Blarney Castle Painting and Irish Potato Candy Recipe

I've been working on this watercolor of Blarney Castle for a really long time. I finally vowed to finish it before St. Patrick's Day.

I don't really know anyone who really likes to use watercolor as their favorite medium. My favorite medium is pencil, so watercolor is as different as you can get in terms of control. Pencil does exactly what you want it to, watercolor does what it wants.

I'm not sure that the painting is 100% finished right now, but it's finished enough that I would only have to put 15 or 20 minutes of finishing touches on. I am considering slightly more detail on the bush and maybe some clouds in the sky.

I always paint and draw on the floor, I don't know why, I do have as easel, I've just never used it. Fortunately, my easel doesn't go to waste  as my sister uses it a lot. You can see some of her drawings here.


I only use a few supplies which is great if you like to paint "in the field." I have never painted on location, although I would like to try sometime. I dislike when people watch me paint or draw.
 

I use cheap paints (the $5.00 for the whole set kind) because I have found that the expensive paints have added ingredients which helps the paint dry faster on the paper. I am told that you can buy "stuff" to make the expensive paint not dry so fast but it seems like a waste of money when the really cheap paint works well.

I once had to take a watercolor class for college and I hated every minute of it. The teacher made us buy expensive paint ($5.00 a tube and we needed about 7 tubes.) Then he made us "experiment" constantly. If I was going to experiment, as a student, I wish I wasn't using $35.00 worth of paint and $60.00 worth of paper.

I do still have a lot of expensive paints left over and I keep telling myself that when I get really good at using watercolor, then I'll use those paints. I am told that they will not fade as much as cheap paints. I'll have to do a "fade check" to see.

Below I have a St. Patrick's Day Recipe for Irish Potatoes. These are American coconut candies. The candies are rolled into balls to imitate little potatoes and then rolled in cinnamon to look like dirt on the potatoes. If you like coconut, you will probably love them.

Irish Potatoes

Ingredients:

- 4 Cups Powdered Sugar

-2 1/2 Cups Flaked Coconut

- 4 ounces Cream Cheese (1/2 an 8 ounce package)

- 1/4 Cup Butter

- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

- Cinnamon or Cocoa Powder

Instructions:

Cream the Butter and Cream Cheese together in a medium sized bowl. Once smooth, add the Powdered Sugar and Vanilla Extract. Add Coconut, you may have to use your hands to blend it together. Pour the Cocoa or Cinnamon onto a small plate. Make 1 inch balls of the "dough" and roll them in the Cocoa or Cinnamon.

You can eat these right away but they are best slightly cold and keep for a few weeks refrigerated. If you are going to refrigerate them, put each individual candy into a tiny fluted liner, available at craft stores.  

Andy and I always make Irish potatoes (covered in cinnamon) and Chocolate Blarney Stones (rolled in cocoa powder.) We make the Blarney Stones more rectangular in shape, similar to the actual Blarney Stone. Making two batches uses up one whole package of cream cheese and adds variety. Many people like the cocoa covered ones much better than the cinnamon, but the cinnamon is traditional.

Movies for St. Patrick's Day

The Rock of Cashel, Ireland (Carraig Phádraig)

The Rock of Cashel is said to be the spot that St. Patrick converted the King of Munster to Christianity in the 5th century. The buildings on the rock date back to the 1100s but many buildings were present before these were erected. It is one of the greatest archaeological spots in Ireland. There is one account that stated that St. Patrick died on March 17, 460 CE. In Ireland, and among Catholics, March 17th is a Holy Day, in the United States, it is a day of festivity and parades.   

What better way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day than watching a good Irish movie and eating Irish food? Since St. Patrick's Day is an Irish holiday and the St. Patrick's Day Parade, an American one, these movies include both Irish and Irish American movies. The St. Patrick's Day parade was first held on March 17, 1762 in New York City to honor the Irish fighting with the British Army.

  
Waking Ned Devine: A hilarious story about a man who wins the lottery and the whole town that cashes the ticket. It's actually a lot funnier than it looks and has a great soundtrack. Warning: Brief nudity (Rated: PG.)

