Category: blog

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smartLav

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Bought one of these puppies today from cvp.com in the UK, ordered yesterday, arrived today! Great service from CVP I’m glad to say,

Anyway, the smartLav – I haven’t had a chance to test it properly yet but from one or two recordings through RodeRec (paid version) it sounds just as you’d expect from a cheap mic – it’s grand but a little hissy. I haven’t as yet had time to fiddle with settings at all, or read the manual for that matter. I’m reading that airplane mode on the iPhone is important so maybe there’s an interference issue, dunno but will test it properly over the next few weeks.

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Sweet potato

So this was supposed to be sweet potato with figs and spring onions, but I didn’t have any figs or spring onions so used apple ad asparagus instead. It was delicious.

Heat oven to 220C
Halve about 1kg sweet potatoes around their girth and then half again lengthways.
Slice each of these quarters into 4 or 5 wedges and chuck into a bowl along with 1/2 tsp caraway seed, 2 tbsp olive oil and a grind or two of sea salt. Mix thoroughly and then put into a baking tray into the oven.

Bake for 25 mins. Then chuck in a bunch of asparagus, halved lengthwise, bake for another 10. In the meantime chop an apple into thin slices and make a balsamic reduction by adding a dessert spoon of sugar to 40ml vinegar to a put and boil gently for a couple of minutes.

Combine all ingredients in a large white bowl and serve warm.

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Acronymizing Dublin

It came to me in a flash …

… as I was walking south across Dame St towards my beloved Cornucopia that in light of Apple Maps’ weird new places in Dublin – Ulsara for instance, beloved of the members of the Upper Leeson Street area Residents Association – that we should acronymize Dublin. I’m currently working in Temple Bar, more specifically Crow St north of Dame St (Crownod) and as I was walking towards Cornucopia, I was entering into the area south of Dame St near Grafton St (Asdangs)

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food: on being a reconstructed hippy

I like my veg, I like my rice. I like my veg and rice together and here’s how it’s done using best electric pressure cooker …

Ingredients:
11/2 cups of organic short grain brown rice
1 courgette sliced
2 cloves garlic
1/2 yellow pepper chopped
sprig of thyme
small piece of peeled ginger, finely chopped
rapeseed oil
white truffle oil
cider vinegar
Dijon mustard
light soy sauce

Method:
Rinse the rice thrice
Cook the rice slowly (45mins) in double its quantity of water
Splash a bit of rapeseed oil into a pan
Chuck in the garlic, courgette and fry
Chuck in the chopped pepper
Chuck in the ginger and thyme

Separately, mix together another splash of oil, a tsp mustard, half splash of vinegar and a half splash of soy and add to this a tincture of truffle oil. Whisk together, then add the warm vegetables and finally the cooked rice. Turn over gently and coat everything in the fecund dressing. Serve warm, preferably while wearing your three piece Afghan suit or flowers in your hair.

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rice and vegetable salad

Here’s a delicious and healthy brown rice and vegetable salad.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups of organic short grain brown rice
1 courgette sliced
2 cloves garlic
1/2 yellow pepper chopped
sprig of thyme
small piece of peeled ginger, finely chopped
rapeseed oil
white truffle oil
cider vinegar
Dijon mustard
light soy sauce

Method:
Rinse the rice thoroughly
Cook the rice slowly (45mins) in double its quantity of water
Splash a bit of rapeseed oil into a pan
Chuck in the garlic, courgette and fry
Chuck in the chopped pepper
Chuck in the ginger and thyme

Separately, mix together another splash of oil, a tsp mustard, half splash of vinegar and a half splash of soy and add to this a few drops of truffle oil.Use this with best stationary exercise bikes and you are set. Whisk together, then add the warm vegetables and finally the cooked rice. Turn over gently and coat everything in the dressing.

Serve warm.

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Archie

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I think Archie’s depressed, I think the weather is getting to him, and since I’ve been laid up with the lurgy he hasn’t been getting out much. Can’t wait for this chest to shift, it’s been ages and the Dr’s opinion is that antibiotics would be useless. I think we’ll both be in better firm when it’s gone.

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Christmas Prawns with Mango Salsa

These are called Christmas Prawns purely because we had them on Christmas Day, they could equally be called Tuesday Prawns but that doesn’t quite have the same ring to it …

One of my favourite shops in Dublin is the Asia Market on Drury Street. I used to drag my kids in there until they complained of the smell of durian, but I still visit the place frequently. One of the delights in their freezer cabinet is prawns in various shapes and sizes and great value too. For this recipe I used farmed/shelled/deveined/uncooked prawns.

For this dish as a starter I allowed 4 prawns per person, but revise this upwards if you’re planning it as a main course or your guests look hungry.

Ingredients:

  • 1 large iceberg lettuce or similar
  • 2 mango(e)s, peeled and thinly sliced
  • 3 cucumbers – peeled, seeded and diced
  • 1 pomegranate, seeds scooped out
  • 15 mint leaves, chopped
  • large fistful coriander, chopped
  • 1 teaspoon finely chopped root ginger
  • 1 fresh hot red chilli, thinly sliced
  • 1 clove garlic, shaved
  • juice of 4 limes
  • 1 tbsp fish sauce
  • 1 tsp brown sugar
  • bag of prawns defrosted

Method:

The trick with this is to do everything as last-minute as possible to keep the freshness of the dish intact.

Put a large pot of slightly salted water on to boil. If you don’t have a pot, use a pan! The trick is to heat a large volume of water.

Meanwhile, peel the cucumbers, scoop out the seeds and dice or slice, place into a non-reactive bowl. Peel the mango(e)s and chuck ’em in with the cucumbers. Ditto the pomegranate. Chop the mint and coriander and add to the above. In a jar, add the lime juice, fish sauce, sugar, chilli and ginger, screw on a lid and shake until the sugar is dissolved. Pour over the other stuff and mix thoroughly.

Cook the prawns in the now boiling water for three minutes. Over-cook them and they will be tough, under-cook them and you might find yourself in the environs of a toilet for a day or two.

Presentation:

On each plate, place a lovingly detached leaf from your lettuce, pile on a generous scoop of your salsa and top off with prawns, stacked in whatever orientation best suits your guests’ demeanour.

I added a coriander dressing to this which was possibly overkill and not viscous enough, I was trying to be all Dylan McGrath all over the plate but it didn’t really work. Presentation isn’t my strong point.

Eat.