After a summer of absolute neglect regarding my own culinary adventures and blogging I seem to be on a roll at the moment. Having survived our annual vacation and annual scout camp, I returned to work somewhat shell-shocked, but now it seems, thankfully, that I've rediscovered my enthusiasm for many of the things I genuinely enjoy...
Last Thursday, for instance saw a moment of inspiration. I'd been gathering bits and pieces and finally I had them all, or so I thought! As I lay out the ingredients for my latest adventure I was smugly satisfied that the Book of Sweet Things recipe for an orange ice-cream would fulfil one of my all time favourite cravings. I love ice-cream, as in proper ice-cream rather than iced-desserts (vegetable fat desserts more like!), but I am particularly fond of orange ice-cream.
The ingredients for this recipe are very simple, relying on a traditional custard base made from full cream Tullamore Dairies Milk, 5 Free-range Egg Yokes, the zest of an Orange (scrubbed to remove any unwanted wax or pesticides),and my own Vanilla Sugar to which you add 50g Bitter Marmalade. The lightly whipped Double Cream and Jaffa Cakes are added later on.
Had the been in a box it might have been easier to find them, but these were smashed up in a plastic bag that I'd confiscated from one of our younger scouts on the last day of our annual camp. Reluctant to share his booty with the rest of us he'd hidden them in the bottom of his rucsack and the resulting mess was going to be thrown away. A light bulb had suddenly lit up in my head, I could use them...
Once the custard had thickened my patience (or lack of it) isn't always a virtue at this point, and I resorted to transferring the custard into my trusty pyrex jug and then pluged it into cold water. I find this is so much quicker than waiting for my cast iron saucepan to cool!
Now it was time to fold in the whipped cream and pour the resulting mix into the ice-cream maker.
Quite honestly this is the best part of ice-cream making. Not only do you get to watch the fruit of your labour turn into your favourite dessert, but you also get to clean the utensils!
Sometime around half way through the churning process you're supposed to add the chopped/shredded/crushed jaffa cakes, mmmmh.... The recipe calls for four 'shredded' Jaffa Cakes, in my case I picked out four intact orange jelly discs and a large handful of powdered biscuit base crumbs and shards of dark chocolate to add to the mixture...
Needless to say we'd to be patient at this stage. This, of course, didn't prevent us from 'tasting' the partly frozen ice-cream , although you've to be quick unless you want your fingers caught by the agitator! Tastings aside we did manage to transfer at least six large portions into suitably sized bowl before we shut it into the deepfreeze for a while, just to finish off the freezing process.
I can't honestly remember what we had for dinner that night, but I do remember what we had for dessert! It was just lovely. Even writing about it now has got my taste buds tingling! Best of all though, I was happy in the knowledge that there were another couple of scoops left over for another day. Imagine then how disappointed I was, after a horrid day at work to discover that my eldest boy had devoured my only source of solace hence the absence of photo's!
To add insult to injury I was later presented with the plastic agitator. It was mangled and in an unusable condition, thanks to Tilley the Sheepdog who just loves to chew anything and everything she can get her teeth on. I don't know how she got hold of it, but until I can locate a replacement it looks as though my ice-cream making days are over...
Showing posts with label Tullamore Dairies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tullamore Dairies. Show all posts
Monday, August 23, 2010
Polly's Ice-Cream Adventure...
Vinca Cards, Hand-Made Wedding Stationary
free range eggs,
ice cream,
Ice Cream Ireland,
ice cream maker,
jaffa orange ice-cream,
Murphy's Ice-cream,
the book of sweet things,
Tullamore Dairies
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Polly Introduces Tullamore Dairies
Hi there and welcome back to Vinca's In Tha Kitchen. It's been a long time since I've made my presence felt here and frankly I feel guilty about it! Sad to say that I could offer excuse upon excuse, each as relevent as the other, but honestly folks I think it was a mixture between bloggers block and a lack of heart...
First of all, let me just say that I haven't been totally idle since my last posting. Oh no, I've been getting plenty of exercise surfing away and catching up with my own reading which is something that often doesn't happen when I'm busy blogging and making cards. It's important to catch up and to keep up, so while I've been feeling sorry for myself with all the exciting developments in my life I've been chilling out on the net in between times. So, I've got quite a bit to catch up on...
