Archive for July 20th, 2010

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes – a favorite at the Inn!

Tuesday, July 20th, 2010

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

3 eggs – separate yolks and whites (use two bowls)

½ cup whole milk ricotta cheese

¼ cup cottage cheese

¼ cup melted butter

¼ cup plus 1 Tablespoon unsalted flour (I use White Lilly)

2 Tablespoons Sugar

Zest of one or two lemons (the more the better)

Pinch of salt.

Mix cheeses, butter, flour, egg yolks, sugar, zest and salt in bowl and stir.  Beat Egg Whites until stiff and then fold the egg whites gently into batter.

Lightly butter hot griddle

6-7 pancakes. 

Double this recipe for more than 4 people.

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Connemara – Sat. and Sun.

Tuesday, July 20th, 2010

We left Dublin Saturday morning and drove through the midlands to the west coast for a wedding of family of friends. With it’s craggy mountains, sandy beaches and network of lakes laced together, Connemara exemplifies the peaceful solitude and rugged beauty of The West of Ireland. 

On Sunday we boarded a bus, with all of the other wedding guests, for over an hour treak to the Ballintubber Abbey in County Mayo.  Talk about a destination wedding, this 800 year old abbey was quite impressive. Ballintubber takes its name from St. Patrick-Baile tobair Phádraig – the townland of St Patrick’s well, where Patrick baptized his converts.  Did you know that as a boy of fourteen or so, Patrick was captured during a raiding party and taken to Ireland, orginally from Scotland, as a slave to herd and tend sheep. This was in the days of the Druids and pagans and therefore he took their language and practices.  He turned to God as a child and prayed until he escaped in his twenties and returned to Scotland, studied for the priesthood, was eventually ordained a Bishop.  He then returned to Ireland where he preached and converted all of Ireland for the next 40 years!  They say that he drove all of the snakes out of Ireland also!

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Dublin – Friday

Tuesday, July 20th, 2010

If you are in IOM for the TT race make sure to book everything well in advance, after all, it is an island and the ferries sell out rather quickly.  We flew back to Dublin and then stayed at family of our friend’s house in Malahide, that truly is how hospitable the Irish are.  Malahide has a great village atmosphere, although the town is quite large, and it is located by the sea.  If you are not fortunate enough to have friends of friends that live there I recommend the Four Star Grand Hotel which is right in the heart of Malahide.

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Isle of Mann- Tues. through Thurs.

Tuesday, July 20th, 2010

The Isle of Mann is an island in the British Isles, located in the Irish Sea between Great Britain and Ireland. It is not a part of the United Kingdom itself but the UK is responsible for defence and foreign affairs. Isle of Mann has its own government and parliament.  This is my third trip to Isle of Mann because we are fortunate enough to have some wonderful friends that live there in Castletown, which sits on the site of an ancient volcano and is one of the oldest towns in the British Isles, dating back to 1090.  The town was the capital of the island for hundreds of years before moving to Douglas and much of what the island is today started in this historical town. If in Castletown make sure to visit the medieval Castle Rushen, once the home of kings and later government.  It still dominates the center of a town of narrow streets and small fishing cottages. 

The actual draw to this magnificate Island is the  TT, where people have been coming for over 100 years to experience the speed and stunning motorcycle racing of this mountain course.  Due to the wind and rain they cancelled the first day we were there and I thought I would let the guys take in all the excitement on day two as there were too many other things to do and since I had been looking at the back of a motorcycle for the past 6 days, I thought I would give it a break.

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