Revisiting the Good Old Days

'It's not like it used to be in the good old days,' is a phase we hear wistfully uttered by the older generation and I must confess I sometimes find myself saying the same thing.
In the old days, the sun always shone, there was freshly baked bread from the oven, and carefree children played  in the fields.  In reality, however, life was not better or happier than it is now, and work was certainly much harder, especially for those who made their living on the farm.
These thoughts came to mind when I attended the Knockbridge Vintage Club's Annual Show yesterday.  The show normally takes place in early September but had to be postponed this year due to the bad weather. This was probably a blessing in disguise as yesterday was one of those perfect autumn days, bright and crisp.
The Show is one of the biggest vintage events in these parts, with an impressive display of vintage farm machinery and vehicles, from steam engines to the famous Heinkel Bubble Car which was made in Dundalk in the post-War years.
There were four teams of horses ploughing,  threshing machines, and a blacksmith on hand to show how farming was carried out in the good old days. It might look romantic but it was without doubt back-breaking hard work.
Likewise, the recreated farm kitchen with its turf fire and wooden dresser seemed charming until I remembered growing up without those luxuries which we now take for granted - central heating and hot running water.
It's easy to get carried away by nostalgia but a dose of reality helps us see through those rose tinted glasses.
And I wonder what the farmers of those by-gone years would have made of sheep racing?

Italian Style Blackberry and Plum Crumble

I don't usually bake.  It's not that I can't bake but I know that if I do bake, I'll end up eating the results.

But when there's free food in the hedgerows with ripe juicy blackberries waiting to be picked, I can't resist the temptation to make a crumble.

Usually  I make an apple and blackberry crumble but we've had a very poor crop of apples this  year so when I came across a recipe for an Italian style plum and blackberry crumble I

knew I had to try it.

This recipe is from Lawrence Dalliagio's 'My Italian Family Cookbook' which I picked up in a bargain bookstore. I don't really keep abreast of popular culture so I presumed he was yet

another celebrity chef until my husband asked 'What does a rugby player know about cooking?'  Well, a quick glance through the book shows that he knows quite a lot, and I used his recipe

for lasagne last week to make my best lasagne ever (he uses bay leaves instead of basil - try it).

Anyway here is the recipe for Crosata di More e Prugne  

What  you need:

Fruit mix

8 or 9 plums, stoned and chopped

225g blackberries

2 tbsp light muscovado sugar

1tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

juice of 1/2 orange

For the topping

175g flour,  half and half plain and wholemeal

125 butter,  chilled and cubed

50g amaretti biscuits, crushed

25g flaked almonds

25g light muscovado sugar

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C/180 fan/gas mark 6

Wash the blackberries and place in bowl with the plums.

 Add the sugar, spices and orange juice and mix together.

Place in a shallow oven proof dish.

To make the crumble, put the flour in a large bowl, add the butter and rub to make a crumble. 

 Stir in the crushed amaretti biscuits, flaked almonds and sugar.

Spoon the crumble topping on top of the fruit and bake in the  oven for 40 minutes. 

Delicious with ice-cream or custard.

Finding Beauty In Small Things

One of the things I love about photography is how it opens our eyes to beauty in the small

everyday things of life. It makes us stop, look, focus and see. The shaft of light, the fall of a shadow, the curl of a leaf, the sun catching a raindrop.

And my new to me macro lens helps me find beauty in even smaller things,

in the secret world of insects and tiny petals.

On Today's Walk

If April can borrow days than  I think September borrowed today from mid-summer.
Warm and sunny, with blue skies and towering white clouds, the sun felt warm on our backs and melted the tar on the road.
It was a beautiful day to ease us into autumn and the winter ahead.
Today I saw wildflowers and butterflies, late blooming roses and turning leaves; sights to cherish and lift the spirits.

Why I'm Not Toasting Arthur

It's Arthurs Day today or at least that's what the marketing gurus at drinks giant Diageo would like us to believe.
It is, of course, a brilliant marketing ploy to get the whole country to celebrate the anniversary of the foundation of Guinness.
While Guinness is a brand that is associated with Ireland across the world, the famous St James Gate brewery is now owned by the British multi-national  Diageo which. despite sentimental advertising, is solely concerned with making profits.
True, Guinness has become  symbolic of Irish culture, of the craic that's to be found in the traditional local pub.  Decades of clever advertising...the pint balancing Toucan, the slogan 'Guinness is Good For You' which would never be allowed these days, and more recently, the tv ads, 'Tá Siad Ag Teach',  The Surfer, Micheal Fassbender swimming across the Atlantic to make up with his brother,  have etched Guinness onto the national psyche.
But should we really be celebrating an event aimed at making people drink more, given the concerns about how excessive drinking is blighting so many lives? Do we need another occasion to re-inforce the myth of the 'drunken Irish'?
And there's more.  Irish musicians Steve Wall and Declan O'Rourke have been outspoken in their criticism  of the event and the fact that while it's ostensibly a celebration of Irish culture, the  headline acts for the gigs taking place around the country are almost all from Britain,.
On a local level, we in Dundalk have little reason to celebrate Arthur's Day. Having already closed the
MacArdle Brewery, the company is now  planning to close the Great Northern Brewery or  Harp Brewery  next year, bringing to an end a centuries old brewing tradition in the town.