Found. My #LittleCodStove from the @TheCeiliCottage where are used to smoulder #Connemara #Turf. The true smell of the #WildAtlanticWay. When building the #CeiliCottage I wanted to include all things that I loved about Ireland and pub life. Sight. Sound. Taste. Smell. How would I create the smell of the west of Ireland. Everything that I remembered from my travels - comes back to the smell of a Turf-fire burning. There’s nothing like it. Truly, only those who have lived there would know the feeling of having to warm-up in front of a turf fire to get that sense of Home. Smouldering embers, sweet smoke of ancient heather, peat bog secrets released into the flame. I wanted to somehow burn turf at Ceili Cottage. A year’s worth of research proved fruitful when I found “a guy in Boston”… Enough said. Turf was burned on a daily basis, and the times we forgot or slow to the draw, the regulars quickly reminded us “what no turf today?” And my favourite story… It was a Thursday night, and the rain driving down hard in Leslieville. Ceili Cottage is full at the time - music playing, stories tellin’, pints a clinking”, warm… In the RedDoor, comes a Woman searching for something, scanning the room. May I ask, what can I help you with? “Where is the fireplace?” I don’t have a fireplace, “Where’s your Hearth?” No Hearth either…. “YOUR TURF, SON, YOUR TURF - where are Ye burning your turf” Ah! Yes, Its behind the Bar, in the stove - I just smoulder a few - just to get the feel of the place…as you do. Upon inspection, the woman revealed, “I’ve not smelled that smell in 13 years of bein’ away from Home. I want to thank you for doing that, burning Turf.” And she was away, back into the rain…smiling. Ceili had a fascination with flame - from the FireBowl of #TheDinkyRink, to the candles around the Kilkenny Stone Bar on EarthDay, to the Cast Iron Fireplace overstuffed with OysterCrate pine…to The LittleCod behind the Bar. #Seanchai #Culinary #Storyteller #Publican #Irish #Ireland #Turf #Gastronomy #TasteOfPlace #FoodBlogger #Irish #PubLife #FoodMedia #Educator @CentennialCollege @tourismireland @TheOysterCompanion (at The Céilí Cottage) https://www.instagram.com/p/CTd3qhpLg35/?utm_medium=tumblr












