Traditional Cold Cure

The drop in winter temperature's usually brings about cold's and flu's.  I decided to give one of the traditional cold cures, a hot punch, from the ICA Book of Home and Family a go.

This hot punch drink is said to bring about temporary relief from congestion.  It only requires two ingredients to be added to a warm drink. Cloves, to help relieve pain and Ginger, to cleanse the system. I boiled these with oranges and some water for extra  vitamin C.

This hot punch was easy and fast to make and as an added bonus makes your house smell of Christmas.  The cloves give it a very herbal taste but it is not offensive to drink.  I made a pot big enough for three drinks and while I will admit this definitely is not a miracle worker but it did relieve that bunged up cold feeling for a while.

Other traditional flavourings included nutmeg and blackcurrant.

For more information about the ICA Book of Home and Family contact An Grianán at admin@an-grianan.ie or 041 9822119. ICA at admin@ica.ie or 01 6680002

Orange Chocolate Bar’s

I was super excited to get my hands on the new ICA book, Book of Tea and Company at its recent launch at the winter conference in An Grianán. I have to say it’s the best book yet! Its combination of quotes and recipes makes it what I would describe as a hug in a book.

From chapter one ‘Busy Days’, the orange chocolate bar’s recipe by Margaret Sides caught my eye.  Here’s how I got on.

The combination of chocolate and orange topping on a crunchy base is what makes the bars winners. My taste buds couldn’t get enough!

These bars also freeze well so they are perfect when surprise visitors arrive for tea.

For more information about the book or cooking classes contact An Grianán at admin@an-grianan.ie or 041 9822119. ICA at admin@ica.ie or 01 6680002

The Winter Conference

The annual winter conference took place in An Grianán on Saturday. The conference opened in the morning with important topics about An Grianán and the ICA being discussed. This was then followed by the launch of the new book The ICA book of Tea and Company. In the afternoon we were joined by two guest speakers. The first spoke about The People’s Conversation which aims to improve Irish society. The second spoke about the changes in banking with particular insight to Bank of Ireland.

The ICA book of Tea and Company

This is the fourth book that has been published with the collaborative work of the ICA members. It contains favourite tea time recipes to suit all occasions alongside quotes, prayers, sayings and poetry. So no matter the day, good or bad, you are guaranteed to find some inspiration here.

For more information see http://www.ica.ie/ICA-Book-of-Tea-and-Company.2537.1.aspx

The Peoples Conversation 

The people’s conservation aims to make social and economic improvements by engaging and empowering the communities in Ireland in discussion by setting up conversation groups.

Conversation groups = Community themes and ideas=Reference board =Vision Statement and policy recommendation = Campaigning

For more information http://peoplesconversation.ie/

Banking

Banking is changing rapidly. Bank of Ireland aims to change transactions to interactions with theIr new welcome advisers who can answer all questions about the new procedures such as how to use the new transaction machines or the various new ways of banking.

For more information see http://www.bankofireland.com/

Knitting and Stitching

The Knitting and Stitching show took place recently from October  30^th to November 2^nd with a high ICA presence as always. I attended on the Saturday to get some crafting advice from the lovely ICA ladies and to fill up on craft supplies for future projects.

There was so many things to see and buy, it is a bustling event and definitely worth attending. There was a fabulous collection of art pieces, crafting materials, kits, and handmade pieces. There is not enough words to explain all that the Knitting and Stitching show provides for craft fans, so how about I show you instead!

So many new projects so little time...I’m going to need more craft storage.