Goodreads Ireland discussion

This is a great place to exchange recipes, discuss the place of food in culture, talk about food in books, and talk about foods that are unique to Ireland, America, or wherever you live.

Thank you Sara :-)

Its my sisters birthday next week and we think we're going to bake a cake as part of her present. We did a chocolate fudge cake at Christmas which she loved and I was thinking something similar for next week.

It went down well. We baked two at Christmas alongside a pile of Cherry Cakes and Ginger Bread

Biscuits

I have a question for those in Ireland. When I was a girl, my Granny used to give us something called Jamaica cake. It looked similar to a fruit or spice cake. She would butter it and we would have it for our tea. I loved it passionately but it had something in it that would bring me out in hives, so I only ate it about once a week or I would have scratched myself to death. Has anyone ever heard of it?

You can Jamaica Cake in any shop here.

Paul, I'm guessing you meant find?? How awesome!!! Who wants to ship me a care package??! :-)

Sorry I did mean that. I can't remember the last time I had it but I do like ginger cakes in general

I took my little grandchildren to a tea house/they had tea, scones, Devonshire cream, cucumber sandwiches. We had a blast.

The server told us that he had a church group that come on Sunday, and they always get Cinnamon Tea,

He always writes (SIN) with a a tiny sticker on their tea pot short for Cinnamon. I told him I want Sugar with my SIN. please.

Jodell, that made me smile, thinking of the church ladies getting SIN in the tea shop.

Emma, I miss it still. Jamaica cake was worth every hive!

Yes please!!

Emma: In States we don't use metric... so good to know for everyone out there if anyone has a conversion to post would be great.

Thanks so much, Emma! I will figure it out!

What's treacle

Emma, most of the butter (for cooking anyway) comes with measurements on the paper that wraps the stick. Easier than trying to force it into tablespoons!

Thankfully most weighing and measuring implements here have both Metric and imperial measures so most recipes make sense that way.
I don't think any recipe does butter by tablespoon measures though ;-)

An easy equivalency for the weights in Emmas recipe is 4 ounces is approx 110 grams , 8 ounces approx 225g, 2 ounces approx 60g.
I don't know what way you do volume so not sure what 150ml would be in the recipe.
2 eggs is still 2 eggs.

And a 900g tin is a 2 pound tin

Thanks Paul, much appreciated!

Trelawn tends to think in Ounces and pounds when we're baking so I'm used to both systems

And I had to laugh about the stove temperature: 190 here would barley heat an oven..I think a cake here is cooked at 375 degrees ..The stoves are mostly digital now so u push the button to the degrees.

yes I know... I was just giggling about it. Its all so different. But at least we all have one thing in common we all love food. LOL

yes....books....

Ooh Cookery books ....

Here in USA my husband loves to watch Drive in's, Diners, and Dives, and Pioneer Woman, he is so funny. 54 year old man his fav shows are cooking shows and of course Westerns...We have so many cooking shows its obnoxious here in the States. Rachel Ray, Food Show Network, Cake Boss, Bobby Flay, The guy who finds weird foods in different countrys, I could go on and on. Even Duck Dinastys Miss Kay has a cook book out.. If you like frog legs, wild boar, and weird possim killed and cooked and of course Duck. LOL...

I've watched Diners, Drive Ins and Dives and it's interesting to see some of the local specialities Guy comes across. The show that grosses me out is the one where the guy does all the food challenges like eating giant burgers or 40 spicy wings in 10 mins or whatever. He always looks like he's gonna be sick. And if you watch the later episodes he put on so much weight. It can't be healthy.

That guy is nuts . He 'll kill himself. He tried to lose all that weight for a soccer match and only lasted 5 minutes befir James McAvoy had to replace him.

Paul I hope he realises before it's too late - I know the presenter of Man vs. Food developed severe depression and was suicidal because of his weight, he quit the series and dropped the weight and seems to be of sound mind. It's unnatural what some people will put themselves through for the sake of entertainment.

Here in the US they will make just about anything into a reality show. Stupid stuff like: Here comes Honey Boo Boo, about bratty little girl. or Celeberty Rehab, Couples Rehab, Teen Mom, Beverly Hillbillys in real time, Hollywood Pawn, Duck Dynasty BTW My hubby watches Duck Dynasty. A family who got rich off of making duck calls. There are so many I cant count.. And most are not worth watching. They have a food show called Chopped and BBQ Cookoff, There must be about 10 or more food series on TV..right now..

Reality tv is scary in what people will watch...

Paul your absolutely right...they even have Gypsy weddings about over the top gypsy girls weddings and how much money they spend on wedding stuff.

Oh god .

Paul you're missing out if you haven't caught an episode of My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding!

Oddly the thought i'm missing out doesnt depress me too much ☺

Haha.

Back to the topic of food...I had a wonderful dinner of chicken stuffed with roasted garlic, tomatoes, mustard seeds and cream cheese.

What culinary delights has everyone else had today ?!

We just had Cantonese roast duck with noodles and chips with salt and chilli chicken wings courtesy of the local takeaway

Sounds lovely Heather. We were dying for chinese tonight, comfort food after a rough week.

Tonight my mother in law is coming to dinner we are having:
Fillet Mingon
Baked Potatoes with Butter and sour cream
Salad with garden tomatoes and cucumbers
Summer yellow Squash pureed with cheese and hot green chilli's added.
Dessert is unknown as of yet.

Gosh Chinese

Jodell that sounds divine, especially the yellow squash! Not something I've had before.

Following on from the discussion in the nominations thread, although I have never chewed seaweed i have tried it. I had seaweed sausages served with tagliatelle in a creamy sauce. They were delicious :-)

I've had it a few time in Japanese restaraunts. Its not bad at all.

Never thought about carrying on here ha!

I've had Nori 'crisps' which are OK, but I'm not a huge fan of the taste of fish and they are just that. Also had it wrapped around sushi. It may be nutritionally sound but the taste and texture isn't anything to write home about.

Sausages sound good though

My mother told me that she used to get dulce (?) at the chippy which was dried seaweed. They ate it as a snack. I'll pass, thanks.

Donna wrote: "My mother told me that she used to get dulce (?) at the chippy which was dried seaweed. They ate it as a snack. I'll pass, thanks."

Yes, that's what I recall - people snacking on it in Belfast. Now it's either a health food or Japanese snack. Such as this healthy snack: http://www.traderjoes.com/fearless-fl...

You don't tend to see dulse anymore here, but I remember having it as a kid-it just tasted extremely salty, from memory.

Our caretaker was telling me recently that, when he was a kid collecting glasses in the bars on Sandy Row in Belfast, there used to be bowls of tripe set out on the tables for the drinkers to enjoy. I'm glad that that's another tradition that seems to have faded away!

Yes, I remember my mother talking about eating tripe as well, although I think it was a meal, not a snack. And my Granda ate liver and onions at least once a week. The awful smell of it would permeate the entire house.

And you live in Dublin Emma?! Extremely good prices.

Sounds great Emma, that's my kind of food.

I used to work near Neon and loved going for lunch there. And they have a pull you own ice cream. So good.