NORTHERN IRELAND - COUNTY ANTRIM AND THE GLENS

Ireland and Northern Ireland

In the beginning of my genealogy journey, I was in a state of woeful ignorance about the land of my ancestors. When a mystery presented itself, the internet was scoured and online book sellers searched to find the information that would provide some understanding and satisfy the need to know. Since those very early days, many notebooks have been filled and books of all sorts have been purchased. 

Three ring binders have been at the top of many shopping lists, and the mail truck still brings new/old books and drops them on the front porch for me to find. (Some books about the Scots-Irish are due to arrive, shortly.) New shelving has become a necessity.  

The constant search for information has cleared up some of the confusion about the, sadly, small amount of knowledge that was known about Ireland and Northern Ireland. For most people it might not be a priority. If you have been bitten by the genealogy bug, though, and your ancestors, at one time, called this part of the world home, taking a deep dive into the history and geography of the place, to learn as much as you can about it, might be a good idea. 

This is a little of what was learned after a giant leap into the fuzzy unknown:

The Island of Ireland

• Ireland is an island.

Ireland is surrounded by water on all sides. Ireland just happens to be the name of the island.

Country of Ireland

• Ireland is an independent country located on the island of Ireland.

The country of Ireland does not cover the entire island of Ireland, only five-sixths of it. (Eire, Irish for Ireland, or The Republic of Ireland - its official descriptive name)

Two Countries on the Island of Ireland

• The island of Ireland is divided into two countries.

Northern Ireland and Ireland are the two countries that share the land mass of the island of Ireland.

Northern Ireland

•  Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom.

Along with the citizens of England, Scotland and Wales, the citizens of Northern Ireland are subjects of Her Majesty the Queen.

• The capital of the country of Northern Ireland is Belfast. 

Counties of Northern Ireland

• Six counties comprise the country of Northern Ireland:

    1. Antrim
2. Armagh
3. Down
4. Fermanagh
5. Londonderry
6. Tyrone

• The capital of the country of Ireland is Dublin.

Counties of Ireland

• The country of Ireland is divided into twenty-six counties.

    1. Carlow
    2. Cavan
    3. Clare
    4. Cork
    5. Donegal
    6. Dublin
    7. Galway
    8. Kerry
    9. Kildare
    10. Kilkenny
    11. Laois
    12. Leitrim
    13. Limerick
    14. Longford
    15. Louth
    16. Mayo
    17. Meath
    18. Monaghan
    19. Offaly
    20. Roscommon
    21. Sligo
    22. Tipperary
    23. Waterford
    24. Westmeath
    25. Wexford
    26. Wicklow

In learning the geography of a place, much of the local history is, also, learned. The island of Ireland was not always separated into two countries. The story of our ancestors is the somber story of a divided country.

Credits

https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-counties-of-ireland.html

https://www.mappr.co/counties/northern-ireland/

https://dontstopliving.net/being-northern-irish-an-identity-crisis/

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/5a/99/35/5a99358aaa2ecb05ed01678cb5b4ec56.gif

https://www.writework.com/essay/northern-ireland-conflict-3

https://www.countrywatch.com/intelligence/countryreviews?countryid=82

Celebrating St. Patrick's Day

Irish Apple Cake and McNamara's Band

Ready to eat

Any reason is a good reason to gather family and celebrate. Though March 17, St. Patrick's Day, fell on a Wednesday this year, Saturday, March 20, was a close enough day to wear green and cook some Irish food. For our family, work schedules always demand a weekend get-together.

Thick, sticky mess

Just as we don't always celebrate holidays on the day of the event, a recipe isn't always exactly followed, either. Sometimes, quite a few recipes are gathered and the best parts taken from each of them to make one darn good recipe. Such is the way it went with Irish Apple Cake. 

The recipes were: Irish Apple Cake, Irish Apple Cake with Custard Sauce, Kerry Irish Apple Cake and Traditional Irish Apple Cake. 

From the Irish Apple Cake recipe we kept the cinnamon, ground nutmeg, allspice and heavy cream.

Batter in the bottom

From the Irish Apple Cake with Custard Sauce recipe we added ground cloves and an extra egg. 

From the Kerry Apple Cake recipe we learned that more milk might be needed to fully moisten the flour, and that the result is a pretty sticky dough. Without the Kerry recipe, we wouldn't have known that. The thinking would've been, "Well, that's a thick, sticky mess - another recipe bites the dust".

Out of the oven

From the Traditional Irish Apple Cake recipe, we learned that we could put some batter in the bottom of the pan and spread the apples on top: batter layer, apple layer, batter layer. Though it started out that way, it won the I'm too lazy for that kinda cookin' prize for workshy chefs. Too much bother - just mix it up and dump it in the pan. That's the way to go!

Irish Apple Cake Recipe

Ingredients

• 3 cups cake flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon allspice
  
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
• ¾ cups sugar
• 4 large Granny Smith apples (One recipe said the more apples the better. Another used Golden Delicious apples.)
  
