While not yet the Captain of several Ships, I hold high hopes for my prospects as a ship captain, or at least at a minimum as a stowaway, fear of shark infested waters not withstanding. I am Irish Australian a hoister of a flag of convenience living, eating, drinking and cooking in Dublin, though I grew up next to the Swan Valley in the perennially sunny Western Australia. I love salt and pepper squid, craft beer, the chocolate with a whole cherry and cherry brandy inside that you can buy in Belgium and Salvador Dali paintings. I own one third of each of the Stoneybatter pub L. Mulligan. Grocer. and W. J. Kavanagh's of Dorset Street. I prefer to crack my boiled eggs at the big end.
I started this blog mid-2009. After three years in Dublin the city had finally started to feel like home, and I wanted to use it as a repository for the recipes I was making and great produce I was coming across, as well as the stories and anecdotes that gave context to them. For me most of the joy of food is in the narrative of where it has come from or what it means, this is what gives life to a meal. I just traded in my bashed-up cantankerous 8 year old Olympus camera,for a sparkling Canon, though I am still figuring out how to use it. The food on 9 Bean Row is all real, and edible, usually served cold to the table.
Why 9 Bean Row?
I love W. B. Yeats: his turn of phrase, his fixation with light and his passion for Sligo. The line from the Lake Isle of Inishfree: 'Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honeybee, And live alone in the bee-loud glade' embodies for me the human interdependence with the food we eat, grow and cook. For me the stories of food are the stories of the people who grew, cooked and ate the food. I love food with a tale to tell.
I tend to think of 9 Bean Row as a place, a street address complete with shiny brass number on the bright red door and a cryptic nameplate.
Contact me
If you would like to send me an e-mail, my address is 9beanrow *at* gmail *dot* com. Otherwise I spend an inordinate amount of time Twittering @9beanrow and have just set up a Facebook page under 'Nine Bean Row'. I would love to hear from you.
