True love, Travel and Tomatoes
What about a love story this week? Dara and I marked our ten year wedding anniversary at the weekend with lots of great food and drink, a gig, a hike and a skinny dip. I told him it was the best ten years of marriage I’d ever had! Very often we are like passing ships and the days go by with only the odd few hours of togetherness, often spent in the company of Netflix, with one of us dozing off (always Dara). Self employment hours and being with the children sometimes means we have to communicate by text because we didn’t get a chance to properly chat or catch up so if we get an excuse to spend some actual, real, quality time with one another we absolutely jump at it and maybe lean on the Grannies a little too much…
I first met Dara thirteen years ago on a sunny, breezy day in the car park at the stupendously beautiful Carrick-a-rede Ropebridge, where we were both working as seasonal guides for the National Trust. We had very different plans and paths marked out for our futures at the time but within a few months of getting to know one another there was a shift in our perspectives and priorities, an alignment of souls. I headed off Interrailing and travelled through northern Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia before Dara called me from his student halls (the day before official enrolment) to tell me in a spectacularly romantic fashion that Uni wasn’t for him and that he booked a flight to meet me in Slovenia.
For the next few weeks we travelled by train with a very meagre budget; we hiked through the glacial gorges in the Julian Alps at Bohinj and Bled, we swam in the sparkly Adriatic on Croatian Islands, we wondered and wandered through the beautiful streets of Venice, the gritty ones of Naples and the ancient ones of Pompeii, we explored Nice in the pouring rain, we hitchhiked Roman roads in Nimes, we slept on overnight trains, built sandcastles on Mediterranean beaches, ambled on La Rambla and danced at the Alhambra. Blissful weeks. Not long enough. When we came home we quickly set off again, travelling around our own island in that fiercely cold and beautiful winter of 2010 where the countryside stayed frozen all through November. During one of those icy nights under the stars on Valentia Island we started to plan our next big trip, with a thirst to see the world together.
Five months later we were in Rio de Janeiro, being beach bums in Buzios, following Inca footsteps in Peru, sandboarding on the dunes of the Atacama dessert, cartwheeling on the salt flats of Boliva, and crossing borders overnight on buses into beautiful Chile. We stopped and stayed in New Zealand for around 10 months working and travelling our way around both gloriously stunning islands. But the longer we were away, the more the ache of home sickness was pulling us back*. With no plan and no money we arrived back happier than ever.
In February 2013 Dara proposed to me in our little rented flat in Belfast on a random dull Wednesday after work. I found a dress for £50 in the sales and we got married 6 months later in a very relaxed ceremony with a bunch of friends and family, followed by very wild music and dancing. A lot has happened since then; a lot planned, a lot not. We’ve continued to travel together when we can, a running joke is that I always have a trip planned; it can be as simple as an afternoon in the glens, an overnight in Belfast or a weekend in Donegal. I frequently feel I need a break before life gets into it's mundane rhythm, I like to feel I’m constantly learning from and exploring the land around me and having quality time together, away from work and on an adventure (preferably one that ends with a pint!).
I have no sage advice on marriage or relationships, I don’t presume to know anything about that, everyone is different, I think we were lucky; I vividly remember saying to my mum when Dara and I first got together that I didn’t know it was possible to be so happy. One thing I do know is that our travelling days aren’t done, we still have places we want to see and places we want to return to (Connemara every year until I can’t). It is a total privilege in life to experience the wealth of culture, food, diversity of landscape and all the beautiful people in this world. We’ll be back on those trains again someday soon I hope, sharing a baguette and a packet of Lay’s…maybe with a few hangers on this time.
*As a wedding present my brother wrote us an album based on our travels, it’s so amazing (Biased) and he released it during lockdown, have a listen here.
Tomatoes
I hope that you can get your hands on some locally grown tomatoes and are currently feasting on them. While they are sweet and juicy, I love them on toast for breakfast and then again for lunch sometimes! For me the best way is a thick slice of sourdough, very good olive oil or butter, thinly sliced tomatoes, sea salt, pepper and maybe a fresh herb. I have a weird amount of tomato on toast photos, here’s a few!
Tomato Tahini
When your tomatoes are starting to look a bit sad and you need to use them up this is a great, very easy and quick sauce;
250g tomatoes
100g toasted sunflower seeds
Tablespoon Tahini
One clove of garlic, chopped or grated
Big pinch salt
Olive oil
Pepper
Put this all in a blender/nutribullet and blitz until smooth. Use as a bed of sauce for something delicious like roasted cauliflower or spuds, use in a sandwich or as a dip.
You have made beautiful children! Ain't love grand?
Congratulations!!