Zwartbles Ireland

County Kilkenny is a magical place.

I say this with the risk of being disowned by my own county, Tipperary. We’re right next door, you see, and are; therefore, rivals in most areas of life. Actually, just hurling. But it’s an intense rivalry, taken very seriously by most. So you see, I don’t want anyone to think I support Kilkenny when it comes to hurling. But I do think Kilkenny is one of the most beautiful counties in Ireland and its namesake city is one of my favourite places to eat, shop and get into mischief (see my Love Letter to Kilkenny for more gushing).

Did you know Circle of Friends was filmed in Kilkenny? Inistioge, near Thomastown, to be exact. The lush, green landscape is what I always had in my mind when I was younger and dreamed of visiting Ireland (who knew I’d be living here just a few years later!).

I had never heard of Zwartbles sheep before moving to Ireland, but soon after I arrived I started following Farmer Suzanna on Twitter and became quite enamored by the look of them. Suzanna farms Zwartbles and Clun sheep; both rare and interesting breeds. The Cluns look other-worldly with their slight figures and pixie faces. The Zwartbles are large (as far as sheep go) and striking with dark bodies and white faces.

I got the chance to visit Suzanna’s farm, located outside Thomastown, Kilkenny, with a group of bloggers a few weeks ago. We had been invited to Kilkenny for the Savour Kilkenny Festival of Food and a trip to Suzanna’s farm was a last-minute treat. It was actually extremely last minute – it was dark outside by the time we left! We had a fabulous time wandering around her farm, eating her home-grown grapes, petting her flock (Zwartbles are very friendly sheep!) and picking her pears and apples to take home.

Suzanna treats her animals like family. One thing you immediately understand upon visiting is how happy her animals are; how well-loved and cared for. We were gifted with some Zwartbles lamb and a recipe for lamb stew as we left. I made the stew a day or two later and was surprised (pleasantly) with the flavour of the lamb. It wasn’t overpowering – it was mellow and sweet, and went so very well with the apples and pears from her orchard. Irish terroir at its best.

Aside from using her sheep for lamb, Suzanna also uses Zwartbles wool to make rugs, yarn and blankets. She sells them on her website: Zwartbles Ireland.

I honestly can’t get over how friendly these sheep are. The sheep I’ve previously come across have always run away from me. These sheep not only ran to us, they frolicked. They kicked up their hooves and hopped, skipped and jumped over to greet us (well, mostly Suzanna, but we were in the vicinity!). They are beyond cute. Kilkenny is a little bit more awesome by having them.

Oh, I almost forgot to add: Suzanna also employs a cat shepherd on her farm. Seriously. A cat who shepherds the sheep. He’s very badass (and soooooooo cute!). You can follow his adventures on Twitter.

*I was a guest of Green and Vibrant on this trip to visit Suzanna and her Zwartbles, but I was not asked to write this post or given any incentive to do so. I just really enjoyed my visit and wanted to share it with you all.

A Love Letter to Kilkenny

Hey, Kilkenny. I thought I had you all figured out.

I’ve been visiting your namesake city for years. Two of my sisters-in-law live there. I’ve spent New Year’s Eve at Langtons and had a birthday lunch, once, at Campagne.

When my family visited last year, you were a highlight of their trip. They loved the cobbled streets and old world charm in the city. They found unique gifts to bring home to friends and loved ones. We had a nice lunch at Kyteler’s Inn.

While Patrick and I lived in Wateford, you bridged the gap between there and home, here in Tipperary. When we reached the city we knew we were at the halfway mark. We knew we could pick up a few things if we had to, or stop to nurse our fussy baby (so… thanks for being there for us).

The Bula Bus, in the back of Billy Byrnes pub

Kilkenny Street Food at The Bula Bus, in the back of Billy Byrnes pub

But it turns out I didn’t know you at all. Not until this past weekend and the Savour Kilkenny Festival of Food. Not until the Night of 1000 Feasts, an event that brought together the entire county in an effort to raise funds for the Town of Food project in Thomastown. You did good, there, Kilkenny. Over 2000 feasts were registered that night, showing the rest of us how you take care of your own. I am so excited to see how the Town of Food Centre progresses and how much was raised over the course of the weekend. I feel like I’m a part of it now. I’ve met you all and experienced your amazing hospitality, so I really want this goal to be achieved.

