Perfect Juice for a Liver Cleanse

Well, it's been a while...mmmm....awkward silence.  Sorry about that.  Life has been busy, I've actually been on some interesting adventures, but just didn't get around to blogging about it!  I'll remedy that in the next few weeks but for now, I thought I'd share a recipe.

This week heralds the beginning of a liver cleanse for me. I've noticed some classic 'over-burdened liver' signs in recent months - tiredness, joint pain, unusual sensitivity to chemicals (perfumes, alcohol etc) and nausea at various times throughout the month (and no, I'm not pregnant!) - so am giving my poor liver some attention. 

The liver does a huge amount of work, not only in filtering blood, but also in converting thyroid hormones to their active form, producing bile, storing Vitamin D...the list goes on! So, I reckon my liver needs some help and this week I am beginning by cutting out sugar, coffee, dairy, alcohol and all grains. I won't feel deprived tho (well, I might, but I'll have to get over it!) I'll be feasting on fresh veggies, veg juices, seasonal berries, eggs & oily fish.

Either with breakfast or lunch I'm having a vegetable juice, which I then blend with avocado to add some fibre and fats, helping to balance out all the sugar from the veg.  You might not think of veg as being a big source of sugar, but when you juice things like carrots and apples, most of the fibre is removed and you can end up with a recipe for a blood sugar spike.  I'm also using organic veg as much as possible, the less chemicals the better, especially when I'm working on reducing the chemical load on my liver!

Yesterday I juiced the following:

1 medium sized raw organic beetroot

2 sticks organic celery

3 medium sized organic carrots

2 organic apples (I used golden delicious, but would prefer something a bit sharper if I could get it)

A fairly large piece of organic ginger - I used about 5cm, which is quite fiery, but I'm used to it.  If you want to ease into it, maybe just try 1 or 2 cm.  If you can't get organic, remove the skin.

3cm organic cucumber - I would have used more, but it was all I had left in the fridge!

Then I put the juice in my blender, with half an avocado and a dessert spoon of barley grass powder.  Blitzed till smooth, it looked bright pink and creamy.  Yum Yum 

A few things worth noting:

Beetroot is the most wonderful vegetable for liver & blood support.  Eaten whole it contains pectin (among other things) which is particularly helpful in 'scrubbing' the liver, so I would suggest eating whole beetroot too, roasted or grated into a salad.  Raw juice protects the betaine, a substance that supports the liver in eliminating toxins.  Beetroot is also rich in antioxidants, folate, iron, choline and betacyanin, all wonderful for the liver, blood and other organs in the body.

I could talk for hours about Barley grass (but I'll spare you!)  It's an incredibly powerful grass (not the grain) rich in antioxidants & phytonutrients that protect all cells from free radical damage, but particularly the liver.  I absolutely adore it, it's rich in chlorophyll and is powerfully alkalising - much needed in a western diet which is predominantly acid forming.  Apart from Vitamin D, barley grass contains every vitamin, most minerals (especially calcium) and all the amino acids we need.  Get some and keep it in your cupboard, add a teaspoon to any kind of smoothie.  It tastes quite pleasant, a little bit earthy, but the sweetness from the carrots & apples helps to balance that out.  If you've ever tasted spirulina and thought you might die, barley grass is much easier to swallow.

I use a masticating juicer, which works slowly and with very little heat.  This protects many of the nutrients - vitamins and enzymes particularly - so is a better option than a centrifugal juicer.

When making this juice, or any that you add a powder like barley grass to, add the powder into the blender before the juice.  I find it helps to prevent the powder flying around everywhere once you hit the blend button.

St. Patrick's Day Lamb Salad

A few weeks ago, we ordered a lamb from an organic farmer friend of ours and while we were scoffing cocktails in Athens, a very kind friend took delivery of it for us, weighed all the pieces, labelled them and put them in our fridge. Hanna, you rock ;-)

On March 16th, we had leg of lamb for dinner.  Oh my.  Tender, juicy yumminess doesn't even begin to describe how good it was.  I followed a very simple Jamie Oliver recipe and in jig time, we were sitting down to aromatic heaven.  I also made his mint sauce, which was a disaster, so best avoided if anyone is curious.  Waaaay too much red wine vinegar.  Thankfully I'm not a mint sauce fan, so only Mountain Man was disappointed and had to mop up the vinegary goo from his plate before continuing.  But I digress.

