seems almost a romantic novelist.

Sometimes I felt I needed a pen and paper beside me when reading to keep track of all the characters. Blomkvist, Salander, Björck, Sandström, Zala, Bublanski, Bjurman, Nesser, Modig, Erkström, Svensson, Wu, Andersson, Faste, Bohman, Hedström, Roberto, Lundin, Nieminen. Nineteen and counting. Try keeping track of all them and that’s a very incomplete list!

My children used accuse me that if I ever went shopping, the first thing I had to do was ‘have a cup of coffee’. I think Sweden would suit me. They always seemed to be drinking coffee.

I finished this book late Sunday night. Despite all my protestations above, there was nothing I would have liked better than if Monday didn’t follow Sunday and that I could have stayed in bed all day and read the third book. Sadly work beckoned.

Today is Wednesday. I still haven’t started the third book but am guessing that once I do, there again won’t be much else done.

Husband and youngest mouse look out!

I’d thoroughly recommend ‘The Girl Who Played with Fire’