Famine or a Feast

The photo shows the 3 chips of potatoes and six punnets of strawberries I acquired today all packed and ready in the car for my morning trip sixty miles into the mountains. One chip is for my own kitchen and the other two are for two friends not fortunate enough to live amongst the market garden farms of North County Dublin.

So, hopefully, tomorrow I'll visit a good friend and we will have a very special feast. It can probably be best understood by those with a farming background.

It consists of Irish new potatoes lifted this morning by local farmer Pat Hickey.
Butter... Not I Can't Believe It's Not Butter....Not buttery margarine with oils. Not any butter substitute... Simply pure salted butter.
Salt.
And mugs of hot tea...

That's it.....

To taste it is to be reminded of the feel the sun in your face as a child. The sounds of men working the fields. The joy of seeing your Dad return from a hard day's work, hands dark from the soil. The joy of struggling up ricks of hay and sliding down the far side... with friends...carefree...and happy.

The strawberries are grown by my friend Bernard in Lusk. They are not part of the usual potato feast but well...we live in modern times :-)

And if you haven't experienced it maybe you have your own special childhood memories...and if not..I'm sorry....just saying