A couple of days ago I was reminded that I have a copy of The Coast of West Cork by Peter Somerville-Large. The book describes a bike ride that he took along the coast from Clonakilty, up and then back down the Mizen and then up and back down Sheep’s Head past through Bantry and finishing somewhere on  Beara. It includes a good description of the weather that can be found on Sheep’s Head.

Next morning I departed from Kilcrohane in bright sunshine. As I cycled over the pass to Bantry, and in Edith Somerville’s words, “the glory had departed from the weather and an ugly wall of cloud was rising out of the west to meet the sun. The hills had darkened and lost colour, and the white bog cotton shivered in a cold wind that smelt of rain.” The ceaseless battle between clouds and sun, the strokes of light on mountains and sea followed by swollen black clouds with their bellyful of rain, must have a conditioning effect on environment.

I cycled up the Goat’s Path, climbing the side of Mount Sefin to the summit, crowned unexpectedly with a gleaming white marble copy of Michelangelo’s Pieta. Then there was Bantry Bay once more, “the noblest Bay in the world and capable of containing all the navies of Europe.” It was almost invisible in the rain which stung my face as the bike rattled downhill. The downpour became heavier, hard and relentless. With one hand holding my umbrella over my head, the other grasping the handle of the bike, I cycled on into town.

Sound very familiar!

 The Royal Navy in Bantry Bay at the time of the first Great War (1914-18). Part of the Royal Navy’s Grand Fleet assembled in Bantry Bay in preparation for the Battle of Jutland in 1916, which was the main set-piece naval engagement in the First World War.

Satisfying going into work on a Monday and when asked, ‘What did you do over weekend?’ being able to answer, “Well, I started to make some bacon.’

Twenty four hours in it seems to be going okay. There was half a pint or so of liquid in the bottom of the plastic container. I poured that off and rubbed some more of the salt/sugar rub all over. Picking it up it already felt firmer. The meat had clearly contracted, tightening around itself.

Today we have been making bacon

I bought 4 lbs of pork belly from Edge & Sons. They took out the bones for me. I crushed rock salt, soft brown sugar, juniper berries and bays leaves and smeared it over the meat. It is in the fridge downstairs. With a bit of care and attention during the week it should be ready Saturday morning.

The ribs have been mixed into a sweet, sour hot marinade (more pomegranate molasses) and Galen and I will have them later with some of the dips left over from last night.

A few years ago I was given a cookbook called Saha by Greg and Lucy Malouf. it describes itself as A chef’s journey through Lebanon and Syria. We had a friend staying last night and I decided to cook from it.

I worried briefly if I would be able to get hold of any Pomegranate Molasses. I thought we had some in the basement but that could not be found. But ten minutes scouring the shelves in The International store yesterday morning turned up their last bottle.

So what did we eat. We started with three plates of mezze type dips.

– Beetroot and yogurt. Two beetroot globes from the garden boiled until soft and left to cool. Then skinned and finely sliced and arrange in a shallow bowl. A clove of garlic was then squashed in sea salt with a heavy knife and stirred into Greek yogurt. That was then spooned over the beetroot. Glorious red fingers.

– balia Hummus with crushed chickpeas, pine nuts and cumin. I reserved some of the chickpeas from the hummus and just before we ate I heated some olive oil in a small pan and lightly browned a good handful of pine nuts, a finely sliced clove of garlic and some cumin seeds. I scattered the chickpeas over the hummus and then poured over the pine nuts etc.

muhammara Red pepper, walnut and pomegranate dip. Popular in Aleppo. Four red peppers skins scorched on charcoal allowed to cool and then peel the skins off and de-seed trying to retain as much of their intense juices as possible.   They went into the magimix together with some chilli, garlic, peeled walnuts, lemon juice, sugar and the pomegranate molasses. Roughly chop and then add olive oil until you are left with a thick and creamy dip.

We are the mezze with flat bread cooked quickly in the oven.

That was almost enough but I had picked up a couple of sea bass from Wards. We had those on the barbeque and ate them with rice and am sweet sour aubergine salad.

For the salad I peeled a couple of aubergines and chopped them up into even chunks before salting them for half an hour. I rinsed them and gave them a good squeeze. I find squeezing out the moisture works better than trying to dry them. I heated olive oil in a pan and cooked the aubergine chunks quickly. As they started to take on some colour I added a finely chopped red onion. That all cooked for a few minutes and then I added more pomegranate molasses, lemon juice, honey and water. That was left to cook down until soft.

We finished ourselves off with an Eton Mess made with meringue, double cream, strawberries and blueberries.

Then time for bed but not before listening again to Tricky’s  Maxinquaye reminding ourselves what a brilliant record it is.