Dancing, hiking and eating.

Monday night was a completely new and cultural experience for me. I learned how to do Irish set dancing. Well, I am not sure if I really learned, rather I was dragged out on the dance floor and had to figure it out along the way. Basically it is like American square dancing, but a lot funner. Lots of spins, gallops, and hopping movements. I was privileged enough to partner with some excellent old Irish male dancers named Liam and Joel, who tried to teach me about the steps. Too bad I couldn't understand their thick Irish accents, so I just smiled, laughed, and tried to follow along. You wouldn't believe how much of a workout this dance is. We danced for 2 hours with no breaks. I was one of the younger people there and frickin pooped by the end of the night. I was also extremely dizzy, mainly because of two reasons...I am really light so people enjoyed twirling me so fast that I felt like I was going to lift off the ground and shoot out in to outer space, and because I drank a pint of Guinness beforehand at a local pub since we got to the dance hall too early. Must say that is was overall a darn good time and an amazing thing to have experienced.
So, today I took my first official day off and was invited by our neighbor to go hiking in Glengariff. It is on the North side of the Sheep's Head Peninsula and just as lovely. At first we were rained on, but then the sun came out to warm us up. We hiked past small rocky waterfalls, bright green carpets of moss, oddly shaped trees, and ascended upon views of the mountains and ocean. Discussed life, nature and spirituality, and just plain old enjoyed the afternoon. Later that day I ventured into the art studio and finally worked on some pastel drawings. Felt good to be creating art again. Took another walk after that down to the beach and back, and experienced three seasons in that 30 minutes... summer sun, spring rain, and winter hail. Kind of crazy.
Lastly the evening concluded with a crepe dinner prepared by the French couple. Savory crepes filled with a leek saute, butterbeans, roasted peppers, and pesto. And sweet crepes filled with melted Green & Blacks dark chocolate, sliced pear, and fresh whipped cream. Learned that the French just flip their plates over after eating the savory crepes to put the sweet crepes on. Interesting, and kind of funny. After licking the plates clean, I talked story with the young couple for awhile. One of the great things about traveling is meeting so many different people from different cultures and with different stories. What an amazing learning experience and one in which we discover that even though extrinsically we may be different, intrinsically we are all the same.

Opening Day

The first day of the Heron Gallery Cafe was officially a success. People trickled in all day long and thoroughly enjoyed the food...most of which, I am proud to say, were my recipes. Spicy lentil and spinach soup, creamy potato leek soup, quinoa tabbouleh, carrot & beetroot salad w/honey ginger dressing, pasta and bean pesto salad, organic greens, homemade falafel w/ tzatziki dressing, Irish cheeses w/brown soda bread, Irish cheddar and spinach scones, fruit scones, lemon almond polenta cake, rich chocolate cake, apple crumble w/ whipped cream, oatmeal raisin cookies, peanut butter cookies, raspberry oat squares, espressos, tea, elderflower tonic, and hot lemon ginger tea. I know I forgot a few things but that is basically our menu to start. Almost everything is either from the garden or local producers and most things are organic. Good food made with lots of love. Today I had the pleasure to meet a really nice couple from Northern Ireland who came for lunch and had my oatmeal raisin cookies (my own recipe) for dessert. They fell in love with them and told me I should start a mail order cookie business. They even came back in the afternoon for more and gave me their contact info just in case I ever came up to visit the area. The Irish are so friendly! So, overall, a successful start.

Since I last wrote, I was basically doing a lot of shopping, prepping, baking and cooking. The cafe owner and I made a special trip to Lisheen Organics to pick up some fresh greens, and passed by Jeremy Irons island castle along the way. The farm was so cool! You walked into the poly tunnels and were immediately greeted with beautiful blossoming broad beans, stalks of asparagus popping up, vibrant green parsley, myriad colors of salad greens, rainbow chard, beet greens, herbs, and the last few baby carrots. We literally hand picked the things we wanted. What a good feeling to be harvesting what you will be eating for dinner. Next day we headed to the Bantry market early in the morning for more fresh fruits and veggies, homemade bread from local bakers, gourmet olives/sun dried tomatoes/lavender/feta from Toby (talked story with him because he lived in Massachusetts for awhile), handmade falafel, and locally made Gubbeen cheeses and organic eggs. AAhhhhh.... such good food! As we were driving around to these different places I was able to enjoy more of this picturesque landscape. Simply breathtaking.

Today finally ended with a nice chat with my new hippy Irish friend who is going to give me bodran lessons (Irish drum); cake with this awesome local woman who has a French wwoofer and American wwwoofer, with whom I will be checking out Irish set dancing and music on Monday night; a dinner visit by previous wwoofers who are a young French couple bicycling around Ireland; and listening to Samba music with the owner, Klauss, who plays samba percussion. What a mix of wonderfulness. Again, I can not express how grateful I am for all these things to be happening in my life. Keeping an open mind and an open heart really does make a huge difference... along with being positive, happy, and thankful... and just letting go.

