From Cork to Killybegs

Beautiful, empty town
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Let’s go across the unknown Ireland, keep going through Galway to Donegal. It seems like we are kinda beginners here, and it is a Labyrinth for us… for now!

We just did stop by one gothic ruin which reminded me of an amazing Summer of shooting that we spent in Barrandov’s Backlot while we worked on “A Knight’s Tale”, or of the part of Ireland that one of our Friends worked on about two years ago for the movie “Tristan and Isolde.” Bros Seegers got out to stretch their legs, and take some pictures of the church or what is left of it.

The Celtic language sounds strange. I thought about a different accent of English, but it seems like a completely other sort of people live here in the green island of Ireland with a completely different sort of mother tongue.

Sligo! Where is everybody?
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It is almost noon, we past by Galway, and our tummies are getting empty, making noise, trying to tell us: feed me! Give me a sip of water, a few drops at least! It seems like no rest stop on this road… I wish the car was getting thirsty so that we would have to stop by the first gas station where we should feed all of us.

What should I do other than listen the radio which is right behind my head? I do have a back stereo of an Irish talker which is talking for eternity, if Irish do speak, they able to talk the longest sentence by another, and those are as long as I have ever heard; it sounds funny to me, it might be really funny, I just did not catch up the whole of the holy sense of that, what they are talking about. May we share of the point?

Food! Happy Christmas!
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The Celtic language sounds strange. I thought about a different accent of English, but it seems like a completely other sort of people live here in the green island of Ireland with a completely different sort of mother tongue.

It is one in the after noon and we haven’t seen any restaurants or grocers open, except for one gas station a long time before our tummies started to get grumpy.

We just past trough a tiny village named Sligo where we parked our car to get out our lazy bones. We walked all across the town to find some open fast food place at least. It was X-mas Day after all… no place open, not a live leg Down Town. Our hungry bones were getting tired of it, we just gave it up, and took out our bag with bread and cheese for a snack. About twenty minutes past before Philee slowed down in front of a big sign with sparkly OPEN on it… It must be Murphy’s Law in Murphy county… Oh yeah, our frowns were up-side down! We just got a chance to change our lives in the minute… the only open Restaurant in this county! We had an excellent Indian menu. It was yummy >>> happy tummy, and the first hunted beer glass (Smithwick’s).

Old. But not that old.
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Right after our X-mas dinner it was an experience for me to drive the rest of the way to Killybegs, all on the left side of the road. Yup, we got there… and safely! We are in Killybegs (County Donegal), we gonna spend the night here, help to recovering our broken bones from last night, and to Donegal we will go tomorrow in the morning.

Recipe of the Day

in the 18th century, saffron was imported into Ireland from Cornwall. It was intended, primarily, as a yellow dye for tweed, but it also found its way into the kitchen, where it was used in cooking and in baking as well.

Saffron Cake

1/2 pint milk

1/2 teaspoon saffron threads

1/4 oz. dried yeast

1 lb. strong flour

1 teaspoon salt

pinch of ground mace

3 oz. sugar

6 oz. butter

2oz. chopped mixed peel and dried fruit

6oz. currants

Bring the milk the boil in a pan, stir in the saffron threads and leave to stand for 30 to 40 minutes. Strain, reheat the milk until tepid, add the yeast and leave until the mixture foams. Sift together into a bowl the flour, salt and mace, stir in the sugar and rub in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in the yeast mixture and work in to a soft dough. Add the peel and dried fruit, cover with a clean tea-towel and leave in a warm place to rise for about 1 hour. Turn the dough out on to a lightly floured surface, knead for 15 minutes, place in a greased 8 inch cake tin and leave to stand for 15 minutes. Set oven to 350°F or Mark 4. Bake for 1 hour, covering the top with kitchen foil if it appears to be browning too quickly. Cool in the tin and serve sliced, plain, or spread with butter. If desired, Saffron Cake can be glazed with a little warm honey as it comes out of the oven.