BALTIMORE COOKING CLASS

Day 127 – Burp! (I apologise, this is going to be a long one)
Today started before I went to bed. At midnight I was looking at the clock on my phone and wondering what had happened to the last hour. Having no recollection of the passing of time is a sure sign of one having fun, and I was certainly in the fun zone. Then again I could well have been very drunk. We were celebrating two occasions. The first was me leaving for adventure; the second was Gareth and Maria’s engagement.
Cliona had invited us over for dinner. She cooked an excellent meal of smoked salmon mousse, followed by pork and rice with a Dijon mustard dressing with stuffed peppers. Dessert was a fantastic apple crumble with ice cream. Thinking about it now is making me hungry again.
The evening was a typically entertaining one. It started with the statement,
“you know Ben Stiller’s dad is Arthur Spooner on King of Queens,”
I replied, “That can’t be possible, at least not in the world that I am accustomed to! He looks nothing like Ben Stiller, and he’s only about 4 feet tall.”
The guys pointed out to me that Ben Stiller is only about 4 feet tall too but that was not enough evidence for me. We were at an impasse, all three of us had exhausted all our knowledge of Ben Stiller and his possible immediate family in that short conversation. The only answer to this problem was to chug a few beers, watch people be interviewed on the news in silence (try it, it is quite entertaining inventing what they are saying) and wait for dinner to hit the table.
During the meal we discussed many important topics. Maria informed us about the eyebrow/hair colour rule for determining true blonds, Cliona told an amusing anecdote about falling asleep at a wedding in the bride’s sister’s bed, only to be woken up by the amorous couple at the end of the night. She was duly dubbed Goldilocks. Her boyfriend Al had an oddly similar story about waking up at the bus terminal after a nights drinking (“I only went out for one!”). He was in luck, so he thought, the bus driver offered him a lift home in his car, which turned out to be the scariest journey of his young life. I said, “I once woke up in a forest with snow around me after one drinking binge,” that was when we all agreed that alcohol has special magical properties that are best avoided, this idea we toasted a fine white wine. Oh and lest I forget Ben Stiller’s dad was mentioned.
After dinner we retired to the couch and conversed until the birds morning song began. That was my cue to walk home.

This morning I was fully prepared for the hell that is the hangover. Although I woke with a feeling of nausea it soon passed and I was left feeling a little disappointed that I could have gotten away with more alcohol, but I also thought that waking up in my bed was pretty cool so maybe I dodged a bullet there.
By 2pm the day had progressed to what I had been waiting for, Ireland versus France in Croke park. It was a momentous occasion for the Irish, opening Croke park to foreign games was a very big thing and with the history of the stadium and its link to English occupation and the subsequent terrible scenes there was a real sense of national pride in the 80,000 fans following their team. The game ended in France winning at the last minute but the game was exhilarating.
After finishing an entire packet of nachos and having made a severe dent in the salsa dip I felt I deserved a nice snooze.

Dear little Nelly and Gardia outside their mudbrick home on Karina Island, Lake Titicaca, Peru 2009. Their family were fabulous hosts, we had the most amazing experience! The islands are fairly remote, at least 30 - 60 mins by boat to Puno which is the nearest town. We gave bags of rice and oil and toys for the kids as gifts for each of our host families for having us. The kids were sooo friendly as soon as we got off the boat - little Gardia held my hand and we started skipping all of the way home!

You enter their courtyard through the gate that you can see to the left of this photo. The house itself is a U shape, with a courtyard in the middle where they kept their chickens. They actually had electricity running to the rooms (not to be expected) and cooked over an open fire.

When we arrived we dropped off our bags and went for a game of volleyball with the locals - they kicked our arse!!! We played about three games before it got dark and we returned with our families to their homes. They cooked us dinner of vegetable soup, then we were dressed up in traditional dress and went to the community hall. They had a live band, two of the little girls danced and then the adults got up and did a traditional dance with tassles. Then it was our turn to join in - I think that they found us very entertaining!!! Those tassles are very hard to operate and not take out someone's eye! Although we had bright sunny weather during the day, due to the altitude it got very cold at night, so they lit a bonfire out the front of the hall and we all danced around that. Such a special evening - will never forget it!