Warm and Wooly

Spending Sunday afternoon recovering from a long night celebrating the opening of  Hedgehog Fibres' new studio! Adam and I rolled in around 4 am! Hedgehog Fibres, run by my friend Beata, specializes in hand-dyed yarns and fibers for spinning.

Beata was finding it increasingly difficult to keep up with the huge demand for her georgous hand-dyed yarns while working out of her home. So in order to supply that demand she moved her business from her kitchen to a wonderful new studio space, and last night was the grand opening party! Celebrating my friend's success was exciting enough for me, but maybe even more so was being asked to assist with the event planning! I cannot wait to share pictures of the party with you, hopefully sometime this week. 

Today however I thought I would share a picture of my studio warming gift to Beata. 

I knew I wanted to paint something that had some connection to what goes on at the studio and this sheep just seemed to make sense! She may have to commission me to paint her a matching goat because in addition to sheep's wool she also dyes lovely soft mohair!

Better Late Than Never!

I mentioned the other day about my let down in not being able to host and prepare a Thanksgiving dinner last week.  So in order to feed my hubby the turkey and stuffing he missed out on and feed my need to be all domestic we decided to have what I have been calling "Better Late than Never Thanksgiving!".

I was hoping to document the preparation of the meal making, but once I got humming along chopping, sauteing, and mashing, I completely forgot.  I only managed to snap one picture! However it is of something that I believe is a crucial part of the Thanksgiving meal.

Like so many of the American foods you can not easily come by in the grocery stores in Ireland a can of French's Fried Onions is one of those things.

I have been told by several people that they can be found every now and then in various stores, but much like my applesauce debacle a few weeks back I never came across them. So I set out to make my own fried onions! They were quite easy albeit a little time consuming! I simply followed this recipe and voila! I know they look greasy but that's what you get from deep frying and that is the reason they taste so good!

The recipe claims they can be stored in an airtight container. However, they will loose their crunch. Like most fried foods they are best consumed immediately. Fortunately they crisped up again quite nicely in the oven on top of the green bean casserole!

So that is it for my the cooking portion of today's blog! I know it doesn't make up for not chronicling the whole meal but here are a few snapshot of my coveted stash of leftovers.  I had a piece of pumpkin pecan cheesecake for breakfast!

Oh and guess what else?! I got to unleash my inner Martha and pulled together a simple little tablescape! I used clean empty jam jars wrapped in burlap and twine as votive holders. I used these same jam jars to hold the greenery when decorating for the woodland themed baby shower I hosted a while back. I also tied simple handwritten place cards to small pears. Like the jam jars they will also have a second life... as a tart!

Turkey Day Blues

Sad to report that Turkey day was kind of a bust for us here in Ireland. The friend who originally offered up her home for our traditional Thanksgiving meal had a conflict last minute. This was the first time in seven years that I have not cooked the Thanksgiving meal, and I was slightly heartbroken. Not to mention NO LEFTOVERS!

All was not lost. however. An American friend living in Dublin, Hannah, invited me along to a proper American turkey day meal. I had a such a wonderful time sitting around the dinner table with eight relative strangers chatting about our new lives in Ireland, the experiences, challenges, and the things we miss about the states (there was a lengthy discussion about Chick-Fil-A).

Unfortunately Adam had to attend a work dinner and so he missed the Turkey and all the goodness that goes along with it! So when we returned to Cork yesterday we proceeded directly to the market and bought everything we will need for our own private Turkey day a week too late! You know what they say, better late than never! So Tuesday I plan on serving up all the turkey with all the fixins right down to the pumpkin pie and cranberry sauce!

Stay tuned for this week's What's Cookin' Wednesday as I will do my best to hit the highlights!