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A quiet place to ponder ones innermost thoughts – or – the perfect place to dodge the frequent summer showers we get!
It is no secret. The sun makes little effort to shine during the summer months here on the island. Because of this, when it does shine, one might feel like taking a day off. Today began nicely. We are back to just having the four kids — instead of 6, 8, or 10 — and I have an easy start to my days. Silent coffee with the Chef before he departs for a day of baking and then at least 2 hours before the little rotters drag their lazy bums out of bed.
Feeling in a rather generous mood this morning, I decided to go out and do a bit of weeding in the poly tunnel for the Chef.
Ha ha ha – had ya going there didn’t I. This is soooo not true. I hate weeding. I was really just having a good nose about to see what all his efforts are producing. He is a rockstar in the garden.
Summer Squash is all a bloom right now.
But once I got out there, I was sucked in to the heady heat wave that was going on in their so I raced back inside, grabbed a book, sunglasses and a deck chair, and just chilled in the poly tunnel until one of the kids came racing out with the phone. Surprise social worker visit! They were on their way and would be there in an hour. Ha! Come on over, I said, but do not expect me to mop my floor!
A little sun might encourage these puppies to turn RED!
I raced inside and mopped the floor and this is when I got flustered. They were arriving bang on 12 noon and that would have been the kids lunch time. So, I had to make something in advance that looked healthy and made the young’uns happy otherwise I would appear to be insensitive to the needs of my children, and my guise would ruined.
My daily ducky distraction
After a mini-distraction of daily play time with my pals, I turned on the oven and threw in a few cherry tomatoes with strips of bacon on top of them. A little sprinkle of salt and a good bit of fresh and coarsely ground black pepper.
Sometimes tomatoes need a little love. So just add bacon.
Making your own salsa is easy and if you can get your kids to eat it, one of the healthiest salads you can choose.
Ingredients
5 cloves raw garlic
1 Jalapeño
1 small onion
30 cherry tomatoes (roasted)
1/2 tin of plum tomatoes
1 lime
1 cup cilantro/fresh corriander
1/2 tsp of mexican oregano (dried)
Whole coriander
Whole cumin
Salt & Pepper to taste
All lined up with no where to go
- Finely dice the garlic and onions and the jalapeño.
- Chop up the roasted and tinned tomatoes and add to the mix.
- Sprinkle with Mexican oregano. If you do not have any of this, I suggest you ask an American friend to post you some. No. You should not use ordinary dried oregano. Burn it. That is horrible stuff.
- Squeeze in the lime juice.
- With your mortar and pestle smash up the coriander seeds and the cumin seeds and add this powder to the salsa.
- Roughly chop the cilantro/fresh coriander and loosely lift it into the salsa. Do not over mix it.
Ah…..good friends carry things in their luggage for you.
This is a sticky mess to make. There was quite a bit of finger licking going on whilst I was making it. Use the left over juices from the roasting pan that has tomato bacon fat in it. Pour it into the salsa. Give to the kids for lunch with a toasted cheese sandwich and leave the rest of it in a very pretty bowl atop your kitchen table with some warm and salted tortilla chips. The unsuspecting social workers will never know what hit them. They arrived for an inspection and left with a recipe!
Summer Salsa
iPhone photo – It tasted so much better than it looks. Trust me.
It is easy to bribe people, especially when you surround them with lovely food and fragrant kitchen smells. Really. And on that (almost) finishing note my friends. I got word from a reliable source today that I have two of the cutest mini Mauviel copper pots to add to my great big giveaway.
A very little copper sauté pot. Of course you want one.
Yes. They are small. But, oh they are mighty. If you do not have a copper pot, then it is high time you added one to the mix. In order to make sure you are in with a chance to win, make sure you subscribe to WiseWords (for free) via email over on the TOP RIGHT hand side of the blog.
A lovely little copper cocotte. I am sure, that your life will be so much happier and your food will taste better once you use this pot.
Of course, if your life is full enough, and you already have a wonderful collection of said copper pots, then by all means, look away and let another lucky reader take all the prizes.
Stay tuned….this is the 298th blog post so when we hit 300 then the gifts will start flying out the door!
Those are all the WiseWords I have for today.
WiseMóna
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About MónaI am a native Galway girl that seems to be drawn to professions that rhyme with 'err'. Writer, Mother, Restauranteur, Wedding Planner, Dishwasher, Grass cutter, Cocktail maker. I suppose you could say I am a well rounded entrepreneur.
