Dedication

This book is dedicated to my grandparents Michael & Kathleen Bacon & their nine children. My grandfather was a builder & a pillar of his community. He built many things such as schools, local community buildings & Catholic shrines. He grew his own vegetables like cabbage & potatoes which were staples in Irish cuisine & also rhubarb, apples & berries for tarts & cakes, in my grandparents large garden & ensured that the children never wanted for anything. My grandfather was always happy to see his children & even then grandchildren after a hard days’ work. My grandmother was the best traditional Irish food cook I’ve ever known. She knew all the tricks for making a tantalising meal with whatever was available & many of the recipes in this book & in the Hairy Lemon Restaurant are based on these. There was always the smell of delicious stews & cakes being prepared in the house & this food was so good that my cousins & I as children would lick our lips looking forward to our serving unlike a lot of today’s kids who rarely stray from eating plain dishes & a fast food diet. Hopefully with the help of this book, we can turn that around. My aunts & uncles often told us about the fun they had toasting fresh home made bread over the flames of the fire as a young family while telling ghost stories & having great family fun. This was like the fun things done on modern camping trips which were done indoors in Ireland due to the lifestyle of the Irish family of the fifties & sixties & also usually the cold Irish climate. The boys learned to play guitar, piano, tin whistle & other instruments such as the mandolin while the girls would learn singing & Irish dancing. Many parties were held with neighbours & friends when all would join in & perform their particular talent for fun & entertainment. The carpet was always taken up for these occasions! So everyone could have a dance. The kids playground was on the street and the park where all the neighbourhood kids would gather & play games like hop scotch, handball, chasing,skipping,football and of course Gaelic football. Usually one of the elder kids on the street would climb a tall lamp post with a rope to make a swing for everyone to use. The garden was made into a stage with whatever props they could find where the kids would perform their version of a film they had gone to see for those who hadn’t seen it. The front garden was also used for a “sale of work” for the kids to earn money for treats & outings by gathering bric-a-brack & presenting it for sale to passers by. Times were much safer then & kids were left to play together & look after themselves until meal times when they would hurry home promptly for their meals. Keys were commonly left in doors & there was a strong sense of community among all. Kids would often find stray animals & the garden would become a bit of a zoo. These were wholesome times. I think we should take from this the value of family & community in which everyone takes part. We should make the most of what’s available to us, especially our parents as they’re the only ones we have. In today’s busy world it’s easy to lose track of important things & people but we should make time to try to enjoy life together as our families before us have done because it’s not long until time is passed & you’ll wish you could turn back the clock.