#MyBlog!!!!
““I feel welcome and safe with all my new friends that I made . . .”” — ALYSSA
We’re Doing This
So there are two ways I can accomplish some really significant, deep conversations with my husband. Head to pub and order two Guinness (can’t accomplish this at home because the kids will interrupt and Guinness is not the same from a can) or Go for a run. Yesterday, we headed out for a 7-miler and …
A Quarter Way Into Our Irish Year
As I sit here in the kitchen with a cup of coffee, the washing machine whirling in the background, I can’t help but have a smile spread across my face. We’ve done it! 3 months in and we are comfortably settled in our life in Ireland. I feel like our trip last week during mid-term break to …
Halloween – Italian Style
Last year, I was trick or treating with my dad’s cousin and his wife. We were in our house in Maryland running around our neighborhood trying to get as much candy as we can. This was the only time of year where we truly had a lot of candy in the house and the only …
Feta Cheese Molds, Food Evolutions & A Proud Professor Moment!
This year I not only had the chance to visit, but also the honor of presenting a paper on the incorporation of experimental archaeology into the Food Evolutions project and the development at the Eastern Shore Food Lab at the conference, Experimental Archaeology Conference: Making, Understanding, Storytelling at the Irish Institute of Hellenic Studies. This was …
It’s Not Just About the Food!
In high school my mother used to warn me that I had tunnel vision. And she was 100% right… I believe the first time my mother warned me of the dangers of becoming too focused on one thing was during wrestling season in high school. I got a late start in the sport – in …
The Original Cheesemaker
Cheese has always fascinated me. Ever since I was a young child I have loved everything about the experience of eating cheese. I loved the way it looked, the way it tasted, the way it smelled (well, most of it), and I even loved the texture. My parents also love cheese – and growing up …
Fermented Shark: Bucket List Item Checked Off!
Although I’m here in Iceland to take a traditional cheese making class, I took full advantage of the one day we had off to drive eight hours to try hákari, the traditional Icelandic fermented Greenlandic shark. This is a traditional food is at least 400 years old and is considered by many to be the most …
Fall Foraging with Kevin Thornton
In addition to learning as much as humanly possible from food acquirers and producers this project is also about disseminating information to a broad audience. I had a unique opportunity to do just that alongside Chef Kevin Thornton when we co-taught a foraging class in the Wicklow Mountains just south of Dublin, Ireland. Kevin recently opened up his cooking school, Kevin …
Washington Ideas Interview
Sharing Food Insight through an Experimental Archaeology Lens at Washington Ideas . . . this was by far the biggest event I ever had the opportunity at which to speak! I was invited last spring to take part in this year’s Washington Ideas event. I was honored and assumed that it had something to do with the …
Beyond Baking with Kevin Thorton
Brianna has an insatiable appetite for good – I mean really good – chocolate and well, . . . just about anything sweet. She knows that in order for something containing sugar to be allowed in our house it has to meet three requirements: It had to be made entirely from scratch; It had to …
Meeting the UCD Experimental Archaeology and Material Culture MSC Students!
Today Dr. Roeland Paardekooper and I met with the new MSc students in the experimental archaeology and material culture program at University College Dublin. This incredible opportunity is one of only a few experimental archaeology graduate programs in existence worldwide and is the result of the hard work and ingenuity of Dr. Aidan O’Sullivan. Today marked the …
Sea Foraging with Marie Power, The Sea Gardener
This morning Christina and I made sure the kids were settled at their schools and rushed as quickly as possible to County Waterford located on the southeast coast of Ireland to meet Marie Power. The drive to the town of Tramore (Trá Mhór, Irish for Big Strand) where we were meeting Marie is a full …
Foraging Walk with UCD Students
Today, I met with the students in the one-week intensive experimental archaeology class at University College Dublin at the Centre for Experimental Archaeology and Material Culture. I was invited to guest teach because the entire day was focused on food and using the experimental approach to understanding food-related technologies in the past. The day kicked off …
Airfield Estate Festival of Food: Cultured Butter Demonstration
The Food Evolutions project is about finding ways to connect modern Westerners with ancient and time-honored food technologies from the past. This weekend I am thankful to have had the opportunity to spend two days fulfilling this mission at the Airfield Food Festival. The Airfield Food Festival was a 2-day festival organized for the public to “engage with …
Food Literacy: Unearthing the Knowledge Gap
Tonight was an inspiring night filled with brilliant and passionate speakers! I am thankful to be in attendance honored to be a part this food series titled, Food Literacy: Closing the Knowledge Gap. The event was organized and hosted by Airfield Estate, Dublin’s only 38-acre working farm open to the public, to continue their mission to connect …
We Love Our Raw Milk – Time to Visit an Irish Dairy!
“VILLAGE DAIRY” MILK PRODUCTION VISIT Today we had the opportunity to see for ourselves an example of why Ireland is known for such incredible milk! And it is so much more than just the year-round grass that the cows have access to here in the Emerald Isle. What happens after the milk is collected is …
Coastal Foraging with Brian Gannon
This somewhat secluded beach is easily accessible by car. It overlooks Galway Bay and is bounded by cliffs to north and rocks to the south. The shallow nature of the beach makes it a perfect location to forage for seaweed. When we pulled up in our car Brian was already out on the beach with …
Acquiring Starters from Neil Barrett
ACQUIRING STARTERS WITH NEIL BARRETT It took a week but I was finally able to replace most of my cultures here in Ireland! Chef Neil Barrett was generous enough to share his sourdough mother, kefir, jun (a kombucha SCOBY that feeds off of honey), and vilili (a traditional heirloom Finnish yogurt). Thanks, Neil for helping me keep my …
Ireland’s Ancient Grains with Seamas Caulfield
It doesn’t get more magical than this! True place-based, hands-on learning about the first farmers in Ireland with Seamas Caulfield, emeritus professor of UCD School of Archaeology. While his father, Patrick, first discovered the ancient fields in the 1930’s, Seamas conducted the excavations at both Céide Fields and Belderrig for decades as archaeology field school through UCD School of …
Beginning Our Journey in Ireland
SEAFARE WITH KEVIN THORTON Landed in Ireland with the family only 4 days ago and now we are in Belderrig, Northern County Mayo cooking with Michelin Star Chef, Kevin Thornton! Jason O’Brien has spoiled all of us with the most amazing ingredients with which to cook. In addition to the Roundstone Bread, Burma steaks and ground …