I ate a delectable three-course meal at Zuni last Sunday night for my part of the feast. It was sublime, Kilkenny. I hadn’t eaten there before and was so impressed by the stellar service and confident food, expertly crafted by Chef Maria Raftery. My main was a fillet of local short-horn beef. Kilkenny, every bite melted in my mouth. The accompanying béarnaise was subtle and didn’t overpower the meat. I don’t order beef very often, but this dish had me wowed.

I partied til the wee hours of the morning. Dearest Kilkenny, you should know that I have a one-year-old and don’t really party anymore. I mostly just want a glass of wine and my bed. You drew me out, though, with a slew of my in-laws and pints of deliciously smooth O’Hara Stout (not a Kilkenny beer but close enough, coming from Carlow). I visited Brewery Corner and had loud, slightly inebriated chats with the patrons.

I didn’t have a hangover the next day. Kilkenny, you have a plethora of fabulous bed and breakfasts in your county and I stayed in a good one that night. Fanad House B&B has very clean rooms, comfortable beds, and this may sound strange, but I’ve never stayed in a place with such excellent air temperature control. I slept like a rock and woke up refreshed; ready for my full Irish, skillfully prepared by the owner.

The next day we ventured out of the city.

Coffee and chats at Goatsbridge Trout Farm with the magnificent Mag & Ger Kirwan. How they’ve turned the family trout-raising business into something ecologically and financially viable is an inspiration to any aspiring entrepreneur. What’s more, their openness, inherent kindness and boundless energy is just so encouraging in an industry that is often less-than-kind. I’ll be back with my family to buy some of their smoked trout and show Maeve the fishies.

Kilkenny, you have so many talented artists and artisans in your midst.

We drove to visit the studios of Karen Morgan and Jerpoint Glass. I spent too much money. Such unique porcelain pieces are handcrafted by Karen. The lines are irregular and the colours are clean and natural – a food stylist’s dream. Aside from their beautiful glass creations, Jerpoint Studios have a gallery devoted to Kilkenny arts + crafts. Two must-visit locations if you, like me, are in love with dishes and linens and have a few gifts to buy for Christmas.

We stopped by Knockdrinna Cheese to visit with the lovely Helen and hear her story. Kilkenny, you have a pretty stellar terroir. All that lush, green grass eventually turns into fantastic meats and cheeses. Helen’s Knockdrinna Meadow sheepsmilk cheese is addictively mellow. Perfect at room temperature with a slice of apple and a bit of chutney.

Kilkenny, I didn’t realize Thomastown is so beautiful. I didn’t know it had so many fabulous food destinations. We had lunch at Sol Bistro and it didn’t disappoint. My Lavistown sausages were the perfect lunch for someone who was still consuming stout mere hours beforehand. My husband’s sizzling prawn salad was bursting with bright flavour, yet was stodgy enough to satisfy a 6’2 Irishman (how did they manage that?).

Your Thomastown residents are really inspiring, Kilkenny. They’re proud of their well-earned accolade “Town of Food”. The Town of Food Centre is going to be a hotbed of community involvement including school gardening sessions, a chef training program and a free-for-all prep kitchen for new food business owners to prepare their farmer’s market goods in a licensed environment. It’s going to enrich the lives of each member of the community.

And speaking of enriching lives, Kilkenny, I had no idea how beautiful and friendly Zwartbles sheep are until I visited Suzanna’s farm outside Thomastown. Most sheep shy away the minute they see you coming – Suzanna’s sheep bounded gleefully toward us. They were more like puppies. It was wonderful, and if you were a fly on the wall at that moment you would have seen half a dozen (adult) Irish bloggers acting like a bunch of giggling schoolkids. Lives enriched.

