Kind regards

Jon

Our story of “Ferndale the new adventure” continues with finishing the bathroom of the roman suite. It came out brilliantly, but it took nearly 5 weeks to complete and way over budget. The result but is stunning. With a size triple to what it was before.

God thanks we finally got the planning permission for our extension. I have to say – not a moment to soon – as we have a tide schedule ahead of us. With themed bedrooms as the ones before. One to be a Venetian Suite. I changed the concept and just seen this stunning bed on a website i could visualize how the finishing suite will look like.

Work starts on Monday and of cause we still have a few surprises in store. I definitely will not tell everything about the suite as i would love to experience the magic it does to our friends far and near and to see their faces when they first will see the finishing product by the end of June – exactly on the 16 of June.

Word of advise: Be very cautious with planning your extension and keep within the boundary of what buildings exist around you. Money in Ireland is still very tide and will remain so for a long time. You can feel it in how the planning authority are reacting and how banks are still behaving. They’ve got this billions of bail out money the next thing they do is raising interest rates to cripple people more. My trust in banks certainly have been compromised and this will remain as long as i live.

But it didn’t lower the excitement to build a fantastic guesthouse not to be seen anywhere in this country. To sort out material and finishing touches as well as to talk about it it feels like explorers in earlier times.

An Adventure to say the least but i keep in touch.

Jon

On this Page we are introducing all exciting news in relation to Ferndale.

This Year 2011 is a mile stone in our history from when we first started our adventure to become one of the most unusual Guesthouses and restaurants in Ireland.

As many of you know about 2 years back we redesigned our guesthouse and themed it to appeal the market with fun and exciting extras. This approach was a great success. It made us thinking of a new adventure to make Ferndale a destination you like to travel to.

And so it begins

for the next couple of months i like to inform you about our Adventure to redesign and extend our Guesthouse to bring it to the next Level.

We already started on the roman room to extend the Bathroom it will be a sanctuary of indulging yourself in the brand new double whirlpool Bath or just relax in this new jewel of a Bathroom.

Hopefully everything will be finished by the 10th of march incl. new lowered bay windows to give you the most of our stunning seaview and air and light into our historically themed Bedrooms.

As from the 10th of march we can hopefully start the brand new extension with sumptuous bedrooms consisting of fabulous views and top of the range interior all designed by myself but that is as soon as we get the approval of the county council or with other words if we get planning permission.

So fingers crossed and with gods help we are on our way to write the next chapter of Ferndale the adventure.

Kind regards

Jon

At our last update, we set the price for the cookery course weekends to 219.-€, which of course was an error. So we are happy to announce, that the original price of 195.-€ is still valid.

Booking

Our apologies!

This dish is for 4 people

• 4 chicken fillets( preferably free range)
• 2 bananas green
• 2 spoon mango chutney
• 3 shallots
• 1 teaspoon of garlic
• 4 spoon of sour cream
• ½ orange
• 1 lime
• 2 teaspoon curry powder (preferably from the Caribbean islands)
• Coriander and Chives
• 3 egg yolk
• Grated cheese mix mozzarella and cheddar

Cut the fillets in long stripes, and season with fresh herbs like chives and coriander, a little curry powder salt and pepper.

In a bowl mash the bananas with a fork, until soft and smooth. Add the mango chutney. Cut the shallots into small rings and add them to the bananas together with the garlic. Squeeze the orange and add as well the chunky bits. Half the lime and squeeze it into the bowl. Add a teaspoon of the curry powder (if you like it spicy add another teaspoon or go for madras curry or raz el hanout).Season it with salt and pepper. Mix all ingredients well, and last ad the egg yolks to the mixture.

Place the chicken fillets into an baking dish, and add the whole mixture over the chicken fillets until all of them are covered.

Preheat the oven to 200°C and put the dish in and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the dish from the oven and add the mixed grated cheese. Bake for another 10 to 12 minutes until the cheese is golden brown.

A Fantastic accompaniement to this dish is some Basmati rice or Jasmin rice.

(Note: If you like it less spicy ad into the mixture a spoon of Honey. For a more spicy texture ad 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper and a pinch of cinnamon.)

Download the recipe ‘Chicken Bake Atlantica’

Our cookery courses will start the beginning of November and will be held on six weekends until the end of February. Find out more about the dates and content.

This recipe serves 4 people

Ingredients

• 3 cups of basmati or jasmine rice
• 3 chicken fillets cut in strips lengthways
• 100g of bacon or rashers, cut thinly
• 100g of small prawns, cooked and peeled
• 1 clove of fresh garlic, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
• 1 tablespoon fresh coriander, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon of maple syrup or honey
• ½ a red chilli, finely chopped (if you do not like it too spicy, remove the seeds)
• 1 -2 tablespoons Thai fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon of paprika
• 1 tablespoon of Cajun spice mix
• 1 slice of fresh pineapple finely chopped
• 1 mango, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon of mango chutney

How to prepare the Jambalaya

Use a large pot to boil some water, add about 1 tablespoon of salt or if you prefer, 2 tablespoons of vegetable stock, which gives a softer and more delicate taste. Add rice and simmer until cooked to your liking. Drain the water through a fine sieve and put the aside.

Season the chicken with salt and pepper and a little Cajun spice mix. Take the wok and add 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Heat it on high heat until it slightly steams. Reduce the heat and add the chicken strips, garlic, ginger, and chilli. Stir the chicken constantly until it is light golden brown. Then add the bacon and stir for a further 2-3 minutes.

Add the rice, spices, pineapples, mangoes, coriander, and fish sauce and stir for another 2 minutes. Add the maple syrup and the mango chutney. Stir it in until fully infused into the mixture. Finally, add the prawns and give it a good stir.

Before serving, try the Jambalaya. If it is too spicy for you, add a  little milk, or, if it is not spicy enough, you can add a small amount of the above-mentioned spices. If it needs some more saltiness add a little more fish sauce.

Tip: Do not use salt and pepper as it might spoil the delicate flavours of the jambalaya.

Jon's JambalayaDownload the recipe ‘Jon’s Jambalaya’