Coping just fine .

Ever tried explaing your self and it just doesn't work ?!

I tried that the other day on my blog over some earrings ,I tried explaining that in nutshell that my toys etc were given and then later thrown as a child. To be honest I perhaps was to cryptic.

To be so worried that on the day of your GCSE maths exam your protractor is smashed against the wall. Or that constant arguing leads you to write in the wrong section in your GCSE, or you have to hide a holy bible for constant safety so it doesn't get thrown away. In a bible of Autumn leaves.

It didn't work my explaining .

My explaing of a emotional switch ,my coping mechanism .

I was trying to convey why I was upset about losing my earrings.

I tried showing that one of my coping mechanisms which is the countryside.

Now do you understand ?

No I've not found my earrings but I'm coping why because if you've read this you'll know why !

St Patrick's Day Menu

Irish Smoked Salmon With A Lemon And Poppy Seed Dressing

Responsibly sourced wild salmon which is sseasonally caught in Ireland's finest freshwater rivers. Ideally served with a lemon Poppy seed dressing with a sprinkling of cracked black pepper over the dish.

For the Lemon Poppy Seed Dressing:

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon poppy seeds
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

100g Irish smoked salmon from Carr & Sons

Fresh salad

Preparation time about 5 minutes.

Serves 4

No cooking is required

In a screw top small jar, combine the olive oil, lemon juice, honey, poppy seeds, salt, and pepper. Shake until mixed well.

Set out some fresh salad leaves , place some Irish smoked salmon on top and drizzle with the lemon and poppy seed dressing.

Lamb and Leek Heartwarming Stew

Stew is old as time as itself and nothing says traditional more that a hearty stew with fresh ingredients and the drink of the nation Guinness.

Ingredients
30g/ 1 oz Plain flour
1kg lamb should or necked cubed
3tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion
2 carrots
500g roughly chopped Leeks
550ml/ Guinness

450 ml of Beef stock

Corn flour for thickening stew at the end

I loaf of bread cut into 2 and hollowed out to make bowls for the stew.

The resulting leftover bread can be used for breadcrumbs in other recipes.

You could omit half the leeks and add 2 potatoes about 20 minutes before the end of cooking.

Place the flour in a freezer bag then add the cubes of meat and shake well to coat.


Heat the oil in a large pan and brown the meat on all sides.(Do this in batches as adding too much meat at once makes the meat steam rather than brown.


Heat the oil in the same pan you used for the meat, adding more oil if needed. Once the onion is browned.

Get your slow cooker out and cook for 4 hours on low or place in a casserole dish in a preheated oven for 1 hour 30 minutes.

Add the carrots, leeks,turnip, honey and beef stock and return the meat to the slow cooker or casserole dish.

About 20 minutes before serving add the potato to the stew ( adding them at this point means they keep their shape). Season to taste , with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper before serving.

Sprinkle cornflour in to thicken to personal tastes.

Preparation 15 minutes
Cooking time 1 hour 30 minutes
Serves 4

There is plenty left over which can be frozen.

Irish Tea Loaf

There is nothing more welcoming than coming home after a cold day to a hot steaming cup of freshly brewed Irish tea along with a nice slice of Irish Tea Loaf.


Ingredients

330g of mixed fruit
200ml of hot Barry's Irish tea
1 egg
2 Tablespoons of Irish Double Cream
2 Tablespoons of milk or enough  so the mixture feels adequately loose.
50 g Light Brown sugar
Optional Kerry Gold Irish butter from spreading on when the tea loaf is cold.

This is best started this the night before.

All you do is place the fruits and peel in a bowl, then dissolve the sugar in the hot tea ( I was using Barry's Irish tea) and pour this over the fruits. Then cover with a cloth and leave them to soak – as the fruits absorb the tea they become plump and juicy. 

Now whisk the egg and add it to the fruits and after that sift in the flour. Then add 2 tablespoons of double cream and and then the milk till the mixture feels adequately loose.  Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin ensuring it is level. Place it on a lower shelf in  the centre of the oven, and bake for 1 hour 10 minutes until it feels springy in the centre.

When it comes out of the oven, turn it out onto a wire rack to cool. Serve it cut in thick slices spread generously with butter and although it does keep well in an airtight tin in its liner, it’s also extremely good toasted.

Preparation 12 hours for the soaking of the fruit
Cooking time 1 hour 10 minutes

Oven temperature 170 c
Serves 4 but with plenty left over.

The products I used were sourced from Ocado who kindly gave me a voucher for the ingredients.

Things And Rings

It's quite peculiar .

I used to have a distain of losing things .

As as child my toys were precious to me they kept me safe in a rocky world. My toys were my shield my saviour my accomplishment.

But as my toy cars , ladybird books and fighting fantasy books were given away , and not by my choice. As other personal items were this time thrown away it transpired I developed an emotion switch.

It kept me safe in times of turmoil , it was my bastion of reality . 

As I grew I battled to keep other things safe.

And when I lost a pair of favourite earrings the other day I was quite upset as my things are precious to me.

Though I was upset I put into practice one of my coping mechanism one that has been developing for quite a while.

Silent Sunday

Time And Tide Wait For No Man

Hello Spring 

For I did not see you there

Veiled was I under wintry skies

My eyes seeing only one colour

But ambivalent winter skies

Are broken upon

Water boldly trickles wistfully 

Then gleefully rushes giddy and childlike 

Over the branches 

I am the only one 

Nature frames itself 

Houses hidden down quiet lanes 

Time and tide waits for no man 

Why rush into Spring ?

For only fools rush into beauty and magnificence.