I need to thank Dee Sewell, Mag Kirwan and all of the folk we came to visit for organizing and executing such an amazing blog trip. Honestly, Kilkenny, I’ll never underestimate you again, but only because these guys worked so hard to get me and the other bloggers down for a visit.

Who were the other bloggers? They were a diverse crowd and all wonderful in their own way: Where Wishes Come From, The Art of Exploring, Foodborn and Bred, Cork Billy, Greenside Up, My Busy Farm Life. It was great meeting and getting into mischief with them.

Apple, Toffee & Flor de Sal Hand Pies

This recipe comes from two different places.

While backpacking through the Northern half of Portugal last March we had to make a decision between visiting Coimbra and Aveiro. Both are in the same general area (about 20 minutes apart), both are small & culturally rich university towns and both have their own unique appeal.

One of the many colourful canal boats in Aveiro

What made us decide on Aveiro (besides its proximity to several gorgeous beaches and a Venetian-like canal system snaking its way through the town) was its interesting culinary traditions. There have been salt flats there for hundreds of years and the salt is some of the finest I’ve tasted (especially sprinkled over blistered padron peppers – I’m salivating just thinking about it).

The egg yolk filling from ovos moles is used in other pastries, too – like this little gem

They also specialize in a weird little pastry known as ovos moles. Made into the shape of seashells, the outer shell of the pastry is made from a manna-like wafer, similar to what you’d receive at mass for communion. Not much taste to it, and depending on where you buy, it can be a bit stale and chewy.

I’m not making it sound very nice, am I?! Maybe I’ll do better with the filling.

The filling is made from egg yolk, but not in the way you might expect. It’s not a custard. You make a simple syrup and mix it with rice flour before beating in the egg yolks. The end result is kind of like a sweet deviled egg. Strangely delicious.

Before we left Aveiro I stocked up on flor de sal. Months later, I still have a cupboard-full (go me!). I save it for special occasions. It’s better as a garnish than a seasoning (though you can get big bags of rock salt, as well, to use in your grinder for every-day seasoning).

We’re well into October now and the gorgeous weather we were enjoying here in Ireland has left. Now we’re having day after day of rain and high winds. Aside from reminiscing about our lovely, sunshiney holiday in Portugal, it’s definitely a time for hearty desserts and, as we have such beautiful apples here in Ireland and so many right now, why not combine a sweet apple pastry with a luxuriant sprinkling of flor de sal? The combination is good for the soul.

Besides turning (ahem)… 30… this week, I will also be attending The Night of 1000 Feasts (hashtag #1000Feasts) at the Savour Kilkenny Food Festival, taking place Sunday the 26th. It’s a fantastic event for a great cause – to raise funds for the Town of Food project in Thomastown to build a new food training and enterprise centre. There will be plenty more happening over the weekend so keep in touch with me via Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. If you want to host a feast of your own on the night, the info you need should be on this photo:

I’ll be in excellent company with some other fabulous Irish bloggers – Foodborn and Bred, Cork Billy, My Busy Farm Life, Greenside Up, The Art of Exploring and Where Wishes Come From, among others, so give them a follow as well to see what we’re up to.

In the meantime, enjoy these sweet, salty and tart apple hand pies. They’ll make the bad weather seem not-so-bad.

Apple, Toffee & Flor de Sal Hand Pies

Ingredients:

For the pastry:

2 cups AP (Cream) Flour

1 cup cold, cubed butter

scant 1/2 cup ice water

pinch of sea salt

For the toffee sauce/apple filling:

1 cup white sugar

scant 1/2 cup water

1/2 cup cream

1/4 cup cold, cubed butter

2 large bramley apples, peeled and sliced

1 Tbsp AP flour

1 egg

Flor de Sal/Fleur de Sel/Irish Atlantic Sea Salt/Maldon Salt, for garnish

Directions:

