Polly Whines

As some of you undoubtedly know by now I recently attended The Midlands Bridal & Debs Exhibition at Charleville Castle; not as a visitor but as an exhibitor. I had a great time and left with plenty of ideas and big hopes for orders in the future.

© Lily O'Brien

As far as my stand goes, aside from having a superb product to show off I took my new best friend; Lily O'Brien with me. Or perhaps I should say some of her lovely chocolates which I offered

to my visitor's as brides bribes; excuse the accidental pun! Suffice to say; my table was very popular, not least because I was the only stationer present!

On Saturday evening; on my way home from the expo I called into my favourite shop, ie Lidl. As I had worked hard all afternoon; I'd decided to treat myself to a glass of wine to finish the evening off and this shop has a great collection of Spanish wines to choose from. Imagine my delight when their 'Barcelino' oak aged Barrica from Catalunya was on offer at just €5.99...


Needless to say I picked up two bottles. One I shared with my Mom the following evening; alongside Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding; and guess what? She loves it too! The other took pride of place at home and was shared with a thirsty farmer when eventually he got home from working on this years late harvest.

I am also pleased to be able to report that my local Lidl had some of their Lord Nelson teas left in stock. I had first encountered these on the Lidl Treats blog a couple of weekends ago and pounced on the opportunity to test them. As they had had such a good write up, my expectations were high and I was delighted to discover that these inexpensive treats were every bit as good as hoped for.


Even LB has discovered their delights. He has been plying me with huge quantities of the softly coloured beverage in the hopes of usurping me from my place at the computer this week. The poor lad wasn't in the best of health last week; suffering with one of those infernal bugs which does the rounds at this time of the year.

© lidltreats.com 2008

Despite returning to school on Monday; he's been off again this week following his withdrawal from a cross country race at our local Harrier's club. He's not quite well enough to be in school and he's not quite ill enough to be at home; suffering badly with boredom!

To make matter's worse; BB has also been off colour this week. He had his Tetanus booster injection the other day and appears to have suffered some of the unfortunate side-effects, including cherry red face, bodily aches and pains and a tomato sized lump on his left upper arm which is very sore. The delights of preventative medicine!

Today both of these guy's are a lot better and have taken to driving one another mad; and me in the process. Doubtless they're still not fit enough to return to school today; but you can't blame a gal for wishing!

So, that's enough from me; and anyway I think I can smell pancakes in the distance! LB has obviously decided to focus his energies in the kitchen for the time being...

Bon Appetit

Polly Pierce
Purveyor of Fine Irish Hand Made Wedding Stationary & Greeting Cards

Traditional New Years Battering in Dublin

To continue on from yesterday’s post about Yorkshire Pudding I thought that it’d be nice if I said a few words about another dish which uses batter; good old Fish & Chips!

Since the Cod wars of the 1970's this poor fish has been almost driven to extinction by over fishing and is no longer one of the less expensive varieties. In fact it's a bit of a treat to have Cod these days! More often than not the Halibut; which used to be expensive is offered as first choice these days; as a child that was beyond reach!

When I was little; growing up in North Yorkshire & Leicestershire, England; "Cod & chips, twice please, with mushy peas and scraps!" was a familiar phrase; the mushy peas being a favourite North of The Watford Gap . In those days there was a great divide between “the sophisticated south and the working class north of England.”

Probably these words were uttered mainly on Friday evenings, due to the relationship with time honoured church traditions, ie the fasting of meat. Times were hard; so a trip to the chippers was definitely something to look forward to.

The take-away meal was served up in newspaper wrappings; a handful of batter scraps sprinkled generously on the top, these luxuries have now been outlawed due to health concerns. It’s a shame about that; there was something special about the combined taste/smell created! When served with plenty of salt and vinegar, and Heinz tomato ketchup, this dish made the perfect end to the week.

For an extra special treat we would sometimes be taken to Harry Ramsdens Fish Restaurant in Guisley. What could be more perfect than Cod & Chips served in the traditional way; with a plate of bread and butter, mushy peas and a pot of tea? I remember queuing for what seemed like hours to get our table in the original carnation of this now world famous venue.

Sadly, those memories are very old now, as my Grandfather, whose special treat this was, died in 1970. Shortly afterwards we moved away; down to Leicestershire, where things were only slightly different. Some years later; in the mid-seventies, my grandmother came to live nearby.

In our family we'd often have a late supper after the swimming club meet on Friday evenings; after two solid hours of lessons, I was more than ready for "Chish & Fips". This childish play on words, ie a spoonerism, is still heard amongst the older members of the family! The innocent fun in this little game might be a little too subtle for today's sophisticated children.

After Nan-nan’s arrival we used to go to her Chippy instead and there was nothing quite like it. That was all a long time ago and there is nothing quite like your memories to make something even more attractive than the reality, is there?

Unfortunately, when it comes to fish and chips this is not always the case. The world of instant gratification that we live in is probably responsible for many evils; particularly in the market place. We expect good food to be conveniently available to us at cheap prices; this can only be achieved by big conglomerate supermarkets and has lead to the closure of many small family businesses.

It seems that most Chippers buy in pre-battered, frozen fish shapes these days. The result is appalling; compounded by the fact that they also use oil, rather than dripping or lard, the result is flavourless and soggy and doesn’t resemble fish & chips as I know them in the slightest.

To date, over the twelve years since I ‘came home’ to live in Ireland we have discovered a couple of decent fish & chip shops; unfortunately the nearest of these is fifty seven miles away in Dublin city centre. There are a couple of cheap and cheerful Harry Ramsdens take-away stations in the big shopping centres, which frankly leave a lot to be desired compared with the original restaurant in Yorkshire.

Leo Burdocks on the other hand are just brilliant. Having been awarded several accolades for their wonderful secret batter recipe; Leo Burdocks is reputed to be the oldest Chippers in Dublin.

With reasonable prices for humongous portions the only thing missing from their menu is proper mushy peas, but then, you can’t have everything can you? They do, however, serve portions of marrowfat peas if requested and I can imagine that the sit-down restaurant over in Phibsborough is even better seeing as you can order bread & butter and a pot of strong tea with your meal!!!

Having written all that and even gone to the trouble of including a photo of their tiny shop front in Werburgh Street my taste buds are watering in advance of our annual pilgrimage on New Years Day!We go there after our trip to the matinee performance of the Liberty Hall Theatre Pantomine; this year it's Snow White, adapted by Karl Broderick and performedby TV3's Alan Hughes it will be outstanding as usual. I can't wait!