First of all my love affair with Glenisk. Well, I'm sure that regular readers have often heard me refer to the Cleary family from Killeigh and their ethically conscious dairy company, and just every now and again their sister company Tullamore Dairies. I feel it necessary for me to offer an apology of sorts, in so far as I seem to have almost neglected Tullamore Dairies - the original incarnation, in preference of their younger flashier sister company.
For those of you who don't live locally Tullamore Dairies is still very much up and running. They provide some of the nicest, creamiest and cheapest milk in the locality, just as they have been doing ever since they first set up as an independant dairy. Rather bizarrely, I made an interesting discovery about this company just last week - they supply skimmed milk...
Up until last week I had somewhat reluctantly been purchasing what I refer to as 'pink milk' from their competitor & major stakeholder in the dairy business here in Ireland. To the best of my knowledge this huge conglomerate was the only supplier of the slightly thinner version of everybody's favourite healthy drink. As a consequence I have been buying their product in bulk and freezing it until needed, as it is often difficult to purchase skimmed milk in Ireland at all!
To be honest I've yet to buy my local Tullamore Dairies product as I've still got a healthy quantity of the frozen stuff to use up, but believe you me I'll be looking for the distinctive green and white waxed carton in the shops next time I go shopping...
First of all, let me just say that I haven't been totally idle since my last posting. Oh no, I've been getting plenty of exercise surfing away and catching up with my own reading which is something that often doesn't happen when I'm busy blogging and making cards. It's important to catch up and to keep up, so while I've been feeling sorry for myself with all the exciting developments in my life I've been chilling out on the net in between times. So, I've got quite a bit to catch up on...
First of all my love affair with Glenisk. Well, I'm sure that regular readers have often heard me refer to the Cleary family from Killeigh and their ethically conscious dairy company, and just every now and again their sister company Tullamore Dairies. I feel it necessary for me to offer an apology of sorts, in so far as I seem to have almost neglected Tullamore Dairies - the original incarnation, in preference of their younger flashier sister company.
For those of you who don't live locally Tullamore Dairies is still very much up and running. They provide some of the nicest, creamiest and cheapest milk in the locality, just as they have been doing ever since they first set up as an independant dairy. Rather bizarrely, I made an interesting discovery about this company just last week - they supply skimmed milk...
Up until last week I had somewhat reluctantly been purchasing what I refer to as 'pink milk' from their competitor & major stakeholder in the dairy business here in Ireland. To the best of my knowledge this huge conglomerate was the only supplier of the slightly thinner version of everybody's favourite healthy drink. As a consequence I have been buying their product in bulk and freezing it until needed, as it is often difficult to purchase skimmed milk in Ireland at all!
To be honest I've yet to buy my local Tullamore Dairies product as I've still got a healthy quantity of the frozen stuff to use up, but believe you me I'll be looking for the distinctive green and white waxed carton in the shops next time I go shopping...
Vinca Cards, Hand-Made Wedding Stationary
Clearly family,
Glenisk,
Killeigh,
shop local,
skimmed milk,
support local,
tullamore,
Tullamore Dairies
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Pollys Love Of Irish Food...
Surprisingly enough it was my copy of this months Glenisk Moosletter. Really this couldn't be more appropriate if it tried. The Cleary's of Newtown, Killeigh have been dedicated to things organic and green for a long time now! They have recently joined the Love Irish Food Campaign which is encouraging consumers to add just one more Irish brand to their shopping each week to help stimulate growth in the Irish economy and safeguard jobs.
What makes its arrival even better is the fact that once again these local people have won another prestigious award for one of their products
"Awards for Glenisk in 2009"
Glenisk Greek Style Yogurt takes Gold at the National Organic Awards
2009 National Organic Awards PresentationGlenisk has won
Best Retail Product at the 2009 National Organic Awards. The awards were presented at an event in Bord Bia, Dublin on 14 September, to mark the beginning of Ireland's National Organic Week.
The winning product was our Greek Style Natural Yogurt, launched at the end of 2008 - this product, which is also available in blueberry flavour, is Glenisk's creamiest most indulgent yogurt yet.
