Vegetarian Ireland

It’s been an interesting 2 weeks since my last road trip from Athlone to Cavan. Coming Home to Cook is now in 150 locations. Jim Tynan at Jim’s Kitchen and Foodhall in Portlaoise www.kitchenfoodhall.com. has sold 11 books in a month, and says customers are very interested. Many other shops are reporting good sales.   I’ve received a lot of great press - see Media section and I have a lot of cookery demos planned for the upcoming months - see demos and events.  One of the highlights is the Clare Harvest Banquet on September 19. It is the first annual benefit of this kind in Clare and every single ingredient of this 4 course buffet will be from the banner county.  I volunteered to  make the vegetarian entree and I’m excited about producing something tasty and nutritious from only local ingredients for 300 people.  2 other events I’m participating in are the Seed Savers Apple Harvest Day www.Irishseedsavers.ie and The Dingle Food Festival www.dinglefood.com. It will be great to be down in Dingle with the cousins for that!                                                                                                       I had a spectacular day on Inis Oirr last friday. As the weather this summer has been horrible, it is my one memory of a whole day of fun in the sun. Inis Oir is the smallest of the Aran Islands and has a unique feel to it. We visited Mairead Sharry, who is the kinitter, spinner and weaver at the Doolin Farmers Market and Crafts Fair. www.doolinmarket.blogspot.com.  Mairead and her son run a tearooms in the family cottage overlooking the ocean, surrounded by old stone walls on this Irish speaking island just 30 minutes off the coast of Doolin.           I had a great market in Doolin the next day. I served the Indian Potato Cauliflower  soup, from the cookery book, to my menu and was sold out in a few hours.  This week I will be making the Butternut Squash Soup and Apple Rhubarb Crisp (rhubarb and apples from Tom Barry’s farm) for the Doolin Market. This week I finally met Irene Lee, who is not only  a disributor of  Burren maps and books but owns a kiosk at the Cliffs of Moher. She took Coming Home to Cook for the Cliffs, now making the book available in all the major visitor spots in Clare.                                                                                                     The Kilrush market is brimming with potatoes, cabbages, carrots, beetroot, onions, turnips, parsnips, broadbeans, hericot verts, fresh herbs and a lot more.  Harvest time is the perfect opportunity for creating new recipes -see recipes for a delicious new salad and hurray for Irish Apples!  Summer is over, the kids are going back to school and we’re all hoping for a sunny autumn!

Update on the seaweed bath: Magnificent! Although, I was squeamish at first,( was that something moving under there?) but after picking out a few snails, I quickly got very used to it and had to force myself to slither out of it as the water cooled down.  Not only is it a great skin softener, it made me feel different in a way I can’t describe.  What is it about the Irish elements that are so moving? The sea, the earth, the wind, even the soft rain have an intensity. I can’t wait for thursday! Thank you Paddy! If you stop coming to the market I may have to move to Dingle!                                                                                                         Today was the Doolin Market and I gave a food demonstration. I made a Vegetarian entree and 2 side dishes from Coming Home To Cook. I cooked the Potato Quinoa Cakes and Maple Squash and let everyone try it with the fruit salsa. I used local, seasonal ingredients and bought grocery store items from the Supervalue in Ennistymon and some health food items from Meanwells Health Foods in Ennis. I cooked quinoa and showed people what it and spelt looks like raw, cooked and how it is used in the recipes. People sampled the 3 salad dressings, hummos, tofu patties and sesame sauce.  At one point, there was a group of 25 people all intently listening and tasting. I had help from a delightful little girl, Aisling, whose mom, Kate is the Market’s Cheesemonger. Kate is working her way through the book, making all the recipes and Aisling was begging her to make the potato cakes tonight.   I sold the book and I’m planning the menu for next weeks market, August 15. Go to my website www.marysheehan.com for a look at the entree I will be cooking, Tofu Cutlets with a Port Wine rosemary sauce.  If you’re in the area, The Doolin Market at the Russell Community Centre is a really fun, lively place to be on  saturday from 10-4. I will be giving the Demo at 1:00. Join in!

It was a good week for feeling the true essence of living in the Burren. I took a spectacular 6 hour hike in the Burren with 2 very special Dutch friends on Sunday. I couldn’t feel my legs on monday and then the pain set in.  But, despite a huge bruise from falling on one of the thousands of ancient rocks it was a day I won’t ever forget. There’s no way to describe the Burren from the middle of it. There is a sense of total isolation,  no people, no structures, only yourself, the rocks, wildflowers, a lone portal tomb, a bull in the meadow, wild goats grazing in the distance.  Magic and history - it’s everywhere here.   That wonderful day was preceded by a fun market at Doolin, a lovely session followed by a spontaneous sing song in the Roadside, and a walk at sunset to the deserted famine village on the sea in Fanore.   Today presented me with another opportunity for immersing myself in nature “literally.” At the end of the Kilrush Market, the Dingle Fishermen presented me with 2 heaping bags of seaweed for “my bath.”  Instructions: get the water as hot as possible, put both bags (yikes!) of seawood in the tub, let steep for 30 minutes,  pour a glass of nice wine, light the candles, immerse herself and relax.  I wanted to learn more about cooking with seaweeds this year but I guess this is a good way to start. Time to pour the wine.