Wales

     Hello again, viewers.

     Today's destination was Wales.  I'd been very much looking forward to this one.  I got a rather late start, and didn't experience any "Welsh-ness" until late afternoon. 

     I wore my green Celtic knot earrings for the occasion.

     After running some errands with my mum, we came home and made Welsh "rarebit", which, I understand, was meant to be a sort of imitation rabbit, in an ironical sort of way.  The dish consists of toasted bread covered in melted cheese, or béchamel sauce.  When served with tomato soup, this dish is called "blushing bunny".  The name amused my mum and I, and we decided to give it a try.  I picked out a nice loaf of bread, and an all-natural brand of tomato soup, and I made my first ever béchamel sauce.  And it was lovely, if I may say so.  What could be better than a sauce of butter and melted cheese?  I had read that in this Welsh dish, ale, and/or mustard is sometimes added, and we just so happened to have a piece of British cheddar with ale and stone-ground mustard.  We were very pleased with this dish.  It tasted rather like a grown-up version of the classic "grilled cheese with tomato soup."

 

     While I made it, I sang my favourite Welsh folk songs, Ar Lan Y Mor, Myfanwy, and Suo Gan.  The Welsh language is so lovely.

 

     After lunch, my mum and I watched The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain (1995), which is set in the fictional village of Ffynnon Garw ("Rough Fountain" or "Rough Spring").  It was filmed in Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant and Llansilin in Mid Wales.  The story, which is set in 1917, revolves around two English cartographers, one of which is played by Hugh Grant.  They go to Ffynnon Garw to measure their "mountain" and discover that it is, in fact, only a hill, much to the outrage of the community, who are very proud of their mountain.  The townspeople band together, and resolve to add the 20 necessary feet of earth to the mountain top, to make it qualify as a true mountain, and, in a series of comic events, sabotage the Englishmen's attempts to leave until they've accomplished this task.

 

 

     Afterwards, my mum made a shepherd's pie (otherwise known as a cottage pie) - a savoury pie of meat and vegetables topped with a layer of mashed potatoes instead of a crust.  She used ground lamb, leeks, kale, mushrooms, and goat cheese.  She served pan-fried brussel sprouts on the side.  With my dinner, I had a cup of black tea.

          For dessert, I had a dish of fresh blackberries with sweet cream.  This was not listed among traditional Welsh cuisine, but I have read that they enjoy a variety of berries in Wales, and after a hearty supper, a dish of fresh berries was a pleasant after-note.

 

     Later in the evening, my mum and I watched I'll Be There (2003).  The exact location in Wales where the film is set and filmed was not specified, but wherever it was, it was lovely.  The film is about a teenage girl named Olivia (played by the vastly-talented Charlotte Church), who has an intense passion for singing, though her overly-protective mother discourages her from pursuing her musical dreams, and wishes for her to inherit her hair-cutting business.  Olivia discovers that her father is a Scottish rock star, who is unaware of her existence.  Having found out who he is, she decides to remedy this.

 

     I bought a 2013 calendar recently, which features pictures of castles from around the world.  The one I liked the most happened to be in Wales.  Here it is, the picturesque Penrhyn Castle.



     It also happens to be in Gwynedd, which is my favourite county in Wales.  A couple of years ago, I began writing a novel set in Wales, and in great detail, I described exactly what the setting looked like.  When I researched various Welsh counties, however, they looked nothing like what I had envisioned, and I thought I'd have to re-write my description.  But then I looked up Gwynedd, and the description matched almost word-for-word what I had written, and I knew that that's where my characters lived.

     Then, I had another cup of tea, and a Hobnob biscuit.

     While I had my tea, I read the slight bit I had written of my novel (having been reminded of it by Penrhyn Castle), and listened to the lovely vocals and harp-playing of Bethan Myfanwy Hughes.

     And then, like my tea, my adventure in Wales was finished.  I had a lovely time there.

     Hwyl fawr, viewers; until next time.