Vick's Cakes Blog

Sunday was another glorious day at the Waterford Festival of Food, full of sunshine & food! Although I didn’t make the Food Trail on the Saturday evening I believe it was a great success, tasting dishes in each Restaurant – Lawlors served sushi & steak cooked on hot stone, while the  Tannery served  watermelon gazapho, prawn risotto & Nude Food – flatbread and humus & tender lamb tagine (apologies if I missed any of the courses – second-hand info). Also available was a surf and turf trail which was in The Moorings Bar, Crews Restaurant & Sea Palace. Sounds wonderful & am defo booking in for that next year.

The Sunday saw the farmers market in Grattan Square, where people thronged to experience the atmosphere and taste all the wonderful delights. There was a great selection of stalls with wonderful smells wafting as you walked toward the town centre, the centre of attention each year is the Hog Roast which is tremendous site, with the pig roasted on a spit from very early hours of the morning until it is tender & succulent.

The selection of stalls included beautifully vibrant cupcakes & cookies from Tara’s handmade foods, cakes and breads selection by Oonagh Poynton of Rhincrew Cookery School, Youghal. Rosies Bagels (Broadway Bagels) also served roasted vegetables on their bagels & there was also a Gluten Free Breads and cakes aswell. If you have a sweet tooth there was also Gallwey’s Chocolates made in Waterford which were yummy!

There was a great choice for lunch from Nude Food with lamb burgers  to O’ Flynns Sausages with sausage sandwiches & foot longs, O’Briens Chop House with roast lamb served in a blaa (traditional soft bread roll, from Waterford) Richmond House had a selection of goats cheese or roasted vegetable tartlets or steak sandwiches. Dawn Meats in connection with the seanachai restaurant had wonderful cooked meats aswell.

Then to wash down a yummy lunch there was tasty apple juice from Killowen or Crinnaghtaun Orchards, and with a que about a mile long was Badger & Dodo boutique coffee roasters, which must have been amazing – however I’m not a coffee drinker!

There was also some great artisan local producers including Knocklara Cheese, Baranawee Foods selection of chutney,Preserves and ready meals, Bridewater foods selection of preserves. , Co. Cork. Flavahans were also a big sponsor supporting local food businesses.

The 3rd annual year was a great success & I cannot wait till next years festival.

xx

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What a fantastic day on Saturday to head off  foraging for wild edible delights in Colligan Woods,Co. Waterford. Paul Green was our guide, who is involved in Biodiversity of Waterford Flora  http://www.biodiversityireland.ie , while we walked the trail through the woods Paul pointed out over 22 edible plants all easily accessible & at our fingertips.

Billberries (also know as herth) were one of the first plants we came across these were only coming into flower now with tiny red buds, however the berries are ripe in June/July and are known for their powers in helping prevent Prostate Cancer. St. John Wort is also edible and known for its tiny yellow flowers, commonly used in treating depression. Dandelions leaves and flowers can be used in salads,otherwise the root can be roasted & then ground up to use for Dandelion Coffee. Wood Sorrel is a relative to sorrel , it is shamrock / clover shape leaf with small white flower, this is good remedy for sore throat. We also found some wild strawberries on the forest floor, these have the same leaves as common strawberry however the fruit is very small probably not much bigger than a blackcurrant, but with a suburb taste (ripe in mid summer). Common Valarium was another remedy to help you sleep however I wouldn’t recommend taking too much! We also came across Sweet Wood Ruff which if you dry it out & hang it in your airing cupboard gives a sweet & fresh smell.  Wood cress which is a cousin to the watercress was also scattered however if you plant it in your garden it can spread! We also came across some Cherry, Hazel & Crab Apple Trees – so i’ll definitely look at the wood land walk with different eyes the next time i’m feeling hungry out walking! While we didn’t come across any wild garlic on our travels, it’s just in season now so i’ll have the wellies on & be out foraging soon to make some wonderful dishes with it. Of course another great edible flower at the moment is primroses which are really pretty to add the flowers to a salad or crystalize them for the top of cakes. Nettles are just starting to produce young shouts now and are tender to use in soups, mixed with spinach and also rissotto ( check out Hugh Fearnely-Whittingstall’s The River Cottage Year for some good recipes on seasonal fruit and vegetables).

Unfortunately when I got around to booking tickets for the Baking with Barons Bakery it was booked out , they had great interest in the afternoon class, so I decided to head down to St. Johns Castle to check out Agri Aware Mobile Farm, which had plenty of little chics , bunnies and a few lambs, they were also handing out lettuce & spinach seeds to make people more aware of Grow it Yourself.

The Picnic in Walton Park in Abbeyside was also a great success with hundreds of people turning out to enjoy the sunshine & music saturday evening.

….keep tuned to see pictures of Sundays Farmers Market!

Vickx

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