“Don’t you regret moving away?”

As I stood in the new Brown Hound Bakery, co-owner Reuven Diaz’s words hung in the air along with the luscious buttery scent of just-baked biscuits, cakes and scones. My senses were overloading at the scene: stacks of perfectly-crisp cookies under sparkling glass domes; steam whistling from the shiny espresso maker working overtime to fill coffee orders; and  piles of crusty breads peeking out of woven baskets.

I didn’t say it out loud, but in that moment I did feel a pang of regret that I had upped sticks and moved to Dublin a few months ago, away from this haven of homemade goodness so sleek and gorgeous it would fit right into Greenwich Village. But Brown Hound Bakery is in unsuspecting Drogheda, next door to Reuven and wife Jeni’s *other* foodie show-stopper, the Eastern Seaboard Bar & Grill. Damn you, lucky residents of the Drog!

Though it opened only four weeks ago, Brown Hound Bakery is already causing a stir in this relatively quiet northeastern town. Rumour has it people line up in the mornings for BH’s fresh-fried pumpkin doughnuts and perfect coffee, a special blend made just for the bakery. So it was only natural to gather a group of Irish Foodies – cameras in tow – to take a look and investigate further, and last Saturday we met up with Reuven and Jeni for a first-hand tour of their new baby.

The bakery was everything we expected and more; from cheesy parmesan biscuits (the American version, not the cookie variety) to banana bread literally bursting with chunks of perfectly-ripe bananas, the place is a carb-lovers dream. Jeni explained that the inspiration for many of the baked goods came from New York-based baker Craig Thompson, owner of Shandaken Bake in the Catskills Mountains. Craig, armed only with recipes and sweet determination, came out to Drogheda for three months to train the bakery staff. Many of the baked goods were inspired by memories of his childhood and treats made by his mum and grandmother.

Brown Hound is decorated with a variety of old and new items, some of which are for sale. Jeni has the impeccable taste of Jackie O and an eye for design like no other; she has more style in her pinky nail than I have in my entire being (and somehow manages to stay enviably slim despite being around amazing food all day – Jeni, share your secret!). There are beautiful glass plates featuring intricate designs and bottles of jade-green Spanish olive oil illuminating the shelves here – it really is a feast for the eyes.

After our tour we walked next door to have dinner at Eastern Seaboard, one of my favourite restaurants in the whole of Ireland (and the world, really). Our end of the table decided to share a bunch of appetizers: garlic grab claws, smoked mackerel pate (my fave!), pig cheek terrine, crab cakes and a butcher board loaded with pates. We even passed our mains around so everyone could try a bit of everything; I had bites of rabbit loin with bacon, sea bream, salmon, Asian cole slaw, French lentils and lots of beautiful, fresh-baked bread. We shared numerous bottles of wine and moved the party to the bar after dinner for a nightcap before catching the last train home to Dublin.

It was a lovely evening and I think it’s fair to say everyone had a great time. Jeni and Reuven were kind enough to gift us with little boxes containing some Brown Hound Bakery treats like chocolate banana bread and a fruit/shortbread biscuit. Thanks to all who came out for the Irish Foodies adventure: The Daily Spud, I Can Has Cook, DinnerduJour, Gunternation, Caryna’s Cakes, Kuchennie, Monica, Grainne, Gracie Bakes, Katz Miaow and Smorgasblog.

And thanks to Reuven and Jeni for continuing to up the bar for restaurateurs in Ireland with their innovative and inspiring businesses. The pair have also recently opened Mo’s, a takeaway next door to Brown Hound that features a variety of to-go dishes like fish ‘n chips, corndogs (!!), cold Asian noodles and more.

Remember a while back when I introduced Mountaineering Man on the blog? It’s hard to believe it’s been almost eight months since we started dating but it has, and now we’re taking the next step: cohabitation!

So yes, I’m moving in with MM. Though we were initially going to look for a two-bedroom place we’ve decided to move into his one-bed until that gets sorted. A lot of couples have their starter apartment and this will be ours, complete with a major lack of closet space and one, small bathroom.

Despite the tight quarters, I’m really looking forward to it. While it’ll certainly be more convenient (I’ve been living out of a suitcase half the week for the last several months, commuting between my Drogheda digs and his Dublin apartment), that’s just one small benefit. I’m excited about taking the next step with someone I not only love but really like; I genuinely enjoy spending time with him. Whether we’re lounging around and reading the paper or hiking up in Wicklow, it just feels…easy.

