Some ways you know it's been a good summer in my view:
1. The Ice-cream van makes daily visits.. you can hear it coming because of the jaunty muzak they have blaring, including a muzak version of the "match of the day" theme during the world cup.
2. You curse your car because it doesn't have air conditioning. You probably laughed at the idea of needing it when you bought your car but boy are you sorry now.
3. The barbecue has been lit more than once since May. I'm gonna light mine up tomorrow and got some big fat beef burgers this afternoon. Lush!
4. Not every car you see is filthy. We have a lot of dirty cars on our roads, mine being one right now. This is the result of our unique precipitation history. In brief this means if you wash your car it will rain about an hour later.
5. Beautiful evenings, see below. There is nothing like a mad bit of pink in the night sky to make you marvel at nature and all that.
6. Shorts. People are brave enough to wear shorts, safe in the knowledge that the temperature is stable for the day. I had mine on today. I once worked with a colleague who could just not believe that I ever wore shorts. In truth she had a hard time accepting that I had legs too. I don't have time to explain all this. Suffice it to say I have the usual set of limbs etc.
7. Impromptu football matches. I watched a bunch of people having a game of football, the european variety of course, on a field near where I live. I think a lot of them were maybe from central europe. They were really enjoying themselves and I say fair play to them. Beats the stupid idea of swinging a massive rope and hoping the whole street will start skipping on it.
8. Open top cars. Cabriolets I used to call them but that might be a bit of a rare term these days. Soft tops, convertibles or whatever you like. They all start to come out and before you know it you seem to be just about the only person who doesn't have one of these cars. Some cheeky so and so parked a BMW convertible at the entrance to the estate where I live today and put one of those home-made "for sale" signs on it. The right idea on a day like today when people all wish they were cruising around in a car like that.
Yep. It's good times here in Dublin in recent weeks and months, at least in terms of the weather.
Al of "San Diego Diary" fame is back in town so welcome home Al!
A final point.
Anyone got any tips to help me make the best of my burgers tomorrow. The last time I cooked them they tasted like wood. Any tips for keeping them nice and juicy?
4 comments:
Does it generally stay cool in the summer in Ireland? It's averaging 30C here these days, which is just slighty above normal.
I never wear shorts, even on the hottest days. My legs are too skinny.
Also, get a meat thermometer for your burgers, so you know when the center is cooked and you can take them off at the right time.
a meat thermometer. That is a good idea Scubes. I'll give it a go. I'm not going to wear my shorts near the barbecue though.. too risky!
It generally is cool here, a high would be 28C with an average maybe around 23 or 24C. It's often warm but cloudy so it doesn't feel like a summer day.
So a few cloudless days and a decent temperature.. it's like heaven!
As for the burgers: don't manipulate them too much (oh, sooo many jokes about handling your meat in there. Sorry.), and never ever press on them. The juices all drip out when you do that. Make sure your grill is nice and hot before you put the burgers on as well - that will seal in the good juices too.
I'm having burgers tonight and I can't wait. I like to make the patties with onion soup mixed in - I know it sounds crazy but it's so good once they're cooked. I'm drooling just thinking about it.
Enjoy your lovely weather while you've got it!
onion soup. That sounds interesting and I've never heard of that. How big a deal is it to marinate things? one site I just visited said not to use anything much more than plain meat and some lemon salt.
I'm gonna give it a go and hopfully nobody will need to visit the emergency room. I'm gonna look into the onion soup idea. Do you make your own home made soup M. or do you use something bought in from the local store?
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