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The Great Electric Drive
I wanted to have some experience of driving and experiencing the eCar from ESB Electric Ireland, before writing this post. It’s now coming into the 2nd week that I’ve been driving the car and it’s time for a little update! About a week before the eCar...
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"doing what we do best, cooking, baking, eating, drinking (red wine!!) crocheting talking and sharing 'everything'....... "
Oh and lets not forget being fantastic mothers and wives!!!
The Great Electric Drive – one month on
It’s over a month now since I began driving the electric car for the ESB Great Electric Drive, and this is how I’ve been getting on!
I use the car almost every day (unless I am going on long journeys or have extra kids on board along with my own). We’ve had a lot of fun in the car, and a few embarrassing moments too !!
I decided to test the car’s true capacity in fitting into the normal activities of a family of 6 (we don’t all fit into the car together as there are only 4 seat belts) going about our weekly routines. Most mornings I drop our 3 older kids off to school in the car, then go onto work. I knew the real test would be the weekly grocery shopping!! So under serious protests from my daughters, I set off with all 3 of them on board to do the shopping. They kept asking where I actually thought the shopping was going to fit as the only space left to put it would be the boot (which they thought was very small but I thought was quite spacious)!! Oh and it was Easter Saturday too so our shopping was bigger than normal!
All around the supermarket as the trolley load grew bigger and bigger, the girls kept saying “where do you think you’re going to fit all the bags?” I thought it was really funny how worried they were getting, but I just kept smiling to myself, quite confident that somehow we would fit it all it, and besides there was a Plan B (I could ring my husband to come and help us – but I wasn’t letting the girls know that, not yet anyway).
And of course this wee story has a happy ending, we did fit it all in as you can see in the pictures!! With regard to the groceries, we adopted the attitude of “nothing gets left behind” and we managed to pack it all it 
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- Groceries for the week
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- Available boot space in eCar
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- We made it!! All the kids and groceries on board!
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The Great Electric Drive
I wanted to have some experience of driving and experiencing the eCar from ESB Electric Ireland, before writing this post. It’s now coming into the 2nd week that I’ve been driving the car and it’s time for a little update!
About a week before the eCar arrived, an Electrician connected a new charge point to the outside of our house, close to where the fuse board was on the inside. Everything was fitted nice & neatly and looks like a fairly sophisticated piece of equipment, there was no inconvenience to us whatsoever – and the good thing is that after this 3 month trial period we get to keep the charge point – so it leaves us well placed for the future, should we decide to purchase an electric car (which my husband is fairly sure we will do in the future).
After taking delivery of the eCar from Conor (ESB eCars), both Aidan and I were given a demo on driving it, charging it and all the necessary information that we needed to make the eCar experience as easy as possible.
So what’s it like to drive, I hear you ask!
Well, it’s so quiet and smooth, you would actually think it’s just free rolling along! I love how easily it drives, it’s automatic so no messing around with gears and the clutch – very handy! As for the interior space – one of the concerns that I had before I got the car was that it would be very compact on the inside – it’s actually really spacious – doesn’t at all feel like a very small car – the Mitsubishi imiev (this is the car that I’m trying out for 3 months) is deceivingly small on the outside for the space available on the inside – even the boot has ample space (enough to do a full week’s grocery shopping for a family of 6, with only one of the rear seats folded down – I was really impressed with that).
The only downside I have to the eCar is the battery life, the model that I have can only do a range of up to 70 KM – this would be perfect if I lived in an urban area – however, as my sister says, we live in “Land’s End”….and it’s miles to go anywhere! This hadn’t really dawned on my before getting the eCar, or at least, it didn’t register with me, but on average I easily do 70 KM a day, if I do all the school runs (I’ve kids at Primary & Secondary, all stating and finishing at different times of the day) and maybe a run into the village. I’ve had to plan my journeys, or else not try to do them all in the eCar. I must stress thought that the model I have is a pre-production model, and that the newer models have a range of up to 150km – which would more that do me for all the daily runs!
Also on the plus side, is the amount of money I’ve saved, well ok, I may not have actually “saved it in a money box’ but should I say, “not spent” at the filling station – it’s brilliant, it’s over €50 already – that alone makes me very happy
The public reaction to the car has been unbelievable, all these lovely men are now waving at me, many of them have asked for me to take them for “a wee spin” I’ve lots of promises to keep – and it’ll be interesting to hear their views afterwards. Even the day that I got the car, one man flagged us down to ask for a business card from Conor (ESB ecars) so that he could enquire about buying a car.
So far the car is working great, and I’m really pleased with how it’s going. I want to “test” out some of the public charge points in the towns around me – check back shortly for another update! In the meantime if you’d like to read more about the other eCar Ambassador’s experiences of the ecar, then check out the ESB eCar blog.
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Family and Friends abroad
We’re still celebrating St Patrick’s Day here in Ireland, (its a bank holiday here today).
Watching all the celebration’s across the world makes you feel lonely for family and friends and so we’ve put up this beautiful song being sung by our dear friend, singer/song-writer Cathie Ryan. This is a lovely song, sang beautifully by Cathie. We have been blessed to hear her singing this on a few occasion’s.
If you are lonely for anyone this song will bring a tear to your eye xx.
