Water pepper - persecaria hydropiper

 It's getting near the end of the season for water pepper so while out recently we decided to pick some for a little culinary experiment 

The banks are still full of this spicy plant but it is starting to wilt and the taste to fade, so we picked some to dry it out to see if we could use it as a hot herb.

A few good handfulls picked and brought home with us to dry out.

 Nibbling at it raw produces a real spicy punch, some say like wasabi but I think it's more burn like a chilli, this sensation is caused by a compound called Polygodial. 

A few hours in the dehydrator and we cut it up into a fine herb and tried it out

... and there was nothing !! The whole hot burny taste had gone, drying this herb is of no use and if you want that kick it's best to eat it raw. Cooking with it can reduce the potency of the burn also but not to the same extent as drying.

The best thing to do with it is cut it up finely when raw, let it marinade in soy sauce for a day then sprinkle it over fried rice, it gives a fantastic spicy pungency to any exotic rice dish. 

Of Sailing Ships and Giant Puffballs

 We have had a very busy weekend just past and today was a lovely day to be out taking a coastal course. The weather was bright but cold yet plenty of enthusiasm from those present. On the horizon we had the splendour of a beautiful ship..

..as we enjoyed our food, and on the way home we were treated to a Buzzard sitting on a rock by the shore, almost felt like it was saluting us as we drove past.

A little further on and we spotted something by the hedgerow.. 

An absolute beast of a giant puffball, picked, brought home and weighed at just under 5 pounds in weight.

Sliced up, it took two long chopping boards to hold it all.

A small piece, ( yes, the big middle bits wouldn't fit in the pan) fried in butter and bacon grease,

 

Finished with crisp back bacon, sauted sea beet from our coastal forage and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar, and...

...bacon and sea beet were gorgeous, puffball not so much..had it before and it wasn't great so didn't really expect anything different this time, but that's mushrooms for you, over-rated.

Keep your tongue from evil...

 

Fabulous Fennel

 We are preparing for a couple of saltwater and coastal foraging walks coming up over the next month or so and its a hard time getting good weather between the showers, but occasionally the sun comes out, the sea turns blue and God gives you a little gift. Some gorgeous wild fennel growing amongst the dunes, I'm in two minds whether to show it to people during the walk but I'm more than happy to share it with my Buzzard family on here.

The backwaters of Fermanagh

 Trusting in the Lord makes you aware of his plan for your life, when one door closes he opens an even better one.

Stephen kindly invited us down to his smallholding a few days ago, the work he has put into it is testament to his vision and dedication of self sufficiency.

He took us to a gorgeous little river, with gravel beds and meandering swirls. Dappled light and soft rises kissed the waters surface as we stood and surveyed the pools before us. I opted for a lure, the others for a worm trotted with the flow of the stream. I made a light cast under the near bank beneath an overhanging willow and I could feel the mepps start to rotate, barely 2 seconds later and I had a strike, fish on!, it was one of those pesky brown trout that plague you when you're fishing for real fish! Unhooked and back in the river where it belongs I then heard an exclamation as Stephen hooked a fantastic perch, it fought like a monster 10 times its actual size, shaking and twisting while it's gills flared it's dorsal caught the flow of the river. It was fine and bristling with arrogance as he released it, I can admit I was a little envious.

A few other small ones followed as we ambled our way upstream to other beckoning pools to search for the denizens of their murky depths.

The rain had been falling softly all day but it was enough to increase the flow and darken the colour of the water making angling just that little bit more challenging. The creases and eddies were more noticable than an hour before as the foam started to pepper the surface of the stream. The clouds continued to darken as I got distracted by the water pepper growing at my feet along the bank and it burnt my tongue as I nibbled it.

 

More perch and roach followed as well as a few more trout all put back with childlike glee. The perch stole my heart, transporting me back to youthful days when a 5 inch perch was the biggest fish in the world with its crimson fins and emerald flanks and that magnificent sail like dorsal erect in defiance at having been removed from its watery home. These recalled my memories of long past escapades where days were spent on the river bank in exciting anticipation of the next bite to come along. 

Many of these little firebrand fish were taken throughout the course of the day while the wildlife all around regailed us with their joyful presence. The swallows like little feathery spitfires feeding on the wing while the long tailed tits called from the Ash tree behind us, and the greatest spectacle of all, a kingfisher, resplendent in its turquoise and orange apparel flitted along the bank looking for a suitable place to land and ply its trade, a far more capable angler than I.

These past few days have lifted my burdens and restored my soul, memories made while others were recalled, but this trip especially will live long in the storybook of my mind. 

An unusual find in a community garden

 We were doing a wee walk for a community group recently and we found more interesting things in the streets outside than the garden itself! 

This one for instance, wild celery.. couldn't believe this was just growing wild along the wall and there were quite a few plants. 

There's no way to tell if it's a garden escape but it's smell was fantastic 

Just be careful with this unbellifer as it can be mistaken for HWD!

Tub Gurnard, pretty extraordinary.

 Every now and again when you're fishing you turn up something unexpected, but very welcome. This gorgeous fish is a Tub Gurnard, its one of the prettiest fish in our northern seas and pretty good eating too, as a matter of fact its often called the chicken of the sea. This little beauty was too nice to eat so a few pictures, a quick conversation with him ( they actually talk!) And back he went.