Basic Vegetable Soup

I love soup! I am so happy I moved to a colder climate, where soup is a standard on so many menus. When traveling around the countryside, without fail we can always pop into a pub for lunch and find vegetable soup, with a side of homemade brown soda bread on the menu. Its usually the most reasonably priced option and its also my favorite.

I have started making vegetable soup very regularly at home too. Its quick and easy. I love it and my daughter loves it. Its super easy to make, with ingredients that I pretty much always have.

Basic ingredients:

1 large potato (or 2-3 small)
1 large onion (or 2-3 small)
1 medium courgette (zucchini)
1 large carrot
1 tsp sea salt

( These proportions and ingredients can be varied somewhat. I also sometimes add other things that I need to use up, like bell peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, etc...)

Directions:
Chop all the vegetables (no need to chop them too finely.) Put the chopped vegetables in a pot and cover with water. Add the sea salt.

Boil for about 20 minutes, or until you can put a fork easily into the vegetables. I use an immersion blender to blend the soup, but you could use a a regular blender or food processor,

The soup is ready to serve as is! I sometimes drink it out of a cup, like a warm drink. For the kids, I sometimes stir some milk or fresh cream into the soup to cool it down.

Enjoy!

Advent Calendar

I love December! I remember how exciting the build-up to Christmas was when I was a child and I love reliving that with my children. Last year, a good friend got me started on making an Activity Advent calendar for the month of December. The month became even more fun. There are lots of beautiful ideas for homemade advent calendars to be found online. You can check out my Christmas Advent Calendar Board on Pinterest for some lovely examples.

I have been really busy this year and last, so I kept it super simple. Last year I clipped paper bags to a ribbon. This year I used brown envelopes and a set of pegs on a string that I found at Tiger (I love that store!)

It is my goal to start including more "giving" activities in our advent, but that didn't happen this year. Its mostly food and crafts. Fancy that! Here's my list (shhh, don't tell the kids!)

1. Open the ottoman, and you shall find.... (a lego advent calendar)
2. While doing your homework, drink hot chocolate with a special topping (marshmallows)
3. Make gingerbread houses
4. Go into town and visit the Christmas Market
5. "Family Movie Night"- Watch Rudolf and eat popcorn
6. Go ice skating!
7. Visit Castletown Market
8. Decorate and send Christmas cards
9. Dress the car up as Rudolf!
10. Dress Pepper (our dog) up in her Santa suit for the walk to school
11. Make new Christmas ornaments for the tree
12. "Family Movie Night"- Watch Miracle on 34th St and drink eggnog
13. Buy a Tree!!!!
14. Make origami ornaments
15. Go for a neighborhood walk to look at Christmas lights
16. Write secret notes to each family member and put them in their stocking
17. Have a picnic dinner by candlelight beside the tree
18. Bake Christmas Cookies
19. "Family Movie Night"- Watch Home Alone 2 ad drink hot apple toddies
20. Make pinecone bird feeders as Christmas present for the birds
21. Make a silly video Christmas card
22. Go to the Panto
23. Have Afternoon Tea
24. Sprinkle Reindeer Food (Magic Sparkling food that lights Santa's way) in the Backyard!

Clara Lara Fun Park

Today I took the kids to Clara Lara Fun Park in County Wicklow. 60 acres of fun in the Wicklow mountains. Only adults and children 12 and under allowed. We had a blast! If you happen to visit Ireland with kids, May-August, take them to Clara Lara.

Banquet at Bunratty castle

After our lovely day visiting Kilkee beach, where we found a huge colony of jellyfish hanging out on the sand-

we headed back to our cottage to get ready for our evening activity- a banquet at Bunratty Castle. I had been to a banquet at Bunratty when I was about 13 years old and it was one of those truly memorable experiences that sticks with you always (and not just because, back then, they gave me snuff to snort and some to take home. Whooooo.) 

Anyway, I think we have visited Bunratty on almost every trip to Ireland. The kids LOVE it there. Its not just the castle, but there is also the "folk park." Some info culled from the shannonheritage website:

Bunratty Castle
Welcome to Bunratty Castle, the most complete and authentic medieval fortress in Ireland. Built in 1425 it was restored in 1954 to its former medieval splendor and now contains mainly 15th and 16th century furnishings, tapestries, and works of art which capture the mood of those times.

Bunratty Folk Park
Enjoy the sights, sounds tastes, scents, of this enchanting place as you stroll from house to house or around the charming village street complete with school, post office, doctors house, hardware shop, printers and of course McNamara’s pub!

Bunratty Walled Garden
The gardens at Bunratty Folk Park have been restored to their former glory. The gardens are modeled on the original Regency period garden which supplied fruit, vegetables, and flowers to Bunratty House (built in 1804) and are refurbished in typical Victorian style. This is your opportunity to experience one of the great gardens of Ireland.

The Bunratty Collection
Browse the castle and marvel at the finest collection of medieval furniture in the country which brings to life a vital part of our Medieval past.  You can explore at your own leisure or join in a guided tour with our experienced guides. At night time the castle is the impressive setting for the medieval castle banquets which are held year round.

As I had regaled my children with stories of this fabulous banquet that I had once attended at Bunratty, DD was adament that this was how she wanted to celebrate her sixth birthday. After many years of childrens' birthday parties that involved hard labor, who was I to argue with no work and bottomless (or so it seemed, at least) jugs of house wine.

There are two seatings for the banquet: 5:30pm and 8:45pm. When I went to book, 5:30pm was sold out, so we went with 8:45 (knowing that we would be on Spring Break and my kids are not sleepers.) So, we headed down for our 8:45 banquet and were allowed stroll around the folk park, though it was closed to the public.

At around 8:30pm we entered the castle for our banquet. After being serenaded at the entrance by a bagpiper, we entered the main hall where the adults were offered a porcelain goblet of mead (Mead is an alcoholic beverage created by fermenting honey with water, and frequently fruits, spices, grains or hops.) Yum!!! The children were also offered a goblet of juice. Everyone was happy. While enjoying our refreshments in the main hall, we were treated to delightful music by a harpist and violinist.

We soon moved up to the dining hall, where we were treated to a four course meal (lovely vegetable soup, ribs, chicken with potatoes and vegetables, then dessert) and lively entertainment. There were jokes at the audience' expense. Incredibly beautiful singing. People taking photos with their giant iPads (oh, rewind, am I the only one who struggles with this? people whipping out their giant tablets to take photos! Who carries a bag that big around? get a camera! anyway...)

My daughter was brought up on stage to contrast her youthful 6 year birthday with the 60 year old who was also celebrating his birthday (by being taunted and sent to the dungeon.) It was a fabulous evening. My children had the time of their lives (and were oblivious to the tawdry jokes at the 60 year olds expense), and I think they were the only children at the 8:45pm seating. We had a fabulous evening and highly recommend a banquet should you visit Ireland (or this area). I think you have to be a visitor to attend. No one that I know who lives near there,  it seems,  has ever been to one.