I adore travelling. That feeling of taking off into the unknown or the anticipated, dreamed about known destination that still has an equal amount of thrill attached is what I live for. Over the years, I've noticed more and more that food, travel and surf have been my three loves. It's only since starting this blog that I have realized just how beautifully all three connect, like an intertwined celtic triskel.
This part of my blog is dedicated to celebrating the connection between the three. You can read my stories of travelling to markets, surfing and seeing life from a new perspective. You can also see the photos I take along the way and the foods and recipes that inspire my love for cooking loving, simple, healthy food from different regions and countries as I make my way to different places to seek out that feeling of adventure and new stories to keep me warm.
RAGLAN: Home from home
Sticky jam, surfing sunsets, locals, fish and salads
Raglan is a small surf town on the west coast of New Zealand. Going through a moment of "what am I going to do with my life?" and feeling the need to go out and search for a small town that was creative, surf orientated and quiet, somewhere warm too, I googled "small, creative surf towns" and Raglan came up. In between two minds of whether to go to Vietnam and teach English for a year to pay off a gigantic loan or move to Raglan for a year and surf and work in a cafe, I chose to flip a coin. I kid myself into believing I couldn't decide when really, my heart already knew the answer. I left with little money, a backpack and the idea that my soul would be soothed by catching waves and baking cakes in a cafe. I was right. I stayed for just over 10 months and made lifelong friends. That was in 2009-2010.
Earlier this year, I went back. Anxious about going back to a place that has changed, I nervously walked around the all too familiar spots. I felt like I was home. Moving around a lot as a child, I'm not one of those people that has the same friends since I was four years old. I am thankful to have many friends from different countries and many of them are from Ireland, my home town too. My home town is not somewhere I ever felt comfortable in, though. I imagined 'home' was a place you could return any time. Somewhere you could always count on bumping into people you know, having a place to stay, a part time job, friends to hang out with. People, places, relationships, shop fronts and housing would all have changed but home, the feeling, the love, would stay the same. That was how the return journey was. There are times I work myself up about wondering will I ever feel like I have a solid home. Most of the time I realize that home is where the heart is and the home I came from, the stable, reliable one I can visit on holidays and for Christmas every other year is Raglan.
Below are links to some of the blogs that I wrote before, during and after my trip from earlier this year. They are the blogs that reinvigorated my writing, my desire to savor food, people, memories and sights. They are the blogs that made me realize myself again. I hope you enjoy them.
Raglan Time
Simple Squash and The Surf Countdown
Dear Luisa: Plum and Cardamom Cake
Sticky Vanilla Fig Jam
Feijoa and Ginger Crumble: In the belly of a storm
PORTUGAL: Simple times
Surfing, snacks, local loves, family recipes
Portugal surprised me. A place I was drawn to since I was fourteen or fifteen and looking at surfing magazines and travel photographs of fish dishes from its sleepy coastal towns. As kids, we always went to Spain with its calm seas. Portugal was so close yet so far from my mind. I had images of enchanting villages but tall cliffs and cold seas. I kept the visit at bay for years. Then this September, me and my amazing friend Josefina, comical genius and surfing buddy, made the decision to get over there and explore what it had to offer. Portugal enchanted me. The ten days I spent there were nowhere close enough to the amount of time I'd need there to feel satisfied. I've been to other countries in Europe and been inspired and enthralled by the people, language, food, sights and customs but Portugal made me feel on edge. It was as if I felt I should know everything about the place. The strip of western land is so close to my little green island. Portugal had other plans for me. Portugal felt like a faraway land, separated from all other influences. A place to be excited and challenged and intrigued and renewed. I'm already planning my next trip.
DUBLIN: The Big Smoke on the Little Green Island
Coffee, markets, locals, friends, feasts
Dublin and me have had a love hate relationship. For a long time, it has felt on a par with Heathcliff and Cathy. The wind whipping up off the Liffey to slap me on the face on cold winter days. Beautiful sunsets tinged by the realization that in the west, I could be watching the sun sink past the breaking waves and stay to watch the stars come out. People who don't have time to talk. No lane ways to explore. Then I stopped looking at the negatives. I focused on what Dublin had to offer, its positives, its hidden gems and slowly an, at regular intervals, demanding but rewarding relationship grew through the cold winds and grey building and I began to see color, to smell flavors, to seek out eateries and to embrace people from all over the world who've come to see this corner of a little green island as home. Dublin won't be my home forever. I still don't know how long I'll stay on the east coast when the west calls out to me everyday but for now I'm here. Dublin has taught me the difficult, trying and ever present life lesson that will always be a learning point; be where you are. Enjoy it.
PORTUGAL TAKE 2: Taking time.
Street art, seafood rice, beaches, books, galão coffee, rest
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