Sunday in Ireland

We started today slower than most mornings. Breakfast was at 9:00. Suitcases outside the door at 9:00. Backpacks, etc. in the lobby by 10:00. Walked to the local Methodist Church at 10:40 for services beginning at 11:00. We took up the back two long rows and added at least a third to their attendance numbers. The pastor was from Zimbabwe and the worship leader was from Burma. Their congregation, though small, had great diversity -- much more diversity than our church at home. I will tell you that it was VERY warm in the little church and I may have seen a few heads nodding . . .not because it was boring but because we were still and it was warm.

After church, quick bathroom break and we boarded the buses for our drive to Cork. We arrived at Blarney Woolen Mills for lunch, shopping, and Blarney Castle and Blarney Stone.

Mark and I were the only ones who choose to eat at the pub – Christy’s pub and bar. Blarney Woolen Mills was established in 1823. They have a great store and a couple of places to eat. Christy's Pub is named after the founder -- Christy Kelleher.

After lunch, most of us walked to the castle. I did not climb the steps but Mark did - my back was still killing me but this is the only day that I let it get the best of me by not climbing the castle stairs. Mark did NOT kiss the stone. They hang you out a window upside down!!! Mark said it was a tough climb. While Mark was climbing in the castle stairs, I was sitting on a park bench with two lovely people who live in Ireland. The woman heard me talking to Mark and after he walked off, she asked me where I was from. I said the US . . .and a state she had probably never heard of. (Mark found out that no one knows where Alabama is but if he said "we live next to Florida" they immediately understood - seriously!!). She asked what state and I told her that I was from Alabama. She got so excited. She said that her friend lives in Alabama and I sounded just like her when she talks on the phone! I visited with them for about 15 minutes and then wandered around the castle - peeked into the cave, etc.

look at the blue sky - we had another
gorgeous day weatherwise to go
along with beautiful castles and scenery

Our new friend, Linda, did kiss the Blarney Stone and I borrowed her picture from Facebook so you could see the "upside down" and held by two strong young men picture!

These pictures are from Mark's phone of the inside of the Blarney Castle:

I decided to walk back to Blarney Woolen Mills and wait for Mark there. I had a true moment of panic - I walked down the way we had come but at the intersection, nothing looked familiar. Mark called at that moment and I said, "I'm lost." After I calmed down, I realized how I needed to walk but just for a moment . . .panic!!

We did a ton of souvenir shopping. At this point of the trip, I still hadn't purchased anything for me . . .and spoiler alert . . .I never found anything. I should have purchased that throw in the cute little town with the thatched roofs.  We stayed until time to head to our cool hotel. We are staying at The Trident in Kinsale. Our hotel is right on the water with lots of boats in the harbor.

We actually went for a walk and facetimed with our kids back in Alabama. We also ran into Roger and Linda, our new friends, and took some photos.

I should have stood up - this is a weird
picture of me!

Mark made friends with the women fishing from the dock . . .and of course, they allowed him to fish. I think they were amazed at his casting skills.

We had a private dining experience – food was excellent. Mark said it was the best salmon he had ever eaten. There is salmon fishing here in Ireland (not right now – not the season) and we are wondering if all of the fish is fresh local fish that they have frozen.

Mark's dessert plate -
most of our menus included
an appetizer, main course, and
dessert -- I didn't eat the desserts :-)

Looks like I ordered chicken
that night!

part of our group -
the view was spectacular

I am 99% sure this is Mark's
appetizer . . .not a dessert. I'm
pretty sure that is cabbage on the bottom.
It is probably some kind of salmon dish
because he ate it a lot!!

This was the "best salmon" Mark
has ever eaten.

After dinner, we met in this really nice lounge for Bishop John to do his Wesley presentation and then we were off to bed.

This photo was actually when we
were waiting to go in to dinner but
our presentation was in this
room later in the evening.

A Halloween Hodgepodge

Thanks so much to Joyce for the questions to this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog, then join us at From This Side of the Pond on Wednesday to link your answers OR feel free to answer in the comment section!