The picture quality is not great, but there’s no mistaking the sweet voice 
If you’d like to buy any of Cathie’s music just follow this link to www.cathieryan.com
Happy St. Patrick’s Day
Today the world celebrates everything Irish
Isn’t is just amazing that a little country like ours has the whole world celebrating being Irish to-day. This is helped in part by the fact that once again we have Irish people working in every part of the world, and this is their day to celebrate where they come from. At home (in Ireland) we’re a bit less enthusiastic about the parades and celebrations.
When we were younger it was a very holy day, when you celebrated the life of St. Patrick who took us kicking and screaming into christanity, hence the symbol of the ‘shamrock‘ (God the Father, God the Son and God the holy Spirit) we had to go to mass and we knew all the St. Patrick’s hymns.
To understand how we were taught about St. Patrick listen to the lovely video below, its a child’s interpretation of St. Patrick’s Day. It was recorded a long time ago, the little girl is from Dublin with a beautiful Dublin accent and so you have to listen very carefully to understand what she is saying.
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St. Patrick’s Day Cooking & Crafts
Craft and fun ideas for St. Patrick’s Day,
Can we explain one important fact that is sometimes overlooked when making St. Patrick’s Day crafts - A SHAMROCK AS 3 LEAVES!!! Not 4 that’s a Clover leaf, which is also lucky but not Irish.
(St. Patrick used a shamrock leaf to symbolise ‘God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit’ when he was bringing Christianity to pagan Ireland.)
The instructions for this cute and easy banner can be found on Lil’ Luna blog
Or why not try theese easy Rice Crispy Shamrocks (remember 3 leaves not 4!!)
Full instruction for these are on Recipebyphoto.com
And Finally – Make a good old Beef Pie
This delicious pie is from www.bestfriendsforfrosting.com
Read MoreIrish Moms in Perth
Irishmoms in Perth
We are looking forward to lots of news and ‘craic’ from Cheryl our new Irishmoms contributor in Perth Australia, very soon
in the meantime you can follow her on facebook
Salmon in Puff Pastry
This dish is a very impressive dish for a dinner party or buffet table. It can be served hot or cold. Don't be put off by the long instruction, its basically just wrapping salmon sides in parma ham and then puff pastry - Easy!!
Ingredients
- 2 Skinless Sides of Salmon
- ( Ask the fish monger or butcher to skin the sides for you, sides are like fillets they have no bones, they will vary in size, buy the size to suit the number of people you are catering for, also consider what will fit in your oven)
- 2 Sheets of ready rolled Puff Pastry (un- rolled is fine too)
- 1 Tub or jar of fresh or good quality Pesto
- 3 Packets of parma ham slices or pruscrudito slices.
- Little egg and milk wash to seal the pastry.
- Cling Film -
- (The above quantities are guide lines, because it will depend on the size of the salmon sides)
- And also you need a greased oven tray big enough to take the salmon.
Instructions
- Begin by laying a long sheet of cling film on your work space. Lay out the parma ham slices vertically slightly overlapping (like a fence) to the right lenght for your fish side.
- Put the first side of salmon smooth side down on the ham slices.
- Smooth the upside of the salmon with pesto, as much as it will take to cover it generously.
- Take the next salmon side and lay it on top,
- be careful to match the sides - narrow end with narrow end (you know like a proper fish LOL!).
- Now as before lay your parma ham on the top of the second side, just overlapping them a little to make sure the salmon is covered.
- Now pull the cling film tightly to wrap and secure the fish.
- Place the salmon in the fridge (refrigerator) over night or for a couple of hours, until you are ready to put the pastry on, this will infuse the flavor of the pesto into the salmon.
- Heat your oven to 190/375/regular 5
- Take the pastry out of the fridge about 30 min's before you are going to use it - this makes it easier to manage.
- I like to roll out my pastry on a large piece of parchment or baking paper - it makes the salmon easier to move.
- Dust the baking paper with some plain flour and roll the pastry so that you have a nice thin layer of pastry that is slightly longer and wider than your salmon.
- Take the salmon from the fridge, place it on the rolled out pastry, carefully remove the cling film.
- Roll out the next sheet of pastry same as before.
- Brush the bottom edges of pastry with some egg wash.
- Gently lift the top layer of pastry and place it on the top of the fish
- I slide my rolling pin under the pastry to help me move it without tearing it.
- Now gently pat the pastry down to seal the two layers (like a pie crust). Trim away the excess pastry keeping the shape of a fish.
- To get the scale shapes you see in the picture I took a screw - on lid from a wine bottle, put some cling film around half of it and pressed the shapes into the pastry.
- Carefully transfer the fish and parchment paper on to your baking tray - it might fit better if you put the fish on diagonally.
- Cook for 30/40 min's approx - cooking times will depend on the fish size.
- If you're worried about moving the fish you can leave it on the tray and decorate with some other seafood (as I did) or some salad leaves and cress with lemon wedges.
- The salmon is delicious served hot or cold.
Notes
(Tip: Slide a sharp knife or skewer into the thickest part pull it out and press it on the back of your hand if its very hot its cooked, if it is only warm then give it another 10 min's.)
If you would like to ask me to explain something about this dish, or have any question please get in touch Yvonne or leave a comment in the box below, otherwise - Enjoy your food ! x