On St. Patrick's Day we were both on a fast day, as part of the 5:2 Programme.  (Hardly the stereotypical way to spend the day, but I do love to break the mould.)  I was half starved by 3pm, so figured the only way I'd make it to breakfast today was if dinner was utterly delicious.  I searched the worldwideweb for some lamb salad recipes, came up with nothing satisfactory so decided to mash a few of them together and hope for the best.

I sliced up some of the cooked lamb, marinaded it in lemon juice, a tiny amount of olive oil and some Za'atar, which I bought in San Francisco and had no idea how to use.  Za'atar is actually thyme, but this was a mix of thyme, sesame seeds, summac and sea salt.

Once this was marinading I rinsed 1/4 cup of quinoa and simmered in 3/4 cup of water until cooked (when the little tails break free of the seed body, they're ready).  This was then drained and spread out on a plate to cool.

The odd bits of veg lounging in my fridge were sliced up and pan friend with some garlic.  I managed to dig out half a courgette, 1/3 of a leek and a red onion.

I poked the seeds out of 1/4 of a pomegranate and mixed them with half a head of romaine lettuce, the few mint leaves that were left after a cocktail night on Friday and a handful of toasted pine nuts.  Then, the lamb was quickly pan fried, the veg was added for one more quick spin in the pan and the whole lot was mixed in a large salad bowl including a light dressing made with lemon juice, pomegranate molasses (first use! woop woop!) salt, pepper and olive oil.

A small pile of sparkling, colourful goodness landed on our plates and was gobbled down before we had time to blink.  I tried very hard to savour every mouthful, but it was very difficult.  I was half starved after all.  We loved it so much I'm making it again tonight, but this time adding even more ingredients like sultanas, chia seeds and red pepper.  Can't wait!

Organ meats anyone?

I remember, as a kid, being given kidneys as part of a warm salad for dinner.  The whole notion of a warm salad was rather brave & in our part of Co. Waterford was definitely 'nouvelle cuisine', but kidneys?  Oh man, I hated them.  Even now, I'm not sure what animal they came from, but I guess it was chicken...they were really tiny.  The smell and texture made me retch and put me off all organ meats forever, or so I thought.

Thankfully, my mother had the wisdom to try other methods of getting organ meats into us.  Every now and then she would make a big batch of chicken liver pâté, freeze most of it and on special occasions present us with a ramekin of smooth creamy heaven.  Even though I knew it was called 'liver' pâté, I didn't quite make the connection with organ meats.  Even my brother loved it and still does, despite being the fussiest eater in the family.  I always thought it must be very expensive to make, as we only had it very rarely, but now I know better.  It's really inexpensive and so easy and quick to make.  If you don't mind handling organ meats and are confident that you can get them from a reputable source, then it's well worth trying.

Obviously if you're vegetarian then this recipe isn't for you.  However, if you're a meat eater as I am, using as much of the animal as possible makes me feel better about eating it in the first place, even if they look pretty unappetising in their raw state.  I'm lucky to have found a fantastic butcher in Malmö  'Vilt Specialisten' who specialises in wild game and organic pasture reared meat, which is naturally higher in all kinds of nutrients including the much talked about Omega-3.

If you're not sure about organ meats, let me try to convince you.  Organ meats like liver, kidneys and heart are rich in many nutrients, particularly fat soluble ones like Vitamin A & D, minerals selenium, zinc and iron, B vitamins and Vitamin K2.  B12 is particularly rich in liver, as that's where it's stored (unlike other B vitamins) and is hard to get if you don't eat much meat or animal products.  Deficiencies in B12 can lead to issues with cell division and blood volume, mood disorders, depression and anxiety.  Also found in organ meats is a nutrient called Co-enzyme Q10, which is essential for energy production and is often lacking when we are fatigued or suffering from conditions like chronic fatigue, adrenal fatigue or long term stress.  All of these nutrients are essential for very active people and are often lacking in our diets, even if we feel we are eating healthily.  This pâté recipe includes grass fed butter (organic if you can get it) which really helps us to absorb the fat soluble nutrients in the liver.

Convinced?  Well, I reckon that's quite enough theory, here's the recipe

Chicken Liver Pâté

Ingredients:
125g organic grass fed butter (easy to get in Ireland, not so easy here in Sweden!)