MD Vincent Cleary accepted the award from Trevor Sargent, T.D., Minister for Food & Horticulture at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries & Food.
I'm pretty sure we will all agree that this is a great achievement for anybody's business, but what makes it extra special for me is the fact that these guys are locals.
In addition to this Glenisk is also celebrating the fact that it now available in Northern Ireland.
"Bringing organic dairy foods to Northern Ireland is an important step in our mission to create an Organic Ireland."
All that remains for me to say is congratulations and keep up the good work...
Vinca Cards, Hand-Made Wedding Stationary
Bord Bia,
Dept Agriculture Fisheries and Food,
Glenisk,
Love Irish Food Campaign,
Moosletter,
National Organic Week 2009,
Trevor Sargent,
Tullamore Dairies,
Vinca's In Tha Kitchen
Friday, December 5, 2008
Polly See's Cleary Now...!
Not content with being famously innovative; this family business has gone from strength to strength over the last thirty or so years. While still incarcerated at the Sacred Heart Convent in Tullamore I have fond memories of opening the quarter pint tetra-cartons of milk donated to the school on a daily basis during the early years of the Tullamore Dairies story.
As Christmas approaches so do the memories of the Cleary's driver dropping off a carton or two of cream from Santa Clause. The Cleary's have been a part of the community from start to finish, their dreams have grown to reality in the time that has realised enormous changes in this country alone. From being up there in the third world league tables, the Bengal Tiger famously immigrated and took Irish nationality...
Sadly it seems that the bubble has since burst; but not for Glenisk - the organic side of a business that started up a generation or so ago in Newtown, Killeigh. Not only does this company have a strong work ethic; upholding the belief that we should interfere as little as possible with our planet and all that it produces is equally important. Locally the Cleary's use Airtricity; generated from the one naturally occuring resource that Ireland is seldom short of - Wind! Maybe next they will be harnessing another type of wind produced by Green Cows!?
A little further afield this local hero is supporting yet another important project this Christmas; from a humble pot of cream to a herd of goats, maybe even a hive of bees. Glenisk has teamed up in promoting and sponsoring Bothar to produce a beautifully photographed Calendar for the New Year in 2009.
Vincent Cleary is pictured (right) with Patrick McCarrick of Bóthar and Sandy, one of Glenisk's goats at the launch of this year's calendar.
Each calender will cost just €10 (including postage to anywhere in the world) and it features images of successful projects in Nepal and Tanzania. Funds raised from the sale of this calendar will form part of the ongoing support to poor families in these two countries. Also featured are images of dairy goats from Ireland.
The Cleary family of Glenisk made the decision to sponsor the calendar because, as Vincent Cleary puts it: "We greatly admire Bóthar's work in helping to alleviate hunger among the world's poorest populations."
Just in case you are one of those poor people like me, who remember the the days when Christmas actually meant something, was smaller and more enjoyable why not have a look at gifting for charity. Faced with the difficult decision of what to buy for whom visit Bothar and download a copy of this years Christmas catalogue, let's help someone else for a change. Face it guy's; "...unlike most of the presents we exchange at this time of year, these are gifts that reflect the true spirit of Christmas."
Did I forget to suggest that you pay the Cleary's another visit and check out their Awards and Accolades Page and see what these guy's are really up to..
The Cleary family of Glenisk made the decision to sponsor the calendar because, as Vincent Cleary puts it: "We greatly admire Bóthar's work in helping to alleviate hunger among the world's poorest populations."
Just in case you are one of those poor people like me, who remember the the days when Christmas actually meant something, was smaller and more enjoyable why not have a look at gifting for charity. Faced with the difficult decision of what to buy for whom visit Bothar and download a copy of this years Christmas catalogue, let's help someone else for a change. Face it guy's; "...unlike most of the presents we exchange at this time of year, these are gifts that reflect the true spirit of Christmas."
Did I forget to suggest that you pay the Cleary's another visit and check out their Awards and Accolades Page and see what these guy's are really up to..
Vinca Cards, Hand-Made Wedding Stationary
Airtricity,
Bothar,
Bothar Calendar 2009,
Glenisk,
Killeigh,
OFFALY,
Organic Dairy,
Organic Milk,
Sacred Heart Convent,
tullamore,
Tullamore Dairies
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