Stones of Rome

I got barley flour from Heidi on Friday, just for the heck of it. I had meant to make barley bread. But for some reason, i thought barley cake might be just as nice. And so looked up a recipe on the web. Barleycake with honey. Which was perfect cos i had also got some Tyrone honey from Heidi's on Friday was well. I added milled linseed and sesame seed to the recipe. The result, some very lovely oatckae type things - the next time i will roll them thinner and bake them shorter though - cos it is hard like. But it tastes gorgeous. Perfect for cheeses and pates too. With practically no oil in it. And Oisin adores them.

For dinner we had chicken soup. It was such a thrill going to the garden during the cooking and harvesting fennel and soup celery. And it was the most delicious chicken soup, if i do say so myself. I boiled the back of a chicken with half of its breast. Carrot, onions and lardons with new potatoes. It was clear and great for summer. And what a summer it has been already. I'm going to now start baking healthy snacks - inspired by the barley cakes. Of course there will be the odd brownie - which met with great success four days ago - but that should be few and far in between. It was really sweet. I brought half a tin of this gloopy brownie to lunch for the kids and they ate it all up.