by Cathal Liam
A very happy New Year to one and all. Filled with the hope that newness brings, I extend my heart-felt wishes to each of you. May it be the best ever.
As I write, the first snow flakes of the season are falling in the west of Ireland. It’s been a record-setting autumn here… the warmest ever in Dublin since record-keeping began 150 years ago. But the winds of change are blowing off the North Atlantic.
Gazing out the window, memories of Christmas past and thoughts of Nollaig Bheag, [Little Christmas or the Celebration of the Epiphany on 6 January], fill my thoughts. Sure the hay is in the barn; the turf is stacked under the eaves; and to paraphrase Clement Moore, “We’re all about settled down for a long winter’s nap.”
Speaking of winter and keeping warm, a recent visit to San Francisco’s Buena Vista Café for several glasses of its famous Irish coffee reminded me of the drink’s storied beginning. No doubt lost in the annals of time and very likely embellished by the intoxicating effects of this delightful concoction, the pleasures of drinking Irish coffee have been with us for well over half a century.
Supposedly, it was back in the late 1930s, just east of the ferry port of Tarbert, along the southern bank of the River Shannon in Co. Limerick, Foynes Air Station began operating. It was the last stopover on the eastern side of the Atlantic for transoceanic seaplanes making the journey to and from the States via Newfoundland/Labrador and Europe. As an aside, the first New York-Foynes flights began as early as 1937 and air traffic increased with the start of the Second War. But things changed in 1942, as the newly opened Shannon Airport sprang to life further upriver nearer to Limerick City.
So it was during those early years of international aviation that, as the story goes, a man by the name of Joe Sheridan, a culinary chef at Foynes Aerodrome, decided to warm the cockles of the hearts of some cold, weary travellers. He served them a drink made with strong coffee, Irish whiskey, a teaspoonful of sugar and a healthy topping of whipped cream.
Whether true or not, sure it makes for a good yarn, and as the little ditty goes, its ingredients included: “Cream, as rich as an Irish brogue; Coffee, as strong as a friendly hand; Sugar, as sweet as an Irish rogue; and Whiskey, as mellow as the wit of an Irishman.”
But the credit goes to Stanton Delaplane, a correspondent from a San Francisco newspaper, for bringing Sheridan’s liquid creation to the United States. Working with the barmen at the Buena Vista in 1952, Delaplane perfected the pleasing and convivial concoction that has made this café famous while serving it to millions over the years in the ‘City by the Bay.’ Even in mid-afternoon on a late autumn weekday, the café, located near Fisherman’s Wharf and the terminus of the Powell & Hyde Street cable car, is packed out with folks enjoying a special tulip-shaped, stemmed glass filled with caffeine and Irish at $7.50 a go.
So there you have it… your New Year’s treat. Check Google, if necessary, for a recipe if you’re not able to enjoy the festivities at the Buena Vista or aren’t hunkered down waiting for a flight at Shannon Airport. Oh yes, and if you are so inclined on your next trip across the pond, take a short detour along the Shannon and visit the Flying Boat Museum on Foynes’ Main Street. It’s open April to the end of October and there’s a modest admission fee… www.flyingboatmuseum.com.
In case you’re travelling the road on through Tarbert, be sure to stop in and visit the old Bridewell [jail]… www.tarbertbridewell.com as you head south toward Listowel, Tralee and points beyond. Also, Foynes is just a short drive from the quaint, thatched village of Adare and its grand manor house, ancient Desmond Castle and the ruins of a lovely Franciscan Friary… www.adarevillage.com.
Now all this talk of Irish coffee has my mind spinning… remembering the times and places I’ve tasted this ‘nectar of the Gods.’ It nearly drove me mad so I’m just back from the kitchen where I made myself one.
With my upper lip white from the residue of my first sip, I stare into the fire warming the sit ting room. My seventy-first winter is at hand and I’m feeling the weight of the years. A sad melancholy washes over me as I leaf through my stack of some sixty IANOhio issues… five years worth.
Publisher and Editor John O’Brien’s fine monthly publication brings back a rush of memories. Most of his covers are truly memorable… some even border on works of art. A few catch my eye. Ronan O’Sullivan’s June, 2009 photograph of Ronan Gillespie’s powerful tribute to the Easter 1916 martyrs, outside the entrance to Kilmainham Gaol, is one of my favourites. So too is O’Sullivan’s April, 2010 whimsical yet haunting snap of his two nieces with their faces pressed against a window pane.
The third issue’s cover, March, 2007, featured the ethereal Celtic Woman fiddler Máiréad Nesbitt while Susan Mangan’s photograph of her son standing inside the 15th-century ruins of Burrishoole Abbey, just outside Newport, Co. Mayo, reminds me of my growing up years.
The January, 2010 issue and cover paid a special tribute to Irish musical legend Liam Clancy, his brothers Tom, Paddy, Bobby and their great sidekick Tommy Makem. With Liam’s death a month earlier, all are gone now, but their wonderful songs and stories will never be forgotten. Thanks to CDs, I listen to their music every week, revelling in the reminiscences they evoke.
Finally, Cathy Curry’s September, 2010 picture of an abandoned cottage near the isolated backdrop of the Connemara hills tells an all too familiar story. Ireland, slumbering for generations in the malaise of economic depression, finally emerges for a brief Celtic Tiger repast only to be plunged back into financial chaos. But with hope and hard work, we’ll soon see the dawning of a new and better tomorrow. So with spirits raised, I wish you all the very best of New Years… Cathal
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