1. Is Halloween a big deal in your neighborhood? Was it something you celebrated as a child? With your own children? Do you like candy corn? 

Halloween is an "over-the-top" event in our neighborhood. We will have about 1200 trick or treaters - I think we probably have about 400-500 kids in our neighborhood. Our neighborhood is a "destination." We have a neighborhood pizza party for the kids in the late afternoon and then the trick or treating begins. We have a decorating contest for our houses. We never win but if there was a "most creative DIY" award . . .we should win it. My husband does a great job! Here is our house this year. Zoom in so you can see the skeletons and their accoutrements.

The community where our church is located (15 minutes away) has a huge Witches Ride on Sunday afternoon before Halloween. The women dress in elaborate costumes and spend the afternoon partying and then ride through the streets and throw candy to the children. I think 500 women participated in that one ride this year. All of the donations and sponsorships go to support the O'Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center at UAB hospital. I think they all dressed as witches for the first year and NOW . . .NOW they have unbelievable and amazing costumes - they have groups dressed as "A Leage of Their Own" and they had a group of "Villians" and they had rainbow witches and fairy witches. They had a "Day of the Dead" group with painted faces. I "borrowed" this picture from my friend's facebook page -- she was one of the villians.

Yes, I trick or treated as a child wearing one of those costumes with the mask and the string around the back or dressed as something we could make up using the clothes in our house. Yes, my children trick or treated and yes, I love candy corn - especially with dry roasted peanuts - but these days, I'll just eat the nuts!

2. Are you a scaredy cat? About what? I like to think of myself as fearless . . .and then I laugh! Yesterday, I was pumping gas and a homeless man asked me on a date (seriously - long funny story) and a car driving down the road backfired twice and I jumped about a foot off the ground!

3. Last time you were somewhere that should have been busy but felt like a 'ghost town'? Back during the lockdown phase of the pandemic, several places felt like ghost towns! It would be so eerie to walk into a place and see three people when normally you would see 100's. 

4. Do you like chili and if so how do you like it? Beans or no beans? Meat or no meat? Beef or chicken? Spice or no spice? Favorite toppings? I love chili and as a matter of fact, I participated in a recipe swap on Tuesday of soups, stews, and chilis. A blog hop can be fun and I hope you will check it out here. I love beans and meat. I prefer ground chuck with lots of flavor but these days . . .I probably would use either 99% fat free ground turkey and 96/4 ground beef. I don't like it too spicy but I love for it to be flavorful - chili powder and cumin! If I put any toppings on at all, it would be a tad of grated cheese and a few crumbled saltine crackers. I would LOVE to eat it with fritos on top but Mark and I have learned that we CANNOT have fritos in our house because WE EAT THEM ALL!

5. Would you describe yourself as a night owl? What time of night qualifies? What are you doing while everyone else is asleep? Do you then 'sleep in'? Define 'sleeping in'. I am definitely not a night owl. We get up really early (5:00) and so we are in bed most nights by 9:30. For a while, Mark was going to bed at 9:00 and I was staying up to read (which I often do when we first go to bed) or write. Mark requires more sleep than I do. I laughed out loud when I read about sleeping in. The latest we have "slept in" in years is probably 6:30 . . .or at the latest 7:00 and that would be after a very late night like New Year's Eve!

6. Insert your own random thought here. I've been blogging about our trip to Ireland this week and I know the posts are long and wordy and have lots of photos but I am enjoying it so much. Shameless plug - please read a few of my days. I started here.

I hope you all have a safe and fun weekend! We aren't going to any parties or anything but I will enjoy seeing all of the trick or treaters on Sunday night!

Chili-Soup-Stew Recipe Swap

Hey friends! If you know me well, you know that I love a good bowl of soup. I grew up eating Campbell's soup of one kind or another most days at lunch. My mom would mix Campbell's Vegetable Beef soup with a can of Campbell's Chili Beef soup (which they don't make anymore) and it was so delicious on a cold day. These days, you can find me in my own kitchen trying out all sorts of soup recipes.

