The impending birthday

So a landmark in the life of niamh will be reached this weekend. It's a big one, for me, its 30. I know anyone older than this is scoffing right now, in the way that I scoff at people younger than me when they complain about getting older. Let's face it no one has ever turned 30 before.
Of course the blow has been softened with some friends/family getting on planes and coming to commiserate/celebrate with me. I'm looking in your direction aoife, lara, kristin.......but don't worry ann marie nothing can fill the gap that you've left on the dance floor... slide and hand shake, shimmy and chop!
I have been having some what of a third life crisis. The proverbial what am I doing with my life question has been dominating my thoughts of late. Feel as though I'm coming through the other side of it now (don't worry crisis i'll touch base with you again in the new year). Feeling a little chuffed at everything I've managed to do and achieve in the last decade. No such thing as mistakes just learning curves. Ahem. With that in mind here's to a few more learning curves in the years to come-chin chin!

Fish.....Finally

I would like to say that these tasty treats were caught by me but no. In the fishing department I am an expert tackle looser; it gets caught in rocks, seaweed and other peoples lines much to my brothers despair, as most of the tackle I loose is his. And he's still kind enough to hand over the fish that he catches-I couldn't ask for more! So these beauties were caught off the south wall on friday evening with a spectacular sunset to boot. One Mackerel, One Pollock.
Cooked with up with the help of my new roomie, Ollie. We had them with beans from my mother's garden and broccoli from ollie's old fridge-oh and a bit of wild rice too. So simple so tasty. And talk about fast food.....
Veggies look away now : if you've never gutted a fish before it really is easy. I do it in the sink under running water as I'm a little squeamish about this stuff and the water rinses everything away before you get a chance to think about it! Insert the knife in the belly (just below the head) and run it all the way down to the tail-pull 'contents' out and discard, chop the head off and viola. Its a little grim but worth it! I didn't bother scaling or filleting.



Put the fish in tinfoil with a little salt and pepper and a knob of butter: wrap up the tinfoil so its sealed completely. Put it in the oven at 150 for 20 minutes.



We cooked up our wild rice, blanched the veg added a little salt and pepper once cooked and that was it.
so simple.....catching it is the hard part.....



(excuse my steamed up picture-it was hot in there!!)

Books

My bestest friend Ann Marie wants a list of books that I have read recently / am reading, that I enjoyed / am enjoying and recommend.....get it? in no particular order:

prose:

Skippy Dies by Paul Mrray

God's Own Country by Ross Raisin

Room by Emma Donoghue

Constitutional by Helen Simpson (short stories)

Anne Boleyn A New Life of England's Tragic Queen by Joanna Denny

poetry:

A Scattering by Christopher Reid

In the Flesh by Adam O'Riordan


More prose than poetry there which is better for you mahon but strange for me. Although in fairness have been writing neither of late .... the less said about that the better.

The September Issue

The biggest vogue of the year. The one the whole year revolves around. Picked up the UK issue the other day and all I can say is 'yawn'. Kate Moss on the cover-yawn. Kate Moss styles autum/winter staples-yawn. Really and truely have we not moved on from Kate Moss? Talk about over kill of her and her style; which is the same thing repeated over and over again. I see even Topshop have said thanks but no thanks for next season. It's all so very boring. Ok rant over.