By easy I don’t mean perfect, but I never wanted perfection (and thankfully for me, neither does he!). What I mean is there’s no major drama, which is something I grew quite accustomed to in past relationships. Sure, we have our little battles – most of which are typical and almost laughable: I am certain that every time I walk into the bathroom, the toilet seat will be up, and he can say without hesitation that he’s not fond of all the hair I leave behind after my daily blow-dry routine. He reluctantly but respectfully puts up with my mania for kitchenware shops and I support his preoccupation with all things mountaineering. I tolerate his penchant for playing Tom Waits way too loud and he accepts my love of Come Dine With Me and even watches with me every Sunday night, though I know he’d rather have his head in a book.

There’s a good deal of balance between us and we both carry an even but different distribution of weight, if you will. I cook, he cleans. He’d rather walk in the rain, I’m all for a taxi and we’ll end up on the LUAS. He’s relatively private and I blog very publicly about my (and now our) life. Naturally we also have a lot in common: We’re both a bit OTT with planning and organization; we adore weekend getaways; we tend to lean toward sarcasm when it comes to our senses of humour; and we share a mutual dislike of anything twee. And, thankfully, we both love food.

I don’t think that I could be truly compatible with a picky eater. My last boyfriend saw food merely as something that resolved hunger – he had no appreciation for a good meal and was perfectly happy with a granola bar for breakfast, lunch and dinner. But MM really enjoys food, has a wide range of tastes and – perhaps most important of all – is very open to trying new things. For our second date he chose Yamamori, because he knew I love sushi. And though back then he struggled with his chopsticks and didn’t have a clue what he was eating he’s now quite skillful with the hashi and is mad for scallop sushi and the soft-shell crab roll. He is a willing guinea pig to my cooking experiments and always complimentary of the dishes I create (well, except for the time I made an ill-fated hash of beetroot, asparagus and under-cooked potato).

At the risk of sounding a bit Suzy Homemaker, I’m really excited about the meal planning and cooking I’ll be doing in our apartment. But moreover I’m thrilled to be taking this leap of faith with my MM.

Rustic Onion and Kohlrabi Tart

I made this recently when we housesat for MM’s parents in Wexford and MM loved it so much I’ll definitely be making it again very soon. I use a deep pie dish – actually I just bought one of those throw-away pie tins – because then you can fold down the crust to make it look like the one in the photo. To do this simply put the pastry in like you would a regular pie – all the way up the sides of the tin. Pour the filling in, which only fills it up about half-way, then fold down the pastry crust and pinch the creases to create this rustic look. I served this as a main course with a side of farmer’s market greens and roasted purple sprouting broccoli.

Pastry dough from your favorite savory shortcrust recipe

1 kohlrabi, sliced thinly

3 medium onions, sliced thinly

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 large egg

12o ml heavy cream

Salt & pepper to taste

Pinch of nutmeg

Roll out your pastry and place in a deep, 8 or 9-inch pie dish or tin. Using a fork, prick the bottom of the pastry and put into the refrigerator.

Preheat oven to 170 (fan) or 190. In a large sauté pan, heat up the olive oil over medium heat. Sauté the kohlrabi and onions until tender, seasoning with salt and pepper as you cook. Set aside. In a large bowl, beat the egg and cream and add a pinch each of salt, pepper and nutmeg. Stir in the kohlrabi/onion mixture until incorporated and pour into the pastry. This will only fill the pastry about half-way, so fold down the sides of the pastry and pinch to make creases. Brush pastry with egg wash (one egg beaten and a bit of water, or just brush with leftover cream or milk).

Bake for 35 minutes or until pastry is a golden brown.

In about two weeks’ time, I will be moving south…to Dublin. I suppose in some ways it was inevitable; I was born in Tokyo, grew up in Los Angeles and went to college in San Francisco and I’ve always thrived on the culture and variety that cities offer. But in all honesty when I moved to Drogheda I had no agenda or plan to move anywhere else. I settled in and the only real decision I made was to go with the flow and really just let life happen.

Well, life is leading me to the Big Smoke but I’ll elaborate more on that in my next post. Right now I want to take the opportunity to highlight some of the people, places and things that have made my time in Drogheda truly unforgettable. This town was my introduction to Ireland and my guide to this whole new crazy world I jumped into just over one year ago. I’ll always be grateful to all the people of Drogheda who have helped me adjust to life here.

The Collon Gang: My friends in Collon, a small village not too far from Drogheda, have helped me every step of the way and I can’t thank them enough for all they’ve done for me. The Roche family – namely Sinead, Aoife, Earnan, Nancy and Niall – have taken care of me as if I was one of their own. Where would I be without Nancy’s spaghetti Bolognese or Niall’s snarky insults (trust me, it’s an Irish thing)? I also want to give a big shout-out all those I met through the Roches, many of whom have become my own friends over the last year: Roisin, Niall, Sheila, Bushman, Oisin, Michelle, Mags, Marty, Olga, Sharon, Tom, Ciara, Lesley, Laura, Grainne, Audrey, Marty II, Dan and too many more to mention!

