Welcome

It's now 2011 and I'm not sure where the last 26 years have gone yet somehow here I am. I've just moved out of my parent's family home and have set up a new home with my wonderful boyfriend Ronan in the pretty harbour village of Howth in Dublin ,Ireland .

This blog will follow my journey through 2011 and I will include recipes and cooking/ baking tips I come across throughout the year as well as any 1950's inspired ideas for house, home, fashion and life in general. I hope that some of you out there might be able to share some back. Leave a comment or mail me and say hi!


Monday, February 21, 2011

3 course Sunday

First of all, it's been a while since I've written due to very busy few weeks at work. So I am just getting a chance to do this now.

What a weekend! Had a great time vintage shopping in Dublin's city centre on Saturday. Got a great bargain vintage 50s dress for €10.00 !   I love it and cant wait to wear it! I also got some Audrey Hepburn style long black gloves for a black and bling hen night on Saturday . I did my hair in a 1940s/50s style and wore my lbd and black gloves. Had a great night !

Oh heres the dress...


Sunday then I had a lazy morning and went grocery shopping for Sunday dinner. I had promised Ronan I would make him a  3 course dinner totally  from scratch.  So I put together a menu of  prawns with  mango salsa for starter, chicken , leek and mushroom pie for main with home made chips and a passion fuit panna cotta for dessert.

I got my ingredients then rushed home to start making the panna cotta to give it enough time to set!  Here's the recipe I used for the passion fruit panna cotta. I used powdered gelatine as I couldnt get leaves but it worked just as well. I used half a sachet of powder for the passion fruit jelly and half a sachet for the panna cotta itself.

So once panna cotta was made and left in fridge to set, myself and Ronan headed to the park for some air and Ronan decided he would teach me to the play hurling ( an Irish sport a bit like hockey). We had lots of fun although my back did start acting up again ( has been giving me trouble since the car crash) so I had to retire a little earlier than I wanted to and head back to the car.  

Once we got home I checked on dessert again and was pleased it had set. Heres the recipe I used..
http://www.rte.ie/food/2010/0301/passionfruitpannacotta.html

 Mine turned out like this ( served with ice cream)  ....




I had never eaten prawns before so I decided I would buy them from the fish shop in the harbour and try them out. Little did I realise  I would have to chop the heads off and de-shell the tails!! Considering I have a phobia of fish and sea creatures this was quite an achievement for me . Ronan helped me take the heads off ( he's such a good boyfriend although perhaps he was just protecting his ears from the potential sreaming and moaning I could have inflicted otherwise lol ) and I then used my Cordon Bleu essentials book to help guide me through the de-shelling. I did the prawns with a manga and spring onion salsa on crusty bread which complimented the prawns beautifully.




 For the main I made a chicken, leek and mushroom pie. I love this dish because it is hearty wholesome food and you can play around with ingredients . I love having ready rolled puff pastry in the freezer and fridge. Its just so versatile!!  So my pie turned out like this ( made with love of course)






All in all it was a brilliant weekend. 

Got some gingerbread men cutters too so I think that's my project for this week. Will post back on how they turn out.


Bye for now .



Leanne