1 medium onion, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
Small handful of thyme leaves (rosemary or tarragon work well too, I find sage a bit strong)
500g fresh, free-range organic chicken livers
Unrefined sea salt (like Maldon)
Freshly ground black pepper
40ml orange juice (ideally freshly squeezed)
60ml brandy (or just more orange juice)

Optional - 200g of butter and extra herb sprigs to seal the pâté.

What to do:

1. In a large frying pan or wide saucepan, add 2tbsp of the butter over a low heat.  Add the onion and garlic and 1/2 tsp of salt.  Let this cook slowly and gently until soft and translucent, but not brown.
2. Add the brandy, thyme and orange juice, simmer for 2 minutes to cook off the alcohol and reduce slightly.
3. Add the chicken livers.  Cook them gently, turning regularly until they are opaque on the outside but still burgundy on the inside.  Take off the heat.  
4. Transfer the liver & onion mix to a food processor (a blender may also work, but the blade is smaller so you will probably need to do it in several batches).  Add another 1/2 tsp of salt, a good pinch of pepper and blitz for 1 minute until almost smooth.  Cut up the remaining butter and add piece by piece with the processor running.  Taste and add more seasoning if you think it needs it.  Now, to get it really smooth, process for another 2 minutes.
5. Transfer the mix to a large ceramic terrine dish, or as I did, several ramekins which makes it easier to freeze some and eat the rest.  If you wish, you can seal the pâté with the additional butter, by melting it first with a few rosemary or thyme leaves then gently spooning over the pâté.  Once this butter sets, it acts as a seal and helps to prevent oxidation of the precious fats inside.
6. Put it in the fridge and leave to set for a few hours, ideally overnight.  Freeze most of it (covered with clingfilm or a lid to protect from freezer burn) and tuck into whatever you keep in the fridge.  It's lovely spread on veg sticks or on sourdough toast for breakfast or lunch. 

What do you think, will you try it?  I'd love to see photos if you do, share them on my facebook page!

When in Rome...go to Rosie's

When I started writing this blog, while we were still living in Cork, I was really looking forward to trying out all of what Malmo has to offer; from bakeries and cafes to farmers markets and restaurants.  

It's taking longer than I had hoped it would.  Moving country is expensive.  We saved and saved for this adventure, knowing it would cost a pretty penny, and just about managed to make it last until Mountain Man's first paycheck came through the postbox (Yippee!).  Eating out, buying expensive coffees and gourmet treats hasn't really been an option, so I've been cooking and eating in a lot.  

On Friday night, we borrowed a friend's car (Thanks Lars!) and made our third trip to IKEA since we arrived here.  As tends to happen when you visit IKEA after work on a Friday, neither of us had eaten and realised on arrival that we might not make it to the cash desks if we didn't get some food into our bellies.  I use the word 'food' lightly here.  Maybe it's a rite of passage...I'm really not sure, but I figured 'When in Rome...' and queued up for an IKEA hotdog.  Never again.  I think it must be the most revolting piece of 'foodlike substance' I have ever put in my mouth.  Nasty nasty nasty.  I know it's IKEA and it's cheap, but this stuff shouldn't be called food.

On a happier note, a dear friend from home arrived on Saturday afternoon to visit for a few days.  Delighted to have an excuse to explore the city, yesterday we got her a rental bike and cycled around Malmö.  Before she left Ireland, her brother in law had begged her to find a little place called Rosie's Coffee & Wine, where they sell Coffee Collective beans from Copenhagen (he’s a bit of a connoisseur it seems). 

With a little help from Google we found it and cycled there after a lazy trip around Vastra Hamnen - Malmö's old harbour district which has been completely redeveloped and is well worth a visit, with views of the Oresund Bridge and Copenhagen.  

Rosie's is a hidden gem!  Canadian Jake explained to us how and why he spends, oh, at least 8 minutes making hand filtered coffee and how it is more like an aromatic cup of tea than the coffee most of us have grown up with.  I have never observed such ceremony associated with making coffee.  I was entranced. 