Gerry Kelly and LMFM: Journalist and radio personality Gerry Kelly was one of the first fans of this blog, and within three weeks of moving here he’d written an article for the local paper on An American in Ireland and invited me to be on his radio show. I’ve been on once a month ever since, and for me it’s almost like a therapy session! He allows me to vent about the things that  drive me crazy (like Irish customer service!) and has always been very supportive of my writing. Big props to his producer Deidre as well.

Eastern Seaboard: With its urban-chic interior, casual service and incredible food, Eastern Seaboard Bar & Grill reminds me of my favorite places back home in Los Angeles. I’m going to be dead honest here: Drogheda isn’t exactly the culinary hot-spot of Ireland and there’s not a lot of great restaurants in town, but this is one of the best (the other is La Pizzeria!). When I’m having a rough day, I can pull up to the bar at Eastern Seaboard, have the perfect Cosmo and snack on an array of homemade culinary masterpieces like smoked mackerel pate or slow-roasted tomato crostini. I also love to geek out on the foodie talk with chef Reuven and wife/business partner Jeni, who – quite simply – just get good food.

Traders: For the first 9 months I lived in Drogheda, I couldn’t get a really good cup of coffee. And then Traders came along, thank GOD. This little coffee shop is just like the ones I used to love in LA: they offer a perfectly-brewed cup of coffee, delicious pastries and cakes and beautiful, handcrafted sandwiches.

Taxi Drivers: I adore the taxi drivers of Drogheda. In a word? I’ve got a few: Quirky. Charming. Funny. Whenever I jump into a cab here I know I’m going to get a few minutes of good craic on everything from local politics to the weather (but of course!). I happen to live right near the taxi rank on Dyer Street so I’ve gotten to know a good few of these guys – thanks for the smiles and the great service.

The River Boyne: This is the river that runs through Drogheda, and even though there are heaps of abandoned shopping trolleys, old shoes and quite possibly a dead body or two in the water, when the high tide covers all that junk it’s a beautiful auld river. I’m lucky enough to live right on the River Boyne, and there are many mornings when I stand on the bridge and soak in the salty sea breeze and gaze down the long body of water for a little quiet time.

Boyd’s: I love this store. Boyd’s is one of those shops that has a bunch of leftover inventory from other stores at super low prices. From birthday cards to toothpaste and pie plates to dust bins, Boyd’s has it. I practically kitted out my entire kitchen and bathrooms with stuff I bought from this shop. Best of all? The service is always first class.

There are so many more places/people/things – way too many to list but I’ll try: The Mattock Rangers, Kirwan’s Fish Cart, La Pizzeria, Mathew’s Pub in Collon, Tracy, Keith, Anne, Pete the Collon taxi driver, Kevin McAllister’s shop, McCloskey’s Bakery, Marks & Spencer in Laurence Town Centre, Sampson’s Butcher Shop, Clark’s Pub, Carolyn Stanley, Kristin & Matt, Friday Farmer’s Market on West Street and Gerard Tuite and so many more…

Drogheda, I’ll miss you (and will be back often – it’s only a 45-minute drive away!).

While there are many benefits to living in such a place (people are friendly, there’s little traffic, it’s easier to get to know your neighbors, etc.) there are a few drawbacks as well, one of which is finding certain ingredients at the grocery shops in town. For example, it’s impossible to find chocolate chips here. For that, I’d have to go to Dublin.

Recently I was on the hunt for ricotta, a pretty basic Italian soft cheese that most people use in lasagnas. I hit all the shops in town and no one had it. I then remembered someone once telling me it was fairly easy to make, so I went home, did some research on the Internet and got a few recipes. Not only is it easy to make yourself but it tastes about a zillion times better than the store-bought variety. The stuff from the shops is grainy and slightly sour; homemade ricotta is fresh, rich and perfectly smooth. All you need is some milk, cream, sea salt, lemon and cheesecloth (or muslin cloth, which you can find here in the baby section of Tesco).

Though I made the ricotta for dinner party appetizers (see recipes for those here), it was so good I had to reserve a bit for myself. About an hour after it set, I had it with my croissant for breakfast. Let me tell you: the still-warm, creamy ricotta spread atop a lightly toasted croissant is absolute HEAVEN. I can honestly say that I will never, ever buy ricotta from the shop again.

