Bloom in the Park 2013

Enjoying the beautiful day in Phoenix Park

I mentioned our Bank Holiday weekend was a bit full in my last post and the annual garden festival, Bloom in the Park, held in Dublin’s Phoenix Park, was a definite highlight.

In the weeks leading up to Bloom I saw a lot about it on Twitter. Irish writers, chefs and foodies whom I follow and respect were expressing their excitement, talking about which artisan food producers would be featuring their products this year, which cheese would come out on top in the annual Irish Cheese Awards and, of course, the gorgeous show gardens that would be on display.

Me? I like all of the above. They’re kind of my thing. I figured Bloom was something I didn’t want to miss out on.

Luckily, Patrick got offered two free tickets from his work. We were sorted!

Then, I saw on Twitter that GIY (Grow It Yourself International) were recruiting volunteers, so I signed up. GIY is a movement that I think a lot of. I use their website and growing calendar as my main gardening resource in Ireland and have been looking forward to joining the Waterford group (there are GIY groups all over Ireland).

Also, let’s face it, I’m at home all day carrying around a big belly. No kitchen would hire me in this state, nor would any marketing department, knowing I’d be going on maternity leave in two short months. I’ve been getting a little bit shack-happy and wanted to meet some like-minded people. I was delighted when they contacted me and arranged to come in on Monday to help out.

I had such a great time with GIY! They had raised beds set up with pre-grown veggies that were strategically placed around their tent. There were also different stations – one for kids, one for growing seedlings, one for composting (you get the idea). With this set up it was so easy to engage passers-by because they all stopped to admire the vegetable gardens. I loved chatting with gardeners – amateur and professional – from all over Ireland; exchanging tips and learning more about what grows well here and what doesn’t.

The GIY folk were such lovely people and I really appreciate them letting me hang around for the day!

Award Winning Show Garden

Another show stopper.

In between volunteering, Patrick and I wandered through the (very crowded) show garden area, browsed through the many gardening kiosks, had a few bites to eat and did some shopping at the Artisan Food Market.

Adare Farm pig-on-a-spit

Spit Roasted Pork with Apple Sauce

Patrick managed to find Charcuterie!

We had some lovely spit-roasted Adare Farm pork with apple sauce and roasted potatoes. We also brought home (aside from a few plants) some Inch House black and white pudding, some Cooleeney Farm Cheese (both from Tipperary! We’re so proud.) and an intense chimichurri marinade from Tully B’s.

Nasturtium, Tarragon & Flat Leaf Parsley for the garden

Tim Hortons in Dublin? A Canuck’s dream come true (except it’s not as good as in Canada, unfortunately).

Aside from minor hiccups which included but were not limited to: getting lost in Phoenix Park (it’s 707 hectares, one of the largest enclosed parks in any European city), trying to find a parking spot and being slightly disappointed by the prepared food offerings, Patrick and I had an amazing day at Bloom in the Park. It was warm and sunny, there were great people everywhere and the whole thing had a lovely family-friendly, egalitarian feel to it. Bring on next year.

A Good Cake – I mean, Weekend.

We had a bank holiday in Ireland this past Monday which means – you guessed it – a long weekend for Patrick! It would have been great to stick around Waterford for the weekend (the weather has been glorious; hot and sunny, perfect for beaching) but there was just too much going on around the country.

We managed to squeeze in my brother-in-law’s birthday party in Tipperary, The Sky Cat Laughs comedy festival in Kilkenny, a charity tug-of-war competition and family BBQ (also in Tipp, at our local), Bloom in the Park (which will be my next post) in Dublin and a quading adventure in Wexford (this was just for Pat, I, for obvious pregnancy-related reasons did not partake).

We got back to Waterford on Monday evening, completely spent. But it was so worth it. We had a fabulous weekend with our friends and family.

Being the resident cake-maker in the family, it once again fell to me to create a birthday cake for my brother-in-law. When I asked him a few weeks back about his favourite cake, he told me it was boiled fruit cake.

I told him I was definitely not making him a boiled fruit cake for his birthday; he could wait for Christmas like everyone else. *On a side note, could you ever imagine a Canadian guy requesting boiled fruit cake for his birthday? Not in a million years.

In the end he said he would like anything, as long as it didn’t include dark chocolate. I could handle that.

I went for a hot milk vanilla layer cake. I filled the layers with a strawberry Crème Saint-Honoré (which is a thick custard that has been lightened with stiffly beaten egg whites). Then, I masked the cake in a French buttercream and topped it with white chocolate-covered strawberries.

I thought the cake looked a tad plain after adding the strawberries, so I went out into the garden and got some flowers. The yellow and purple gave the cake the pop of colour it needed and we were good to go. The cake itself was moist, not too heavy (even with the French buttercream) and had the perfect amount of strawberry flavour from the Crème Saint-Honoré. The only problem was, for a farmer’s birthday cake, I went slightly overboard with the flowers and hot pink candles. OK, and I also used food colouring paste to dye the cake layers a deep crimson.

I wish I had gotten a picture of the inside of the cake, but it was attacked by half-drunk relatives and I had a hard time finding a piece that didn’t look mangled.

Find below the recipe for my strawberry Crème Saint-Honoré. Traditionally, it’s used as a filling for choux pastry – eclairs and profiteroles. It’s also delicious served with strawberry shortcake, or eaten with a spoon as you would a mousse. The cake and French buttercream recipe will be coming soon!

Strawberry Crème Saint-Honore

Ingredients:

8 egg whites, room temperature

1 tsp salt

2 Tbsp icing (confectioner’s) sugars

3 cups freshly prepared crème pâtisièrre (heavy custard)

1 pint fresh Irish strawberries, pureed with a blender

Directions:

• Make the crème pâtisièrre by whisking 1 cup of sugar with 5 egg yolks and 1 tsp of vanilla until the mixture is pale yellow and forms a ribbon. Mix in 1/2 cup of flour, then, while continuing to whisk, slowly drizzle in two cups of boiling milk. Move the mixture into a saucepan and, over medium heat, whisk constantly until the mixture has thickened (it will be extremely thick by the time it’s ready).
• Take the pot off the heat and immediately beat in 2 Tbsp of unsalted butter.
• While the crème pâtissière is hot, start whisking the egg whites with the salt. When soft peaks have formed, sprinkle on the icing sugar and continue to whisk until stiff peaks have formed.
• Fold the stiffly beaten egg whites into the hot crème pâtisièrre.
• Puree the strawberries and press through a fine sieve. Add the strained puree to the Crème Saint-Honore and gently fold to combine. Chill completely before using.