Ireland 2012

We'll start with my birthday and the Blazen Head and a personal, guided tour of Tara (which included a hail storm as we huddled at the Tara Well).

During this week, if you blinked, you missed the sun. It was nice that it decided to shine on my session of didly-eye...




Many people came out to celebrate my birthday with songs and celebration.

Here are my Tour Guides at Tara... this is the entrance through the walls of the Anglican Church. The ancient entrance to the city is rather covered by the years, grass, and some purposeful redecorating...

This graveyard rather covers the ancient entrance to the settlement of Tara.

There are two main hills on Tara: one representing the masculine spirit and one, the feminine. You might guess which one this is...

The Tower at Skyrne from a distance. On the Solstice, the sun will shine right through the eye of the tower and hit the stone I've pictured above.


Tara was the royal seat for hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus and the upsurge of Christianity. The Anglican Church and a Christian stone monument (on the right) atop the hill of Tara are tribute to the many attempts to usurp the Druidic influence in this region at that time. During my visit, there were many shamanic groups stopping at Tara to draw from the powers meant to dwell there. At least the Anglicans didn't knock down the original monument.











Here is the Tara Well, which is alleged to have healing powers. Many come to fill water bottles here... and I was one of them enjoying its great-tasting water.

This peaceful place sheltered us during the Hail Storm...

Is that an Irish Terrorist? No, it's one of my tour guides!

Wishing Tree at Tara, County Meath

Wishing...

This evening, we fancied a good pint of Guinness, and my tour guide wanted me to see Skyrne close up (though I had no idea that's where we were going). Imagine my surprise!










The rock walls here often come with masoned steps, so that humans might cross over, while livestock could not.









I just can't get enough of the steps and the lichen. You could feel the centuries as you stood on this steep ascent...



The Tower of Skyrne...and an homage to Monty Python, before a couple Guinness at O'Connell's. (it's featured in this Christmas ad for Guinness).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPT1eBSApvU&feature=related


"We'll have us another one there, Christy!"



Stairs in the Rock Wall at Glendalough.
A bit of detail...




It amazes me to think that when this tower was built, they had no ladders and along with that, what do you suppose they used to make this tower so very round?














Japanese Gardens, County Kildare

This is Spiral Lodge, where I was fortunate enough to stay, thanks to the hospitality of my friends.


Lovely, isn't it?

In 1984, I was offered four jobs after only arriving three days earlier. This was one of my first jobs - the Blooms Hotel - and ended up being a turnstyle for many lives over the years...it's in Templebar, which is a thriving entertainment district in Dublin.

I took this photo for my niece, who wanted a feel of the place...the hotspot on the corner is the Temple Bar.

Turf and coal for sale at the petrol station. Because there's nothing like a turf fire!

Now that we've harvested the wheat, let's make the bread

My family and I, we throw each other ideas of experiments from time to time, so this time, we started out watching this link. It was not a bi-coastal challenge, because I'm not on the other coast, but maybe we could say that it was a multi-regional bread experiment.

The thing is that the oven is set at 500 degrees and maybe the nob on the lid on your favorite pot isn't meant to take that temperature! (Let the smell of plastic tip you off, if the smoke detector doesn't!)







But Hey! The Bread's worth it!

We all love good, crusty baguette, artisan boule, peasant bread in a lovely round loaf... and so we were crusading to make our own.



We had many email exchanges between us, and this is the link that went just a little further... but I've kicked this one out of my experiment. Maybe later on...by adding the white whole wheat flour and upping the salt a little, I think I've got as much flavor as the second version promises. (Recipe to follow).



















So I'm thinking that if the main principle is that you cover the pot for the first half (approximately) of the baking time, why couldn't you use a different pan, the same strategy of locking in the moisture and create baguettes instead of the pot-shaped loaves.


Grabbing the baguette pan I happen to have, I locked in the gap created by the little troughs and wrapped the whole baguette pan in a long sheet of tin foil, trying to give it a little steaming space above the dough. Considering that baguettes are around $4 for a good one, these were a fraction of that... not to mention gratifying to make. Fingers crossed as they went into the oven!



My neighbor and I have been discussing it and she's been helping me troubleshoot the process, so to celebrate, she made some of Ina Garten's Italian Wedding Soup to go with the baguettes - whether failure or fantastic. And Abbondanza!


I altered the recipe a little from the first video, and I'm changing the baking temperature and times. Here's what I came up with after referring to the Joy of Cooking (1997-rev. ed. pg.752), Hard Rolls or Vienna Rolls.

The No Knead Baguette
2 1/2 c. Unbleached All Purpose flour
1/2 c. White Whole Wheat flour (find it - you'll be glad)
1/4 t. yeast
2 t. Sea Salt (Grey French, because I'm snotty)
1 1/2 c. Water (plain, cold tap, because I'm not snotty)

Mix this up, dry ingredients first, then add the water. Leave it covered on your kitchen counter for 12 - 20 hours.
Heat the oven to 425 degrees, then turn to the bowl of dough.
Split the dough in half on a floured surface then roll and stretch it into the two sides of the baguette pan. It's sticky, so flour your hands just a little bit and do your best. Snip the dough in 4 diagonal cuts with a scissors or knife... or don't, but it's traditional baguette to have those diagonals.
Bake loaves in completely wrapped-up baguette pan for 15 - 20 minutes. Figure it out based on the average heat of your oven... if it's hotter, go the 15...you get it.
When the timer goes off, uncover the pan and bake for another 10 - 15 minutes, watching for a golden brown color and that wonderful, bread's-done smell.



People, that's what I'm talking about! It helps if you have enthusiastic neighbors, friends and family.