Another ingredient that I made myself recently is the flour tortilla. While I can find them in the shops here, they only come in burrito size – too big for me. I suppose I could cut them into smaller sizes but in about the same amount of time I made my own tortillas, exactly in the size I needed. I was making madras curry for dinner and wanted them as a side; sometimes I find naan bread too stodgy so I figured tortillas would be a better choice. I simply mixed together some flour, salt, oil and water and rolled out a few small discs and cooked in a dry pan on the stove top. They were gorgeous and the whole process took all of 10 minutes!

My old rule used to be, “When all else fails, do it yourself!” Now that’s changed to, “Just do it yourself!”

Homemade Ricotta

2 quarts whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Line a large strainer with a layer of cheesecloth/muslin cloth and place it over a large bowl.

Slowly bring the milk, cream and the salt to a boil in a large heavy pot over medium heat, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching. Add lemon juice. Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring constantly. The mixture will start to curdle, meaning the milk starts to separate into little bits and pieces. Continue stirring for about 2-3 minutes.

Pour into the lined strainer and let drain for 1 hour. After discarding the liquid, chill the ricotta, covered, though you can eat it straight away – it’s SO good while warm.  It will keep in the fridge for 2-3 days.

Homemade Flour Tortillas

180 grams white flour

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

50 ml vegetable oil

80 ml warm water

Sift together the flour and sea salt. Add the oil and water and mix until a dough forms. Tear off a small handful of dough and using a rolling pin roll out to desired thickness (you can also just use your hands to pat it down). Heat a dry pan over medium setting until hot – place the tortilla in the pan and cook for about a minute on each side or until little brown bubbles start to form. Serve warm or store for 2-3 days in an airtight container.

I’m always up for a challenge, especially when it comes to cooking a meal. But when I received all my guests’ dietary likes/dislikes before a recent dinner party, even I found it a bit daunting.

Sinead and Aoife don’t like shellfish; Sinead also dislikes anything with too many spices and has a relatively severe dislike of mushrooms; Aoife also doesn’t like “fishy fish” and lamb; Ciara has a “thing” with chicken and happens to be pregnant, so no unpasteurized cheese or rare anything. Grainne, on the other hand, will eat anything but considering all the other girls’ fickle palates it was neither here nor there.

So what’s a cook to do? I went for something quite Irish in that I decided on meat (steak) and potatoes for the main – easy enough. But I wanted to do something special as well…I think those of us who love to cook always want to put out something impressive for our dinner guests, and steak and potatoes while simple and good are not difficult to prepare. Therefore I decided to do an appetizer with a high “wow” factor, plus put in a little extra effort on my salad and dessert.

For the starter, which I laid out on the coffee table just before the girls arrived, I made two types of crostini: Spring Pea & Ricotta with Lemon, and Ricotta with Tomato Jam and Toasted Pine nuts (I bought the tomato jam so for this crostini simply spread on ricotta, top with the jam and pine nuts!). I had made the ricotta myself the day before; it was my first time making the soft, Italian cheese and I can say with absolute certainty that I will never serve store-bought ricotta again. Homemade ricotta is smooth, creamy and almost slightly sweet, nothing like that grainy sour stuff in the shops. I will reveal the recipe and how-to on my next blog post, as it really deserves its own post.

I love serving crostini because it’s nice to have something for guests as soon as they arrive and it doesn’t require them to pull up at the dining room table to eat. I simply placed the crostini on a couple of bamboo boards and placed on the sitting room table with a few cocktail napkins; that way people can help themselves and enjoy with a glass of wine while having a nice, casual chat.

For the side salad, I slow-roasted some grape tomatoes earlier in the day. Simply slice in half, drizzle with a bit of olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt. Place in a 100 degree oven for 2.5 hours. They become a little wrinkly on the outside but still retain a good amount of moisture on the inside and the flavour is gorgeous. I tossed them into a simple salad of rocket with a few garlic leaves and some buffalo mozzarella and dressed with a mix of balsamic vinegar, olive oil, Dijon mustard and salt/pepper.

The steak, which I baked in the oven so I wouldn’t be a slave to the stove/grill, had been marinating for 24 hours in a mix of olive oil, young garlic, peppercorns and fresh herbs. For the potatoes, I simply placed unpeeled baby new potatoes in a large pot with about 2 tablespoons of olive oil and some chopped fresh rosemary and cooked, covered, over a low heat for an hour. Every once in a while I’d shake the pot to move the potatoes around but otherwise it pretty much takes care of itself!

My friends all enjoyed the food – can’t go wrong with steak and potatoes for meat-eating Irish folk! For dessert I made a rustic fruit tart with plums and blueberries. Simply use whatever pastry recipe you like, roll out into a large rectangle and top with fruit. I sprinkled the fruit with some brown sugar, folded the edges of the pastry in and used a fork to create the ridges on the edge. It was simple but delicious and looks quite impressive – perfect for a dinner party!

