Mmm...Liver.

Is there anything tastier? I used to hate the stuff, but now I can't get enough of it. I love its deep, rich colour when raw, its velvety texture when perfectly cooked.

Anyway, by popular demand here is my recipe for liver cooked in the Syrian style:

1lb (500g) Lamb's liver
1 large lemon
Olive oil
2 heaped teaspoons cumin
Chopped Parsley/coriander
Sliced shallots/spring onion/radish

Slice liver into strips approx. 1-1.5cm thick
Marinade in the juice of 1/2 a lemon and 3-4 tblsp olive oil for 10-40 minutes
Heat frying pan with a little more oil. get it good and hot.
Lift the lamb out of the marinade with a slotted spoon and place in the hot pan. This will give a dry dish. if you like sauce, add the marinade (but be careful, it will spit).
Fry for 2-3 of minutes until just about done, then turn off heat. The liver will finish cooking as it sits in the pan.
Sprinkle with cumin, garnish with herbs, onions, radishes.

Serve warm or cold with wedges of lemon

Dark(ish) Secrets

Am I a bad wife? I'm occasionally haunted by this thought. Not because I'm demanding, conflict averse and contradict everything my husband says. This is par for the course with all married couples (I think). No, its because I feel worse about leaving our cat than my husband. Joe Black (JB) is not thrilled at my leaving to set up a new life abroad, and it's going to be a huge wrench for him, but he can at least understand why I have to do it. Pancho on the other hand...

How can you explain to a cat that you're leaving him? 'Ah', I hear you say, 'as long as he's fed he doesn't care.' This is partly true, what cats hate most is to have their routine disrupted, and that includes regular feedings. But the thing is, Pancho is one of the few cats who does care about people. No, really, he does. I have the evidence of a year's absence to back me up. Apparantly he wandered about, miaowing peevishly. And he was delighted when I came back. Who else knows to make the bed just so for him every morning? Who else does he trust to hold his paw when he's snooozing? Who else knows when he's feeling frazzled by the presence of kittens in the garden and needs to be picked up a reassured? Who else suddenly pushes the bedroom door open, putting and end to any potential kitten-producing activities of which he strrrongly disapproves. Who else-actually, it's probably a good thing I'm going.

Beginnings and endings

I'll be leaving Dublin in 8 weeks. I came here in 1989 and was never so happy. It has been one of my greatest loves.

But now it's time to go. This blog is to help me keep in touch with all my friends, and perhaps make new ones (this is unlikely, I was prickly 15 years ago and time has not mellowed me).

So, over the next 3-5-indefinite years, keep an eye on this blog.