When we were in Australia a few months ago, we attended our friends' wedding in Daylesford (a little town in the Victoria country side). The day after, a group of us met for brunch at Larder before taking a walk and heading to an after wedding day barbie (that's barbecue in Australia!). E. and I had already had lunch there the day before and it was nice to be able to sample the breakfast options too. E's choice was particularly intriguing to me: a yogurt panna cotta with toasted muesli and poached quince compote. I am more familiar about panna cotta as a dessert option but I have been known to occasionally have dessert for breakfast so why not! I have to say the combination of ingredients was perfect and it was such a refreshing dish on the day (it was the height of Summer over there).

For me, it is great to find new breakfast ideas because I can be a fussy breakfast person. I stick with one thing I like having for a few weeks, then I get bored and move on to the next thing. And I really do not like to skip breakfast so I look at every possible idea to vary that first meal of the day. So, a yogurt panna cotta with crunchy granola and fruit compote? Yes, definitely something that would satisfy my breakfast cravings!

I always tell myself that wherever I choose to live, I should make an effort to explore my surroundings a bit more. I have visited many parts of Dublin but there are areas I am still very unfamiliar with.
When my friend Ketty, who runs the famous Delicious Dublin Tours, advertised a special tour in association with Guinness Storehouse for the Liberties Festival, I immediately went to the booking website and got myself a ticket. As soon as E. heard of my fun plans, he wanted in so I jumped back to the website and got him a ticket too before it was sold out.
We had already visited the Guinness Storehouse with Australian friends 4 years ago but the idea of doing a food tour related to it and the area was very exciting (that and taking a day off, hence a long weekend!).

Don't you just love the scent of tomatoes that have absorbed plenty of sunshine! With raspberries, this is possibly my favourite thing to smell in a garden during Summer time. My grandfather used to grow a few vine tomatoes many years ago when gardening all day long was his favourite activity (with age, he has had to make the garden a little smaller hence not growing certain things anymore). They were the nicest tomatoes I have ever eaten: juicy, sweet and the aroma, oh the aroma! To me, they just smelled of sunshine. I still dream of them to this day and I think the closest I have found in terms of similar flavour and sweetness was bush tomatoes in Australia.

What I love about a good tomato is that you can eat it as you would an apple or a peach. Pick it fresh from the garden and bite into it, no need for seasoning. And then use a few for your favourite Summer recipes. In my case, it would be a tomato and mozzarella salad, ratatouille or even better: des tomates farcies (stuffed tomatoes)! Just imagine the smell of baked tomatoes with a filling of meat and fresh herbs. It is so fragrant!

Have you ever heard of pink tiger lemons? I have only been acquainted with this delicious citrus fruit for the past two weeks. As we came back from grocery shopping and I was unpacking, I was baffled to find those weird stripy lemons in one of the bags. It turns out E. was about to buy lemons and spotted those. He was intrigued so he added them to our basket. It was a really good choice!

Sometimes, I wish I would spend the entire Summer eating only salads, chilled soups and fresh fruit. Alas, an Irish Summer does require a few hotter dishes here and there for cooler days. Fortunately, there are plenty of recipes using Summer fruit and vegetables. One can dream of a wonderful ratatouille tarte tatin for example or just heating that chilled courgette soup and topping it with fried bacon bits and croutons, and then finish with delicious apricot halves with almond crumble. A croque-monsieur is also an easy way to go. But what about adapting it to the season? 
I already shared my version of the croque-monsieur (with Irish ingredients) on the blog but I thought I would reuse it, this time with different cheeses and roasted courgette slices in lieu of ham.