Chowder and Cheese !

Carlingford on Saturday for the Taste of Carlingford Festival. I brought my Dad Fat Freddie who was on a mission to sample some seafood chowder and I was on a mission to sample everything in sight.Unfortunately the weather meant that the beautiful Carlingford Lough and the Mournes were shrouded in mist and rain but we donned the waterproof jackets and headed into the village. After viewing the oysters from Morgans the want for lunch, became a need and we headed into Jordans, thinking it was the same Jordans as always, but found it has changed hands and the bar area lacking a little ....well any atmosphere. A very pleasant Kerry man advised us that although there was no chowder on the lunch menu, he was confident the chef would be able to produce some.
Now Fat Freddie is a foodie in that he knows what he likes and knows how a dish should taste.A huge bowl of thick fish filled chowder arrived with fresh brown bread and I knew after spoon number 1 that Fat Freddie was a happy man. In the bottom of the bowl he found about 8 crab claws which he sucked as if it were his last meal and declared it the best he had ever eaten....high praise indeed. Apart from the chowder, I must admit that the Taste of Carlingford lacked....tastes of Carlingford, unless olives and Baklava are now native to that area..

Sunday, Carnaross for Sheridans Cheesemongers first Food Fayre.....now were talking !We went with the Mad One, the Spud Farmer their brood, Big Mamas Mama and the Spud Farmers Mama.The sun kindly shone warmly on this rural site and the crowds arrived in their hundreds. Although this fayre in it's first year was small it was perfectly formed,with cheeses of every type, artisan butchers, pate, chutneys, pickles, chocolates, Bratwurst, Burgers and Bangers. There was wine or Slane Castle Whiskey to wash it down and crepes and Burkes ice cream for dessert.....magic. We sat down to picnic behind the Poulet Bonne Femme van the smell of rosemary hypnotically drawing me towards it and their free range rotisserie chicken....As I type I am chewing on a leg and it is truly gorgeous.The children went to a cheese workshop and came back full of information and having made their own individual cheeses. I asked my 4 year old which cheese he liked best in the tasting to which he replied " the camel cheese"....interesting ! The Mad One, Big Mamas Mame and the Spud Farmers Mama went to what the thought was a cheese workshop but turned out to be wine tasting with an Italian, who led to hormonal surges in the three of them. They returned an hour later tipsy, slightly stumbling and couldn't seem to remember any wine they had tasted but all knew the name of the Italian !