You can find me here
About the ChefYou can't find the Chef here.
You might as well just come visit.
He prefers face to face communication.
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I was not the only one to be bamboozled by your kitchen witchery then, that social worker didn’t stand a chance. When I called I counted…
1. Large bowl of ripe strawberries
2. Selection of various size and coloured fresh eggs
3. Salad, toasted homemade bread and the ‘good’ ham with lashings of mustard
4. Selection of homemade bakes including poppyseed cake
No one ever looks at your floor (except maybe The Chef)
Ha ha ha -well done. God. I am glad you did not look at the floor.
How are your tomatoes doing? Are they ripening up yet?
whole coriander – seeds?
What’s the difference between Mexican and Italian Oregano? Any substitutes?
BTW… have no copper pots
…yet
Ha ha ha – It is a random winner generator so you are in with a shot at winning! And then you will find eternal happiness in your kitchen.
Much like me, with Pandora.
The whole coriander seeds are dried little flat looking seeds in the photos. They have a Aniseed flavour and are great when freshly cracked.
The difference between Mexican and Italian (Mediterranean) Oregano is huge. Two totally different species actually. One is of the mint family and I think the mexican one is from the Verbena herb plant. Read all about it here:
http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/whats-the-difference-mediterranean-and-mexican-oregano-093923
when i saw summer salsa i thought you had lost ‘the run of yourself’. What is she going to do next. then i opened up the blog and no, it was not Dance lessons of course, so im still laughing about how far removed i am being a foodie, but that saucepan would be so nice to make my little baby dinners. Blog excell.
Yes Catherine, to eat not to dance ;0) and Shane has his eye on the little pot too!
Yum… I always thought it would be more difficult than that! What’s wrong with the ordinary dried oregano? Mine is always good.. or at least I thought it was!
No, I do not have any copper pots but I’d love to own one… I’d take good care of it, I promise!
Bea,
Thanks for subscribing and the comment. Mexican Oregano is from the Lemon Verbena plant family and is very different to Mediterranean Oregano, of the Mint family. There is nothing really wrong with yours, we just happent o prefer the taste of the Mexican Oregano when making Mexican fair. Nice to know the little pots would be well looked after!
I’ve been admiring those very same little copper pans in the Galway Aga shop, and wondering what I’d do with them. They make me feel inadequate, bereft of ideas, unable to think of anything lifestylish enough to merit their wondrous sheen. Shall I embroider you a ‘Not at Home to Social Workers’ sign?
Mise.
Yes please.
I will pin it to my ruffled apron and wear it as I open the doors to them.
I think that the sheen will be tarnished as soon as you use them, and then out comes the polish and worry over what people will think if your copper patinas…
Thanks for the offer. Still suffering in silence over the lack of homemade yoghurt in my life. And I have all this lovely jam.
Was looking at the pots with my mouth open, thinking how can her pots be so clean, she managed to wash the floor and scrub the pots before noon. I was obviously doing my usual speed reading before fully paying attention to the fact that these shiny pots are to be given away:) Will be watching this space, Sheila.
P.S. co-incidentally planning on posting an amazing salsa recipe later in the week that I picked up from Greenes Restaurant demo at this year’s Cork Summer Show – has pineapple and fish sauce v.zingy
Ha ha ha – Sheila. Have you ever use http://www.spreeder.com ? One of my favourite tools for college drivel reads :0)
I love the shiny little copper pots. I am hoping they make it to a good home where they will be well taken care of and occasionally polished!
AND, I look forward to seeing that recipe on your blog. I love pineapple and can see how the saltiness of fish sauce would offer a nice contrast?
Thanks for the visit Sheila. We should get Nessa and a few of the other Irish Foodie Mammy bloggers together for some food & fun ;0)
mmm salsa…and a copper pot to make it in would be luvverly!
Hi there Glynis. Thanks for stopping by to read WiseWords!
Hi Mona,
First time reader. I like how you write.
Sinéad.
Hi Sinéad,
Thanks for stopping in for a read.
I write how I ‘talk’. Kind of loud and opinionated…..just telling it as I see it.
Thank you for your comment.
Móna
O I love the look of your site Mona! You did “redecorate” right? I mean; I mostly read your blog on my mobile so it could be that it looks totally different there but I love the new layout. Very cool. I’m looking at changing mine too but it’s so much work! Did you hire someone to do this?