Here I stand among the flowers,
and only count the sunny hours.
For me, dark days do not exist,
I’m a brazen-faced old optimist!
In other words, he and I only take pictures on sunny days. And that’s absolutely true. If you were to make an assumption about Northern Ireland’s weather based only on our photographs, you’d think we got nothing but sunny days. We all know that this is not true – we get snowy days too! – and sunny days have been scarce in the past couple of months, but I thought I’d post a few of our favourites from December and January for you anyway. 
I hope you’ve enjoyed these pictures; they’re taken at some of our favourite places – Rowallane Gardens and Mount Stewart House – both National Trust properties close to Belfast. Others are taken in the Titanic Quarter, and Newcastle, Co Down. There’s one of Belfast City centre, and one of the H+W cranes from close to where I live.
I’m hoping for as many sunny days as possible in 2018! Although my New Year’s resolution is to take some rainy day pics as well
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