Suburban Lush

Hiking Cookies

I had the best intentions to go hiking on Sunday, and so I made cookies on Saturday to take with me. Unfortunately due to a sore foot I didn't make it out hiking, but don't let the name fool you - these cookies still taste good when you're curled up on the couch with a cup of tea. The cookies are almost trail-mix in cookie form and they are infinitely adaptable - use whatever dried fruit/nuts/seeds you like best, or do what I did and use up all the little odds and ends left in the cupboard from previous baking experiments. This time, mine had slivered almonds, raisins, craisins, and pumpkin seeds, but they are good with sunflower seeds, chopped dried apricots, chopped almonds or walnuts - basically anything you'd put in trail mix. If you've got kids going along for the hike, try throwing in some chocolate chips.

The sugar means these cookies are a quick pick-me-up, while the oatmeal, molasses, dried fruit and nuts give slow-burning energy. They are not the most attractive of cookies, and the molasses makes them a little sticky so they need to be kept separated (I wrap them individually with glad wrap, perfect for throwing into the front pocket of my backpack to grab as a quick snack). I think they'd probably freeze well, but there have never been any left for me to experiment with.

Ingredients (makes about 2 dozen cookies):

• 115 grams butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon molasses
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup self raising flour
• 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 2 tablespoons flax seeds
• 1 cup mixed nuts/dried fruit/seeds, chopped so they are all roughly the size of raisins

Preheat oven to 190C. Grease a cookie sheet. Beat the butter in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat until well mixed. Add eggs and molasses, and beat until combined. Add spices and flour, and beat until batter is smooth. Stir in the remaining ingredients.

Drop the dough, by the tablespoon, onto the cookie sheet (hey don't spread much, so I managed to fit 12 cookies per tray) and bake for 12 - 15 minutes, until golden. Remove from the oven and cool the cookies on a rack.

Movies

I saw The Men Who Stare At Goats this week, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Smart, funny and quirky, with great acting (Jeff Bridges in particular was fantastic).

Now I'm ruining all credibility by going to the midnight premier of New Moon tonight. Oh dear!

Sushi and Thai

I've done a couple of cooking courses recently. 

A few weeks ago my friend Anne and I attended a Thai cooking course at the Bo Tree Cafe. Last year we did their Thai Food for the Family course, and this year we went for the Hot and Spicy class. We learnt how to make Thai red curry paste from scratch, and used it to make Thai red curry with chicken (Gaeng Phet Gai). We also cooked Penaeng curry with prawns (Kung Choo Chee), beef in Thai curry paste with fresh peppercorns (Neua Pad Phet), and Chicken with Holy Bail (Pad Kapao Gai).

After a cup of coffee and brief introduction to Thai ingredients in the main restaurant, the bulk course is held in the restaurant's kitchen by the head chef. The chef demonstrates a dish, and the attendees get a chance to taste it.  After every demonstration, each attendee gets a chance to try their hand at cooking the dish, and there are a couple of the restaurant employees are there to lend a hand. We then got to try our own attempt, before putting it into a takeaway container for later and moving on to the next dish.

The previous class we'd been was one of the first run by the restaurant, and they've streamlined their operations a bit. They now e-mail you the recipes after the class so that while in class you can concentrate on the techniques rather than the ingredients, which was a huge improvement. It was reasonable value for money too, £40.00 for the class and you get to take home the food you've cooked. I did a rough calculation and figured that to order all 4 dishes in the restaurant would cost you approximately £35.00.

Sushi is one of the foods I miss most. While Belfast has a couple of sushi restaurants they are extremely expensive, and as a result I started making sushi at home. I taught a couple of my friends how to make it, and when we saw that The Ginger Tree Restaurant was offering a sushi-making course we jumped at the chance. While I knew how to make the basic rolls, we learnt a few new tricks including making rolls with the rice (rather than the seaweed) on the outside. The demonstration was done at a long table at the front of the main room of the restaurant, and two attendees were called up to help make each roll alongside the instructor. After each new type of sushi, the plate was passed around for everyone to sample a piece. Unfortunately not everyone got a chance to try their hand at making a roll, but everyone got to taste the results.

After the sushi demonstration we were shown how to make origami cranes while dinner was prepared - a buffet of Japanese curries, served with saki and green tea, and your choice of a beer or a glass of wine. The course was interesting and well run, and outstanding value at £15.00

Strangford and Castle Ward

Well, that's enough of that touchy-feely emotional stuff (I feel so exposed!!). Would you like me to tell you about the lovely walk I did last weekend? Well tough; I'm telling you anyway.

Last Sunday dawned gorgeously sunny and crisp, a perfect day for walking. We started out at the town square at Strangford village. We walked along the edge of the harbour, before climbing through the village, past Strangford Castle, then up a wooded glen before descending to Strangford Bay and along a stony beach before entering the Castle Ward estate. The walk was essentially a circuit of the perimeter of the estate and past the Georgian Castle Ward House, which is built in the classical style on one side and the Gothic style on the other. Apparently the Lord and Lady of the house couldn't agree on which style to build in so they compromised, and rumour has it that they divorced not long after the house was completed.

From the house we walked down to the farmyard at Old Castle Ward. There were some pigs there and, surprisingly, a film set had been constructed on the site. We spent some time exploring the farmyard and set but soon headed on and left the  estate for a short time to visit the 15th century Audley's Castle.

The way back was through Audley's Wood and along the shoreline before re-entering the estate and returning to Strangford village for a pint of Guinness.

The walk was an easy one, and through a particularly beautiful corner of Northern Ireland. My extended family live on the shore of Strangford Lough, and the scenery of the walk reminded me of childhood visits to Northern Ireland.