Despite the dietary challenges, I managed to rustle up a dinner that suited everyone’s tastes. The best part? I chose dishes that I could at least prep beforehand if not make ahead of time so that I could enjoy the process of cooking instead of running around the kitchen like a maniac. I even had a couple of hours to relax and listen to music while the tomatoes roasted. All in all, a great day and an even better night!

Spring Pea & Ricotta with Lemon

1 cup fresh ricotta (recipe to come in next blog post!)

1/3 cup thawed peas plus 1/4 cup for garnish

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese

Pinch salt

Chives for garnish

18-20 toasted baguette slices

Combine all the ingredients in a food processor and whiz until smooth. Place in refrigerator and let sit for at least an hour so the flavours meld. Spread the mixture on the baguette slices and top with peas and chives. Serve immediately.

While some people find cooking to be the most stressful chore in the world, I find it relaxing and therapeutic. It’s something that sets me at ease and reenergizes my spirit, at the risk of sounding melodramatic! To me, there are few things in life more enjoyable than dabbling in the kitchen with some piano music in the background (Dustin O’Halloran is a new favorite, thanks to my friend Aoife for the recommendation!) with a glass of wine in one hand and a spatula in the other.

Life has been quite hectic for Mountaineering Man and me lately; it seems every weekend is booked with long-standing plans or some sort of obligation so it was a much-welcome relief when we found ourselves with no plans last Sunday. We went to Chapters Bookstore for a bit of browsing and then stopped into a cafe for coffee. For dinner we thought we’d hit one of the Mexican places in town, but found all four of them to be closed! So we did one better and hit the supermarket where we gathered some avocados, tortillas, tomatoes and a few other bits and headed home to cook.

While MM read the paper (which for him is necessary and blissful R&R time) I happily doddled around the kitchen, chopping and working away at creating a soul-satisfying Mexican meal. I started first by making homemade salsa, which isn’t so much difficult as it is time consuming. But again, I find standing at a cutting board for an hour to be relaxing so it was perfectly fine with me. Once you’ve tasted homemade salsa you will never buy store-bought again. Homemade salsa is fresh and bright and bursting with flavor – there’s no comparison to the tinny tomato taste of the jarred variety.

The salsa is also an essential ingredient in my guacamole, which I make by mashing avocados and then adding a couple of spoonfuls of the salsa. Throw in a bit of sea salt and a squeeze of lime and it’s ready to go. For our main course I simply cooked up some chicken and bell peppers with a packet of fajita spices I got at Marks & Spencer. Normally I’d make my own spice mix but I was at MM’s apartment and as he has no spices I would’ve spent a good 20 Euro on cumin, chili powder, etc. to make my own mix. In this case, a bit of cheating is fine!

To sit down to a table of hot tortillas, spicy chicken and peppers, guacamole, salsa and natural yogurt (I use this in place of sour cream) at the end of a leisurely Sunday was the perfect conclusion to an idyllically lazy day, and much nicer than eating out.

*There’s really no recipe for the chicken; I simply cut up some chicken breast and red and yellow bell peppers and cook them in a pan with a bit of olive oil and the packet of fajita spices.

Fresh Tomato Salsa

4 medium tomatoes – must be red and ripe!

1 small white onion

1 large garlic clove

1/2 jalapeno pepper

Handful of fresh coriander

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Sea salt for seasoning

Chop the tomatoes and onion into a small dice and put into a medium-sized bowl. Mince the garlic into fine bits and throw in. Carefully cut the jalapeno pepper and scrape the seeds and veins out, unless you want your salsa super spicy! Mince finely and add to tomato/onion mix. Roughly chop the coriander and toss in. Add the lime juice and olive oil and mix all together, add the sea salt to your taste and let sit in the fridge for at least one hour and up to 5 hours.

Twinkling lights of downtown Los Angeles

I’ve been a bit MIA for a while, and for that I apologize. Things have been crazy busy around here lately, and though I’m not ready to reveal everything just yet I can say that big changes are afoot!

One of the changes that I can talk about is the launch of my new website, The Hollywood Craic. It’s basically an entertainment news and gossip blog that brings the best of Hollywood news to the Emerald Isle. I decided to branch back into entertainment journalism simply because it’s been very difficult selling food and travel-related stories here in Ireland, so I needed to expand my repertoire.