• Make the pastry: cut or rub the cold, cubed butter into the flour & salt until the mixture is well-incorporated and looking crumbly. Gradually add the ice water and mix with your hand until a ball forms (you might not need the entire 1/2 cup of water).
• On a floured surface, knead the dough a few times just until everything comes together. Divide the dough into 8 equal portions and chill for 30 minutes.
• Make the toffee sauce: in a medium saucepan, add the sugar and water. Place over med-high heat and leave it. Don’t you dare stir it! When it starts to bubble, wait until the colour begins to change, then every now and then you can swirl the contents of the saucepan, but still, don’t stir. Seriously.
• When the caramel turns a deep copper colour (and starts to smell like a caramel), take it off the heat. Add the cream and immediately put it back on the heat. It will bubble up for a few seconds. Don’t be scared. Now you can stir. Stir until the caramel & cream are incorporated. Then beat in the cold butter piece by piece.
• Set the toffee sauce aside to cool.
• I should mention that you can actually just buy some toffee sauce and skip that last step. It’s easier, but cheating.
• Peel and slice your apples.
• When the dough is chilled and the toffee sauce has cooled, preheat your oven to 425 degrees (210 degrees Celsius). Mix the apples, toffee sauce, and Tbsp of flour together in a bowl. Beat the egg slightly in another bowl (for brushing).
• Roll out two portions of pastry at a time. Scoop two heaping Tbsp of apple filling onto one rolled out pastry. Brush the edges with egg and top with the other round. Crimp the edges, poke a few breather holes on top, egg wash the top and sprinkle on some sea salt.
• Continue until all the pastry has been used (this should make four hand pies).
• Bake the hand pies for around 30 minutes, or until the filling is bubbly and the tops are golden brown.

Highlights from Home

Now that the jet lag is gone, Maeve’s teething is (mostly) under control and the mad pile of laundry that awaited my return is (mostly) under control, I have some time to sit down and reflect on my summer in Cape Breton.

It was a different summer. Not in a bad way, but in an “I have a baby now” way. Baby always take precedent, and rightfully so.

Still, I got a part-time job baking pies, biscuits and desserts for the summer. My mom eagerly made use of her alone time with Maeve, teaching her new words (we’re still hearing about crows, or “Ohhh’s” over here), blowing bubbles with her and taking her around the garden when the black flies weren’t too bad.

I hung out with Dan from Tourism Cape Breton and went on lots of fun tours, day trips and meals. I have so many things to write about. 

We had a two-day stopover in St. John’s, Newfoundland, and one of my dearest friends flew from Toronto to meet us there – it was so wonderful to see her and spend time with her family. 

Before I put my 2014 summer away in my “memories” folder, I thought I’d share some of the biggest highlights of the summer:

Louisbourg

This was a fabulous day. I think the last time I visited The Fortress of Louisbourg I was 2 or 3 years old – definitely not old enough to remember anything. A trip to this 18th century French fortress was absolutely in order. It was supposed to be stormy that day so we weren’t sure if we’d make it. With Louisbourg, a little misty rain and cloudiness can add to the atmosphere but torrential rain does not a great day make. 

It turned out to be one of the most beautiful days of the month. We were lucky, and we had an amazing day with my aunt, uncle, cousins and all our little people. In true Cape Breton style, the bus driver knew my Uncle Donnie. We had a great auld chat (he also told us there’s a Louisburgh in Ireland! Go fig.).

Fun fact: Louisbourg is the largest reconstruction in North America, right down to the actors knowing the actual stories of the people who owned each establishment. The French eventually lost Cape Breton to the British, but Louisbourg still looks the same as it did in 1744. 

The Miners Museum

From the 1700’s to the early 1990’s, coal mining was Cape Breton’s largest industry. Except it wasn’t, where I grew up. Mine was a farming community. I never thought much about coal mining, as a result, until I visited the Miners Museum in Glace Bay.

The funny thing is, I come from a family of coal miners on my mother’s side. Her father and all of her uncles mined coal, and so did my uncles until the mines were shut down. What I learned about coal mining – about how the mining companies owned the houses the miners lived in and the shops where they bought their food, and how they never paid them enough so the miners were always in debt to their employers – opened my eyes. When it was no longer considered profitable, the mines were all shut down and the miners, who had never done anything else, were out of a job.

