After an hour of watching people not used to driving in the snow doing circles, the sun finally came out.
Then to the local church, just on time.
Just outside Londonderry, signs of life. Or at least humps.
Arrived near the Causeway. The view from the room.
A short drive before dinner.
Tomorrow, climb some cliffs and explore some castles, for now, some relaxation.
A trip to the local bookstore.
A view to the sea.
Even if you are in the middle of nowhere, you can't drop your pants to pee without getting an audience.
The end of the day's trail.
I spent the night in the city, this photo being the view of the sunrise from my second floor window as I woke up. The rest of the trip is small hotels and B and B's, out in the countryside. 
I'm Scots/Irish. Guinness and SALE all in the same place?
I think I need a cold shower.
Until I'm back online. Slainte. - Brigid
Walking the fields of my dreams. Ireland.
Remember the service you used to get on Pan Am back in the 70's? Yes. The best flight EVER.
Look, you can start your day with a tasty bowl of gruel.
Or how about some -
Croissants Pain au Chocolat . In plain English that's a croissant loaded with dark chocolate pieces.
I'll be frank, this is NOT an easy recipe to make. The professional pastry chef who wrote the cookbook labels it "difficult". Sort of like cleaning your Ruger Mark III is "difficult", unless you're an engineer and/or work on a Starship.
But it's worth it if you have a kitchen to yourself and a few hours some evening.
You can make them all the way through, or freeze before the final rising. Then you can raise them overnight, to have them in the morning for breakfast.
Once assembled (which includes two sit periods of a couple hours between incorporating the butter into the layers and a final rise to let the yeast do its thing), it's ready to go into the oven. Puffy little footballs of goodness.
The end product needs no butter (gee, imagine that). It's incredibly flaky, tender layers of light pastry in which resides in the center, melted pieces of dark, rich chocolate. Barkley didn't get one as it is too rich for his tummy AND contains chocolate which dogs should not have. It did not, however, keep him from sitting in the kitchen as the aroma filled the house as they baked. His new name around here is "Puddles O'Drool".
It was the Monday to end all Monday's. To start it was Tuesday. But it was still Monday in my book. Let's just say the world wasn't a calm pretty place over the weekend and I came back on duty to a VERY full plate, muddy dogs and a few fires to put out. 
I'm all dressed and my friend walks though, laughing. "So", he says. Why did you use the dog shampoo??? That's right. Did I say it was a long day? I think, after that, it was time to just give up and make some comfort food. 
You start with some Cabot extra sharp cheddar, and (don't faint) a little bit of Velveeta to make it creamy and a can of Campbell's Cheese soup.
Bake for 20 minutes. Sprinkle a little more cheddar on top and bake a bit more.
It's the perfect bowl of comfort food. 
This really is intended as a side dish for ham or pork or meatloaf, other comfort foods, but on a plate, solo, it holds its own. As many of us do on those occasional "Mondays". 
In the same fashion, one day a gun store employee tried tried to sell me something like this as the right self defense gun for a female.
WORD. . . . . NO.
THIS is my idea of breakfast (yes, that's a fried chicken breast , bacon, gravy, egg, cheese AND biscuits.)
And THIS is my idea of a personal self defense carry piece. Some choices are shadowed with false advertising. Some choices are black and white. They most definitely are not pink.
The life I defend is big, so is my weapon. For I won't get a second chance to make the right choice.
Rio Arriba started it with his post on his own barbecue sauce secret. He didn't post measurements so I just used instinct to get the seasoning just so. I tweaked it slightly, not that it needed improvement, just to make it my own with what I had on hand. I replaced the chiopotle, which I was out of, with dried jalapeno and to offset the hot, added some raw honey.
To that some homestyle corn, a couple of tablespoons of cream cheese added to the cooked corn along with some fresh dill then simmered gently. Then some fresh baked Italian bread to clean up the crime scene.
There were bones and sauce on all surfaces when the carnage was over.
The Indy blog bunch meets up at one of our all time favorites, Brugge, with a special guest, the handsome and dashing Turk Turon. He was visiting for the week, bunking in the guest quarters at the Range while visiting one and all.
Fifteen folks showed up bringing appetites, stories and even an antique sewing machine. (A tiny little marvel courtesy of Mrs. Shomes). 
Pictured are the usual suspects (excluding yours truly, holding the camera) who braved the balmy 15 degree high today to come on down to Broad Ripple. 
You made it!
Their incredible little cheese plate.
The famous pommes frites, incredible fries with 11 dipping sauces that ranged from the standard mayonnaise, house-made ketchup, and horseradish to the more adventuresome, sea salt and sherry vinegar, poplar syrup and French Dijon mustard, herb pesto, blue cheese, roasted garlic aioli and my personal favorites, sweet chili or the hot curry.
Would you like fries with that?
The conversations? Antiques, Sci-Fi, shooting (Hey has anyone tried the new Springfield XD 9 mm?), hit movies (it seems everyone has seen "Dances with Smurfs" but me), travel, the holidays, the latest in techie toys and the best Wedding Cake Topper ever!
Tam had the steak and eggs.
I had the beef tenderloin, medium rare. With more frites of course!
Old Grouch had the Waterzooie, the quintessential Belgium fish stew.
And Joanna had Carbonnade Flamande (a stew made with beef, Belgian ale and onions) 
Then there were the dishes with duck. 
Like duck confit mitrailette. Delicious tender Brassiere bread piled with perfectly cooked pulled duck and crisp fried leeks mixed with a dried cherry and lambic compote with a hint of spicy mustard. I'm now eying the ducks in my pond with a whole different outlook. Shomes, Jr., sitting next to me shared a bit of his pan roasted duck crepes with sweet onion confit. (When is duck season?) Oh my. Then there were the dessert crepes. Plain sugar cinnamon and an amazing one filled with nutella and drizzled with sweetness.
There was very little remaining.
All in all, a good time was had by all!
