Fi.

"It's in these moments of exploration or plateau that we can discover new ideas. When things happen too fast, nobody can be certain about anything, about anything at all, not even about himself". Reading 'In defense of a life plateau' this morning by @extraordinary_routines 📖

Eggs & Greens for breakfast this morning. I wanted something relatively quick and easy using whatever was in my fridge. Eggs always being one of these things. I did a quick google search for what I was looking for and found Local Milk’s garlic ginger collard greens recipe at the top of my list. If you haven’t heard of Local Milk before, check her out now! An amazing writer, recipe developer, mother and creative being.  This recipe is super simple and delicious and can be easily adapted to whatever you have in your fridge and however many hungry bellies you have to feed. I recommend throwing in a red chilli into the mix to heat it up if your a fan of spicy foods. I didn’t have any feta cheese at hand either but it was extremely tasty without it and I added in a side of avocado for some more greens. 

Birds flying over Laytown beach. 21/01/17. 5.10pm

I have been helping my dad clean up the house a bit lately, as he is preparing to sell it and move out this year. (The clean up conveniently timed with my return from the States...) I have lived in the house since I was 5 years old, until I moved out for college when I was about 17. Im slowly realising that over these 12 or so years, I didn’t part with a lot of belongings, and neither did my other family members. My hoarder tendencies constantly getting in the way of a desired minimal lifestyle.  This past Thursday, the 19th, also marked the 10th anniversary of my Mothers death. As I was cleaning the kitchen, sorting through cupboards of dish wear, cutlery and cookbooks, her presence found its way back into the house as I wiped about 8 years of dust from plates hidden away in forgotten places. I found some really beautiful pieces and wanted to catalogue them in some way as I rediscovered them. I cleaned and photographed each one, trying to remember the last time I saw these pieces in use. Memories that struggled to resurface. However, the last photograph above is one of more recent memory - my mother’s cookbook, or kitchen bible as I like to call it. I remember its very place on the kitchen counter many a times as I sat and watched my mom cook lunches and dinners. A huge Delia Smith fan, she used this book for everything cookery related. Nothing overly fancy, the cookbook served as a guide on how to cook the perfect anything; roast potatoes, mash potatoes, lamb stew, grains and pastas, and when we were lucky there was toasted rice pudding, flap jacks and fruit crumbles. Nearly every page is marked with notes and measurement alterations and little scribbles on the sides of recipes noting items myself or my brother wouldn’t eat. Picky children we were. Pages sellotaped in on top of other pages, you could make another book just from the notes. There is also beautiful illustrations and photographs to accompany some of the meals, which I believe were made long before there were such things as food stylists and prop stylists to help produce these books. The book itself was published in 1982 and I can certainty say it has gotten its fair share of use since then.  Now that everything has had its moment of glory again, on with the Feng Shui de-clutter-fest.    

My head and heart are with America today as I stand on the other side of the world and watch through the TV the reality of a distant joke we laughed over months ago over drinks. This country gave me hopes and dreams, people and a place I called home. It gave me belief in community, to overcome its struggles by standing up for what it believes in, uniting with those around you and speaking out through art, movement, voice or whatever means you have at hand. Power to you,the people, for brighter better days ahead.

Ballineddan Mountain, Co. Wicklow.

Pit stop at First Draft Coffee in the old Roasted Brown space on Fumbally Lane. Doing a fantastic job of continuing on the lovely service in this extra lovely space.

Soy sauce eggs being prepared in a mix of garlic, soy sauce, ginger, rice wine vinegar, pepper sauce and brown sugar. Can't wait to try these guys! 🐣 • • • • • • • • #eggs #soak #soysauceegg #kitchen #cook #experiment #food #foodie #F52 #bonappetit #feedfeed #foodphotography #onmyplate #eat #eater #foodblog #jarfoods

Day trip uptown to The Cloisters, part of the Met Museum that specializes in medieval architecture, sculpture and decorative arts. It is also just the most amazing building to walk around and admire. The light pouring into the large rooms through stained glass windows was probably my favorite part of it. The grounds surrounding the Cloisters building are just as beautiful, especially during fall when the paths are lined with gold and orange leaves.

My favorite season is in full bloom at the moment and it's inspiring as ever. It makes me want to keep cycling past my destination just to admire the color in the streets and that beautiful warm light shining through the windows in the evenings. It makes me want to stay in and bake pies all day long, wear cozy sweaters and be as cheesy as this sentence. Marmalade, leaves, pumpkins all over again, like discovering the color orange for the first time ever. The apples, THE CIDER! The autumn...

Shooting along the Highline with @FujifilmX_US, @OmarZRobles and @elisha.nilsen

Catskills, NY. (continued).

Road trip to the Catskill mountains, two hours north of New York.  Objective : Find a waterfall.  After a scenic drive along the mountainside, we parked on the side of the road with little idea where the trails began or how long we would be chasing waterfalls. #TLC Had to get that pun out there, sorry. We waded through pools, slipped on the odd rock and jumped off boulders jutting over the flowing water, all while the sun shone down and we thanked god for this escape from the city smog. As legend has it, a deer along with it's fawn tried to cross Kaaterskill Creek at the top of Fawn's Leap. The fawn failed to leap across the top and fell off the falls and this is how it got its name. With a few too many people waiting their turn to leap off, we returned to the first and less intimidating waterfall we came across at the beginning of our hike with plenty of room to lounge, plunge and soak up the heat exuding from the rock beds. After a good soak in the fresh mountain water, we drove a further few miles to the Kaaterskill Falls. With a short but steep hike, we were met by the most spectacular views that spanned for miles across the Catskill mountains. Blankets of greenery covered the landscape for as far as the eye could reach, sounds of the water crashing 260ft below us. After your camera battery goes, you really can just sit back and enjoy the view. 

Montauk, continued.