Page 200 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL FALL 2024 SPAIN

sign at the entrance: “Hold your horses; The next morning, I woke to the smell of
please wait to be seated.” We tried beetroot sizzling black back bacon. Noel was whip-
salad, duck leg ravioli, smoked salmon, ping up scrambled eggs, putting them in the
spiced cauliflower steak, and herb crusted microwave for a few seconds, taking them
halibut. Everything was perfect including the back out, and repeating the process again
vanilla and coconut panna cotta and the and again. Surprisingly, they were the fluffi-
Belgian Chocolate torte. est eggs I’ve ever eaten.
The next day we On the table were two of
headed to Northern Ire- Noel’s homemade
land, to Noel and breads, homemade
Dessie’s home. When the scones, homemade ap-
two bought their coun- ple jelly and black cur-
tryside home, there was rant jam, fresh orange
nothing, not even a juice and fruit. A perfect
shrub. Dessie created an start to the day Noel had
oasis of trees, flowering planned, beginning with
bushes, gardens, sitting the Seamus Heaney
areas, a greenhouse, a HomePlace.
Koi pond and two Before coming to Ire-
chicken coups for 40 land, I hadn’t heard of
chickens and a rooster. Seamus Heaney, one Ire-
Noel created a perfect land’s greatest poets
kitchen, and we were and a Nobel Laureate.
about to try it out be- The museum is modern
cause he said we would and airy with audio clips,
help cook dinner. Hilary films, and Heaney’s po-
was delegated to make ems blown up on the
treacle and me, soda bread. “I do not cook, wall. One read:
“I told him, but he insisted. He’d pre-mea-
sured everything, so my contribution was to Between my finger and my thumb
add the ingredients together and mix it all
up. The squat pen rests; snug as a
gun.
When the dough was ready for the oven,
he said, “Now make a cross with your fin- Under my window, a clean rasp-
gers.” I drew two straight lines. “That’s to let ing sound
the fairies out, “he said. When the soda When the spade sinks into grav-
bread came out of the oven, it was so puffy elly ground:
that I was sure the fairies were responsible. My father digging.
The soda bread and treacle were a small But I’ve no spade to follow me
part of dinner which included two salads like them.
(Dessie likes one kind and Noel another), Between my finger and my thumb
the best home cooked chicken and roast The squat pen rests.
potatoes I’ve ever eaten, Cole slaw, and I’ll dig with it.
home-made cookies. After dinner, we sank
into armchairs to watch the Eurovision Song
Competition which was so boring I fell Every poem was rich with imagery, yet
asleep. so simple. I could have spent the entire day

200 WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE FALL 2024