What better to way to celebrate a birthday than to have a beach picnic? A bit of sand in your sandwiches never hurt anyone but the Birthday Boy had simpler ideas for his festive feast. So we packed up our bags with blankets, bikini’s (In April! Who were we kidding?) and bundles of fire wood and headed to Inch Strand beach.
We set up camp and built a fire pit with rocks and pebbles to fill with dried out seaweed, drift wood and logs from our own stash. With the sun shining, the Birthday Boy installed himself in front of the fire and grilled sausages while everyone else collected pointy sticks (for eating said sausages) and sipped homemade lemonade. When the sausages were declared to be suitably browned, they were spiked with driftwood sticks and dunked into Ballymaloe Country Relish. Delicious!
As more relatives and friends trooped across the sand, cheese on homemade soda bread topped with more Relish was handed out. Now all we needed was a good cup of tea and maybe a slice of cake to round things off.
“Where’s the volcano kettle?” Someone shouted.
Volcano kettle!? Had I heard rightly? My hosts produced a stainless steel contraption and proceeded to explain how it worked. Despite its exotic name, the principle is quite simple.
Five Minute Scribble Volcano Kettle
Volcano kettles, sometimes known as Kelly or Storm Kettles, have a central chamber for wood which is lit to boil water in a surrounding chamber. They were first dreamt up by ghillies on the West Coast of Ireland and are ideal for brewing a cuppa on the go. Because the fire chamber is small, you can use twigs, sticks and leaves (or in our case, drift wood and dried out seaweed) to boil your water rather than having the hassle of building a proper fire. The built in spout and attached handles make it easy to pour too. How cool is that?
Teas all round!
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