Antrim Castle Gardens, and the 6-Mile Water – if you’ve never been, I’d really recommend it!
I suppose when we get a proper Summer – hose-pipe bans, dried-up dams, Irish people (who haven’t been to foreign parts) with suntans, a national Ice-cream shortage – we think it’s always going to be like that. Well not this year – as I write it’s steaming hot, but raining.. As the old joke says: In an Irish summer, the rain just gets warmer!
As usual, my photographs are taken on the good days – in years to come when my daughter looks at old photographs, she’ll think that the sun always shone- nothing wrong with that, to my mind!
A sunny afternoon in May, admiring the Bluebells at Minnowburn Beeches near Belfast
I love the sounds of these fountains in Belfast city centre! I think the water sounds like Irish dancing!
”It’s 11am on a Sunday morning” I said, ”there’ll be no one at the Dark Hedges!”
The beach near Murlough Bay on Mr Saturday Night’s birthday in May
Mr Saturday Night bribed this robin with crumbs from his scone!
A particularly happy day for our family, as my sister received her Doctorate from Trinity College Dublin – I think this picture says it all!
I’d never managed to get to see the Mussenden Temple until now, but we picked the most glorious day to visit!
The view from one side of Grianan of Ailach in Co. Derry. Apparently you can see 6 counties from there!
I started writing down recipes in an old copybook when I was about 16. With 6 children at home, my Mother was always glad of a hand in the kitchen, and really allowed us to experiment - as long as we washed up afterwards, and left the kitchen immaculate! Having a tidy kitchen has followed me through my life, as has the habit of writing down my favourite recipes; except that these days I write them for my website, and add photographs when I can. The website really started when it occurred to me that my daughter might like to have these recipes when I've forgotten them. In my early days of cooking for family and friends, I used to phone my Mum all the time to ask her for the recipe for some of our favourite family dinners. She rarely had a recipe to hand - I think, like me, she made a lot of it up as she went along.. So welcome to Eating for Ireland - these are the recipes that my friends and family having been eating these past 40 years.. yes, I truly am ancient! They are tried and tested, and have worked for me for all that time - I have updated them as new ingredients became available - I really hope you'll find something that you can make into a family favourite of your own. You don't have to tell anyone where you found these great new dishes that you're serving up - it can be our little secret, but I'd really love it if you could give me a sneaky 'follow' on Facebook and Instagram.. So off you go - have a good rummage around, you're bound to find something new! My sincere thanks to all of you who have found a recipe that you liked and dropped me a line to tell me - I really do love to hear from you! Happy Cooking! Becks xx