When we had gone last year to remote, serene Ahakista, on the west coast of Ireland, to visit the memorial to Air India Flight 182 Emperor Kanishka in its 40th anniversary year, we could not make it back to Dublin in the same day.
We therefore parked ourselves in the Cork area.
Hotels in Cork were full or too expensive, so we got a room in Carrigaline, a Cork suburb within hitting distance of both Cork and Kinsale.
Kinsale, a fishing village on the south coast, could be accessed by bus, although it wasn't so simple to figure the routes because they didn't exactly join up, not easy with a toddler and his pram in tow.
The miniature happy town of Kinsale, or Cionn tSaile in Irish, one of Ireland's less-discovered diamonds, came highly recommended for a day trip. In existence since the 14th century, it is known for Michelin-starred Bastion restaurant and a few churches, castles and a fort.
Probably one of the most cheerful places you can ever come across, its doors and buildings are painted in all the colours of the rainbow.
Flowers were growing everywhere.
The lovely waterfront area was lanes and bylanes of humming cafes, craft boutiques, antique stores, fresh produce shops and wee bed-and-breakfasts.
The cafes served the most amazing food.
What was most appealing was the small-town warmth of Kinsale. People stopped in the middle of the street for lengthy chats and the traffic just moved around them (above pic).
The pace was lazy, peaceful. And the folks friendly, that charming Irish large-heartedness.
The tourists not too many (probably many more in summer). The photographs give you an idea of the town's cute prettiness.
Taking in wonderful new sights and places, while enriching your mind's eye, is also an opportunity to sample new food, which is what makes travel doubly memorable (if not special in ten other ways). In Carrigaline, at Carrigaline Court Hotel, the comfortable, geared-for-conferences/birthday/retirement/sweet-16 bashes hotel where we were staying, we had an impressive dinner the night before. It's always surprising to find unusual and tasty vegetarian food, especially in Ireland.
At the hotel's Tom Collins Bar they served us Baked Stuffed Aubergine. This was eggplant stuffed with an orzo, a rice-like buttery pasta that had been cooked up with baby spinach, cherry tomatoes and zucchini and was accompanied by sweet potato fries and watercress salad. Sumptuous, right?
Back home I used our tender garden spinach to make the dish. I didn't have orzo on hand, so used the tiny pasta I did and cooked it all in a tomato concasse (a thin tomato sauce).
It's a rather delicious dish, not so difficult to make and the kind that will impress any pasta lovers you might be cooking for.
My version (bottom-most pic) looks a little bit different from the restaurant's version because theirs was vegan and I chose to add cheese on top.
Collins Bar Carrigaline Orzo-Stuffed Eggplant
Serves: 2-3
Ingredients
Method