Week 26 - Cook a new dish

I'd already cooked some new things this year but always forgot to document the process. The original idea for this post was to cook a recipe from the cookbook written by the guys from the Happy Pear restaurant in Greystones. They're conducting a bit of a healthy vegetarian food crusade at the moment and are pretty much the flavours (they're twins!) of the month of the Irish foodie scene.

I couldn't get all the ingredients for the beetroot burgers with homemade carrot hummus (fancy I know!) so instead went for something a little simpler to fulfil the brief... also using beetroot as its major ingredient.

My sister does a mean Beetroot Risotto with goats cheese recipe that also involves making a parmesan cheese crisp (first time I did that too!) so I made that instead!

I also eventually got around to making those beetroot burgers from the Happy Bear book and bloody hell were they delicious!

So here's the proof!...

Beetroot burgers with homemade carrot hummus and roasted sweet potato fries! Tasty!

Week 25 - Use public transport for a week

I have to admit that I do love driving (hence the tour of the 32 counties!) and I don't get many weeks where I don't need to drive for one reason or another. The lovely Alan Doheny and Joanne O'Toole have always taken great pleasure in taking the p**s that I wouldn't know how to get a bus if my life depended on it! Well... I've only gone and done it! Not only that but I took a train, a tram, a tube and a taxi. Oh and a plane or 2!

I’m gonna keep this short as it may well be the most boring blog post subject ever chosen. The week started with a train journey to Dublin and I think I’m still recovering from the price of it. We’re still not at the level of train prices in the UK but holy sh*t Irish Rail ain’t cheap! I then got the lovely Luas into Dublin town. The following day involved a quick spin on the DART and another day out on the LUAS. Living the high life I was! Later in the week I got the AirCoach to Dublin Airport to get a flight to London to see my sister Aisling. A couple of trains, buses, tubes and another flight later and I was back on the AirCoach into Dublin. That’s a week of public transport done and dusted. Trains, planes and bus-shaped automobiles.

Now wasn’t that fun!! :-)

Week 24 - Visit the Zoo

I had planned on going to the Zoo in London when I was there a number of weeks ago but a couple of things happened... It was raining the day I was initially gonna go, I found out that going is bloody expensive and thirdly I realised that I wasn't overly bothered about going!

It was on one of my cards however, so it had to be done... ish! I embarked on a stroll around London that took me waaaaaay further than I'd planned! As a result I decided to stroll through Regent's Park which is home to the ZSL London Zoo. It is, in fact, the oldest scientific zoo on the world and was opened way back in 1828.

The zoo is actually on both sides of the road as you walk by and it's pretty handy the way you can see loads of stuff from the road as you walk by. Unfortunately the rain meant that pretty much all of the animals had more sense than me and were taking shelter indoors! At least I got to see a giraffe or two!

Week 23 - Make my mother's chocolate cake

It's become a sort of tradition that my mam makes a chocolate cake for me every year for my birthday in December. This cake is a work of baked beauty and its pièce de résistance has always been the Cadbury's chocolate icing. I've made it once before but it was a hybrid version that was broken out for the purposes of a Great British Bake-off competition forefeit!

This time around it was going to be as per the original (and best!) recipe. I have witnesses to both the making and consumption of said cake and as far as I know, nobody has presented with any life-threatening side effects! In my humble opinion is was bloody brilliant! Oh and a big thanks to my Aunt Brenda for providing Santa for the top of it!

Week 22 - Go fishing

Many moons ago my sister and I bought a fishing rod for our dad. It was one of these, "ah sure he'll definitely use it" kind of presents. I think if I brought it back to the shop today then I'd get a full refund 'as new'.

The last time I was fishing was under a bridge in Ballinasloe about 5 years ago. We didn't catch anything that day and I didn't catch anything on Barna pier this time either!

So... the only way I was going to catch anything was trying a different approach. This of course involved going to London and challenging a 4 year old child (the deadly little dude my sister babysits) to a game of magnetic fishing! With our powers combined, we even managed to pick up 4 cardboard fish at once, which I'm proud so say is most likely a world record!

Week 21 - Put together a package and give it to a homeless person.

As part of the 52 cards, my mum suggested that I put together a package of stuff for a homeless person. I'd neglected the cards for a good while for one reason or another but a chance meeting with someone at a blogging event in Galway put them back on the agenda. I'm still not sure how it came up in conversation but she mentioned that she'd been in Dublin a few weeks beforehand and took a notion whilst waiting for a bus to sit down and chat to a homeless man sitting on O'Connell Bridge.

His name was Gerard from Meath and he'd been sleeping rough on the streets of Dublin for over a year. Initially reluctant to even make eye contact, he slowly opened up to her. His story was one of personal and family tragedy but he seemed to be a decent, smart young man. As soon as I'd heard about Gerard I was determined to put together the package and try to find him. I didn't know him from the next person but from what I'd heard, he seemed to be as worthy a recipient as any.

I initially thought of doing something like a lunchbox of stuff but quickly figured that that wouldn't really be of much use so I changed tack and set about putting together something a little more useful; socks, gloves, hats, thermal underwear, some toiletries and a jacket which I got free from a really generous guy in a shop in a shopping arcade off Henry St. (name escapes me!).

I hadn't got a clue how I'd get in touch with Gerard so after keeping an eye out on the streets (and O'Connnell Bridge) for a couple of days I figured there must be a better way. I called into the Dublin Simon Community accommodation in Harcourt St. who gave me a number for the Central Placement Service (CPS). I gave them a call and put me in touch with the Focus Ireland Outreach Team who do incredible work every night in walking the streets giving out food, sleeping bags, medical attention and if possible shelter to those in need. They knew of Gerard but he hadn't checked in with their services for at least a month.

I decided to leave the package with them in case he came back and if he didn't come back within a month to give it to someone they feel is most in need. The people working with the likes of Focus Ireland and The Simon Community are incredible. They walk the streets every night with little or no thanks looking after some of our society's most vulnerable members.

Coming up to Christmas, even with all the lights, noise and hustle and bustle, it's impossible to ignore the fact that hundreds of people sleep rough under the stars of our cities and towns every night. Some of these people are the victims of circumstances of their own making. Many are simply unlucky and stuck in a vicious spiral that they can't get out of.

Regardless of how they got there, the reality is there are far too many people on our streets. One is too many. Rough sleeping has increased seven fold in Cork in the last 3 years alone. I understand my ramblings may be simplistic and probably misguided but I don't care... For years our government have thrown OUR money at banks and bankers who have been allowed make f**k up after f**k up with complete impunity yet there isn't enough money to address the homeless crisis.

A rant from an individual isn't going to help anything but it does make my blood boil and I for one would much prefer my tax money to go towards putting a roof over someone like Gerard's head than keeping a very expensive roof over the heads of those who least deserve them.