I think my family members were a bit better off by the time they started mining – they had some benefits by then and better pay – but it was still an extremely dangerous job dealing with toxic fumes, explosions and other serious workplace hazards. My aunt told me my grandfather used to have to fight the rats for his lunch. 

The museum has an actual mine replica and a former miner is your guide. You get a real feel of what it was like underground.

In true Cape Breton style, our mining guide knew my grandfather and my great-uncle Wes.

We had a really good lunch at the Miner’s Village Restaurant – crispy haddock and oatcakes? Yes, please. 

Family Time

There are a lot of babies in my family right now. In the past year I think there have been at least eight or nine born and one or two more on the way. Since there weren’t any babies for a long time before this, everyone’s in great cheer. Babies just bring out the best in people.

Maeve had so much fun with her cousins this summer and I’m so glad she got to spend time with so many of them. Some were too little to play, but Maeve enjoyed tickling their toes. I really have a wonderful family and, even though I love living in Ireland, I miss them every day. 

Glenora Distillery

Did you know: Cape Breton has North America’s first ever single malt whisky distillery. And it’s awesome.

The distillery is called Glenora and their whisky is known as Glen Breton. They were actually sued a few years back because the Scotch Whisky Association doesn’t like other areas using the term “Glen” in their branding. Sorry Scotland, but when so many of your inhabitants moved to Cape Breton they called a lot of areas “Glen something-or-other” – I mean, the distillery is located in a place called Glenville! 

At the distillery, you can take a tour, have a tasting, stay at one of their gorgeous chalets on the hillside, eat some tasty food in their pub and listen to the talented musicians who play there every day. Besides their whisky, which is excellent, the pub has a great selection of local beers and wines. 

I had a great seafood gnocchi when I visited and as a starter we tried their bacon-wrapped, whisky-glazed scallops – which were phenomenal. 

I should mention that their gift shop is one of the nicest on the whole island. You can buy their whisky but also handmade, local crafts, artwork and knick-knacks. There are a lot of gimmick-ey gift shops in Cape Breton where the trinkets are all made in China – this is not one of them! 

On that note, let’s go on to…

Cape Breton Centre for Art & Design

Cape Breton is home to some truly talented artists and craftspeople. The Centre for Craft & Design, located in Downtown Sydney, has some of the most beautiful pottery, paintings, jewelry, leatherworks, glassworks and weaving around. They feature juried artists from around the island – many with their own small shops; well worth checking out – and work hard to garner support for the arts in Cape Breton.

Aside from their gorgeous gift shop, they also have a space for art shows and rooms for workshops. They put on summer camps for kids and do a lot of good in the community.

Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia

Before we left for Newfoundland, we visited my alma mater in Wolfville – a small town about an hour from Halifax. 

I went to Acadia University for my undergrad so it was a lot of fun showing Pat around and buying swag at the university shop for Maeve. We even got her picture taken on the sign (a time-honoured tradition).

Aside from checking out the university (and visiting my favourite former professor), we visited Paddy’s Pub, Joe’s for Scot Skins (it’s an Acadia thing), The Library Pub, Just Us! Coffee (where I used to sling espresso) and The Rolled Oat (to visit some good friends). 

I wanted to see the Benjamin Bridge Winery, but apparently it’s not open to the public! Also, we tried to have dinner at Front & Central, a restaurant that made last year’s Top 100 Restaurants in Canada, but it was closed for some reason.

I still managed to smuggle some Benjamin Bridge Nova 7 into Ireland (it’s exquisite. It’s sitting in my fridge now, waiting for an occasion).

Newfoundland

The amazing new Westjet flight from Dublin to St. John’s gave us the perfect excuse to spend a few days exploring Newfoundland. We could have taken the ferry from North Sydney in Cape Breton to St. John’s, but the plane ride was only an hour long. 

I have so much to say about St. John’s it will have to be another post. For now, let’s just say: I had the best meal of my life, the coziest brunch ever, drank beer made from an iceberg, ate fries, dressing & gravy, got blown away by a tropical storm and soaked in an ocean swell. And that’s just the beginning.

‘Til next time!