Jake also explained why Coffee Collective is so special - they visit coffee growers around the world, strike up a deal with the farmers and sell beans direct to cafes and retailers.  No coffee brokers, no middle men.  A fair price for the farmer and real fair trade in action, 25% more than the fair trade price in fact; we like.  Sadly, he had underestimated his coffee needs for that week and was only willing to part with one bag of beans for the brother in law (Other bags on the shelf had been roasted 2 weeks previously and were just too old to be sold as they would be sure to disappoint.  Holy moses, that’s dedication)

Along with a very tasty latte I had an incredibly good Croque Monsieur, which really wasn’t a Croque Monsieur at all, as it had tomato, leek and mustard as well as ham and cheese, but boy was it gooooood.  A beautiful side salad with fennel shavings, carrot, cherry tomatoes and salad leaves accompanied it, all for the price of 50SEK.  Not bad for a very filling lunch plus some coffee education! 

As far as I could tell, Rosie’s also sometimes sell organic veggies on the pavement outside, but on Sunday their focus was on coffee, tea, amazing cakes and buns and gorgeous savoury sandwiches and salads.  They opened in April of this year, so they’re still a fledgling business, but I, for one, will definitely be back.  Even if I have to cycle across town for the experience!  Find them on Beridaregatan 8, Malmö, Sweden.

Homesickness and Apple Pie

Today I am feeling a wee bit homesick.  Yesterday was the beginning of it and getting out of bed this morning was a struggle, though I managed to get around that by getting up at lunchtime.

I spent most of the day in my pyjamas and finally, the thought struck me - I know, I'll make my Mum's apple pie.  That'll cheer me up.

A skype chat later, with my sister, who gave me the proportions of butter to flour (I can never remember, even though I've made it a million times...maybe that's because I want an excuse to ask Mum?) and apple pie making began in earnest.

First, find a weighing scales.  If, like me, the battery in your weighing scales has run out and you can't find the spares you bought 6 months ago, then you can use cup measurements.

For the easy peasy-est pastry, do this:
Put 150g/1 cup of plain flour (or mixed wholegrain and plain, as I did this time) into a mixing bowl.  Then add 100g butter or margarine (I prefer butter for taste and health) straight from the fridge cut into walnut size chunks.

Do not cut them too small and don't handle them with hot hands.  I am blessed with cold hands so pastry making is a tad easier.  Then, add enough water to bring the mix together.  I'd suggest putting 100ml into a measuring jug and adding slowly, until the pastry is just coming together.  Stop adding water at this point.

I could hear my Mum's voice in my head as I did this 'Don't over work it! You only need a tiny amount of water for perfectly light pastry.'  Turn the mix out onto a floured countertop.  Roll it out, then fold into 3.  Do this 3 times, and finally, roll it out and fold into 4.   I have no idea why this series of rolls and folds are important, but it's how my Mum does it, so it's how I do it.

Your pastry is complete, leave it sit for half an hour or so and then make a lovely pie or tart with it.  I'm adding gorgeously tart local organic eating apples from the farmers market on Saturday.  Plus a handful of sultanas for some sweetness and a dessert spoon of rapadura sugar (the least processed sugar you can get, which still has lots of minerals and goodness in it and has a lovely caramely taste.

Grease a pie tin, or the lid of a pyrex baking dish and lay in your pastry, rolled out to about 2-3mm thick.  Cut around the edges.  There is a knack to doing this without making a mess.  If you hold the pie dish in one hand and trim the pastry with a knife in your other hand, turning the dish as you drag the knife along the edge, the excess pastry will just fall off.  Try to leave a bit more than you think is neccessary, as when you add the apples the pastry will settle a little bit.

Once that's done, fold (don't squish!) together the excess pastry and roll out again, to the same thickness.  Lay this pastry over the filled pie and trim as before.  Press the edges together with the tip of a fork and poke a few holes in the lid with your fork.  This allows air to escape while baking.

Bake for 30-40 mins at 180C until golden brown and smelling heavenly and allow to cool while you eat dinner, or tidy the kitchen.  I added 2 apples to this pie.  I actually forgot to add the sultanas & sugar and only realised after I had added the lid.  Oops. It was delicious nonetheless, so only add sugar if you're using cooking apples.

Serve on it's own or with ice-cream or cream and a cup of tea.  I realised as I ate mine that it wasn't the eating that soothed my homesickness, but the conversation with my sister about ingredients, making the pastry, rolling it out and hearing my Mum's voice in my head.  I do miss home, but following an afternoon feeling a bit sorry for myself I definitely feel less lonely and more prepared for what tomorrow brings.