• 3 large eggs
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• At least 2 tablespoons sugar to sprinkle on top of cake

Directions

First of all, get the apples peeled and chopped into chunks. Keep them from browning by adding them to salt water or some water with lemon juice. They'll wait for you.

1. Grease and flour an 8" or 9" round springform pan. Use a cooking spray with flour. Easier. (A heavy angel food type pan works very well. The cake slid right out, slick as a whistle.)
   
2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. (If your oven bakes "hot", lower the temperature.) 
3. Sift the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, allspice, cloves and nutmeg into a large mixing bowl. Use a very large bowl to allow room to fold in the apples and for mixing.
4. Cut the butter into the flour with a pastry cutter until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. (Fingers can be used.)
   
5. Add the ¾ C. sugar to the flour mixture and mix it in.
6. Now, get those apples. Drain and pat dry! Toss them with the flour mixture. Combine thoroughly.
7. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and cream together. 
8. Add to the apples and flour. 
9. Mix with a large spatula or spoon until combined. The batter will be thick and sticky. (It won't drop easily from the spoon like cake batter.)
10. Transfer the apple dough to the pan. 
11. Flatten the top with the spatula or spoon to smooth.
    
12. Sprinkle the sugar over the top of the cake.
13. Bake for 45-50 minutes. Test for doneness. The cake should be golden brown. 
14. Serve slices with custard sauce.

Custard Sauce

• 6 large Egg Yolks
• 6 T. Sugar
• 1½ C. heavy cream
• 1½ t. Vanilla

1. In a bowl, whisk egg yolks and sugar (about 2 to 3 minutes) until light in color.
2. In a medium saucepan (heavy bottom), bring cream just to a boil. (Do Not Boil.)
   
3. Whisk the hot cream into the egg/sugar mixture, slowly, a little bit at a time, not all at once. 
4. Transfer the mixture back to the saucepan.
5. Stirring constantly over medium heat for about 4 minutes, allow the custard to thicken. DO NOT BOIL.
   
6. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. 
7. Transfer to a serving bowl.
8. Serve over apple cake. It can be served warm or cold.

Steel Cut Oats

(Oh, Gee Whiz! It was forgotten that the cake was supposed to be sprinkled with sugar. But, it was still a doggone good cake.) 

Among the appetizers and treats were Cheesy Reuben Dip, Irish Gingersnaps and Irish Triple Threat Cookies. 

What was the triple threat, you'd like to know?

Threat

Wild Turkey Bourbon

#1  - Kerrygold butter with a Kroger replacement (sorry, didn't want to run back to the store - sometimes things don't get written down - how's that happen!? Kerrygold butter is so good!) 

Threat #2  - Steel cut oats (for that, there had already been a trip to the store)  

Threat #3  - Irish Whiskey (nope, no trip to the liquor store, but a couple of 2 ounce - a little less 😞 - bottles of  Wild Turkey Kentucky Bourbon were left over from making vanilla - life is good!) 

The rest of the menu included Guinness Stew, Colcannon and Irish Soda Bread. Somebody else was responsible for that.  

The stew was as dark and rich with flavor as any stew could be. The colcannon couldn't have been better if it had been a bowl of creamed, mashed potatoes on the Thanksgiving table. And the Irish soda bread, well, the yeast wasn't missed, not even a little bit. 

As a family, we've had some great meals together, but this Irish feast was one to beat the band! 

 MacNamara's Band  

(Often played and sung on St. Patrick's Day)

Sing Along Song

 

 MacNamara's Band

(lyrics are a little different)

Bing Crosby

The Real MacNamara's Band 

Inspired by Four Limerick Brothers

 

Original lyrics for Mc(Mac)Namara's Band

My name is McNamara, I'm the Leader of the Band,
And tho' we're small in number we're the best in all the land.
Oh! I am the Conductor, and we often have to play
With all the best musicianers you hear about to-day.

(Chorus)

When the drums go bang, the cymbals clang, the horns will blaze away,

MacCarthy puffs the ould bassoon while Doyle the pipes will play;

Oh! Hennessy Tennessy tootles the flute, my word 'tis something grand,

Oh! a credit to Ould Ireland, boys, is McNamara's Band!

Whenever an election's on, we play on either side-
The way we play our fine ould airs fills Irish hearts with pride.
Oh! if poor Tom Moore was living now, he'd make yez understand
That none could do him justice like ould McNamara's Band.

(Chorus)

We play at wakes and weddings, and at every county ball,
And at any great man's funeral we play the "Dead March in Saul,"
When the Prince of Wales to Ireland came, he shook me by the hand,
And said he'd never heard the like of "McNamara's Band."

Are you a cook?

How do you follow a recipe?

 

How do you follow a recipe?

Strictly

Creatively

What's a recipe?

Never use recipes

 

pollcode.com free polls