A Little of This & That… Renovating, Decorating, DIY Projects & Family
A Little of This & That… Renovating, Decorating, DIY Projects & Family

Travel Adventures in Ireland: Inis Maein and Clifden (Days 8-10)

September 28, 2012

Today is our final post on our travel adventures in the beautiful country of Ireland. You can check out the day-by-day, play-by-play here, here, here & here for suggestions on where to go and what we loved, but I’ll try to sum all of that up shortly for the ultimate Ireland travel guide (Spenla family style). For now, I’ll leave you with our last three days, which we spent on Inis Maein (a small island off of the coast of Galway) and in Clifden (most perfect Irish town part 2 – part 1 for us is here).

Shortly after leaving Galway (where we stopped over for a delicious lunch) we boarded a ferry from Rosaveel to Inis Maein, a small little island (one of three just off the coast) that we discovered when searching for a little Irish vacation cottage to rent. First, I can’t believe we made the ferry. One of my guidebooks mentioned that the port was 22 km (not miles) from Galway – but it was actually closer to 50! We were the last ones to board and I was running like a crazy woman down the pier. Second, when we arrived that night we were a little bit worried… the island was empty! completely empty! (pros and cons for traveling outside the traditional tourist season).

That’s our wee cottage above. It was a bit bold to rent a desolate retreat online, but I figured we’d be in the mood for a little cozy relaxing as a family after 7 days on the road. And we weren’t to be disappointed. (Yep, it was as cold as it looks on the outside, but don’t worry, toasty fire and cute stone cottage interior awaited inside). Plus, there’s always the local pub.

We did enjoy a Smithwicks and toasted sammy when we arrived (one of six patrons at the only facility – of any kind, I think – in town) while we waited for the cottage to be unlocked by a local caretaker. Inis Maein is home to approximately 150 full time residents, and apparently a good deal of visitors at other points in the year.

The next day brought with it a decent amount of morning rain, but by the time we were up and about and walking the island the skies had cleared and the sun was shining. The agriculture specialty in these parts? Rocks! and walls and mazes everywhere.

We stumbled upon this  ancient chapel as well, and check out these amazing flat headstones. They were pretty much stacked on top of one another, over and over again. Makes you wonder how that works on the underside…

More touring of the small island…

The island was indeed a getaway of its own kind, but the highlight might have been returning back to the mainland via a 10 person airplane that shuttles folks to and fro. At just 10 Euros or so more per ticket, it was well worth the splurge to see Ireland from the air.

Our last two days were spent in the idyllic town of Clifden (which rivals Kilkenny for most majestic Irish town in my book). I cannot imagine a more lovely set of shops, pubs and beautiful windows (love me some photographs of windows and doors from around the world – they speak volumes to the culture, the people, the country…).

Kevin enjoyed a round of golf for his birthday (which was coming up very soon!) and Liv and I shopped a bit through the local stores.

Mmmm delightful. A final day of relaxing and enjoying some lazy time in a sweet village. This was also the location of Liv’s dancing video, and the locals absolutely did not mind her tagging along as we tried out different restaurants/pubs! (plus we weren’t the only one with kids, so that made us feel slightly less like bad parents…)

And that is our Ireland trip. Ten lovely days in one of the friendliest countries we’ve ever visited. The people, above all, were probably our favorite part. Friendly, kind, generous folks who look after you and who laugh heartily in conversations at pubs and street fairs, and when you quizzically ask them which direction such-and-such castle is in. Ireland, we’ve had a beautiful time exploring your lands. Thanks for the hospitality!

PS More on our family journey right here (you can start from the beginning of this crazy tour…).

Farmer’s Market Cupcakes

September 26, 2012

Taking a break from the travel updates today to share a favorite recipe with you. With all of the running around we’re doing over here, I’m barely squeaking out favorite travel photos/posts to share – but I can’t believe I have a line up of home/entertaining/interview posts on the back burner to help fill the calendar with while we are *absent* too. Ha! We might be on vacation but absent apparently we are not :-). Europe is full of opportunities to jump on the internet (gone are the college days of seeking out a cafe to pay $2 for 10 minutes to check email) be it for good or bad (we’ve actually spent quite a few late nights working on ‘real work’ projects – bad! but we’ve also used our nifty iphone GPS system, surfed for B&B recommendations and have stayed in contact with family). A blessing and distraction in one. Hopefully I’ll finish up a bit of that editing – until then, enjoy!

Here’s an easy recipe that can be converted into little loaves of bread, into a dessert cake or even into mini breakfast muffin bites. And it’s in the ‘healthy’ category! Sort of.

I call it the Farmer’s Market Cupcake recipe because you can incorporate just about any yummy fruits and veggies left over in the produce drawer of the fridge at the end of the week, or feel free to shop your local Farmer’s Market with these ingredients in mind.

Farmer’s Market Cupcakes
(Makes roughly 3 dozen mini cupcakes)

1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons orange juice (any juice or even applesauce is great)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup flour (feel free to sub in whole wheat)
2 ish cups of any combination of the following shredded or finely shopped: carrots, zucchini, squash, hard fruit such as peaches, nectarines, apricots, plums, apples, coconut, pineapple – you name it! Strain to remove excess juice, or sub out this juice instead of OJ above.
1/2 ish cup chopped walnuts
1/2 ish cup of raisins, cranraisins, golden raisins, chopped dates, etc
Poppy seeds for garnish
Cream cheese frosting (if making as a dessert)

1. Preheat over to 300 degrees. In a bowl, combine sugar, vegetable oil, orange juice, vanilla extract and eggs. Stir in baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Add flour slowly and mix. Stir in shredded fruit, veggies, walnuts and raisins.

2. Pour batter into mini cupcake tins (oiled or lined with paper), or divide amongst small loaf pans. Double recipe to make a large loaf of bread. Bake until toothpick inserted comes out clean (usually 25 minutes for large cupcakes or loafs, 15 ish minutes for minis – but I watch carefully because a moist cupcake can make all the difference!).

3. If for a dessert, frost with your favorite cream cheese frosting and garnish with slices of fruit or poppy seeds. If served as the main sweet treat of the event, sometimes I’ll cut in half traditional sweet vanilla frosting, half cream cheese for a sweeter finish. Enjoy!

To achieve that swirled icing look, I used a quart sized ziplock plastic bag (freezer bags are sturdiest) with a hole in the corner – just like in this cupcake post.

I’ve actually used these for quite a few events this summer, from an Olympic-themed brunch (where are those darn pics?) to little Gigi’s 3rd birthday party (an adorable fairy themed bash – nice job Cassie) they’re an easy go-to.

Bite sized bits of moist deliciousness! And I’m sure there are many more healthy subs that can be made. Time to empty out the fruit bowl and the veggie drawer.