strawberry season

I love this time of year. Almost the longest day, and at last our strawberries are ready. Hard to know whether to make jam or just to gorge ourselves on the fresh berries...

grim food....

FIRST of all, I'm sorry I haven't been posting for a while. I've been in a bit of a trough - nothing serious, just a bit out of sorts. I should have posted a notice - I am sorry I didn't do this, it was rude of me. And sorry to have caused any concern - I've been fine - definitely not buried in the allotment! (though maybe this is just what our asparagus crop needs). I'm still taking pictures but am feeling a bit up-to-my-eyes at present so I'm not sure if I'm going to continue on with this for much longer - I'll see how I get on over the next week or so.

Anyhow, God help our tourists if this is what is on offer. The first photo was taken outside a popular local cafe a few weeks ago - I can't imagine how any tourists are going to be attracted by this sort of menu - I thought this was the sort of depressing stuff only the Irish ate. (Can you imagine an Italian tourist sitting down to mince beef pie & chips?).

The second photo was taken in a cafe in Enniskillen last week - sadly I didn't try the special toastie of tuna/banana/redcurrent&cheese - so I can only begin to imagine what it tastes like... In this cafe we were charged £12 for two (soggy from the microwave) sausage rolls, 2 very tiny bottles of (warm) water, a cup of tea and a teeny little pie. Last summer in Rome we paid 5 euro for two gorgeous coffees, a freshly squeezed orange juice and 3 wonderful croissants. I know there is some wonderful food available in NI - a lot of very good restaurants have opened over the last few years, but most of our cafes have a really long way to go.