Ice Cream Ireland

 Maybe it’s the lack of any kind of Spring this year here in Co. Kerry. Maybe it’s that the daffodils are dying among hail showers and North winds. Maybe it’s that it’s colder than it should be. Maybe it’s that every time the sun comes out, an astonishingly heavy shower is soon to follow. Maybe it’s simply that I’m tired from a long winter, finishing the book, and a busy Easter in the shops, but I have been feeling in dire need of an inspirational lift.

What did I do? Sun holiday? Yoga? Weekend retreat? No! I recklessly whipped out the credit card and splurged for a Nikon D300. The reviews have been so great and the people I know who have one so happy, that I couldn’t help myself. Hmmm. I’d better keep repeating that!

Sometime next week I’ll get a package worth drooling over, and hopefully you’ll see some good results here once I get the hang of it.

By the way, I ordered it from Conn’s Cameras in Dublin, who have a good reputation and fantastic prices on certain items at the moment. There has been some grumbling in the press about Irish businesses not passing on the benefits of the fall in Sterling, but Conn’s Cameras has done so in a big way on certain cameras and lenses. They have some real bargains. Hmmm. I’d better keep repeating that!

Technorati tags: Nikon, camera, D300, Conns Cameras, photography

 A reader of this blog passed on the following tidbit - there is actually a company that makes frozen treats for dogs. Yes, indeed, Polar Pups in Chicago makes soy-based doggie ice cream.

Ivan, the ice cream dog (shown above), has been known to enjoy an ice cream. In fact, he loves to hover outside our shops in the hope of distracted children and dropped cones, so maybe there is something to it. Mind you, I think he likes the actual wafer bit better than the ice cream, unlike the insatiable ice cream cat.

However, we try to keep their intake to a minimum, and other Irish animals shouldn’t get up their hopes when it comes to what we do. We’ll be sticking with ice cream for humans. For all other species wanting a taste, hanging around outside our shops is a pretty good bet. Something’s bound to fall…

Technorati tags: Ivan, dog, Polar Pups, ice cream

 I had an excellent surprise - in the middle of a day of proofing the latest version of the manuscript in the office and constantly running downstairs to scoop ice cream during this busy Easter week, I received a present of cupcakes.

It was Laura from Eat Drink Live, who was visiting Dingle from Limerick with her wonderful little daughter. And yes! Her baking tastes as good as it looks on her wonderful blog. The customers who can buy her muffins regularly at Ivan’s are lucky indeed!

Thanks, Laura!

Paul O’Mahoney from Siopaeile has come up with this brilliant idea - a collaborative map of places one can buy food directly from farmers or artisan food producers in Ireland. Anyone with a Google account can fill in their favourite haunts or hot tips here, where you can also see it full-size. I think it could be a wonderful resource, so please help out, spread the word and add a few places - it took me only a couple of minutes to add ourselves (shamelessly) and some other Kerry foodie outlets. 

James Corbett is doing the same thing for Irish WiFi hotspots.

Happy Easter, everybody!

Technorati tags: map, Irish, farm, ingredients, Kerry, supplier

 Easter is early this year - we’ve hardly finished celebrating St. Patrick’s Day! In fact, Easter can only ever fall on one day earlier, and that hasn’t happened since 1818. The lastest day it can fall upon is April 24th, and that isn’t due to happen until 2038. In any case, it’s definitely March here with a forecast of a cold and blustery weekend. We’ll just have to make the most of it here in the world of ice cream and warm up our customers with good cheer.

Last year, we tried making ice cream easter eggs, and we made some more this year. If you want to make some, you will need some egg moulds. You simply pour the ice cream into the moulds and then decorate them when they are hard. This year, we experimented with dipping them in rasperry coulis, which dyed them a pleasing red. We also sat them in chocolate cups.

I’d love to take a course in decorating desserts, but playing with melted chocolate and other toppings sure makes for a fun afternoon - whatever the outcome. I don’t think we’ll sell these, but possibly give them away as gifts…

P.S. Happy news - Lent ends tomorrow!

Technorati tags: ice cream, egg, chocolate, Easter

 I am happy to announce that Dingle has a fresh fish shop for the first time in years. I am so excited!

O’Catháin Iasc Teo., on the Quay, have opened a little fish shop right next to their factory. Only open two days, I had to queue behind a few other delighted locals to get my bit of turbot for tonight’s dinner. So, it looks like it will be successful, which is great news.

They had quite a range of offerings, and I sincerely wish it brings some hope to Dingle’s struggling fish industry. I certainly will be a good customer!

And yes, if you’re heading to Dingle for Easter, and if you feel like cooking, they will be open on Good Friday so that you can get your fish. From the fresh look of it, though, it will hardly be a penance!

Technorati tags: Dingle, o’Cathain, fish, shop, fresh, quay  

  Happy St. Patrick’s Day! My brother was in our Killarney shop, and I was too busy making coffees and scooping ice cream in Dingle to see much of the parade. I managed to snap a couple of photos in the one lull we had, which are here.