I was so excited when Leslie posted on her blog that she would be hosting a recipe swap. I immediately commented and said that I would like to participate. Please check out everyone's recipes! Thanks to Jo for sending folks my way from her blog! Be sure to visit Kellyann's blog to see her recipe, too!

Let's not waste anymore time! The most recent soup that I made that was a HUGE hit with our Tuesday night group of young adults is a White Chicken Chili . . . on crack. This recipe scores bonus points because you can make it in a crockpot!!

You will need a 6-8 quart crockpot (slow cooker). I used a liner and it made clean up so easy! I also used pre-cooked shredded chicken from Costco. The original recipe called for raw boneless and skinless chicken breasts. I think you can use either the pre-cooked or the raw chicken and the soup will turn out great.

This pack of Costco chicken is in my
freezer. I didn't use a whole
packet in my soup. 

Here are the ingredients needed:

2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts (or pre-cooked shredded chicken from Costco - I used about a pound and a half)

1 small onion, chopped

1 can corn, drained

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can rotel (or any brand of diced tomatoes and green chilies) - do not drain

2 cups chicken broth (I ended up using 2 1/2 to 3 cups broth)

1 cup chopped bacon - I used pre-cooked bacon pieces in a bag (Great Value Real Bacon Pieces)

1 packet dry ranch dressing mix (I used Hidden Valley)

1 1/2 tsp. cumin (I love cumin!)

1 heaping Tablespoon chili powder

1 package cream cheese (I used Philadelphia brand - 1/3 less fat)

1 cup (or more) shredded cheddar cheese

Instructions:

Put liner in crockpot!

Put chicken in bottom of crockpot.

Add onion, corn, black beans, rotel, chicken broth, cumin, chili powder, dry ranch dressing packet, and bacon. Stir together. Place block of cream cheese on top of everything.

Place lid on crockpot and cook on low for 8 hours.

If you used raw chicken, remove from crockpot and shred with two forks. If you used pre-cooked Costco chicken, you may need to shred some of the larger pieces. Place chicken back in crockpot.

Add cheese to crockpot and stir.

Serve with additional bacon and cheese to go on top. We served with grilled cheese sandwiches which sounds like a lot of cheese in one night . . .but the young adults loved the combo.

Note: I used light cream cheese. When I first took the lid off the crockpot, I didn't think the cream cheese had melted properly and I almost panicked. Once I stirred everything up and added the cheddar, it all melted together perfectly. I think the soup would be even creamier if you used the regular cream cheese.

You can serve with tostito chips. You can garnish with slices of avocado or snippets of cilantro.

Have you ever eaten White Chicken Chili . . .on Crack?

If you would like to share a soup, chili, or stew recipe please feel free to link up here:

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Continuing on with Ireland

Another warning (probably every day!) -- long post with lots of photos.

We loved staying at the Killarney Towers hotel. 

Saturday morning found us boarding the bus after breakfast to do the Ring of Kerry – which is a long bus ride. Thank God for Dramamine, Ativan, and motion sickness patches. The leaders of the group were very kind to allow me to sit close to the front of the bus. As an aside, I thought the Ring of Kerry was "a place" - like one place. I had no idea that it was a big drive around the countryside.

The landscape and tiny towns along the route were beautiful, picturesque, and filled with stories. One of the very first villages sparked Mark's interest and he has decided that we need to buy a house in Glenbeigh. He is sort of serious. (these scenery pictures aren't in order the way we saw them - just so beautiful)

In Killorglin, County Kerry we heard all about Puck Fair.  Every year a group of people gather up a mail goat and he is put on display for all to see. The town now has a statue of a goat, too! They actually crown the real goat as king at some point in the festival and there is a queen, too. She is a young school girl. For the animal lovers, don't worry -- they let the goat go back to his mountains after three days but the partying continues. The bars stay open until 3:00 a.m. I imagine there is a lot of partying going on during the Puck Fair. They know it dates back to at least 1613 but many think the roots of the Puck Fair go even further back.

