A day at home with Simon

You’ve probably gathered by now that apart from photography, another passion of mine is food! I love it! I love cooking food. Eating food and photographing food.

Back in November last year, Caroline and I went to a Gourmet Evening at The Yellow Door Deli in Portadown with good friends Ryan & Laura. This was the third such evening we had been too. It was an evening of fantastic food, superb wine and lots of craic. Since then I have had the privilege of taking pictures at a Gourmet Evening. At the end of the evening I spotted Caroline speaking to Simon Dougan (Executive Chef). A month or so later i.e. Christmas Day, Caroline presented me with this:

On arrival I was greeted by Simon and his wife Jilly in their beautiful home just outside Gilford. I was immediately taken back by the fantastic open plan kitchen they had designed on the ground floor (including indoor BBQ & smoking chamber). I know it isn’t right to be jealous, but I was! Just a little bit!

Coffee was served as myself and the other 9 like minded foodies had a chat.

Simon then took us outside to show us some of the many herbs he and Jilly grow in their fantastic garden. There was everything that a food lover would need, and more. Chives, rocket, rosemary, chervil, sage, coriander, vietnemese coriander, thyme, tarragon to name but a few. However, it wasn’t long before the rain got the better of us and we took shelter inside where we watched Simon cook probably one of my favourite breakfasts.

Proper Smoked Kilkel Haddock with Chive & Fennel Potato Bread, Crispy Moyallan Bacon, Wild Poppy and Land Cress Hollandaise

After breakfast, thankfully the rain had disappeared and we went back outside again. This time we where “hedgerow bound” for a lesson in foraging. Thanks to Simon I can now look at “weeds” in a completely different light. It was amazing to see just how many “weeds” are edible. Simon gathered a number of tasty treats to add his amazing lunch time salad.

Spiced Irish Beef and Soba Noodle Salad with Wild Herbs & Thai Red Curry Dressing

After our foraging lesson we enjoyed a glass of Simon’s favourite Prosecco with his homemade Sloe or Damson Gin.

Following lunch (which was served with a wonderful selection of Yellow Door breads) we went outside again to have a look at some of the micro herbs which Simon & Jilly grow. These intensely flavoured seedlings are delicious on salads.

Back inside again, we gathered round and watched Simon make dessert using the rhubarb he cut from his garden earlier that morning.

Deconstructed Rhubarb Crumble with Sweet Mascarpone, Marjoram and Pink Ginger Cream

This was delicious and brought to an end what was a fantastic day of food and craic. Simon and Jilly were excellent hosts and I think I can speak on behalf of everyone in thanking them for a truly memorable experience.

Hopefully these pictures will give you an a little bit of an insight to the day.

Wayne & Donna

Should we? Should we not? Should we? Should we not? These were the questions I found myself asking Wayne & Donna a couple of weeks back. Really what we were asking was “Is it going to rain, or is it not?”. Thankfully we decide to go anyway. The destination was Sir Thomas & Lady Dixon Park in Belfast.

We had a fantastic evening of fun and laughter. Wayne is my cousin and I have known Donna for a while through church. They are such a perfect couple with fun personalities. I am really looking forward to their wedding in July and their engagement shoot was a brilliant appetite whetter (if there’s such a phrase) of what the big day will be like.

Paul & Hollie

This is the post I mentioned a couple of weeks ago on Twitter/Facebook.

Paul & Hollie’s big day was on 29th April.  The Royal Wedding wasn’t the only star studded wedding. With Hollie having starred as a professional singer/dancer in many theatre productions throughout the UK and Paul serving 7 years in the Royal Marines, they both have very credible CV’s.

Not to mention that Aston Merrygold (JLS) and May McFettridge were guests at the wedding.

The wedding took place at Tandragee Presbyterian Church, following by a reception at the Galgorm Resort & Spa, Ballymena.

I had a fantastic day with Paul, Hollie and all their friends and family.

Hair: MG Hair Boutique, Lurgan
Makeup: Avenue One, Gilford