The War of the Buttons: Two rival gangs of Irish children and their idea of what it means to be adults. I believe the whole thing is available on youtube or OnDemand rent from Amazon for $2.99. Warning: Brief nudity (Rated PG.)

Angela's Ashes: The serious memoir of an childhood in the slums of Ireland. Warning: "Irish" language. :D They are bad words there but not here. (Rated R, but personally I think it is appropriate for mature teenage audience due to the historical aspect of the movie.)

Good Will Hunting: An Irish American genius works as a janitor at MIT and doesn't have aspirations beyond that until he is caught fixing math equations by a leading mathematician. Warning: Language. (Rated: R.)   

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn: A coming of age story about second generation Irish and Austrian tenants in Brooklyn. I believe the whole thing is on youtube, it was made in 1945.

Hope you enjoy! I think we will be watching Waking Ned Devine and War of the Buttons this year. A lot of people like to watch The Quiet Man on St. Patrick's Day but I can't stand watching that movie for more than 5 minutes. Andy really likes it though. (I don't know if it's the bad acting, the bad storyline or John Wayne.)

I guess I'll add The Quiet Man for all of you masochists out there. :D

** Between Andy and I, St. Patrick's Day is also known as "The day we get to  feel like normal people." :D (Those of you who know us well, know why.)

Irish Calligraphy

Irish (Gaeilge) is very different from English, there are only 18 letters to work with and yet the letters can make many sounds. The sounds even differ from county to county, confusing! Irish started to decline in Ireland during the 1800s. In the late 1800s, the British stopped teaching Irish in schools in Ireland in an attempt to make the Irish more British. Irish during this time was typically used by only the poor who were more likely to emigrate from Ireland, leaving very few speakers in Ireland.

I found this writing style in an Irish primer published in the 1840s. I thought it was very pretty and decided to map it out in case someone wanted to use it for Christmas cards. Sorry, the second chart is a little hard to read, my printer is broken.  English can be written using Irish letters with a little bit of imagination, for example, Andrew has to be written as "Andriu," and Mary as "Mari" or "Muire." It's a very pretty writing style it is readable to us but is still a little ancient looking.

 

Nollaig Shona Duit (pronounced  "No- lihg HO- nah ditch") roughly translates as "Happy Christmas." If you want to say "Happy Christmas" to more than one person it would be Nollaig Shona Daoibh (pronounced "No-lihg HO-nah dih-ve.)

*Note: Excerpt from "A Primer of the Irish Language" from the College of St. Columba, published in 1845.

Simple Irish Phrases

Andy and I had our first Irish class. I thought I'd share a few simple Irish phrases with you.  We are learning the Ulster dialect (County Donegal.) The dialects really do change a lot!

 

The fist thing we learned to say was "Dia duit."

•  It is pronounced "Gee a dutch." We have heard it pronounced in other dialects as "Gee a ditch," and "Gee a dwhit." 

It is how they say "hello" but literally means "God to you."

The response to "Dia duit" is "Dia is Muire duit." 

• This is pronounced as "Gee a smore a dutch."

It means "God and Mary to you."

We also learned "Slán leat."

• It is pronounced "Slahn lot"

It means "Goodbye," and is said by the person leaving. The person staying says "Slán agat."

• This is pronounced "Slahn ahg-ot."

I hope you enjoyed! We had fun even though it is really hard and confusing.

Return From Ireland

The trip to Ireland was amazing. Mrs. Child was in fact correct when saying that travel is not cheap. We were greeted the first day, unexpectedly, with a bill of $32 for prepared eggs from the hotel restaurant. Needless to say, after that we shopped much more frugally.

Most of Ireland seemed to be stopped in time. Sheep and cow grazed in communal fields among Medieval stone ruins. Stores were open until six-ish and the food was fatty, hardy and heavy with the love of an imaginary Irish granny.  Below I've included two traditional Irish recipes for everyone to enjoy.


