15 Howie Street

“Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad” Ireland’s captain Brian O'Driscoll

In a unique day of bringing together a broad range of practitioners and scholars. We hosted a day of activities opening with breakfast and culminating in sea shanty’s. The day was a revery in shared knowledge and open discussion inspired by conceptual understandings of collaborative art.

Jack o'Tan's dumplings:

Hot Water Dough

2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup boiling water

Mix and knead still smooth. Don't worry if it sticks to your hand a lot. Just keep going till it gets a bit springy. If you can't tell, just knead it 100 times. Then pull it all off your hand and flour it to stop it sticking and leave it while you prepare the filling.

Dumpling Filling

1 medium carrot, sliced into thin matchsticks (this is for crunch)
1 pack lean ground pork (300-400g)
shrimps (100-200g), frozen or fresh
4-5 spring onions, choppped with tops
2 cloves garlic, chopped or mashed up
a fingernail length of ginger, grated or finely chopped
2 Tbs white wine (optional)
1 tsp cornflour (if no cornflour use a beaten egg)
1 tsp sesame oil
a few shakes of ground pepper
a few dashes soy sauce
1/2 tsp salt

Put it all in a bowl, get your hand in there and mix it up. Nothing else to it.

Dipping sauce

1/2 cup soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 Tbs sugar, white or brown (brown dissolves easier)
2 Tbs vinegar
1/2 fingernail of grated or thinly sliced ginger
half a handful of coriander leaves, torn up

In a wide-ish bowl, mix it all in.

Making the dumplings:

Pull of a bit of dough (golf ball size if you have a small table, tennis ball if you have a large table). Roll it out so that it is thin, translucent like porcelain, but not so thin that it breaks when you make the dumpling. Try it a few times. You will get the hang of it.

Use a cookie cutter or lid or something to cut out 3-inch circles. Doesn't matter too much. Big circle big dumplings. Small circle cute dumplings. Place a bit of the pork mixture in the center of the circle. Leave a good border, say, like the proportions of how a fried egg has a border round the yolk (a fresh pert egg not a sad droopy spready one). Then lift up the borders and pinch them together however you wish ... make pasties, tortellinis, purses, etc.

[At this point you can lay out carefully on a tray any that you won't be eating immediately and freeze them. Once frozen they can be taken off the trays and bagged up and stored in the freezer for cooking later in the week.]

Boil stock in a saucepan. Drop in enough dumplings to loosely cover the bottom of the pan. They are cooked when they float. Then fry them in a hot non-stick wok till the bottoms are golden brown. Try and fry them immediately because if you leave them for too long in a bowl or on a plate they tend to stick together. If you want to boil a big batch first before frying, make sure you oil them lightly to prevent sticking.

Dumplings (Mandu, Jiaozi or Gyoza) are best made with friends!

Beth Mc Collar's Sea Shanty's:

Haul Away Joe:

When I was a little boy so my mother told me, to me
Way haul away, we'll haul away Joe

That if I did not kiss the girls, my lips would all grow mouldy, to me
Way haul away, we'll haul away Joe

Way haul away, the good ship now is rolling, to me
Way haul away, we'll haul away Joe

First I met a Yankee girl and she was fat and lazy, to me
Way haul away, we'll haul away Joe

Then I met an Irish girl, she damn near drove me crazy, to me
Way haul away, we'll haul away Joe

King Louis was the king of France before the revolution, to me
Way haul away, we'll haul away Joe

And then he got his head cut off, it spoiled his constitution, to me
Way haul away, we'll haul away Joe

Way haul away, we're bound for better weather, to me
Way haul away, we'll haul away Joe

Spanish Ladies:

Spanish ladies:
Farewell and adieu to you, Spanish Ladies,
Farewell and adieu to you, ladies of Spain;
For we've received orders for to sail for ol' England,
But we hope in a short while to see you again.

Chorus

We'll rant and we'll roar like true British sailors,
We'll rant and we'll roar all on the salt sea.
Until we strike soundings in the channel of old England;
From Ushant to Scilly is thirty five leagues.

We hove our ship to with the wind from sou'west, boys
We hove our ship to, deep soundings to take;
'Twas forty-five fathoms, with a white sandy bottom,
So we squared our main yard and up channel did make.

The first land we sighted was called the Dodman,
Next Rame Head off Plymouth, off Portsmouth the Wight;
We sailed by Beachy, by Fairlight and Dover,
And then we bore up for the South Foreland light.

Repeat Chorus

Then the signal was made for the grand fleet to anchor,
And all in the Downs that night for to lie;
Let go your shank painter, let go your cat stopper!
Haul up your clewgarnets, let tacks and sheets fly!

Now let ev'ry man drink off his full bumper,
And let ev'ry man drink off his full glass;
We'll drink and be jolly and drown melancholy,
And here's to the health of each true-hearted lass.

Repeat Chorus