There was a great crowd around, and a very good atmosphere. For once, it was actually dry, and although quite windy, no one got wet!

In other news, Ice Cream Ireland has just passed the 100,000 visitor mark, which I feel is a big achievement. I know that some blogs might do that in a day, but I’m quite proud that this site has attracted so many people since its inception. Thanks to all my loyal readers, and long live ice cream!

Technorati tags: St. Patrick, day, Dingle, Irish, Ireland

In preparation of the big day tomorrow, you might find this amusing (especially if you’re from the U.S.A.). I wouldn’t suggest pinching anyone, though.

Those helpful people at Howcast.com also have videos on How to play the bagpipes, How to make and Irish coffee, and How to throw a Patrick’s day party.

Technorati tags: video, St. Patrick, Irish, Ireland

 I grew up with toffees of various kinds - English toffees in white wrappers, salt water taffy, and toffee apples at farm fairs. Toffee is different from caramel in that it uses dark brown sugar or molasses along with butter. When put in ice cream, it makes for an unbelievably rich and sweet experience.

I like leaving big chunks of the cooled candy in the ice cream, although I have also experimented with adding the toffee while it is still warm and letting it melt into the freezing ice cream mix. It turns the finished product toffee-coloured and gives it a uniform texture and flavour that is great if you like a smooth ice cream. This recipe uses cold toffee. Just be ready - it does stick to the teeth!

MURPHYS TOFFEE (TAIFÍ) ICE CREAM

Ingredients:

• 130g sugar
• 5 egg yolks
• 240 ml cream
• 200 ml milk
• 100 grams of toffee candy

What to do:

1. Beat the sugar and egg yolks together until thick and pale yellow.
2. Bring the milk to a low simmer.
3. Beat the milk into the eggs and sugar in a slow stream.
4. Pour the mixture back into the pan and place over low heat.
5. Stir continuously until the custard thickens slightly (around 65-70C) and just coats the back of a spoon. Don’t over-heat, though, because at around 76C you will scramble the eggs!
6. Immediately remove from the heat.
7. Allow to cool completely.
8. Break up the toffee candy into small pieces. (This might be easier if the toffee is cold!)
9. Whip the cream until it has doubled in volume (you should have soft peaks - don’t over-whip).
10. Fold the cream (gently stir) into the custard.
11. Freeze using a domestic ice cream machine, adding the toffee when the ice cream is already quite solid.
12. Otherwise, cover and place in the freezer, again adding the toffee when it has become semi-solid.
13. If you’re using a domestic ice cream machine, transfer to a freezer-proof covered container when the ice cream has achieved a semi-solid consistency (around 15 minutes). Place it in the freezer, and continue to freeze until it is solid.

Note:

To pasteurise the eggs, heat the custard to 73C and maintain that temperature for at least 5 minutes. Use a cooking thermometer, though, and keep stirring! If the custard goes any higher than 76C, the eggs will scramble. Immediately cover and place in the freezer until cool.

Yield: 8 servings

Technorati tags: caramel, recipe, toffee, ice cream, candy

I’m a pretty laid-back fellow, but certain things really get to me. One of them is the disregard of any form of government to the wishes of its people.

In Dingle, we’ve had a famous battle over the name of the town. Whatever one’s stance about the issue (and I understand arguments on both sides), the fact is that the town held a plebescite, and 96% voted for “Dingle/Daingean Uí Chúis.” It’s now a year and a half later, tourists are still confused by the use of “An Daingean” on the road signs, and the government still hasn’t honoured the wishes of the people.

In an even more worrying development, Kerry County Council launched a Traffic Plan for Dingle a year ago, which I wrote about here. Basically they wanted to remove almost all of the parking from the centre of town and create satellite parking around the edges.

For most of the year, Dingle is a tiny market town of 1,800 residents, without any traffic problem outside weddings and funerals, and removing the parking would be a disaster for businesses and for quality of life (would you really hike 10 minutes in a January gale to grab a coffee, visit friends, or do your shopping?)

There was uproar about the plan a year ago, and most of the businesses, associations, and residents sent in opposing submissions. Do you think Kerry County Council paid any attention to the submissions? It seems not. They just launched a new traffic plan that still takes away the parking. I haven’t seen it yet, but it appears that instead of removing 130 parking spots, they now propose to remove only 122. Very generous.

They say it’s a new plan, and so the old submissions are invalid. All the submissions need to be re-done. For what? To save another few parking spaces? I think they could have a battle on their hands this time. Stay tuned…

P.S. In the interest of fairness, I have heard from both the press officer of Kerry County Council and a local Counciller who say that this is just a draft, that they are open for input, and that submissions will be taken seriously this time around. Let’s hope so!

Technorati tags: Dingle, traffic, plan, Kerry, county, council