Quintessential Ireland

Today I built up soil beds for potatoes, baked scones, had tea with a friendly neighbor, and passed fields of sheep. Yes, I am in Ireland! The fields really are vibrant shades of green dotted with cows, horses, and multi-colored sheep (the owners spray paint the wool for identification or some reason); the mountains touch the rocky sea shore with ocean shades ranging from Caribbean like turquoises to rich, dark blues; the people love to share stories, of which the dialect always includes a wide range of swear words for added emphasis; and the men really do wear cable knit sweaters, flat caps a.k.a. scully caps, and wellies. The area that I am in is a vast area of unspoilt land and has a quiet and gentle beauty. A place where one can truly undergo a peaceful restitution.

Well, not so peaceful for me while I am working. Yesterday and today I have spent a lot of time in the kitchen testing and developing recipes since the cafe officially opens this Saturday. I have created some winners and some major losers. Lentil and spinach (fresh from the garden) soup, creamy potato and leek soup, and a spicy Thai butternut squash soup are what we have been eating the past few days. Luckily all turned out pretty darn delicious! After two tries I finally developed a successful cheddar and garden spinach scone recipe. Thank goodness the American girl baked a good scone otherwise I may have been stoned! Among the other baking successes were a sweet fruit scone, peanut butter cookies, and raspberry oat squares. I tried popovers for the first time ever, read the recipe wrong, and instead created divinely rich, buttery pop-unders. Put waaaaaay too much butter in them so they flopped, but then again, too much butter made them taste frickin awesome!

Other than my baking adventures and potato bed soil building, I have just been enjoying the beauty of the area. The owner's dogs took me for a nice, but speedy walk today down by the sea and back. Feasted on the visual artistry of mother nature's spring daffodils, hyacinth, and narcissus; and enjoyed the sounds of myriad birds chirping away on a crisp, sunny, blue sky spring day in Ireland. So I must say that the past couple of days were, as they say around here... lovely!

The Journey

Finally, after many requests, I am starting a blog to journal my adventures. As many of you know I left the United States on February 24, 2010 for the journey to Europe. I arrived, after a really long flight, to Brussels International airport in Belgium. Somehow I managed to get on the right trains and made my way to the University town of Maastricht in The Netherlands. Really wished I would have started this blog then, because I have way too many stories from 2.5 weeks there to re-tell. In a nutshell, I was planning on traveling a lot around that area, but fell in love with the people and the town, so I spent most of my time getting to know Maastricht. I did make a solo day trip to Brugges, Belgium for chocolate and beer tasting, a tour of the canal and lots of sightseeing. Lovely city, but no sightings of Colin Farell unfortunately. Also did an afternoon trip to a nearby town called Valkenburg where I toured a castle and underground cave system. One small problem...the tour was in Dutch so I had no clue what the heck was going on. Made it to Aachen, Germany for a quick afternoon trip to check out the handsome Germans, eat black cherry cake, and buy the most amazing bread I have ever tasted. And last, but not least, I made a day trip to Amsterdam to explore the Van Gogh museum, the city, the canals and of course the red light district. During my time in the Netherlands I ate hot Belgium waffles and frittes covered in heavy duty heart-attack sauce almost every other day, explored the cobblestone streets and cafes, rode on the back of a bicycle after a couple of beers (highly recommended), partied like a college girl, developed wonderful relationships, and truly felt joyous again. Not bad huh.
After much debate, I decided I needed to continue on my journey to my dream destination of Ireland. So I booked my flight and made it over all by my happy self! Arrived solo in Dublin on St. Patrick's Day evening and yes, it was NUTS!!! The next day I ventured off to explore the city, which of course included a trip to the Guinness factory. Oh, how Guinness tastes more sublime in Ireland. There I chatted it up with the bartenders in the skybar and got them to make me a shamrock in the head of the beer. Somehow also managed to get a free beer along with it. Gotta love being a woman! Met a German/Greek guy who was also traveling alone and accompanied me for a musical pub crawl. We drank more Guinness, sang songs (yes... we hit a bar that happened to start playing 'The Wild Rover' as soon as we arrived!) and laughed our butts off at everything! Good times! The next day I headed towards my current destination of a small seaside town named Ahakista, located on the Sheep's Head Peninsula in Cork County. I am participating in a work exchange program for the next month. In exchange for room and board, I am helping the owners of the house open a vegetarian/wholefoods cafe to supplement their art gallery and future garden path. It is so wonderful to be surrounded by good healthy food, beautiful art, and amazing views of the ocean and mountains. If Maui and New Hampshire were smashed together they would create this place. Yesterday I went for a lovely hike behind the house, and it was so quiet (except for the occasional curious cow) and spectacular. The beauty that surrounds me is exceptional and reminds me how grateful I am to be a part of this beautiful world. I am even grateful for the drastic changes that have come across my path, through what seemed to be negative experiences, to have vibrantly opened my eyes and heart to the beauty of life. Life is one big crazy journey and truly will be how you perceive it to be. Unfortunately it took some pretty gnarly experiences and emotions to figure that out, but overall, I will say that it was worth it. I am on the way to truth, joy and peace, and couldn't be more excited. Thanks to all you amazing people in my life who have supported me, listened, prayed, and just plain old loved me. You are all angels and I am truly blessed to have you in my life. I hope you enjoy this blog as I will do my best to write often in it. Peace, love, and light...Cheers!