Back in Los Angeles, I used to freelance for People magazine and TV Guide and other ent-related publications. I still seem to know a lot about what’s going on in Hollywood because, to be frank, most of my friends are somehow involved in the business (believe me, it seems everyone in LA works in the industry!). While I thoroughly enjoy writing food and travel features, the cold, hard truth is that there isn’t much of a market for that kind of writing in Ireland at the moment.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ll still pitch those types of stories and I’m still writing for US magazines, but my main focus here will be The Hollywood Craic. I’ve booked a regular radio segment on Saturday mornings at 10:15 a.m. on 4FM, where I’ll be going over the week’s best Hollywood scoops on the Anything Goes With Gareth O’Callaghan show. As many of you might know, Gareth is a radio legend (or “ledgebag” as they’d say here!) and a super nice guy, so I am thrilled to be doing this segment for his show.

It’s been a difficult year work-wise, and while I don’t really love to admit it I promised to always be honest with this blog so there you go. With the economy and job market in rapid decline here, there are more freelancers on the market than ever before. While I dream of writing a food and culture memoir and have fantasies about being paid to travel, the bottom line is that I need focus on whatever’s in demand. And I’m incredibly lucky that I have the connections and experience in entertainment to make something out of The Hollywood Craic.

In a word, it’s been mad. Absolutely mad! I am writing anywhere between 9-14 stories per day and making phone calls and checking with sources and all the while pulling my hair out! But it’s been nice to get back into the groove of daily news writing (I started my journalism career at a newspaper many years ago) and it’s forced me to be more disciplined. Some days I hardly have time to eat but I know with a lot of hard work and persistence, it’ll pay off.

There are a couple more major things filling my time at the moment, but more on those later! All I can say is that they are both very good things and that I’m quite happy and excited! And NO, I am NOT pregnant!!

Chicken Farro Bake

Hectic weeks are made a little easier by making a big batch of something on a Sunday so I can have leftovers all week. This dish is one of my favorites and it’s healthy and filling to boot. Farro, also known as pearl barley, is a whole grain and very nutritious. It satisfies a lot longer than white rice or pasta, so it’s my go-to for dishes like this. I’m being a little loose with measurements because you can really use as much or as little of any of the ingredients as you like.

300 grams of farro (pearl barley)

2 small, cooked chicken breasts, cut into pieces

A big handful of cherry tomatoes, cut into halves

140 grams of frozen peas

3 tablespoons of natural yogurt

100 grams of shredded cheddar cheese

110 grams of shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.

Following package instructions, cook the farro. The process takes roughly 30-40 minutes. Drain the farro and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the farro, chicken, cherry tomato, peas, natural yogurt and cheddar. Mix thoroughly and then put mixture into a greased casserole dish. Top with shredded mozzarella and bake for 20 minutes. Serve hot!

It’s made me think a lot about the nature of the Irish…who are they, really? For the first several months I lived here I took note of the superficial things like the funny accents and quirky slang and the national obsession with chocolate. But as I spend more time here I’m starting to get a feel for the sociological and psychological traits of Irish people. Of course I’m no expert; I simply know what I’ve observed.

OK so maybe the Irish aren’t always so polite!

One thing I’ve noticed about the Irish is that they are generally quite private and polite when it comes to personal matters. I recently met a very close friend of Mountaineering Man, and after our meet I asked MM what the story was with his friend’s glass eye. MM replied that he’d never inquired about it, which I thought was very odd as they’ve known each other for over 11 years. While I can understand the sensitive nature of the subject I was shocked that in 11 years it had never come up. I can’t speak for everyone but most Americans would get to something like that within a few weeks of knowing someone, it is in our nature to be inquisitive (or nosy, depending on how you look at it!). I ended up speaking with MM’s friend about his eye, and he kindly told me the story and wasn’t offended at all. But he did note that he has many long-term friends who have never asked and that it is quite a normal, Irish thing not to inquire about something as potentially-sensitive as this.

With most Americans, one of the first question they’d ask on your birthday is, “So, how old are you?” I can say this with absolute confidence as I’ve experienced it many times myself. I was pleasantly surprised when none of MM’s friends asked my age when the mention of my birthday came up last month. Or when a friend ends a romantic relationship, it’s natural for an American to ask, “So, what happened?” But recently when I asked the sister of a friend who’d ended a 10+year relationship how she was doing, the sister replied, “Oh I haven’t asked her. She’ll probably get depressed talking about it so I don’t bring it up.” Polite and thoughtful, yes, but to us nosy Americans quite mindboggling…wouldn’t something like that be the elephant in the room until it was addressed?

From what I’ve seen, it seems the Irish have mastered the art of restraint when it comes inquisitions of a personal nature. Protecting someone’s feelings takes priority over satisfying one’s own curiosity, which really is the way it should be. But coming from a place where people are generally quite blunt, it’s something I’m still getting used to. Of the Japanese, a tall Caucasian friend of mine once said, “Nothing makes me feel more like a big, awkward oaf than being in Japan.” She was referring to the elegant and graceful features of Japanese women. Being an American in Ireland, I sometimes feel like a big, loud-mouthed, nosy Yank in a country of polite whisperers!