Juicy berries and a heavenly farmers market

Harvest time.  That's what the last couple of weeks have felt like to me.  All the hard work that was done early in the year is now rewarding us with the most divine gifts.

We've been in Malmö for 2 weeks and until yesterday we had the most glorious crisp, bright, mild weather.  Leaves crunched underfoot, sun sparkled through tree branches and Mountain Man & I must have stood out like the tourists we still are, in our shorts and sandals.  We certainly got plenty of funny looks from the locals who were already wrapped up in scarves and down jackets.

And oh...the food.  Harvest time it clearly is...  The two experiences I had of the Saturday farmers market just around the corner on Drottningtorget were resplendent with organic berries, plums, sweetcorn and apples.  The market runs from the end of August until mid October, so it really is just a gloriously short but sweet taste of the bounty of local farmers.

Last Saturday I stocked up on blueberries, raspberries & strawberries fresher than I have ever seen...anywhere.  The gent who sold Mountain Man a bunch of sunflowers on our first weekend sold us a very sturdy pot of thyme on this occasion.  A few kilos of organic apples for juicing & stewing were carried home and the lovely ladies from Marcello's Farm provided us with the most beautiful red lettuce, carrots, broccoli & fresh corn on the cob (when did I last have that?).  It called to me, I really couldn't resist those beautiful silky threads peeking from their green wrapping. They provided a midday snack today, simply steamed and slathered in butter.  Taking a photo of them became less important than wolfing them down...er...ooops.

  

Today, as the rain came down in a relentless drizzle (just like home then) I decided to combine all the fruit I had failed to eat - and was at risk of ending up in the compost bin - into a crumble.  I baked some overripe cherries and plums with a mix of orange juice, honey, star anise, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves and then mixed the perfumed, juicy piece of fruity heaven with 1 sliced apple.  This mix formed the base of the crumble and a quick wholegrain flour/butter/rapadura sugar mix formed the crumble topping.   Baked in the oven for 35 minutes and hey presto, dessert.  If anyone would like a more detailed recipe, comment below and I will post it.  For now, I am luxuriating on the bed, with a bowl of crumble and a dollop or organic Swedish yoghurt.  This Cailín is no longer hungry...

Decadence on a Monday

A jar of molasses does not travel well on it’s side. 

I know this now, but when I left Cork and packed it on it’s side, in my plastic box of baking ingredients, I didn’t.  

This was the result.  A gift really…on cleaning up the mess I discovered that quite a few packets of dried fruit were out of date and thankfully chucking them out saved me from cleaning molasses off their packets.  Narrow escape.  That task complete, I was inspired me to make something sweet.

I borrowed the recipe from Susan Jane White, a nutritionist in Ireland who creates the yummiest food, always keeping in mind food intolerances and sugar levels.  So the below recipe is a version of her Raw Cacao Brownies but doctored a bit, as I didn’t have everything specified in my dwindling box of goodies.  These are dead easy to make and full of nutrients – the nuts provide oodles of B Vitamins, Vitamin E, Calcium, Magnesium, Manganese, Iron, fiber & essential fats as well as tummy filling protein.  There's buckets of stress busting magnesium in the cacao powder and a lovely balance of electrolytes from the salt.  One of the beauties of this treat is that it doesn't have lots of refined flour, processed sugar and weird flavourings and preservatives as so many shop bought treats do.  As well as that, it is fit to bursting with goodness, usually removed from the raw ingredients used in chocolate or sweet offering in the shops.  A decadent treat that is actually good for you, wow!

What you’ll need:

½ cup of walnuts

½ cup of hazlenuts

Pinch of Himalayan Crystal Salt

2 tbsp maple syrup

1 dsp agave syrup

5 dates (soaked in water as they weren’t all that sticky)

4 tbsp raw cacao powder

1 tbsp normal unalkalised cocoa powder

50g or so of dark chocolate

Put everything except the dark chocolate in a blender or food processor and blitz until it starts to come together.  Susan Jane suggests you stop blitzing as soon as it starts to make a ball, otherwise you’ll overdo it.  I had to add the agave syrup, as it wasn’t coming together at all.  Perhaps due to my dates not being super sticky, so start without the agave and see how you get on.

Once the mix has come together, remove small lumps of the mix and roll into ping-pong sized balls between your hands.  You will get a bit messy, but you also get to lick your hands clean, so it’s worth it.

