Happy Mardi Gras

Here in Ireland, Mardi Gras (aka Shrove Tuesday) is known for being pancake Tuesday. Pancakes are suddenly the “it” thing, and every where you go, pancakes (sweet and savory) are served.

Where I’m from, however, we have King Cake and a big party. After 5 years in Ireland – I was craving king cake. So, I went online and found a recipe for a braided king cake. I started out by making the dough, layering the cinnamon sugar paste, then rolling it up, then stretching it into long tubes. From there, it was braided:

King Cake for Mardi Gras 2016! Gold, Green, & Violet icing...

It went in the oven for 35 minutes, and while it was baking, I mixed up some simple glaze of powdered sugar, a dash of water, and food coloring to make “gold”, “green”, and Violet.

King Cake for Mardi Gras 2016! Gold, Green, & Violet icing...

when it was done baking, it had risen quite a bit – and looked and smelled fabulous:

King Cake for Mardi Gras 2016! Gold, Green, & Violet icing...

Finally, when the cake was cool, I drizzled it with the colored glaze – added a piece of candy for the “prize” and wrapped it up – all set to take to work.

King Cake for Mardi Gras 2016! Gold, Green, & Violet icing...

The guys? Well, they seemed to like it. Especially Bill, who got the candy – and is king for the day.

Happy Mardi Gras, y’all! Laissez les bons temps rouler!!

PS. If you want to learn more about the history of King Cake, please go here.

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Bake Sale for Refugees

On September 9, 2015, one of the people at work was sponsoring a bake sale. The money is going to buy winter items for the Refugees that are coming across the Mediterranian. V is taking his vacation and volunteering on the Island of Kos and plans on taking as much of this with him as possible.

Wanting to do something more to help, I took 20 Euros and bought some supplies. I made 3 kinds of cookies:

Sept 10, 15 Bake sale food I made in support of the Refugees. 3 kinds of cookies, a tray of brownies, rolled oat bread, white bread, salami bread, and the crowning cheddar -basil-black olive bread. :)Powerful Punch Gluten Free / Egg Free / organic cookies with dates, raisins and almonds

Sept 10, 15 Bake sale food I made in support of the Refugees. 3 kinds of cookies, a tray of brownies, rolled oat bread, white bread, salami bread, and the crowning cheddar -basil-black olive bread. :)Powerful Punch Cookies

Sept 10, 15 Bake sale food I made in support of the Refugees. 3 kinds of cookies, a tray of brownies, rolled oat bread, white bread, salami bread, and the crowning cheddar -basil-black olive bread. :)Chocolate chocolate chip Cake box Cookies

Sept 10, 15 Bake sale food I made in support of the Refugees. 3 kinds of cookies, a tray of brownies, rolled oat bread, white bread, salami bread, and the crowning cheddar -basil-black olive bread. :)Chocolate chocolate chip Cake box Cookies

Sept 10, 15 Bake sale food I made in support of the Refugees. 3 kinds of cookies, a tray of brownies, rolled oat bread, white bread, salami bread, and the crowning cheddar -basil-black olive bread. :)Red Velvet Cookies

I also made a pan of Walnut brownies:

Sept 10, 15 Bake sale food I made in support of the Refugees. 3 kinds of cookies, a tray of brownies, rolled oat bread, white bread, salami bread, and the crowning cheddar -basil-black olive bread. :)

Then, I made bread, which sold like hotcakes. The 4 small loaves on the left are Fresh Basil, Oregano and Cheddar cheese. The two small at the top are Pepperoni and Cheese bread. The next two are plain white bread. And the last two at the bottom are rolled oat and wheat bread.

Sept 10, 15 Bake sale food I made in support of the Refugees. 3 kinds of cookies, a tray of brownies, rolled oat bread, white bread, salami bread, and the crowning cheddar -basil-black olive bread. :)

In addition to what the others brought, we had 2 full 6 foot tables. The sale brought almost 800 Euro – all to help get those fleeing war make it through the winter.

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Salthill near Galway

Galway Bay Hotel

Back in July 2011, I had a few days off and decided to go to the West coast of Ireland and stay near Galway. After some perusing about the hotels, I found a beautiful looking hotel called the Galway Bay Hotel, on the North Side of Galway in a suburb called Salthill. The hotel faces the sea front promenade around Galway Bay and has interesting warm yellow architecture. The inside is very elegant with marble floored oval foyer with custom dark wood seating. The Foyer opens onto an all glass conservatory from which you can reach a lovely summer terrace with chairs and tables so one can take in the brisk sea air and a bit of sun on warm days. I got a prime room – on the top floor, and facing the beach – with a huge king size bed – for a good deal of less than 100 euro a night. Despite the drizzle for most of the day, the view (below) was magnificent.

view from my room at Galway Bay Hotel

I had a massage, and a chance to soak in the tub and relax. By the time that I was ready for diner, the weather was clearer and cooler – but twilight had set in. I walked over to the village…

Salthill village

and opted for a Slavic restaurant that promised authentic perogies. Now I’m no expert, but I did have lots of Perogies when I lived in Russia. I was a bit skeptical at first, but when I asked the waitress what type of perogies they had – and she told me the names I was familiar with, I got my hopes up and was not disappointed (seriously the best perogies I had since I lived in Russia!). Add in a bit of tasty pear vodka and also a bit of yummy dessert and I was one happy girl. (Who would have thought that such a tiny town would have such an awesome restaurant?)

Perogies for dinner!

On the way back to the hotel, walking along the promenade, I did try to take a picture of Galway’s lovely Bay with an tanker sitting out on the water. It’s blue because of the twilight – and I wanted to try again later (no chance – it started raining again and did most of the morning – thus why I headed to Connemara/Kylemore Abbey) but I think it came out ok.

Salthill Promenade view

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