Blueberry and Raspberry Hand Pies

I love these little hand pies. Unlike big, gangly regular-sized pies, these are cute and small and polite, if you will. And unlike a regular pie, which requires one to cut a slice, you can easily sneak one of these and eat it quietly in a corner and on one would know the better.

For the pastry:

110g plain flour

40g self-raising flour

15g sugar

1/2 tsp salt

120g chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1-cm pieces

120g chilled vegetable shortening, cut into 1-cm pieces

50ml iced water

For the filling:

90g sugar

130 grams fresh blueberries

130 grams fresh raspberries

1 tablespoon corn starch

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For pies:

Egg yolk, lightly beaten

Turbinado or sparkling sugar for dusting

In a food processor, blend together flours, sugar, and salt. Add chilled butter and shortening and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. Sprinkle water over flour mixture and pulse until dough forms moist clumps. Gather dough together and divide into 2 equal rounds. Flatten dough into disks and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for about 45 minutes.

For the filling: Put sugar, berries, cornstarch and vanilla in a saucepan and heat over medium high until the mixture is bubbling. Turn heat down to low and let simmer for 20 minutes, remove from heat and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

When you are ready to make the pies, remove the pastry dough from the refrigerator and let sit for 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 190 C. Roll out the dough to about 0.5 cm thickness, and then using a cookie cutter or knife cut out 10 cm circles. Place a tablespoon of the fruit mixture in the center of the circle, brush the edge with the egg mixture and close, sealing by using a fork to make indent marks around the edges. Brush with the beaten egg mixture and sprinkle with the sugar, and then cut little slits on the top.

Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for approx 18 minutes, or until pastry is golden around the edges. Let cool on a wire rack and serve.

As I mentioned in my previous post, a lot has happened since I moved to Ireland one year ago. And through my adjustment to this country and its culture, there have been a number of people who’ve helped along the way. One of the most noteworthy is a lovely group of foodies who now have a name (Irish Foodies) and an official website: The Irish Foodblogger Association.

It was in May of last year that we gathered together for the first time, though back then we were all coming as individual food bloggers and not as a group. Bord Bia and Donal Skehan organized the first-ever meeting of food bloggers in Ireland, and though I had emailed with a few in the months leading up to the meet I had never actually come face-to-face with anyone but the Daily Spud (both being big sushi fans, we’d met up earlier for a Yamamori dinner). The first new face I would see was Kristin of dinnerdujour, who offered me a lift after she heard I lived nearby. Together we trekked up the M1 to Dublin to meet up with our foodie peers.

As we walked into the offices of Bord Bia, we saw about 35 other food bloggers all politely trying to read each other’s nametags without staring too long. The tags had our real name and our blog name, which was helpful considering few of us knew each other’s actual names! Instead of, “Hi, I’m Roseann,” it was more like, “Hi, I’m LikeMamUsedToBake” or “Hello, I’m An American in Ireland!” We spent the day watching a variety of cooking demonstrations and eating a beautiful lunch and getting to know each other. At the risk of sounding melodramatic, it felt like the start of something significant…though I’m not sure any of us could have articulated what at the time.

Well fast-forward 10 months later and this little group has expanded into something beyond our wildest foodie dreams. Thanks to Kristin and Caroline (who writes the excellent blog Bibliocook), we are now the Irish Foodies. There are organized events on a regular basis and monthly cookalongs via Facebook and Twitter and now a weekend-long food festival of sorts that’s making the national papers. In a short amount of time, a virtual community has evolved from a small tribe and the friendships I’ve formed through this community have become an important part of my life here. Whether it’s ICanHasCook? taking me out for an introductory night-out-on-the-town in Dublin (with help from AdventuresInVeg and The Runcible Spoon) or I Married An Irish Farmer hosting me out on the farm or The Food.ie meeting up for a 5:30 AM coffee at Dublin Airport, the people in this group have gone out of their way to welcome me and to offer their friendship. For that, I am eternally grateful.

Served with a spread of Guinness mustard/gerkin/mayo, Irish barbecued smoked salmon and sliced red onion = noms!

This month’s Irish Foodies Cookalong is Traditional Irish, so I decided to bake up a batch of Irish Beer Bread for my submission. I can honestly say this is the easiest bread I’ve ever made and it’s absolutely delicious! It has a moist crumb and isn’t stodgy or heavy in the least. You can use whatever Irish beer you choose; I used a bitter ale for this particular batch and the flavor was hearty and lovely. Oh, and while we’re talking Irish Foodies, don’t forget to buy your raffle tickets for the upcoming draw during the foodies weekend in Donegal. There are some AMAZING prizes, and you do not have to attend to win. Simply go to this website and buy some tickets!

