I have enjoyed being busy this week. It has all come back to me so quickly, the driving, the loading and unloading, the customers, the suppliers, interacting with so many different people every day, wonderful.
And it's the meeting and chatting with all those different, mostly nice, sometimes not, people that I miss most about my last job.
I had to work a long day yesterday, my last delivery, a load of wood, to a cabinet maker in Kenmare in county Kerry. He and his family live up the side of a mountain in a caravan beside his workshop. It wasn't easy to get there, uphill in first gear on a track more suitable to donkey than diesel! (They have two donkeys!)
A wonderful, happy and chatty man, who loves his work and loves his lifestyle. We had a great auld chin-wag about this, that, and the other whilst we were unloading the wood into his workshop. His wife (who seemed to appear from nowhere) overheard me telling him that I was looking forward to getting home and eating the stew that I had prepared the night before and we got chatting about cooking and healthy food and ingredients etc. Before I left them she gathered up a dozen duck eggs and some hen eggs from their free range poultry and gave them to me as a tip! Best tip I've been given in quite a while.
I did enjoy my stew (pork, smokey bacon, sweet potatoes, onions, carrots, spuds, tomatoes, basil, oregano, garlic, barley, lentils, split peas, stock. All put in a big pot and cooked slowly for many hours, let to cool, to be eaten the next day!) when I got home almost 2 hours later at 9pm. And what a breakfast of duck eggs I did enjoy this morning before hitting the road again!
Duck eggs... do they taste different than chicken eggs? I've never had any but chicken. The stew sounds delish! And yes, always best the second day, isn't it? Glad you are enjoying your "other" work for this little while. They say a change is as good as a rest! xoxoxo
ReplyDeleteMan, that stew sounds fantastic. Stew is like a big, piping hot bowl of hugs.
ReplyDelete@Ponita: I was wondering the same thing about the duck eggs.
The stew sound brilliant please do pass on the entire recipe. What pint goes the best with it?
ReplyDeletecheers, Sausage...
I do love meeting people -- the friendly and the not-so. And aren't the fresh eggs delightful?!
ReplyDeletePearl
Your presence at the bar was duly noted by those who enjoyed the Friday pint this afternoon, although your penchant for Pink champagne left wee Tam scratching his heid in disbelief.
ReplyDeleteWe meet again this very neet for round two of the Friday pint, a clean shirt and a tom-tit should see us walking into the front door of Molly's for the back of ten.
It's still your round...
With a stew like that, I have to get myself invited for dinner some time :)
ReplyDeleteIsn't it nice to talk to people who want to share a part of what they have with you, just because it's the kind thing to do?
ReplyDeleteWe once had chickens, ducks and geese; the only difference I could tell in the eggs (besides the fact the duck eggs had pale blue shells) was that the eggs from the goose were richer. In fact they made the best homemade ice cream!
Ah, is the gift of gab an Irish one? Because if so, it explains why my Mom has never met a soul she didn't feel it necessary to chat with. After all, she only claims her Irish genes. ;)
(Jimmy: I'm finding Scottish genes in the mix!)
Pon; Duck eggs? Apart from looking blue, they are a little bit bigger and taste somewhat 'richer' than hen eggs, but beautiful. I love eggs anyway, and always start my day with a couple. :¬)
ReplyDeletexxx
UB; 'Stew's' stew is summat else! :¬)
Sausage; I will send you the recipe, though it is not written in stone. I tend to 'throw in' whatever comes to hand as far as stews are concerned! :¬)
ReplyDeletePearl; nothing as good in the morn as fresh eggs! :¬)
xxx
Jimmy; I think Tam had his own agenda when he bought me SO much fizzy! And I did notice it wasn't only his heid he was a scratchin'!
ReplyDeleteI've washed the bod and had a tom-tit and will be in Molly's before yer arse can dampen me stool. There's one in the barrel fer ya pal. :¬)
Kim; A feast indeed for friends! :¬)
ReplyDeletehope; I do think the gift of the gab is indeed an Irish thing, though a lot less gab is indeed needed for communication between real friends! :¬)
xxx
oh, goodness, sounds like this caravan family might just be my caravan kin!!! what a nice trip that was, for sure! and your stew! yummmmm.....i'm wondering if you added just a bit of wine for good measure, as i sometimes do - not so sure about pink champagne in it, but a nice dark red would do the trick in my book! ;)
ReplyDeleteThat stew fills me with nostalgia - not for Lancashire so much as the south of France.
ReplyDeleteWhat a delight to be driving through that scenery.