 Boxty (bacstaí) is a traditional potato bread from Northern Ireland. It was so revered in the Irish countryside that it was said that if a woman could not bake it, she would never get married, as was popularized by a poem, (“Boxty on the griddle, boxty in the pan, If you can't make boxty, you'll never get a man.”)

 A recipe for Boxty from a narrative in The Irish Penny Journal (1841)

Irish Boxty

       “As Boxty, however, is a description of bread not generally known to our readers, we shall give them a sketch of the manner in which this Irish luxury is made. A basket of the best potatoes is got, which are washed and peeled raw; then is procured a tin grater, on which they are grated; the water is then shired off them, and the macerated mass is put into a clean sheet, or table-cloth, or bolster-cover. This is caught at each end by two strong men, who twist it in opposite directions until the contortions drive up the substance into the middle of the sheet, &c.; this of course expels the water also; but lest the twisting should be insufficient for that purpose, it is placed, like a cheese-cake, under a heavy weight, until it is properly dried. They then knead it into cakes, and bake it on a pan or griddle; and when eaten with butter, we can assure our readers that it is quite delicious,” (314.)

 
A Modern Boxty Recipe

Another Version     


 

Potato and Leek soup, while not having the sentiments as Irish Boxty, was a similarly widespread traditional food was enjoyed historically in the country and is still served in restaurants today.

 A recipe for Potato and Leek soup from Good Housekeeping (1889.) (This is said here to be a German recipe, Irish recipes are virtually identical to this one except with the omission of the fried croutons.)

 

Potato and Leek Soup

"If leeks are not obtainable onions may be substituted. Cut in slices the white part of six leeks or onions. Fry the leeks in four tablespoonfuls of butter, and add two tablespoonfuls of flour and dilute gradually with two quarts of stock and one of water. Cut in pieces eight potatoes and cook them till soft. Strain the soup through a sieve. If you have used no stock add a pint and a half of milk, and when the whole comes to a boil in either case, whether made with stock or water alone, add two eggs well beaten into half a cupful of milk and a little butter. Pour into the soup tureen. Do not allow the soup to boil after the eggs are added. Throw in a handful of minced chives or of minced parsley just before serving. Serve fried croutons with this soup. This is a German recipe, and valued for its excellence,” (76.)

 A Modern Irish Potato and Leek Recipe 

     Another Modern Recipe

I'm sure many other Irish Recipes will follow these, when I am missing Ireland. 

 

Anticipation of My Trip

In less than three days, I will be on a plane headed for Ireland-- something I have always dreamed about, but never thought would come true. It still feels like a dream, it has not fully set in that I am really going. We have been planning the trip for months and it doesn't feel real now.  I am still really excited, although my excitement has been overrun by an unfortunate family quarrel.

Regardless, in honor of my trip, an excerpt from The American Frugal Housewife (1838) by Lydia Marie Child:

    "People of moderate fortune have just as good a right to travel as the wealthy; but is it not unwise? Do they not injure themselves and their families? You say travelling is cheap. So is staying at home. Besides, do you count all the costs?

    The money you pay for stages and steamboats is the smallest of the items. There are clothes bought which would not otherwise be bought; those clothes are worn out and defaced twenty times as quick as they would have been at home; children are perhaps left with domestics, or strangers; their health and morals, to say the least, under very uncertain influence ; your substance is wasted in your absence by those who have no self-interest to prompt them to carefulness; you form an acquaintance with a multitude of people, who will be sure to take your house in their way, when they travel next year; and finally, you become so accustomed to excitement, that home appears insipid, and it requires no small effort to return to the quiet routine of your duties. And what do you get in return for all this? Some pleasant scenes, which will soon seem to you like a dream; some pleasant faces, which you will never see again; and much of crowd, and toil, and dust, and bustle," (100.)

      In the interest of frugality, should I really be traveling? No, this money could be put elsewhere (college mostly.) It will be a much welcomed and appreciated vacation. It has also been a lot of hard work and we hope to have a lot of fun and a truly life changing experience. 

*Note: The engravings are from Moore's Irish Melodies (1866.)