This bread also makes for great croutons! Simply cube and toss in a pan with hot olive oil until crispy.

Irish Beer Bread

I’m also submitting this for Daily Spud’s Paddy’s Day Food Parade!

180 grams plain white (cream) flour

240 grams wholemeal flour

4 ½ teaspoons baking powder

60 grams brown sugar

12 fluid ounces of Irish beer (whatever kind you’d like!)

3 tablespoons melted butter

Preheat the oven to 190 C. In a large bowl, sift in the white flour and baking powder. Add the wholemeal flour and brown sugar and whisk together until incorporated. Add the beer, and mix ONLY until the beer has fully moistened the flour mixture. Do not overmix!

Pour into a prepared, greased loaf pan and drizzle the butter on top. Bake for about 50-55 minutes until golden brown. Let rest at least 15 minutes before slicing. It’s great toasted as well!

The other day I came across a notebook that I brought from Los Angeles but hadn’t looked at in ages. It was a journal of notes that started in 2008 and ended before I moved to Ireland, which was on March 4, 2010. The last few pages are my frantic “to do” lists for my move, which included such chores as burn 10 CDs a day every day to iTunes, go to packing supply store, and don’t forget your PASSPORT!!!

What’s more interesting was a list of goals I’d set for myself back in 2008. They ranged from things I wanted to accomplish that day, like transcribe Tahiti interviews (for a story I was writing for a food/travel magazine) to tasks I wanted to finish within a month like clean up patio and buy plants for it. But further down the list were some life goals:

· I want to write a novel

· I want to be in a committed relationship with a great guy

· I want to buy a condo/house in Pasadena

· I want to travel more or live abroad

· I want to earn $100,000 per year

Looking back on some of these, I realize that even when I wrote them my heart wasn’t in it. Buying a house in Pasadena, for example, was something I put down because I felt at my age I should own something and I already lived in Pasadena so that was as good a place as any. I figured if I could make $100K per year, it would allow me to do more fun things so I could distract myself from the fact that I’d definitely be hating whatever job would actually pay that much money. I knew I wouldn’t make that kind of dough being a freelance journalist, which I was at the time. So I’d have to go back to online marketing, which I’d done for five years before going back to freelance journalism. When I had that marketing job, I was meeting friends for happy hour drinks three times a week and spending lots of money on weekend getaways…all coping mechanisms for the job I detested.

But I felt passionate about writing a novel, meeting a great guy and traveling or living abroad – those were dreams I could stand behind, but they all felt silly and unrealistic. I was way too cynical to believe in such tales as Eat, Pray, Love; in fact, I was always quick to scoff or roll my eyes when such chick-lit inspired fantasies dared cross my mind. Still, I would occasionally strategize on how to make at least one of those ideas a reality, mainly the travel option. It seemed the most accessible since I was dabbling in culinary travel journalism at the time.

When I visited Ireland for a story in mid-2009, I took an additional 10 days to visit some old friends in Collon, a small village near Drogheda. I still can’t articulate exactly what it was about Ireland that inspired me, but by the time I got back to Los Angeles I was researching visas and crunching numbers. I applied for a writer/artist permission and within three months, I was approved. Before I knew it, I was on a plane via a one-way ticket to Ireland to live for at least one year. Thanks to the help of my Collon friends (a big shout-out to the Roche family, without whom I would still be cowering in the corner of Dublin Airport), I had an apartment, a car and the makings of a new life within two weeks of arriving.

What a difference one year makes. I signed with a literary agent three months after moving here. The book deal hasn’t come yet, but it’s a start. A few months later, I met an incredibly kind, wildly intelligent and dedicated man (Mountaineering Man to you all!). We’re approaching our six-month anniversary and I couldn’t be happier. I recently renewed my visa for another year, with an option to renew again. The house in Pasadena is no longer a priority (not that it ever really was) and to be honest, I would be fine making enough money to pay my bills and have a little fun here and there – I don’t need a six-figure income to feel fulfilled.

It hasn’t been easy and of course I miss my family and friends back in America. I’ve had a difficult time finding writing work here and there are days when I throw my hands in the air and threaten to give up (just ask MM!). On the really bad days all I can see is the smeared dog poop on the sidewalks and the bratty little tweens who graffiti my building and I think, “What is this place?” But despite all that and the unrelenting recession and unpredictable and often cold weather, Ireland is my dream come true: a crazy stroke of luck that’s literally changed my life.

One year ago today: A Good Start