Gnocchi!

A few weeks ago while in Carlow, I went to the fabulous restaurant "Mimosa Tapas & Wine Bar". Gnocchi was on the tapas menu, and we ordered some. My daughter absolutely loved them and was amazed to learn that I had made them before (though bizarrely not in her lifetime). I promised that the next time we had leftover mashed potatoes I would make gnocchi. Gnocchi are essentially a potato pasta. The ingredients are simple: mashed potato, egg, flour, pepper and nutmeg.

Mix the ingredients together. I have not measured anything. Spices are to taste, and the flour amount really is just according to how much mashed potato you have. I have only ever used one egg; I have only ever used leftover mash. Basically add flour so that it's a dough.

Roll dough into snakes on a floured surface.

Cut into shapes -- again I don't measure -- but these are about 1-1.5 cm. Dimple the shape with your finger and put on a floured plate.

Gnocchi are a dumpling pasta. Put in boiling water; they sink immediately but then rise to the surface when they are ready (a few seconds later).

Have a collander ready over a bowl and remove gnocchi with a slotted spoon.

Prepare an oven dish with some olive oil, and transfer gnocchi to it, shaking around a bit so that they get some olive oil on them. I always add a bit more olive oil over the top of the gnocchi and then some grated parmesan and ground pepper.

Bake for about 15 minutes.

Serve with whatever you normally eat with any pasta. Last time I made gnocchi I served with melanzane alla parmesana, but bacon & broccoli & chilli peppers with pesto (in this case, wild garlic pesto) is one of my favourite pasta accompaniments. Delicious!

Walks and Sketching

 I am getting back into the habit of taking a sketchbook with me everywhere I go. I used to do this when I was younger, having sketchbooks of a ridiculous number of sizes and for every possible occasion! A few months ago when I was specifically looking for early "cityscape" sketches for the painting I was working on, I came across quite a few sketchbooks that were half empty. I decided it was an awful waste of paper if I just left them, so decided I would simply turn the sketchbooks upside down and start from the now "first" page -- and make sure I put in current dates so that any new sketches would not be confused in my artistic timeline!

As I have mentioned before, I went on a little jaunt to the Waterford area after Easter. On the way there I stopped in Carlow to visit the art centre there and have lunch. Prior to that, however, I was on a mission to find the Browne's Hill Dolmen which I had looked for unsuccessfully about 20 years ago. Now it is well signposted, no trouble at all finding. I took my sketchbook with me to see what I think is the most amazing and best example of a dolmen that I have seen.

As the weather has become less and less wintry, I have had the inclination to go on more regular walks and enjoy "shinrinyoku". This is a Japanese word I learned last year which literally means "forest bathing" but translates as "a walk in the woods for enjoyment". Though not the woods, the avenue leading to Powerscourt Estate, a big house and gardens not far from us, is very scenic and lined with stately trees. We went on a family sketching day there in April.

For some actual shinrinyoku, there are the easily accessible, and very close to us, woods on the side of Bray Head. This is an April 19th sketch of a very knotty and ivy covered tree that I liked. I enjoy doing sketches using watercolour pencils, bringing along a small plastic container of water with me, just dipping the pencils in water as I wish.

On the bank holiday Monday just past, the bluebells were out in full force in these woods.

Again, a sketch using watercolour pencils on a very pleasant day.

Carlow

On the way to Waterford from Bray, there were a few things we wanted to see. Our first stop was Newbridge, to show my Mum and my daughter my husband's sculpture "Sentinel" as they had not seen it yet.

Our next stop was Carlow. Many years ago my husband and I had tried to find Browne's Hill (or Brownshill) dolmen, but now it has been nicely marked. Although it is within a field, it has it's own fenced off space, with seating, an OPW didactic, a parking area and a path leading up to it from the road.

It is quite a spectacular dolmen, in my opinion it far surpasses the famous Poulnabrone dolmen for both size and accessibility.The capstone is believed to be several hundred tons in weight, making it the heaviest in Ireland.

There is no barrier to keep you away from the dolmen, therefore you can notice puddles underneath reflecting sunlight onto the dolmen's belly. It was beautiful!

We also wanted to check out Visual, the arts centre in Carlow, which could easily belong in any big city. It was both impressive in space and the exhibition showing, Cosmic Dust, a group show, In an upstairs gallery a triple film, The Floating World by Clare Langan, was haunting. Outside of Visual was a large sculpture, The Medusa Tree, by Eileen McDonagh.

Lennon's, the restaurant adjoining Visual, is a great place to have lunch. I thought the artwork on display in the restaurant looked very familiar, and taking a closer look realised it was the work of Karen Hendy, an artist who had stayed with us for a few days in January, as Umha Aois (a project with which both my husband, James Hayes, and Karen's partner, Holger Lonze, are involved) were giving demonstrations at the Ninth Experimental Archaeology Conference held at University College Dublin. Here is one of the paintings on view, from Karens "Littoral Series".

After lunch we went to take a look at Carlow castle which is beautifully impressive despite being only a ruin with two towers and one wall.

The castle is accessible by stairs from the street and then a winding path around it. Along the path are a number of etched plates which act as information didactics. Below, the plate is showing the two towers and wall still standing in relation to a floor plan of the original castle. The OPW (Office of Public Works) is responsible for the site, so I imagine they were also responsible for the clever planting -- shrubbery is being trained to take on the shape of the rest of the castle.

Across the road from the castle is a large sculpture. Unfortunately, I could not find any identifying plaque which gave any information on the piece nor could any mark be found identifying the artist. For the Newbridge piece (picture above) my husband taught himself how to electro-etch his name onto the back of the sculpture in order to have his identity clearly associated with the work. This is something I think that more artists are starting to consider as not every piece of public sculpture gets an information plaque.