Poke a little hole in each ball and smoosh it together if it starts to fall apart.

Once that’s done melt the chocolate over a simmering bowl of water.  Once melted, put a small dollop of chocolate into each ball.  Susan Jane added probiotic yoghurt to the chocolate, but Mountain Man had finished off the yoghurt with breakfast, so I figured dark chocolate on it’s own would suffice.  Yum, it did…

If you have a little chocolate left over, as I did and some strawberries in the fridge, I’d suggest dipping the strawberries into the chocolate.  It would be a shame to waste it after all!

Welcome to the House

So...we made it.

Mountain Man, little brother (not so little anymore) and I left Ireland last Saturday, got the ferry to France (somehow reminding me of that Kerrygold Ad) and drove for 3 days across France, Belgium, Germany and Denmark, arriving in Malmo on Tuesday at 5pm, local time.

Some might call it an amazing adventure.  I would call it pretty tedious to be honest.  Miles and miles of motorway, ugly motorway motels, bad food.  I would generally make a big effort with food for long road trips, to avoid eating rubbish from service stations, but this time the packing got the better of me and all I had were some nuts and a few packets of Nak'd Bars.  My digestive system is still considering whether forgiveness is an option.  A good friend of mine could probably find movie material in it, but I am very very glad that part of the 'adventure' is over.

Yesterday we registered with the tax office - very important if you want to function in this country.  Without your 'personnumer' you cannot open a bank account, buy a mobile phone on contract, get insurance for anything... We were so chuffed with ourselves we bought a double scoop of home made icecream from Dolce Sicilia, a Sicilian ice-cream parlour around the corner.  I think this must be the best ice-cream I have ever had, made with organic ingredients, they also serve amazing fairtrade coffee to boot.  Worth a visit if you are ever in Malmo.  Watch out for the icecream, I suspect we will have to resist finding an excuse to have one every day...

 Something else we achieved yesterday was to buy some vegetables and yoghurt in the little health food shop on the ground floor of the building in which we are renting.  Outside, the perimeter of the shop is littered with small squash and gourds - obviously Autumn is something they celebrate here!

 It felt so good to be shopping locally and most of the produce seemed to come from Denmark, Sweden and Germany.  Lovely.  To top it all off the gent who served us was an absolute delight.  When he realised I hadn't a clue what he was saying, he switched to English and asked that next time I'm in, I remind him and he'll adjust for me.  I mentioned, excitedly, that we had just moved in upstairs and he made my day with 'welcome to the house.'  I couldn't stop smiling.  What a beautiful sense of community.

Rocket Fuel

I woke this morning at 5am, struggled to get back to sleep and eventually dragged myself out of bed at 6.30.  I suspect the tension of moving country had something to do with it.  Maybe it was also because this morning was my last chance to visit Mahon Farmers' Market before heading to Sweden?

This is where I buy my food.
This morning, the lovely pink shirt clad 'Rocket Man' in the photo sold me my lunch, which turned out to be dinner when lunch got sidetracked by packing.  Stomach comforting, whole food goodness. Thank you Rocket Man.


Almost every Thursday morning I can be found at this market.  I think it is one of the best in the country.  It is dedicated almost entirely to food, with a couple of flower stalls thrown in, just to cheer us up.  There are 3 or 4 excellent coffee & cake stalls, of course, to keep the punters awake & sugar fuelled, but more importantly for me, there is an organic meat and eggs stall.  Organic, local, grass fed beef, chicken and lamb.  Wow.  I love it and do a little dance inside my head as I give my hard earned euros directly into the hand of the farmer.  Alongside Dan Aherne's meat, there is the local veg grower, so fresh you can tell their produce was picked that morning.  The Real Olive Co. provide the most delicious buffalo mozzarella I've ever had, from their very own buffalo reared in Toonsbridge, West Cork.  I could go on and on about how incredible the food is there.  On a sunny day it's one of my favourite places to be.  On a wet day, the stallholders retreat indoors, so no matter the weather, you can always buy this kind of incredibly good food.

How will Malmo compare?
Will I be able to eat as well as I do here, without blowing the budget?

We leave our little house in Cork tomorrow and depart for France on a ferry from Rosslare on Saturday.  Then comes a 3 day road trip.  Bring it on.