Our first major stop was at Kerry Bog Village – 5 euros per person to see what a village might have looked like. They had Irish Wolfhounds and I love them!! I was sad to learn that due to their large size, their life span is only about 7 years. The Red Fox Bar was at this location and we did a small amount of shopping in their gift shop. There was a sign “Biddy and Molly Murphy Village Store and Gift Shop”. Once again, I'm loving the Murphys!! 

The scenery actually grew more spectacular as the day progressed.  

This is a monument to St. Brendan the Navigator. He was one of the early monastic Irish saints. The sculpture is of four monks in a sickle shaped boat with a cross. The boat is elevated on 8 hours.

In the small village of Waterville, there was a statue of Charlie Chaplan. Evidently his family vacationed in Waterville. The house is still standing on the shoreline. Alongside Charlie's statue, there was also a man playing an accordian.

We ate lunch at a roadside restaurant (Scariff Inn) – I had Irish stew – made with lamb. I’ve eaten a ton of soups on this trip. The restaurant was located on a cliff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and is said to have the best view in Ireland. The restaurant also falls at the mid point of the Ring of Kerry. After lunch, we actually sat outside for a few minutes and soaked up some sun. Yes - Sun!!

We stopped in Sneem and walked around the shops. Dan Murphy’s Bar was in Sneem. The weather was spectacular today – sunshine and about 70 degrees.

One of the highlights of the day was a visit to a sheep farm where we got to see a demonstration of a short hair border collie (Kate!). She could round up 200 sheep on her own!! She responded to simple soft voice commands and whistles from her master. This was one of my favorite things of the whole trip.

This is Des, our tour guide. He may
have told us that he is a leprechaun.
He definitely looks Irish!

We stopped at Muckross House – This 19th century Victorian mansion is set against the beauty of Killarney National Park and is close to the banks of Muckross Lake. The house was built for the Herbert family. The house was completed in 1843 but extensive work was done to the garden when Queen Victoria was coming to visit in 1861. This is from the Killarney National Park website: However, by the late 19th century a series of financial problems heralded the end of over 200 years of the Herbert family at Muckross. In 1899, the Muckross Estate, encompassing approximately 1,300 acres of demesne lands was sold to Lord Ardilaun, a member of the Guinness family. He then sold the property to a Californian, Mr. William Bowers Bourn in 1911, who gave the estate to his daughter Maud, on her marriage to Mr. Arthur Rose Vincent. They carried out a number of developments to the estate over the following 20 years.

The estate, comprising about 13,000 acres, was presented to the Irish Free State in 1932 and became the Bourn-Vincent Memorial Park, in memory of Maud who died in 1929. The Muckross Estate became Ireland’s first National Park.

We made one more stop at Ross castle in Killarney National Park and saw fishermen and boats in addition to the castle. It was such a gorgeous day and families were out walking around. Once again, the scenery did not disappoint.

boats to be used for fishing

fishermen!

After a long and wonderful day of touring the Ring of Kerry, we returned to the hotel and did a little shopping before dinner. Dinner was lovely as usual. 

this was Mark's meal - I have
no idea what I ate!!

Then a bunch of us went out to the pubs and listened to live music. The streets were full of people and we had so much fun. 

Mark actually found a band playing songs by One Republic and U2 and he and I walked down to hear their music.

I hate to share this but I want to remember when this happened . . . we received news on this day that our friend, Don Dailey, had fallen in his home and was seriously injured. When we returned from touring, we found out that he had died. It was a freak accident involving their dog in the wee hours of the morning . . .and oh my goodness we were sad and stunned. When we texted with his sweet wife, Debbie, she encouraged us to have fun on our trip.

(I won't blog about the trip on Tuesday because I'll be participating in a blog hop of soup recipes!! -- check it out tomorrow)