Grade: Easy
Distance: 8 miles / 13kms approx
Time: 4 hours approx.
Total Ascent: about 20m
Terrain: Rolling countryside and pebbled beach. Mostly gravel or grassy tracks.
Start/Finish: Strangford Village square Grid Ref J 589 497
Map: OSNI 1:50,000 Sheet 21. 

(Photos stolen from David Doyle)

Elephants

Anyone feel that there is an elephant in the room? Something I'm just not mentioning, and that I'm avoiding writing anything so that I don't have to mention it? Close family and friends know the truth, but for the rest of you, here goes . . .

I've applied to do an honour's year at Waikato university. While I finished my bachelors degree in 2000, I was always pretty sure I'd eventually go back to do a Master's degree and PhD. After some investigation this year, I discovered that in order to do a Master's degree in Canada (where I'd ideally like to study),  would have to do an honour's year in New Zealand.

What prompted the decision to go back to study this year? A mix of an unfulfilling job which is going nowhere, and a boyfriend of almost 7 years who still refuses to live without flatmates. Yes, perhaps I am finally growing up.

So, applications were filled in and sent off, and last week I heard the news that I've been accepted. John and I had previously talked about the possibility of me heading back to New Zealand for a year. He has just started a fantastic job here, getting experience he couldn't possibly get in New Zealand, so he made the decision to stay in Belfast.

Its a hard choice for me. While I know that this is the right thing in the long run, I'm less enthusiastic about moving back to New Zealand. Yes, it will be fantastic to see friends and family, but in some ways it feels like a backwards step. But I keep telling myself this: its a backwards shuffle before a big leap forwards. And for those of you thinking "but living in New Zealand would be so cool" remember that for me its simply going back home, not somewhere new and exciting.

I've yet to actually commit to my course of action and buy a plane ticket, but its only a matter of time. All sorts of nervous thoughts of self-doubt are running through my head - is this a big mistake? Am a smart enough to go back to University? Am I ruining a good relationship? What if I do my Master's and PhD and still end up with no clear idea of what I would like to do with my life? What if I fail? What if I end up alone for ever (eaten by cats when I die, my body only discovered weeks later when the neighbours complain about the odd smell)??? I know deep down that I'm overreacting. That if I put my head down and study hard I will definitely pass. That this is the right choice, even if it is a difficult one. That my friends would probably notice that I was missing before my corpse started to smell so badly that the neighbours noticed. But still, here I am, anxious and anxty, trying to make the big decisions.

Its not all doom and gloom though. It is exciting as well. The idea that I will be putting my life on the correct path for the future. That I will be working on something that I'm truly interested in and passionate about. That I will get to hang out with my parents, my New Zealand friends, and finally meet my nephew. And it helps that several friends from Northern Ireland are planning their 2010 trips to New Zealand.

Dinner for One

I've been house-sitting for a friend the last couple of weeks and, while I've been enjoying not ever having to wait for the bathroom, I'm particularly enjoying the chance to cook whatever I want for dinner without having to consider anybody else's likes and dislikes. This means that I have eaten lots of fish, which John hates, and no potatoes, which my flatmate Fiona adores and cooks with every meal. I've been eating mostly vegetarian meals, and only eating meat when I can afford to splurge on a nice steak. John on the other hand requires some time of meat (but not fish!) with every meal, and so we eat a lot of mince and chicken drumsticks at home.

Two meals I've enjoyed most are this brussel sprout recipe for smitten kitchen (and yes, I'm enjoying being able to get away with cooking nothing but a giant plate of brussel sprouts for my dinner!); and a simple meal of farfalle dressed in a sauce of garlic, parmesan, parsley and chili oil (all buzzed in the food processor until smooth), tossed with a large handful of baby rocket. Mmmmmmm.

And yes, I know I didn't do an October Review, but I'm pretty sure nobody missed it. Obviously I tried out a whole heap of recipes for thanksgiving, I saw District 9 and finally got around to watching Amelie (which I didn't think was as good as everyone said it was - a case of too much hype I think). And I went on a couple of hikes, but did no other exercise whatsoever.

Delayed Reaction

I haven't written anything about what I've been up to the last couple of weekends. Which is ridiculous, because I've done plenty of post-worthy things.

The weekend before last, our friend Andrew from New Zealand was over to visit, which was lovely. Part of a longer trip he could only visit us for the weekend, so we had to pack plenty of sightseeing into two days. Fortunately he arrived on Friday afternoon, so we managed to take him to a couple of pubs on Friday night. As far as I'm concerned no trip to Belfast is complete without visiting The Crown, a beautiful heritage building, and Kelly's Cellars, Belfast's oldest pub and an old IRA hangout.

Saturday morning we headed to the markets for a quick bite to eat before catching the train to Londonderry/Derry for the day. I won't even try to explain the history of Derry, but it is an interesting city which still gives the impression that Northern Ireland is an occupied territory. This is a place where sectarian attacks still happen on a fairly regular basis, and where Protestant and Catholic communities show their allegiance with pride.

Derry is a walled city, and we walked along the top of the walls before checking out Bogside, the Bloody Sunday memorial and the Free Derry Corner. Fortunately it was a lovely sunny day, so no raincoats were needed. And Andrew got chatting to a guy who wanted to practice his Maori!

Saturday night was quiet as we had plans to go hiking on Sunday. We had high hopes for the weather as Saturday had been so lovely, but unfortunately Northern Ireland reverted to its true colours for Sunday. Low fog which never lifted, misly rain, and a cold wind. Fortunately we are hardy souls not to be put off by the weather, so we headed off to climb Slieve Gullion.

All too soon it was Monday and Andrew headed off to Dublin, his brief visit to Northern Ireland over.