art is what you make it

c'mon and talk about the happy days

The mittens I started last week have run themselves up nicely and are nearing completion. I like this wool a lot, I think it's like a man with salt and pepper hair who is often more handsome than someone with a boring old grey colour...

Afternoon tea never tastes better than on a day when you've been busy running around the city and are ready to collapse for want of a good sit-down and a slice of something sweet. This little bit of heaven on a plate was one of the most amazingly delicious carrot cakes I've ever eaten.

I walk past this shop each morning and think of how some day I'll be an old lady with lots of time to do nothing better than knit silly toys and feel really chuffed about it. And I'll knit each of my grandchildren a jumper each Christmas like Mrs Weasely does in Harry Potter.

knit one purl one knit one

Our recent trip to the islands brought with it a reminder of the importance of heritage and tradition. Leaving home to live elsewhere always awakens my sense of identity and what it means to be from where I am from, so at this time of transition I like being able to keep a connection to my roots through our national craft - knitting! Once patterns woven into fishermen's jumpers for practical reasons such as identifying the family they belonged to, serve nowadays for more aesthetic reasons and while my family doesn't have a special stitch I still like to think that in a far-fetched sort of way I'm weaving a part of my forefathers into the present as it was my dear old grandmother who taught me the skill when I was a child. I myself have not the courage, nor probably the patience, to take on a knitting task as mammoth as an Aran jumper and have instead opted for the nice safe and satisfying project of another pair of mittens.

I was also taken out for tea by my lovely sister where we drank from china cups and looked out the window at the river flowing by. Ard Bia is one of my favourite restaurants in Galway for their food, homemade, local ethos, general rustic dining atmosphere, and bits and bobs on sale. In perusing their cookery book I stole a recipe which I made that very evening and have eaten every morning since. Please feel free to steal the recipe from me here because I promise it's really, really yummy. I do, however, recommend adding less sugar but more honey (same sweetness more crunch and chew) and it would be a good idea to remove the hazelnuts early (after the first 20 minutes or so, as the skins begin to burn) and they can be peeled and halved as the rest continues to cook.

The Galway Girls

 

Living on the coast we're privileged to have an epic landscape right on our doorstep and I think it's a pity we don't take advantage of it more often. This weekend as a sort of a last farewell we decided to do what more American tourists have done than any amount of Irish people and we took the ferry across to the Aran Islands. Yes we all felt seasick on the boat and yes it was raining a horrible mist all day and yes it was cold and windy but nevertheless we managed to have a great time cycling around despite the weather arriving home frozen and exhausted and feeling really, really good.

mittens